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Christ Jesus prayed that all those who would believe in Him would be ONE, just as He and the Father are ONE; that they be brought to complete unity so that the world would know that He was sent by the Father. (John 17:20-23)
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We are continuing our study on the literal translation of Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24 concerning the end of this age. Jesus said immediately preceding His return, there would be a time of His parousia or “presence.” Other biblical prophecies indicate we are now in this time.
If we are alive in this time, we have a high purpose. In these times deep darkness will cover the earth, but the light and glory of the Lord will be revealed in God’s people which will prevail over darkness (see Isaiah 60:1-3). To prepare for this, we must grow in the gift of discernment while recognizing and refraining from the spirit of suspicion which often masquerades as discernment.
False discernment, rooted in suspicion and fear, seeks to turn us into “fault-finders” instead of messengers of redemption and hope. Just as the harvest is the maturing of all seeds that have been sown in mankind, the spirit that manifested in the Pharisees to oppose Jesus can control Christians who surrender to the suspicions of the Accuser. Philippians 1:9-11 is a key truth we must moor ourselves to in this time:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
“Real knowledge and all discernment” are rooted in love. We cannot correctly discern people if we do not love them. Likewise, we cannot discern the true conditions of nations if we do not love them. Love seeks redemption and restoration, not condemnation. The spirit of suspicion is not rooted in love. It distorts what we see and causes us to oppose the redemptive works of the Lord and the Lord Himself, as did the Pharisees.
This does not mean we should compromise the truth, sound biblical teaching, or His righteousness and justice which is the foundation of His throne. If we love truth and love people for whom the Lord gave His life, we will not compromise the clear teachings of Scripture on sin and wickedness nor their consequences. But we will do this in a spirit that seeks to redeem, not condemn, which begins with acknowledgement, sorrow, and turning away from our sins. Truly love will boldly confront sin with a redemptive heart and not a condemning one.
We know from the Scriptures there will come a time when the patience of the Lord will run out and then condemnation will come. Then there will be a distinction between “sheep” and “goats.” Until then, we should not give up on people or nations no matter how wicked they now are. Let us resolve to overcome evil with good and do what we can to turn them to the Lord. As He taught us from Jonah, even when His word of conviction is shared with those with bad attitudes, it still has the power to save them.
As I write, Russia is being condemned like Nazi Germany for the atrocities its army has inflicted in Ukraine. It is impossible to see what has been done by Russian forces and not condemn them. However, mark this: the greatest revival of this age will come from Russia, and some of the most powerfully redemptive movements of this age will come from Germany. This was the first prophetic message I received as a new believer, and it has been so well corroborated since, I have no doubt.
However, I can understand others doubting this prophetic scenario. These two nations have been sources of the worst evils ever perpetrated on mankind through Nazism and Marxism, and neither have behaved well of late. Still, we shall see in them the truth that those who are forgiven much love much (see Luke 7:47). As the Apostle Paul was the greatest persecutor of the church before his conversion, he was perhaps the greatest devoted servant of the Lord after. We will see the same in nations like Germany and Russia.
Just as most Germans were deceived by Nazi propaganda, and many Russians are deceived by their nation’s propaganda, so has virtually every nation been deceived. Many who have been most deceived will wake up, like the Apostle Paul. He was struck blind so he could see. Let us likewise be ready to help those who will soon be awakened and established in the Truth and follow Him with the devotion He deserves. Let us not see people and nations as they now are but as they are called to be, and let us be ready to help them get there.
© 2022 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
A Message for America from Her Two Greatest Presidents
Another gun law at this time would be a political band-aid on the moral and cultural rot that is eating away at the soul of America. What is needed is a national turning to God, acknowledging our sin of prideful self-reliance, thinking we could build a happy society apart from our Creator. George Washington knew that a peaceful nation of happy people is impossible without God. That is why, after defeating the British and winning independence, he immediately sent a letter to all the governors of the states that included the following pastoral exhortation. He wrote: "I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection; that He would incline the hearts of the citizens ... to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another ... and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of His example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation" (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 120). After becoming president, Washington issued a proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. The purpose of this Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer was, he said: "That we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the Great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national sins and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed" (Hyatt, 1726:The Year that Defined America, 134). God did bless America and the new nation quickly rose to prominence among the nations of the world. Ronald Reagan, however, was right when he said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." God has no grandchildren. Faith and freedom must be fought for, and experienced, by each generation. Succeeding generations of Americans became smug and prideful in their prosperity and did not use their power to free those who were enslaved in their midst. Judgement came and a horrible Civil War began that could very well have forever destroyed America. Abraham Lincoln, however, recognized the root of the problem. In the midst of the war, he called the nation back to God by issuing a proclamation designating April 30, 1863, as a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. In this proclamation he rebuked the nation for its smugness and self-sufficient pride, saying: "It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is Lord: "But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. "Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!" (Hyatt, 1726:The Year that Defined America, 185). Does that not describe America today? Does that not describe the entertainment industry, the educational system and Washington D.C? Remember, in 2019, the Democrat National Committee (DNC), the governing body of the party now in power, unanimously passed a resolution affirming atheism and declaring that neither Christianity nor any religion is necessary for morality and patriotism. How different from Washington and Lincoln! In his proclamation, Lincoln went on to say: "It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness ... and I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. "And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. "All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President: Abraham Lincoln." It is an historical fact that immediately after this day of prayer and repentance, the war shifted in favor of the Union and was soon brought to an end at the Battle of Gettysburg. National repentance and prayer changed the course of history. It is not too late for America! There is still hope. I pray we see a turning to God on a scale unknown since this proclamation of Lincoln. We do not, however, have a Lincoln in the White House, so we cannot wait for it to begin there. Let it begin with each individual, each home and each congregation. Second Chronicles 7:14 is still valid, which says: "If My people, who are called by My Name, Will humble themselves and pray, And seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Dr. Eddie Hyatt is an author, historian and ordained minister with a passion to see genuine spiritual awakening in America and around the world. He has written numerous books on revival and other biblical issues. This article was derived from his book, 1726: The Year that Defined America, available from Amazon and his website at http://eddiehyatt.com. Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.
Kathryn Krick's Hunger for Revival Reveals Divine Anointing
If you're hungry for more of God and want to live in revival, chances are you have recently heard of Kathryn Krick. Her ministry, Revival Is Now, has emerged through social media by showcasing healings, miracles and deliverances. She recently shared keys to the anointing on her life that can equip you to do what Jesus did.
Krick was hungry for more of God and attended a house church where she saw people praying in the Spirit and worshipping as she'd never seen before. Sensing the presence of God, she knew she had found a home in what she was seeking. She watched people receive prayer, healing and the love of God. Within a month, she was baptized with the Holy Spirit.
"After receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit, my eyes opened up to the presence of God," Krick says. "I surrendered completely to Him. I gave Him everything: my dreams, my plans, my will. I've never been the same since, and the fire has increased since that day."
After surrendering to God six years ago, she was pursuing music but laid that dream at the feet of Jesus. He called her to preach the gospel to the nations and start a church. She wanted to obey God and follow the call He had on her life.
Fivefold Church in Los Angeles began with Krick and one other leading worship and preaching. Ministering every week, they were faithful to share His love to small groups of people, beginning the church. However, when churches locked down in March 2020 her fellowship was unable to meet in a physical space. God told her to have church outside, and that's where the signs, wonders and phenomenal church growth took place.
Krick made a short video montage of her ministry and shared it on TikTok, where millions of people viewed it. People testified of being healed while watching the viral video. Soon her church grew. And then when she encountered her first demon and casting out the evil spirit, she shared that on social media as well. Within two months of that video, her church grew from 70 people to over 300 people worshipping in the park.
If you too want more of God, these three keys will help you on your spiritual journey:
1. Surrender completely to Jesus.
2. Obey the Word of God.
3. Do what God has told you.
If you want to know more and be equipped to flow in the anointing, listen to this powerful conversation on the Adventures in the Spirit with Jared Laskey podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, Apple, Spotify, Google, YouTube or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Jared and Rochelle Laskey co-founded Fireborn Ministries to teach believers how to live a daily Spirit-empowered life. You can find their resources and learn more about their ministry at firebornministries.com. They also have e-courses such as "Entry Level Prophecy," "The Last Days," "The Baptism with the Holy Spirit" and more on charismacourses.com and the popular podcast, Adventures in the Spirit, available anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.
Why We Must Stop Quenching the Spirit's Fire
The first Pentecost was an abrupt heavenly invasion. It wasn't planned in a staff meeting; it came "suddenly," according to Acts 2:2. The noise of wind was not on the program; neither were flames of holy fire. No one in that prayer meeting in the upper room in Jerusalem expected to speak in a supernatural language. Certainly Peter didn't expect to give his unrehearsed sermon; I'm sure he was surprised when 3,000 people were converted. The church was born in a moment of unearthly, unimagined strangeness. How would we respond today if God wanted to repeat the miracle of Pentecost in one of our carefully scripted Sunday meetings? I wonder if we would embrace the wildness of that Acts 2 moment. Would we welcome the holy chaos? Or would we tell the Spirit to sit down and behave Himself? We will celebrate Pentecost this year on June 5. If God wants to do this miracle again, would we make room for it? I fear we have enacted so many human controls that the Spirit is totally left out of our Sunday experience. If we don't give Him free rein, worship can become a man-made ritual that is stripped of God's power. The apostle Paul warned us not to "quench" the Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 5:19. "Quench" means to extinguish a fire. Many of our churches today have been equipped with state-of-the-art fire extinguishers that do a professional job of eliminating any risk of a holy outbreak. Let's be mindful of the most common ways that we quench the Holy Spirit: We ignore the Holy Spirit. Many churches today make no mention of the Spirit. He is, as author Francis Chan says, the "forgotten God." We play it safe by focusing on Jesus and salvation—yet we forget that Jesus talked repeatedly about the Spirit. And it was Jesus who told His followers that they must be "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49b). We are not being faithful to Christ if we don't take people into the deeper waters of the Spirit that He Himself promised. We limit the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are thousands of churches in this country that teach that the gifts of the Spirit no longer function. Even though the apostle Paul said, "Do not forbid speaking in tongues" (1 Cor. 14:39, MEV) and "Do not despise prophecies" (1 Thess. 5:20), speaking in tongues and prophecy are off-limits—along with healing and miracles. It was a lack of faith that created the doctrine known as "cessationism." Respected Bible teachers have convinced whole sectors of the church that God no longer operates supernaturally. Christianity has been reduced to an intellectual argument, devoid of power. And even in churches that wear the Pentecostal label, we have created such tight controls on our meetings that the gifts can't function. We misuse or abuse the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We Pentecostals and charismatics have sometimes quenched the Spirit more than evangelicals who deny His power. We have whacked people to the floor to prove our "anointing," manipulated audiences with mood music, used fancy titles to fake apostolic authority and manufactured counterfeit miracles to con people to give in offerings. God forgive us. We cannot use the Spirit or His gifts to achieve our selfish agenda. Either we submit to His plan, or He withdraws and lets us play our silly games. We misrepresent the Holy Spirit. How often have we heard, "Thus says the Lord," or "God told me this," when the Spirit had nothing to do with the message we cooked up on our own. When we give the Spirit credit for messages that did not originate from Him, we take the Lord's name in vain. We have allowed polished, unbroken preachers to mislead us with flattery, manipulation, exotic visions and promises of wealth. We divide the Holy Spirit. When the apostle Paul corrected the Corinthians for quenching the Spirit, he addressed sexual sin and the abuse of spiritual gifts. But first He challenged them on the way they were treating each other. "Has Christ been divided?" he asked in 1 Corinthians 1:13a (NASB 1995). We grieve the Spirit when we judge each other, build walls, divide ourselves racially, follow personalities or create camps according to our pet doctrines. The secret of Pentecost is found in Acts 2:1b (KJV): "They were all with one accord in one place." Can that be said of us today? We are divided between Black and white, white and Hispanic, Republican and Democrat, Protestant and Catholic, denominational and nondenominational, evangelical and Pentecostal. We are fragmented and weak. We have quenched the Spirit with our disunity. Please join me over the next 10 days to pray for a new Pentecost. Let's throw away our fire extinguishers and invite a fresh heavenly flame to engulf the church. Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.
PAMELA GELLER