Posts Tagged ‘ezekiel’
Set your face and prophesy against them! A strategy against the spirit of the age…
It’s past time to boldly and fearlessly stand against the spirit of the age.
Watch John teach this message titled Set Your Face:
SET YOUR FACE
A radical misunderstanding of how godly love truly manifests has led to a passive, affirming, tolerant response to one of history’s most diabolical assaults.
We have borrowed an unbiblical, humanistic definition of what love truly is. The mantra of the age is love is tolerant, love is affirming, love accepts unconditionally. This has painted a picture of a benevolent, passive God who so values mankind that he is willing to allow them to choose any path they desire and he will tolerate and affirm the accompanying behaviors, beliefs and mindsets.
Such a belief system elevates man to idol status and minimizes God to a mystical, happy force that has few standards or expectations. The most important thing is that people are happy, and when they are, God is most satisfied.
This doctrine of demons has resulted in a fear to represent God as he truly is to a generation that’s largely hedonistic. The prevailing thought is a humanistic one: We have to ensure only God’s positive attributes are revealed while hiding or even disagreeing with his standards. This has deemed today’s prophetic voices that adhere to that strategy as impotent at best and extremely dangerous at worst. The risk is that they veil God’s holiness and the reality of eternity and, in turn, raise up disciples of a demonic counterfeit that wraps it’s arms around a rebellious people—all in the name of love.
IT’S TIME TO WAGE WAR
The default position for all of us must be to reveal the true and immeasurable love of God to all. That goes without saying.
This however does not complete our job as end-time prophetic messengers and warriors of Christ. We have to understand that very few will in fact turn to Jesus in a legitimate way. While we need to contend for salvation for all, we have to understand that most will reject that call.
There are many clear enemies of God, and our mission of advancing light into the darkness much match that reality. Our expectations and strategies must match the situation.
James 4:4 (ESV) 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
The following is from a Glenn Beck article titled Past 10 Days Have Been A ‘Slapping Of God's Face':
“…you don’t have to be a genius to figure out what the problems are in the country,” Beck said on his radio program. “It’s because our society, our people, us, have become lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to our parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman. We’re slanderers,” Beck continued. “We’re haters of good. We’re treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure much more than lovers of God. [We’re] holding the form of religion, but denying the power of it.”
The time is now to wage war against the spirit of the age. While we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, we do wrestle against evil spirits.
Flesh and blood humans who embrace those evil spirits will absolutely feel the force of the warfare. We can’t allow that troubling reality stop us from opening our mouths and declaring truth.
We must be strong, and fight:
Ephesians 6:10-11 (ESV) 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
What are we doing to stand against the evil schemes in America today? It’s not enough to share the love of God to the lost through evangelism and other methods, as critical as that mandate is. There is more—much more. There is an invisible realm that is manifesting visibly in our nation. We must go to war as conquerors, as victors and as ambassadors of Christ.
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Several keys are revealed in the totality of the Ephesians 6 passage including taking up our shield of faith, wearing the helmet of salvation, and praying in the Spirit. The final method of battle is revealed in verse 19 where Paul is asking for prayer:
Ephesians 6:19-20 (ESV) 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
In addition to all of the spiritual armor Paul is wearing, his prayer at the end of his instructions reveals he must also take on boldness to speak! This is where the American church is failing embarrassingly today. Very little of the messages coming from it require any boldness at all to speak.
The true gospel message will very often provoke and disturb the majority who are opposed to truth. If the message wouldn’t cause problems for the enemies of God, and in turn for the messenger of God, why would boldness be necessary? There is a radical resistance to holiness and obedience to God in the land that is largely unmet by today’s Christian voices. We must again pray for boldness to preach what will result in great persecution for the church.
As Paul was writing this letter to the Ephesians, he was being persecuted, currently imprisoned because of that very message. He didn’t ask for the physical issues to be removed but rather that he would boldly confront the spirit of the age with the gospel. His plan was to continue preaching the very truth that was irritating the people of the region.
It’s a contrary, offensive, demanding, in your face message, contrary to the sugary, passive message that many are calling the gospel today.
SET YOUR FACE AND PROPHESY AGAINST THEM
In Ezekiel 25 we see a key strategy emerge.
Up until this point, concerning Jerusalem and the land of Israel, people had been holding on to faint hope due to the encouragement of false prophets. Then, contrary to the words of the false prophets, Jerusalem was destroyed. We are hearing the same thing today from so many Christian prophets and preachers—that everything is okay, and even getting better and better, all while great evil is increasing exponentially, persecution is increasing and darkness is expanding. People are being lured into nationally sanctioned sodomy and perversion and Christians who oppose it are being ridiculed and fined. Soon, if things don’t change, we will see Christians in prison in America just as they are in North Korea simply for preaching the Bible.
After Jerusalem was defeated, Ezekiel switched his prophetic focus to the surrounding nations. It would not be pretty. His message wasn’t one of happy affirmation.
In fact, Jesus himself didn’t always have the disposition of a gentle shepherd. Watch how he set his face against cities:
Luke 10:13-16 (ESV) 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
J. Vernon McGee said:
We get a warped view of Him when all we hear is, “God is love, God is love.” It is true that God is love, but don't lose sight of the fact that God is also holy. He is righteous and He will judge. You are not rushing into heaven on the little love boat today. If you reject His salvation, there will be nothing left but judgment.
Ezekiel 25:1 (ESV) 1 The word of the LORD came to me:
I often have to stop after seemingly unimportant verses like this one to consider the ramifications: “The word of the Lord came to me.”
Is the word of the Lord coming to anybody out there today? Of course several true messengers of God are receiving the alarming, Rhema words of God in this hour, but they are few and far between. I appreciate people like John Kilpatrick who has the courage and discernment to declare that “America is now an apostate nation.” Other like Steve Hill, Leonard Ravenhill, Isaiah Saldivar, Nathan Morris, Mike Bickle, Mario Murillo and Lou Engle are voicing or have voiced culture shaking truth.
When supposed messengers of God are expressing only happy, positive, affirming words they instantly lose credibility with me.
Jeremiah 23:16-17 (ESV) 16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
Contrast the previous verses with what follows:
Jeremiah 23:18-20 (ESV) 18 For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? 19 Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
Just as in Jeremiah’s time, today people are prophesying words that did not originate with God:
Jeremiah 23:21-22 (ESV) 21 “I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.
Thankfully, Ezekiel did receive the Word of the Lord. Now, what happens next is a spiritual mandate that is almost entirely forsaken in today’s church.
Ezekiel 25:2 (ESV) 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them.
One of the most quoted scriptures in the Bible is John 3:16. It’s a revelation of God’s love. I believe we stop short of the greater message to the detriment of the mission.
Here’s the famous verses:
John 3:16-17 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
And here’s what’s so often neglected though it is a part of the preceding passage:
John 3:18 (ESV) 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
We need to understand that the wrath of God remains on those who don’t have eternal life in Christ. Reading further in chapter three of John reveals this:
John 3:36 (ESV) 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
So, clearly there are enemies of God who are choosing to remain condemned, and we can’t sit back hoping that they someday turn.
As we prophecy against the enemies of God we are simply bring revelation regarding their condition and their future should they not repent. This is an act of godly love that will be rejected as hatred in our humanistic culture!
In fact, even within the church we are called to some extreme measures for the sake of the rebellious person’s soul—in the name of love!
1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (ESV) 1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
We are to deliver unrepentant people in the church to Satan! This is a very powerful example of what Ezekiel was doing by prophesying against people. Again, this is an expression of love as we trust God’s wisdom. Note that delivering someone to Satan would introduce them to a terrible season of life as their flesh is destroyed—so that their spirit might be saved.
As we prophesy against the spirit of the age, we are also agreeing in battle with God as he moves to protect his own. God is zealous for his Bride.
THE AMMONITES CELEBRATED AND EZEKIEL RESPONDED
Why was God against the Ammonites?
They celebrated when Israel was defeated.
There are many today who are applauding the defeat of godly marriage in our nation, defeats regarding abortion, prayer in school and many other losses. This is the rebellion in the land that must be confronted, in love, with boldness by today’s preachers and prophets.
Ezekiel 25:3-4 (ESV) 3 Say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Because you said, ‘Aha!’ over my sanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and over the house of Judah when they went into exile, 4 therefore behold, I am handing you over to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.
This is serious.
Is America at risk of being handed over to other nations who will ultimately defeat us? Yes. It’s becoming easier to see a day when America will be no more. I know such a thought will cause the positive thinkers to react and accuse me of not standing in faith or professing doom and gloom. Those accusations don’t move me. If I had no faith for America’s spiritual revival I would never waste time sounding an alarm like I am in this article. A revelation of a possible, or even probable, troubling future is not an exercise in faithlessness, it’s an act of love. Tornado alarms go off to help people prepare for trouble and react accordingly so they might be saved. Can you imagine getting angry at the alarm?
Just as I wrote that I heard very loud thunder exploding outside, and then I heard loud, distinctive tones booming out of my mobile phone. A message is currently displaying that says:
Emergency alert
Flash Flood Warning in this area until 9:00pm CDT. Avoid flood areas. Check local media. National Weather Service. Imminent severe alert.
Interesting timing, don’t you think?
I just read a powerful prophecy of judgment and destruction coming to America by A.A. Allen in Charisma Magazine. In part, he says:
The next thing which I saw was a huge ball of fire. The only thing I have ever seen which resembled the thing I saw in my vision was the picture of the explosion of the H-bomb in the South Pacific. In my vision, it was so real I seemed to feel a searing heat from it.
As the vision spread before my eyes, and I viewed the widespread desolation brought about by the terrific explosions, I could not help thinking,” While the defenders of our nation have quibbled over what means of defense to use, and neglected the only true means of defense, faith and dependence upon the true and living God, the thing which she greatly feared has come unto her!
How true it has proven that “Except the Lord keep The city, The watchman watches but in vain.”
It’s interesting that God’s primary motivation is not making life better for everybody. He’s not interested in affirming people in their sin or letting them know how much he loves them.
So, what is God’s ultimate purpose? To prove himself!
Ezekiel 25:5 (ESV) 5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a fold for flocks. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Ezekiel continues by addressing their celebration of wickedness. God makes it clear that rejoicing in immorality results in judgment:
Ezekiel 25:6-7 (ESV) 6 For thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within your soul against the land of Israel, 7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Again, this is so that everybody may know that he is Lord! This is a prime motivation!
Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV) 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The day homosexual marriage was legalized across the nation people filled the streets in cities from east to west in mass gatherings of celebration.
Time Magazine: Crowds of people filled the street outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City on Friday, celebrating the Supreme Court’s landmark gay marriage ruling and marveling at how much has changed in the past 50 years.
nbcnewyork.com: Celebrations Erupt in New York City After Supreme Court Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage Nationwide. From pop-up parties to weddings, New Yorkers are celebrating the Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. Within an hour of the ruling, rainbow flags were hanging outside City Hall. Mayor Bill de Blasio officiated at two same-sex weddings on the steps of City Hall on Friday afternoon as hundreds of spectators waving rainbow flags and holding signs looked on. Another couple renewed their vows.
acj.com: More than 1,000 people showed up in the rain Friday night to celebrate a milestone they never thought they would see. Gays and lesbians hugged and kissed in joy. They waved rainbow and American flags. Some were in drag, others in suits. Some brought their children. “This was a victory for us all. A victory for civil and human rights,” said Felicia English, trying to feed her 14-month old daughter Samantha, whose adoption was finalized on March 3. “Our daughter had two mothers and I am so happy for her. That she will not have to face adversity and discrimination.” “Today, love wins,” de Blasio said Friday.
We must boldly set our face and prophesy against such unholy demonstrations and celebrations of the defeat of biblical morality regarding gay marriage.
Revival will come when the distinction between light and darkness is its sharpest. It’s messengers of God who must bring definition to our current crisis.
The goal isn’t the affirmation of the people but it’s that they know that Jesus is Lord!
It’s time to clearly decry the darkness and shout the message of light, boldly, no matter if we are imprisoned or not.
That, in fact, may be a not too distant future reality for true prophetic voices today.
Video & Notes: Set Your Face—How to respond to the advance of perversion
Watch: What should our response be as America celebrates in the streets the legalization of immorality?
SET YOUR FACE—A STUDY IN EZEKIEL 25
America is celebrating by dancing in the streets as immorality and perversion has been legalized.
This is a powerful message from Ezekiel 25 about God's response in such a situation.
Watch as John boldly calls for prophetic voices to set their faces and prophecy against the spirit of the age.
Is our response to mass immorality simply to be nice in the hopes that people get saved?
No way. It's time for bold prophetic voices to draw the line in the sand, to preach light and to expose the darkness.
WATCH OR LISTEN TO THIS TIMELY MESSAGE FREE FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS HERE!
Revival Games and Glory Meetings: A radical misunderstanding of just what we are pursuing
Revival Games—The grand prize is not what we think it is.
There are over 19,000 cities in this nation, and none of them are experiencing revival. None. Zero.
Of course, God is moving in unique and legitimate ways in various small pockets all over the world, but not on a regional level anywhere in America.
I propose a primary reason this is the case is the focus of our efforts.
Most are seeking after glory meetings, soaking sessions and sign and wonder events instead of zeroing in on the costly, sobering, prophetic call to repent, consecrate and lay down our lives.
game noun \ˈgām\ An active interest or pursuit; activity engaged in for diversion or amusement
Revival is not a game designed for our amusement.
Revival demands an extreme lifestyle of surrender, intercession and a precise, searing laser focus.
The games that too many are playing today have an end goal of having an experience with God in a powerful corporate setting. You may be scratching your head at what I just wrote. Why would having an experience with God together with other hungry people be a negative pursuit? It wouldn’t. Read it again:
The games that too many are playing today have an end goal of having an experience with God in a powerful corporate setting.
If there’s an event where God is manifesting in supernatural power, I’ll be the first one there and the last one out. I’ll be on my face for hours, days and weeks if possible. I’ve been in many such atmospheres, and it’s impossible to describe just how overwhelming God’s manifest presence can be. Having an experience with God isn’t the problem. Pursuing that experience as an end goal is the problem.
When we play the revival game, the grand prize is limited to a personal encounter with God. I know, that seems like a risky thing to say. How can I even consider that an audience with the King of Glory is an insufficient reward? That sounds absurd if not slightly blasphemous!
However, we must stop and consider this point closely.
I believe revival is not exploding in our cities because we have been satisfied to settle for a personal encounter with God instead of aggressively laboring for millions of others to be overwhelmed by him.
The mission has been limited to our own experience. When we are full, we stop.
True revival isn’t a game, and we don’t stop when we win. We don’t stop when we are full. We start when we are full.
This issue is currently costing us greatly.
People are vacating churches because they don’t perceive the glory is being pursued. The soldiers are more focused on the benefits than the battle, and the enemy is gaining ground.
It’s not about us. It’s about the nations, and we must all be in position every time the church doors are open, on our face, praying night and day no matter how dry the environment is.
INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Acts 2:1
In my book 20 Elements of Revival, I map out a step-by-step process of revival based on Acts chapter 2.
The first step, or element, is agreement. We can’t pretend to think we’ll experience God together, much less revival, if we aren’t submitted, agreed and in position.
Today, if people don’t sense a glory meeting or other type of experience is the goal, they will check out. They become conference hoppers looking for the latest, greatest supernatural rush—all while the true remnant is dying to their opinions, praying night and day and crying out to God together. They are unified.
The second element is what I call an extreme devotion of time. They were all together in one place, and refused to leave until the Promise arrived. Today? Finding people to stay in position as commissioned soldiers is nearly impossible. Our American life offers way too much, or demands too much, for us to consider our call to pray and advance in the church to be a primary devotion.
The third and fourth elements deal with the necessity for the atmosphere to be charged with supernatural power and for everybody in the mission to be driven by it.
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:2-4
This brings us to element number five: International Focus.
The Upper Room wasn’t about the Upper Room. It wasn’t a glory meeting for people to enjoy. It was a supernatural equipping center for only those most devoted to the cause. It burned through everybody there, and what they experienced resulted in international impact.
God’s power, glory and truth pierced Jerusalem and the hearts of the people who had gathered from the nations.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” Acts 2:5-12
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
What does this mean? This is the question that will launch a revival.
How ridiculous does it seem to consider that the 120 in the Upper Room would have just focused on enjoying themselves! That historic moment in human history where super invaded natural was not about a glory meeting! It wasn’t about personal satisfaction. It was about the nations.
This must grip us. Today we must have a remnant people who will stop seeking after personal satisfaction at the cost of Earth rocking revival.
There was a major stadium event being planned in Detroit a few years ago. People were called to gather together to pray on fire for the passions on the heart of God.
In preparation for this massive meeting I had the privilege of attending one of the pastor’s prayer sessions. There were around 40 or 50 pastors and leaders there, and as we entered into prayer, a holy hush came over all of us. In that place of sober silence I received a sharp prophetic word for all of us in attendance:
Pastors and leaders, we cannot look to this event, where thousands of people will gather, as an opportunity to grow our own ministries. If we are participating because we are holding out hope that people and resources will come into our churches as a result, we must repent. God will judge all who attempt to use this pure, holy, solemn assembly for their own satisfaction and gain.
Groans were heard filling the room.
When we stop seeking after personal gain and start looking at the masses who are currently sentenced to Hell, our motives will change. Our intercession will explode. Our expectations for revival will shift dramatically.
The power of God will radiate out of our prayer room into the nations and all will be provoked for an answer to their desperate question, “What does this mean?”
Our response will then be like Peter’s: we will preach the Word in power and people will be cut to the heart.
A glory meeting, no matter how intense or widespread, cannot be considered revival. Only when a message of repentance results, and when people respond in mass can we even begin to hope revival is near.
Is it possible there are no people alive today who have experienced legitimate revival? Many believe Azusa and the Welsh Revival were the last true moves of God that could be defined as revival. That was a very long time ago.
ENCOUNTERING GOD
When we have an experience with God, the goal is not to remain on our faces.
Many people didn’t understand why the awakening that occurred a few years ago at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City was eventually deemphasized. I directed one of the four primary internships at IHOPKC for a short season, so I understand at least in part the culture and the vision. The mandate is to pray. I wasn’t there when the awakening broke out, and I’m sure if I was I would have been on my face as often as I could have!
Why did Mike Bickle allow the awakening to settle down? I won’t pretend to have the answer, but I’d at least like to offer a hypothesis. The end goal for IHOPKC isn’t a glory meeting or a local awakening. It’s prayer for the nations.
I am actually in awe of that ministry. Unlike so many others who burn out after a move of God lands, IHOPKC didn’t miss a beat and they didn’t violate their primary purpose. They stayed in the prayer room through the awakening and didn’t pull back when it ended. They had work to do. They were on their face, and then were put back on their feet. I’ll explain that powerful principle in just a moment.
Understand, I am one who is addicted to the love, power and glory of the Lord Jesus! When his presence manifests in a weighty glory, I can just stay on my face forever! The biblical norm for believers is to experience the weighty presence of the Holy Spirit regularly.
However, there is more—much more. And, there is a greater goal than simply experiencing God myself. Others must know about him.
Consider just how intense our God is:
As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. Ezekiel 1:4
This is the glory of the Lord!
When God touches us, we can expect to fall over as dead!
Consider this:
- Lightning is a created force—and if it strikes you, you will fall over as dead.
- Angels are created beings—and people fall over as dead when they encounter them.
- What happens when we encounter the Creator?! We can’t presume to just stand there and grin with a hand lifted up when God truly touches us! We will fall over as dead!
I’ll admit, the experience is so phenomenal, so shocking, that it would be easy to just stay in that place, after a supernatural lightning strike puts us on the floor. But, when we stay there, the hope of revival fades.
I was at the International House of Prayer one day when God moved in great power. Someone who had recently attended the Lakeland outpouring was shaking under the presence of God. He came over to me and prophesied over me. I got hit by fire! I fell over and he immediately picked me up and said, “You are going to have to learn to stand and minister under this anointing.”
He was right. I couldn’t just lay there and enjoy the moment. There was work to be done, and I had just experienced the necessary power to do it.
ON YOUR FACE. ON YOUR FEET. ON YOUR FACE.
Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. Ezekiel 1:28
Ezekiel was rocked and he hit his face. But, notice that he doesn’t stay there:
And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. Ezekiel 2:1-2
Ezekiel couldn’t enjoy his glory encounter for long. He was being encountered by God Almighty for a purpose, and the purpose wasn’t just to bless Ezekiel:
And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. Ezekiel 2:3-5
Messengers and divine messages always precede revival, and Ezekiel was to carry and release a word that was necessary to be heard. If Israel responded, revival would erupt. If not, judgment would come. True messages of revival always include revelation on both mercy and judgment, on revival and rebuke.
See, the Spirit is looking for a people who he can set on its feet. He is ready to empower us to use our feet to walk in the Spirit and to awaken a sleeping generation.
And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.” Ezekiel 3:1-11
Then, again we see God striking Ezekiel and standing him back up:
So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face. But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house. Ezekiel 3:23-24
We see how invested Ezekiel was in revival in Israel. He didn’t stay in a soaking session simply enjoying God’s presence. He was obedient and instant in his response as God gave him his directives. He was set on his feet to go to his house…and to experience distress over the state of the nation:
And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. Ezekiel 3:25-27
Ezekiel wasn’t playing revival games, seeking his own amusement! He was repeatedly stricken and put upright by his Commander!
WARN THE CHURCH
In Revelation chapter one John has a similar encounter with God. He also fell, but clearly he was not to soak in God’s presence. He was given a critical mission to warn the church.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Revelation 1:10-20
John immediately started writing what was revealed to him. Again, the call was for revival.
SO, WHAT ABOUT GLORY MEETINGS?
As I said, we should expect God to show up in extreme glory at times. This is very good and absolutely biblical.
God finally took Ezekiel into a place of glory:
Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever… Ezekiel 43:1-7
This is revival! The glory of the Lord filling the temple and the glory of the Lord covering the Earth! This is revival! Even though, as in the continuing drama in the book of Ezekiel, many won’t respond, the spirit of revival will arrive and God will be glorified.
In Acts 2, many marveled and many mocked. While revival can and should impact a city and a nation, the mark of revival is not comprehensive response. The mark is the glory of God filling the region. When that happens, most will rebel more distinctly, but the remnant will be found. The wheat and the tares will be defined.
“As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. Ezekiel 43:10-11
So, yes, we will find ourselves on our face before the Lord in glorious victory and true revival…but, the point I’ve been driving home must be clarified again:
The goal isn’t our experience in God’s glory—it’s the experience of the nations!
The process is simple:
- On our face: Get struck by God in a place of extreme consecration, prayer and obedience.
- On our feet: Be put on your feet to minister the messages of God to a sleeping and rebellious generation.
- On our face: Experience revival—God is worshiped by the nations and his glory fills the Earth.
On our face. On our feet. On our face.
…and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” 2 Chronicles 7:1-3