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YOUR LIGHT HAS COME--THE
GLORY OF THE LORD IS RISING UPON HIS PEOPLE
Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries
www.morningstarministries.org
The Church
Must Seize the Opportunity
The last two decades have witnessed the
greatest advance of the gospel in history. It has been estimated that more
people have become Christians in just the last two decades, than have from
the first century until this time. This is partly due to more people being
alive now than the previous two thousand years. Without question,
Christianity has made its greatest advances in recent years on a worldwide
basis than ever before in its history.
The coming times are filled with even greater potential for the
advancement of the gospel. With more and more churches, networks of
churches, and ministries beginning to take advantage of these
opportunities, it is likely that this present generation will seal its
place as having been more fruitful in reaping the harvest than all of the
other generations of Christians combined.
Other studies also reveal serious problems with immorality and eroding
integrity eating away at the very foundations of the church in the West,
where it has had its strongest base for the last five hundred years. These
problems cannot be ignored without tragic consequences. If the church
seizes the opportunities now open for the gospel, while also addressing
these problems, the next few years will be even more fruitful and
glorious. The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached as we prepare the way
for the Lord.
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis can be described by the process through which a caterpillar
is changed from a worm, that has to crawl and conform to the contours of
the earth, then turn into a butterfly that soars above the earth. This is
the process that the church is now going through.
However, just as breaking out of its
cocoon is the greatest struggle a butterfly will have to endure, for the
church to break out of its cocoon, will also be its greatest struggle yet.
Even so, just as this struggle is required to strengthen the butterfly so
it can flap its great wings, this struggle will be required to strengthen
the church so that it, too, can use the great wings that it is being
given.
The church is changing very dramatically in its appearance and
function. What is now taking place will be so dramatic, that few will be
able to compare the caterpillar that she was, to the beautiful butterfly
that she will soon be. However, the caterpillar stage was part of the
process and was necessary. We must never forget those who walked through
some of the church's most difficult times, enduring the difficulties to
build the highway for those who followed. We must also go on to our
purpose and begin to fly.
True last day apostles and prophets are now maturing and will start to be
released throughout the earth over the next few years. The witness of the
Holy Spirit through the church will increase until it is impossible to
escape this witness in any place on the earth that Jesus Christ is the
Lord. The Lord is soon coming back to possess what He purchased on the
cross. A great army is being raised up to prepare the way for Him.
True Riches to Come
The currency of the age to come is
the true riches of the Kingdom. These true riches are the authority over
the conditions of this age. This authority will be given to the faithful
who have built their lives seeking first the Kingdom. The Lord is at this
time preparing messengers who will be entrusted with more power than has
ever been witnessed on the earth before.
These are the times that even the
prophets of old desired to see, and to be chosen to live and serve in them
is one of the great honors that Heaven can bestow. These are the times
that those who live for God have dreamed about. Let us not waste this
greatest of all privileges, but resolve to give ourselves to this great
cause with the devotion that it deserves.
Church life itself will become so radically different than it has been,
having broken out of the cocoon of being reduced to a couple of meetings
and a few hours a week, to being a living, functioning body of Christ
twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. "Church" will begin breaking
out in every place that you find people.
Likewise, the Lord is raising up those
who will be apostles and prophets to industry, education, the media, and
government. These apostles and prophets are the surveyors and engineers
who are now preparing for highways to be built into these realms. Many
will be possessed for the Kingdom and become a foundation for the coming
Kingdom to be built upon.
Unprecedented power, authority, and resources will be coming into the
church as she begins to take on her true calling and purpose, having been
transformed from the worm into the glorious Heavenly creature she is
called to be.
This transformation of the church is
going to begin with many who will not wait for the church before making
their own transformation. Just as the breakthrough created by Gideon's
little band of three hundred woke the whole nation up to finish off their
enemies and take the spoil, breakthroughs by a few will result in glorious
victories for many.
Light and Darkness
For the unbelieving and unfaithful, the times that are unfolding will not
be a dream, but a nightmare. We are entering the time of increasingly
devastating disasters--human, political, and natural. This is the time
that was spoken of in Hebrews 12:26-27, "And His
voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, YET ONCE MORE
WILL I SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.'" And
this expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things
which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things
which cannot be shaken may remain.
In the time ahead, everything, including every government, industry,
business, organization, and individual life that is not built upon Kingdom
principles, will be shaken until it totters and ultimately collapses. By
the grace and mercy of God, this will come in increasing waves, giving all
time to repent before the next, bigger wave comes. The Lord is being
faithful to warn all who will hear His voice.
Acts of Man
The unrepentant blame God for every bad thing that happens. Even the
insurance companies call tragedies "acts of God." However, most of what is
coming upon the world is man's doing, not God's. The reason for the great
time of trouble, or the great tribulation that is at the end of the age,
is found in Galatians 6:7-8, "Do not be deceived,
God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For
the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption,
but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal
life."
Even many of the things that are considered "natural
disasters" are the result of man, who was given authority over the earth,
being in rebellion, and therefore out of harmony with the Creator and the
creation. This is not God doing it, but man bringing it upon himself.
At the same time that the seeds of
trouble are being reaped, so are the seeds of the Kingdom maturing. In the
midst of the increasing instability and shaking, there will emerge realms
of stability and peace such as the world has not seen since the Fall.
This is articulated in the verses that
follow, Galatians 6:8-10, "For the one who sows
to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who
sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not
lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow
weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and
especially to those who are of the household of the faith."
It is for this reason that disaster response and relief will become one
of the most important mission fields of the church in the future. This is
a calling upon the church, and our response to it, that will determine to
a large degree how much of the currency of the Kingdom we will be
entrusted with. Now is the time to prepare for this.
Sow Mercy and Reap Mercy
We need to also underline in our
thinking the command, "while we have opportunity, let us do good to all
men, and especially those who are of the household of faith." Let us never
forget that God loves all, and as we are told in
I Timothy 2:3-6, "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the
testimony borne at the proper time."
As troubles increase, we must not take the position and mentality that
people are just getting what they deserve. Which one of us wants what we
deserve? "...Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James
2:13). As we are told in Romans 2:4,
"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and
patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
The kindness of God demonstrated through His people during the coming
troubles will lead many to repentance.
In the coming times of trouble, we must fortify ourselves, not just for
the sake of our own safety and preservation, but for showing and extending
the grace, mercy, and kindness of God. Because we, too, will reap what we
sow. If we want to reap grace, we need to sow grace. If we want to reap
mercy, we need to sow mercy. The wise will do this every chance that they
get.
As the Lord said in Matthew 13:39, "...the
harvest is the end of the age...." The harvest that is the end
of the age is the reaping of everything that has been sown in man, both
the good and the evil. The great troubles are the reaping of what man has
sown by trying to live and rule without God. For all of eternity, what has
taken place on the earth will be a witness to all of creation that this
should never be tried again.
There has also been much good sown in man, even the seed that brought
forth Christ, and seeds whose fruit will give birth to His Kingdom. These,
too, will become increasingly manifest. For this reason, we will see an
increasing polarization. The righteous will become more righteous, and the
evil will likewise increase.
Nations
Will Come to Your Light
This is the ultimate conflict between
the light and darkness that is prophesied in such places as
Isaiah 60:1-2, "Arise, shine; for your light has
come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness
will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples, but the Lord will
rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you."
As we see here that darkness is covering the earth, and deep darkness
the peoples, the glory of the Lord is rising upon His people, and
appearing upon them. This appearing of His glory will be a literal,
visible glory that begins to appear on His people. The result of this is
stated in the following verses, Isaiah 60:3-5:
"And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your
rising. Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together,
they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will
be carried in the arms.
Then you will
see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice; because the
abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will
come to you." |
