Days of Decision, Preparing for Days of War

Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, 'I am strong.'" Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow-- for their wickedness is great." Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. - Joel 3:9-14

Believers are presently being exercised to make decisions, and not to have them made for us as children. We are faced with decisions that will have far-reaching and powerful effects and consequences now and in the ensuing weeks, months and years. To many, the Lord is seemingly silent. We have been, much like children, used to asking the Lord to do such-and-such for us, for others, etc. His silence is His answer that it's now time for us to make decisions based on our intimate knowledge of Him, His character, His ways, and the knowledge of the truth through the word and indwelling Spirit of God. It will take FAITH...true faith and not that which has been bantered around as something we use to get stuff from Him. It's the "faith of the Son of God" who dwells within us, Who is also seated at the right hand of God.

These decisions cannot be based on common sense, or what it is the most comfortable, the cheapest, or the best for us, according to "Americanized" Christianity. Decisions must be based on the knowledge of God and what is righteous and just according to His nature and His word. Grow-up time! These decisions are a form of spiritual warfare that, if made wisely, will release a greater faith, authority, maturity and provision. The first decision, according to the passage above, is to arise, shake off passivity, and surrender ourselves for the purpose of spiritual battle.

Making these decisions, especially going against normal reasoning, will be the first step in seeing successful warfare that will release a greater harvest than we've even seen. Successful decisions that are made now will be the result of choosing to seek His face in intimacy and obedience in the past season. Those without a track record of an intimate walk with God will find these times very difficult, but there is still great hope and mercy if we stop what we've been doing in the past season, and pray, fast and seek His face NOW!

Understanding the Battle By Mike McClung

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Eph. 6:12-13).

Satan is a terrorist and does not fight fairly.  Most of us discover firsthand that if you serve in Christian ministry you may be putting yourself at risk. Unless you are called and anointed by God to the area of service you serve in, and have counted the cost, you are literally taking your life in your hands.  If you have ever had a leadership role in a church or ministry, you know the difficulty that can arise from even Christ-loving people.  When the people who claim loyalty to you wrongfully use, betray, deceive, reject, abandon, and even subvert you and your ministry, they simply help you qualify to participate in this end-time battle to restore the ruins of people’s lives and release the inheritance of the Lord in the earth.

Spiritual Warfare - What Are We Fighting For? By Mike McClung

And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:7-8).

I used to believe this passage of scripture was metaphorical.  I do not believe this any longer in light of the realization of 24/7 houses of prayer arising all across the globe.  The restoration of the spirit of the Tabernacle of David (Acts 15:15-17; Amos 9:11-13) is literally being fulfilled in this generation.  Multi-generational companies of Christians are arising in many cities.  They yearn to see the vision, burden and calling of what is taking place around the throne of God (Rev. 4&5) established on earth as happened in King David’s day. (1 Chron. 16.)  A place for the glory of the Lord is being prepared in many geographic locations as the bride of Christ enters into the fullness of her priestly ministry and identity.  Once the priestly identity and ministry of the bride is restored, then the anointing of the Head will begin to flow over the entire body. (Psalm 133:1-3.) 

Joshua – Generations Joined/Generational Blessings Possessed By Mike McClung

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God (1 Cor. 2:9-12).

Limited vision produces limited people and limited fulfillment of purpose.  Mike Bickle, Director of Friends of the Bridegroom Ministries and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, once told me that he believed that imparting vision was the key to dealing with rebellion and lack of discipline in the lives of God’s people.  I believe this is a profound insight.  We become what we behold: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).  Anyone who has ever driven a car knows the feeling of something catching their attention off to one side of the road, only to look back to the front to see their vehicle swerving in the direction they had just been looking.  One of the tragic things that has happened to the bride of Christ, especially in western society, is the lack, or inconsistency, of leaders in the church focusing the vision of God’s people on the Person and purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Generation of Jacob By Mike McClung

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah (Psalm 24:3-6).

The Lord is a God of generations.  The Lord looks on us individually, loving, providing and using us - weak and broken human beings - to accomplish His will, but He also sees us interconnected with all of the generations of past ages.  When confronting error in the Saducees’ resurrection theology, He said, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt. 22:32).  In giving this answer, the Lord also verifies that the Father thinks and sees generationally.

From Kairos to Chronos - New Season is Here!

A new kairos moment has opened.

This is the opportune time to repent, adjust and get positioned (Acts 3:19) for the new season (chronos - Acts 3:21) that is beginning. The Jordan (the waters of death to SELF - and death to anything else necessary) has opened, and the waters of death are piled up back to "Adam" (Joshua 4-5). It is the time of cutting off the sins and iniquitous patterns of past generations to enter into the full inheritance that Jesus has purchased for His body to walk in. 

I've personally never seen such an onslaught of death around me, personally and within my sphere. For those who know the Lord, it's a joyous time of knowing that they (anyone who has passed on) will be safe in the cloud of witnesses, while we face and overcome, through the power of the Spirit, the forces of darkness. 

There's an inheritance in Christ to be possessed, and enemies to be put under His feet to prepare the way, the nations and the earth for His return. We're in that last season. We must repent of the Babylonian ways and systems that have entered the temple of God (His individual and corporate body). A new ministry has been in the process of preparation for years, and is now ready to be unleashed with authority and power. They have been dealt with and will be dead to self, ambition and personal significance ("MY ministry", "MY rights", ad nauseum), and who only live and breathe to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They will not fear the face of men or demons. They will speak the word of God with boldness and God Himself will back the word up with power. 

A great purging and purification is coming first to the people of God (the "oikos" of the "naos", or building material of the true temple of His body - see Eph. 2:19-22). It will then flow out to the outer court of the house, then to the cities and communities of that royal priesthood (Melchizedek) that have remained faithful to Him. There's always been a remnant. 

Things are in place.... The pieces are beginning to move.... The downfall of the accuser is imminent!

Hedged In By Mike McClung

Hosea 2:6-7; 14-16: Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths. She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.’ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.” And it shall be, in that day,” says the LORD, That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master’….

We have entered a new season of restoration (Acts 3:19-21) in which the full purpose of God in restoring His fullness and glory in the earth will come to fruition.

Several years ago, the Lord gave me the scriptures, Joshua 3:1-6 and Joshua 5:1-12, as templates of the activities of the Holy Spirit that will lead the body of Messiah up to a “crossing over” into a final season of restoration. This will ultimately culminate in the bodily return of the Lord Jesus to earth. For the last twenty years, we have been in the process of becoming “Presence-focused”, with intimacy, worship and intercession taking central place in the body of Christ. As with Joshua and the nation of Israel (see Joshua 3:3), this focused pursuit of His Presence (the Ark) is what will lead us through the “Jordan” – a death to self – in order to enter into His fullness in this last season. Part of the process of preparing for this new season and entering this inheritance will entail a “circumcision” of flesh in the lives of a generation that has been brought up in a religious wilderness for the past 50 years (see Joshua 5:1-6). The Lord’s sharpened flint “knife” is coming!