Faith enables us to rise above the futility and the oppression which the enemy is trying to bring against us, to keep us from walking in victory. With all the deception and illusions of the devil, it is easy to be defeated and discouraged, but faith keeps us pressing in. This must be the time God has spoken of.
I think the most difficult thing in the world for people to do is to be believers. Man has something in him that seems to be almost incurable in many areas, such as doubt, skepticism, and bitterness. In the Bible you can find men who believed God and if you honestly look at the circumstances, you wonder how those men ever had faith in God.
Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. And even now I know that, whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give thee. Further on in the chapter Jesus makes the statement … whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:21, 22, 26. To have a word from the Lord and to really believe it, to put your faith implicitly in the Lord and in what He says, is very difficult. As the Lord turned to Mary and Martha, the grieving sisters of Lazarus (who had been dead and buried several days), He asked, … Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? John 11:40. The world is saying, “O God, show us Your glory and then we will believe.” God is saying, “I don’t do it that way. You believe Me, and then I’ll show you My glory.”
What would have been your reactions if you had lived in the antediluvian world of wickedness during the times of Noah? According to the Genesis account, the people had never known rain. The earth was watered by a mist and dew which produced intense vegetation. In that situation, imagine God saying to you, “Now, make an ark and put two of every kind of animal in it because I’m going to send some rain.” “Rain! What’s rain?” “I’m going to flood the earth and everything will be covered with water. Nothing will be left alive.” Imagine the faith of Noah, who spent 120 years preaching, building an ark, and collecting quite a large zoo. That’s a lot of faith! Everyone thought he was crazy, but to us Noah is an example of a man of great faith. Paul writes in Hebrews 11:7: By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.… I don’t know if you understand what that would mean, but that could shake a man up quite badly. If you knew the voice of the Lord and He spoke saying, “leave your city now, because tonight the bomb will fall,” would you obey? How many people would really obey?
Faith is difficult. God’s word shakes you. Everyone around you is telling you, “Now be sensible. Don’t go overboard and become too fanatical. Be careful, or you will believe too much. It’s all right to sing in the Spirit a little bit, but this idea of believing in the army of the Lord, believing that the day of the Lord is coming, and setting about to fight witchcraft, is taking it to extremes. Back off, quickly!”
The average Christian plays “Brahms’ Lullaby.” He wants to be given sweet little nothings, philosophical “eyedrops.” What good does it do? To him it’s business as usual. The Jews did that in Jerusalem. Jesus was standing up on a high turret of the wall looking down over the city just weeping, “Oh, if you only knew the day of your visitation. But it’s hid from your eyes” (Luke 19:44, 42). They could accept His miracles, but to listen to what He was saying and to believe it was another thing.
Young people are facing the same challenging position today. They are called upon to believe words that are coming from the Lord about the day just ahead of them. They cannot cast away their confidence (Hebrews 10:35).
A Scripture in the book of Revelation stirs our hearts. It says, And behold, I come quickly. Revelation 22:7a. Nearly two thousand years have passed since that was written, but now the day is upon us. It is high time to wake out of sleep, for now is your salvation nearer than when you first believed. (Romans 13:11). The time is upon us.
I wonder how long it will be before we have a revolution in this country? With such little time remaining, we must be as faithful to the Word as we know how to be. Very shortly the plane of prophecy will change and the prophecies will become creative and destructive. We will stand here and prophesy, and when we finish, Babylon’s walls will be cracked and will be coming down.
At times we could cry like the martyrs who cry from under the altar, “How long, O Lord, how long” (Revelation 6:9, 10)? But now the day is dawning and we are not going to fail or stumble. We will experience some difficult times, but it is most important for us to believe in the hour of destiny that has come upon the whole earth. Believe what God has for us to fulfill. This has a shaking effect.
I don’t believe I’m indispensable, yet I stand on the promise of Zechariah 4:9: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands shall also finish it.” I have a ticket for a front-row seat during this end-time performance.
We have a long way to go. However, it is not measured in time or distance, but in spiritual plane. It’s an area of spirit, not of distance. If we just knew how, we could be doing more than we are doing. We could be working miracles that we are not working. We must break through and reach into that other realm. It’s right here with us; it’s all around us. I believe we could do it. Let us press in with all our hearts and be faithful in what God has called us to be.
Some of the older ones need to grasp the inspiration and enthusiasm of the young people. It is surprising how much people lose as they get older. Their flexibility to sense things is impaired. They build up memories and cling to their habits. Even when things go downhill they tend to build a platform in their thinking, as they try to hold things on an even keel. But there is something in the wind. Everything is changing.