Preparing to Enter a New Season of Fullness and Harvest By Mike McClung

Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD…For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper…who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end…. (Deut. 8:1-3, 7-9, 16)

To those in the body of Christ who are willing and prepared, we’re about to enter into a time of fullness, restoration and harvest unprecedented in the history of the world.

What Are We Waiting On? By Mike McClung

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved. (Psalm 62:5-6)

Waiting on the Lord is one of the hardest things for the flesh to embrace. One of the biggest obstacles to moving into the new season, and moving into greater glory and harvest, is impatience. Impatience caused Moses to be set on the backside of the desert for forty years as the Lord dealt with his life and character. Impatience caused King Saul to presumptively take matters into his own hands when it seemed Samuel was delayed in his arrival to bless the troops before battle (1 Sam. 10), thus causing a hardening of his heart in pride and ultimately losing the kingdom. Impatience by the newly saved Saul of Tarsus caused unnecessary turmoil and problems for the still infant church in Jerusalem, causing the senior leaders to send him back home to Tarsus for the discipline of silence and solitude (Acts 9:27-31). Part of the Lord’s refining process to prepare us to enter into the fullness of His presence and purposes is learning to wait on the Lord. There’s nothing more irritating and deadly to the fallen nature, but conversely reviving to the Spirit of God within us, than waiting on God. Waiting on the Lord is part of the sifting process where the precious (His presence within the believer) is separated from the worthless (that which is under the dominion of the world, the flesh and the enemy). This has always been a necessary stage in the sanctification/training process in a believer’s life before moving forward into the fullness of the Lord’s purposes.

The Apostolic Ministry - The Apostolic Shift - Part 2 By Mike McClung

(This article is a continuation of the previous article on “The Apostolic Shift – Part 1”)

Becoming a “Nail Scar” in His Hand

Paul, Timothy’s spiritual father, tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12: don’t let anybody look down on your youth but be an example. The first place in the New Testament the word for “example” (Gr. – tupos) is used is in John 20:25:

The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’

Thomas was absent in the first encounter with the Lord Jesus after the resurrection. The others tell Him of seeing and communing with the resurrected Lord, and he says, “I will not believe unless I see the nail scar (tupos).” This is what the lost, hurting, sin-loving, hell-bound masses are crying out for – a nail print! This is the beginning of true ministry. This is where the veil of unbelief is lifted off the hearts and understanding of the lost, blind and skeptical (Eph. 1:17-20), and where the Spirit begins the work of transformation in lives. This happens when people encounter the “nail scar” – the physical imprint of His life in us!

The Apostolic Ministry - The Apostolic Shift – Part 1 By Mike McClung

Several times, I’ve had ministers give me business cards that stated, “Apostle (their name)”. I’ve also been asked to speak at churches where the senior leader is titled “Apostle (their name). The title someone carries should FOLLOW the fruit of their life and ministry/work. I’ve known too many friends who served in the military, especially in theaters of war, who have been on the field of battle with recently commissioned, but green and untested officers, given charge of their platoons or squads. Their horror stories of theirs, and everyone else lives put in grave jeopardy because of these untested, though titled officers were all too often a correlation to what we’ve seen emerge in the body of Christ over the last two decades.

The Battle: Set in Full Array, Part 2 By Mike McClung

[This is Part 2 of a two-part article. To read Part 1, click here.] 

Babylon

Just as the first Tabernacle of David stands as a type and shadow of the city of Zion, the tower of Babel and the Babylonian kingdom serve as the template to understand the nature of the mindset of Babylon. The nature of Babylon is both political and religious. Genesis records the construction of the tower of Babel.

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel (Gen.11:1-9 NKJV).

The Battle: Set In Full Array, Part 1 By Mike McClung

The war between light and darkness has raged from the beginning of time, but now is escalating at an unprecedented rate of speed as it draws everyone into the fray.  Soon we all will be forced to choose sides and fully engage. What we have watched and witnessed from a distance will soon come knocking on our door. In relative apathy and silence, we have allowed darkness to encroach and shroud every aspect of society.  Now the lines of demarcation will clearly delineate the two emerging, opposing global forces: Zion and Babylon. Catastrophic and cataclysmic events will reveal the best and worst which reside within all of mankind.  World shaking events will expose the weaknesses of every structure we have tried to invent and erect.  What we have been able to cleverly disguise and hide behind will be brought out into plain view for all to see.  Who we are and what we believe will be clear to everyone.  What is the nature of these two global powerhouses: Zion and Babylon? To whom will you align?