Samuel said, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in failing to pray for Israel” (I Samuel 12:23). That is a good word. Why would we be sinning against the Lord in failing to pray for our country and for God’s will to come forth? The Lord has revealed His will for this country; and since He is moving through the instrument of prayer and through His people, we sin against Him when we do not pray for the thing God has revealed He wants done.
We should be concerned about a combination of things (almost like signs in the heavens) which are speaking of grave matters on the national level. No one will be told how to vote, for the vote really means very little today. But what God shows us is going to mean everything! We look to God to give the word, and we judge according to that word. It is not a matter of supporting any political party.
It is time to prophesy against everything demonic. Wherever demon power presents itself, we are to prophesy against it, because the Spirit of the Lord is bearing witness to one thing: keep America free so that the gospel of the Kingdom can emanate from us and reach all the world. We cannot be concerned about any particular political force in the United States. We must be concerned about the amount of time we have to proclaim the Kingdom message before the Lord comes.
Wherever the spirit of antichrist comes, the minds of the people cannot judge aright. The false prophets will arise, until if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24). The book of Revelation says that Satan is cast down to the earth, a deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9). The entire world will be under his deception. There will be times when people will attempt to kill us, thinking they are doing God a favor, so persuaded will they be that we are wrong. The deception upon the earth will be that great.
Our only concern is the Kingdom of God. This gospel of the Kingdom must be preached! The Body of Christ will never be a political force in the sense of being partisan to any existing political party. Whatever is best for the Kingdom of God, wherever God is leading—that becomes our sole interest. When God’s enemies present themselves, when the spirit of antichrist on the earth comes to erode away our opportunities at a time when we must proclaim this Gospel, we will pray and prophesy against them.
Satan wants to trigger off certain events in order to destroy humanity within this generation. He is trying to bring about the destruction of humanity through a nuclear holocaust. Jesus said, “Unless those days be shortened, there shall be no flesh saved alive” (Matthew 24:22). We are coming into those days. We must realize that we face the crisis point in human history and that God has raised us up as a prophetic company to prophesy and hold back the tide; Satan is not going to preempt God. Satan cannot prevent the will of God from coming forth or the remnant from doing its work. We are raised up by God to do His will. One age is ending; another age is coming; and we are right in that transition period.
This generation of believers is beginning to suffer more than the first-century saints, but it is a different kind of suffering. This is another day. Once Christians were thrown to the lions, and God either protected them or they were eaten. Human persecutions were on a very physical level at that time. Stephen was stoned; Christians were thrown to wild beasts or crucified. But that was not to be a source of worry, for Jesus said, “Do not fear those who can destroy the body, for after that there is nothing more that they can do” (Matthew 10:28).
We are living in another day. Today the satanic forces of brainwashing, suggestion, and hypnosis have been released upon humanity and are being used upon the masses far more than most people realize. People are being shaped and molded by the great deceiver. They are constantly being drawn into false precepts or ideas, false principles that are not principles at all. Satan is doing this; and if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect.
We live in the day of soulish pressures. Satanic forces have already eroded away the patriotism of Americans. Only a generation ago—a war or two ago—our boys were loyal, dedicated, and patriotic. This is the first generation to burn our flag and to protest against everything for which our country has stood. It is the first time that Supreme Court decisions have radically changed the American way of life without really giving much more liberty to anyone—if anything they are taking it away. All these things have happened within this generation.
We must become more aware of the signs of the times. They creep up on us, and we accept the events that are happening without realizing how dangerous they are. We are right on the threshold of great changes. Persecutions will come again. A few years ago that seemed impossible; now anything is possible. Men go off to war, become prisoners, and return home brainwashed. Who can understand the fantastic force of brainwashing, of mental telepathy, and of thought transference? Russia has mastered this area. We are living in the day of psychic force. In the name of medicine, people can be left without even a remembrance or thought of God. There is no need for dungeons today, for medications can be given which are even more forceful and effective than electric shock treatments, so that a man can no longer remember even his own name. It is happening right now. It will happen again. Who knows to what extent? We are coming into the period of tribulation. We are in an overlapping period. We must not deceive ourselves on this matter.
Therefore He was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree; and the birds of the air nested in its branches.” And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened.”
And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive” (“agonizomai” is the Greek word, from which our word “agony” is derived) “to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’
“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out. And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.” Luke 13:18–30.
We cannot escape the fact that the Lord is speaking of the present period of grace. This is it! Even though we are in a period of grace, we have found that it inspires in us and requires of us a greater discipline and dedication to the Lord than ever before. It is as though something is coming forth in the earth which is different and diverse from anything the world has seen. God’s people have never before been confronted by this. In the past an age would run its course, but rarely was there a warning, “Now! Now is the deadline.”
We are facing a time in which no one in the Christian world knows what to do. There are churches and movements right now that sense the times and are struggling, but they do not know for what to struggle. They do not know which way to run or where to direct their efforts and their energies. They are lost and without leadership. In the Christian world right now the blind are leading the blind. There is no voice in the land, no leaders. Consequently, the people are just milling about. Even when they have the energy and determination, they do not know what to do. They are sick at heart, and it is beginning to manifest itself as deep despair in the hearts of their supposed spiritual leaders. We do not know how fortunate we are to be with the Lord.
We must have the attitude that we no longer want to live under the assault and in the proximity of satanic pressures coming against us. We should be crying for God to give us the days of immunity for which we have been praying. The Holy Spirit has prophesied that we will walk into a time of immunity when the enemy cannot assault us and we will be safely hemmed in. Oh, how we must agonize to get into this and labor to enter into that rest! We must labor to go into the place of sanctuary with the Lord.
We must try our best to minister to the people who are on the outskirts of the camp, because there the fire will fall and the wrath will be kindled (Numbers 11:1). It could be swift. We could see one after another picked off by devil powers. We cannot allow ourselves to withdraw or to be on the outskirts of a walk with God, because the Body must have the protection that comes from being very close together. We must strive to enter in. Many will seek to enter in, but will not be able.
Our concern must be about something more than each individual’s spiritual welfare. (This is not to say that people are not important as individuals—they are. But there is something far more important!) What are a few dozen or hundred or thousand or even million people, more or less, when two-thirds of the world’s population will be destroyed before the tribulation ends? In the light of the great things we see taking place, we are struggling just to preserve a handful of people? No, we are working to produce a remnant that can do the will of God. We work to produce a remnant that can intercede before the throne of God! God is looking for an intercessor, for someone to stand in the gap (Isaiah 59:16; Ezekiel 22:30). Your life and my life—what are they among all the millions? Many of the things we strive for become irrelevant when we stop to consider that the whole course of the world will change in the next decade. It changed in the last decade, completely and drastically. It will change even more during the next decade. I prophesy that, and we shall see it come to pass.
What are we striving for? We are striving to be a people whom God has raised up. He always has had one. Sometimes it was only a Jeremiah, a prophet who had no one to stand with him except an Ethiopian eunuch who pulled him out of the pit where he had been thrown and left to die (Jeremiah 38:6–13). Often there was no one who would befriend a man of God. Even the Lord experienced that, until Simon of Cyrene picked up His cross and carried it for Him after He had fallen under it (Matthew 27:32). Sometimes when a man of God looks around, there is no one to be found. Noah preached righteousness for one hundred and twenty years while everyone mocked him (Genesis 6:3; II Peter 2:5).
There have always been men who had to stand alone—men whom God raised up to say what He had to say to their generation before judgment fell. And God is not without His prophets today. That is the reason apostolic companies are coming forth. God could simply introduce the Kingdom with a great manifestation of Christ; but He chooses to have a last witness of a living word from the mouths of apostles, prophets, and pastors who proclaim to the people of the world their sin. Up to this point, we have only been getting ready; but the Spirit seems to be indicating that the message will soon change drastically until the word we speak is the word of judgment on the earth and the coming Kingdom of the Lord. It will bring an end to the old order of things, which has crucified Christ afresh in this generation, and it will bring anew the coming of the Prince of Peace. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Romans 16:20a.
We must forget about our foolish little problems. There must be an end of feeling sorry for ourselves. God rebuke the spirit of whining and self-pity. We are a people of destiny—a people ready to do the will of God together, that which He has ordained us to do. This cannot be emphasized too strongly. God is making of us that voice which shall speak His word. People will hear it, but most of them will reject it as they rejected the preaching in the days of Noah and as they largely rejected the preaching of Christ. Jesus said, “They rejected Me; they will reject you also” (John 15:18–20).
We are not sent out to win popularity contests; we are sent to speak a word from God. We must speak it with all wisdom, but with all the fervor and anointing the Lord gives us. This bold word from God is the only thing that will do the job. If we build sermons and play church, we will find that no one wants that; people have already rejected it. But when we bring a word from the Lord, we will save some. That is what God desires. We should look not just for a few or for even a few thousand, but for millions to turn to the Lord.
There will be deliverance in the remnant whom the Lord God shall call. It shall come to pass in Mount Zion that there shall be deliverance. Then God will gather all nations down to the valley of Jehoshaphat (the battle of Armageddon). But first there must be deliverance in the remnant whom the Lord is calling (Joel 2:32;3:2). That deliverance must be established. It could bless millions of people. But it will not be found among a people who are speaking a soft, little message; they will be proclaiming this word violently.
We must return to the message of violence. If anything causes us to back away from the fervency of violence that God put in our spirits, He will deal with it. I am talking about violent prayer and violent faith. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12b. God wants us to possess the Kingdom, but it will not just happen. Even now God has designated that His moving will be through a remnant, through His many-membered Body. That is the way the Kingdom will come. Is there any way that we are not entering in with all our hearts? God called us first of all not to labor, but to battle. Any apostolic word or ministry, any preaching of the living word are all secondary. Of great concern and importance is the warfare in the spirit.
We still are not producing in the ministries the diligence to wait on the Lord. For over twenty years the need for this has been preached, and for over twenty years people have started in spurts and then drawn back. Where are the men who have learned to wait on God and get the word from Him? Where are the people who can and will wait on God until they turn the tide? It would not take many, but even the few still refuse to wait upon the Lord. Our ministries and our people are falling short in their waiting before the Lord, it should be our prime concern. The ministry at the throne is far more important than the ministry to the masses.
Men who stand in the presence of the Lord will turn the tide. Elijah was able to say, “I am Elijah who stands in the presence of the Lord” (I Kings 17:1). That fact enabled him to turn Israel to judgment, to bring fire out of heaven, and to do many mighty works. Where are the prophets today who stand in the presence of the Lord? Our preaching, our ministry—everything else—is secondary to our waiting on the Lord and standing in His presence.
The book of Ephesians should be studied by every believer. It describes beautifully the believers’ walk, wealth, and warfare. Seven times the word “walk” is used: walk as dear children, walk in love, etc. It speaks about the wealth of the believer: all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Not only are the saints’ walk and wealth in Christ clearly identified, but also the book ends with a description of the warfare of the saints, speaking of their battle against principalities and powers and against spiritual wickedness in high places. It pictures that warfare in a very realistic way.
We know there are many possessions which we have not yet possessed, wealth that we have not yet claimed and received. We know we have a walk with God that has been clearly outlined for us. But the end of the whole matter is that we enter, as the army of the Lord, into the warfare of the end time.
When a word like this comes, we start to grapple with it; but often we seem unable to take hold of it, because Satan resists it more than anything else the Lord would bring. He hates this word that speaks of the times and of the spiritual battle we are facing. When a word is greatly blessed, we should rejoice in it; but when a word is resisted by devil power, we should rejoice in it even more. Then we should give our full diligence to embrace that word until it becomes a living force that breaks through the barrier that Satan would make or inspire in our spirits.
No one is being asked to become devil conscious; we are being asked to become more and more aware of the Lord as the Captain of our salvation, who is leading us into the warfare. The warfare we have, and we will become well aware of devil power; but we will lose the battle unless we become much more aware of the Lord than we are. If we get to the place where we see only the devil, we will become discouraged. We must set our eyes wholly on the Lord to see what He is commanding and how He is directing. Then we can proceed with an objective attitude. We were raised up by God to pull down principalities and powers and to loose the hordes of people who are to come out of Babylon.