Recently, my husband and I attended a conference in Texas at Glory of Zion. The theme was Warring for Your Door of Promise, and Apostle/Prophet Chuck Pierce was celebrating the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur. We felt strongly led that we were to attend. It was a beautiful time in the Lord with too much revelation to recall.
People danced and celebrated the Lord like I had never seen before. The joy of the Lord was great! Everyone was intently focused on the worship and what God had to say at that moment.
When we returned, we decided to press into what God had released during the conference and contend for our door of promise in this coming year. We know our door of promise includes revival. As my husband and I have spent this past couple of weeks pressing into the presence of God, we have both been blessed to have our spirits open to the Holy Spirit in a greater capacity. We have both been hearing some fantastic things to come.
One thing I am sure of is that God has called His Church to attention. When the military stands at attention, it is because their General, Sergeant, Commander in Chief, or any higher officer has stepped into their vicinity. God is declaring that He will step onto the earth with power and an agenda to discipline the wicked. We must be standing watch when God moves so that we can move with Him.
Whenever God chastised His children for their sins, usually idolatry, He used other countries and their kings and rulers to do so. Today, God uses the same methods, though they look different due to the difference in the way nations are now constructed. There are many warning signs we have that help us navigate toward the fact that Jesus is returning soon. Perhaps the most significant warning is the Church's lukewarm attitude towards sin.
This is not the time to grow weary in fulfilling the things of God. It is not the time to sit in self-pity but rather a time to muster the people and get them moving. We are to gather to stir up love and good works. Now is not the time to find other things more relevant than kingdom gathering. The fellowship of the saints must not diminish in this hour, for it is now that we could be facing many challenging things. We strengthen each other. Too many people are caught up in themselves and what the Church can or should do for them; they forget the Church is not the building; it is the people.
11 And [do] this, knowing the time, that now [it is] high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation [is] nearer than when we [first] believed. 12 The night is far spent; the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to [fulfill its] lusts. - Rom 13:11-14 NKJV
There is a lot of warning and exhortation in these verses. First, we must wake out of sleep. Awakening may mean that we war against the spirit of slumber and the spirit of Delilah. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep on her lap, and at every opportunity, she tried to steal his strength. Eventually, she wore him down, and he caved to her whimpering seduction and told her where his power came from.
The word sleep is translated from the Greek word hupnŏs. We get our English word hypnosis from this word. It means spiritual torpor. It represents a spiritual sleep, one of which the enemy induces and then takes advantage of.
Second, we are warned that time is almost up. We are warned to look at the time and discern what the clock says – are we close to the return of Jesus Christ? Yes! At least closer than when we first believed. We are told to cast off the works of darkness and put on light. Sometimes, the works of darkness is believing more of what the enemy says about you and your destiny than you do about what God says.
The word darkness is metaphorically used to denote those who are ignorant concerning divine things and human duties, as well as the ungodliness and immorality surrounding them. This would describe the state of much of the Church today. Many who say they are Christians have no fear of the Lord and are clueless about what He thinks of sin.
Paul lists a few things to cast off, but then he says what to put on – the Lord Jesus Christ. When we put on Jesus, we wear a light that all the world can see. When we make Him Lord, we make His will superior to our own. We give absolutely no room for our soulish flesh to act up or deny the will of God.
We would be wise to listen to the prophet of old and Give glory to the LORD your God Before He causes darkness, And before your feet stumble On the dark mountains, And while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death And makes it dense darkness. – Jer 13:16
Let's Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your never-ending protection, provision, and peace. You have given us room to grow and room to dissolve. While it seems as if everything of darkness has increased, I know Your light never diminishes. I pray for Your help to walk as light in this world and not run from the terror at Noonday. I choose to trust You in all I do, all I have, and all that will come. In Jesus name, Amen
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