As we previously covered, the Israelites did not go willingly in the baptism represented by the crossing of the Red Sea. The Lord basically had to trick them into it, giving them no other alternative because of the enemy that pursued them. However, the baptism represented by the crossing of the Jordan was a voluntary one and would begin the pursuit of their enemies to drive them from their land. This was not just because the circumstances had changed, but because the people had changed during their long sojourn in the wilderness.
The church has likewise seemingly wandered in the wilderness for nearly two thousand years. Like Israel’s trek through the wilderness, this time was not wasted. A great transformation has been taking place in the people. It was one thing to get the people out of Egypt, but it took much longer to get the Egypt out of the people. Likewise, there are people who may have seemingly been drifting through life rather aimlessly, but God has been doing a deep work in their hearts. This time has not been wasted. They are prepared for the great challenges ahead, which will prepare the way for the coming of the kingdom of God.
The change comes from a life that was composed of being chased and harassed by the devil, and the deep dealings of God in our own hearts, to the mentality of a conqueror. This does not mean we are now perfect. The conquest ahead will help to continue the work on our character, but there will be a great difference in the conflict—instead of battling the enemies within who have kept us in bondage, we will begin battling the ones without who are keeping others in bondage.
We must never forget that our conquest is not the greedy pursuit of personal gain and advancement, but our treasure is the liberation of souls that are now in the bondage of darkness. Our purpose is to see the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ set the captives free. We are called as true freedom fighters. Our success in this life will be counted by the release of the captives that the devil has had in bondage to do his will.
We can now expect a big change to begin to take place in the church from just seeking to be set free ourselves, to setting the nations free. On the other side of the Jordan, Israel may not have looked different on the outside from the group who had left Egypt, but on the inside they were very different. They were no longer just recently released slaves—they were conquerors! Right now, by appearances the church may not look very different than it has for many centuries, but it is! We are no longer just recently released slaves—we are warriors with the greatest cause, preparing for the greatest battle!
I hear about ten negative comments to every encouraging word about the church today. However, this is coming from those who do not have eyes to see. In 1960 it was estimated that 30 million people had been empowered by the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Today we are approaching one billion! Many of the greatest pastors, teachers, and evangelists in the history of the church are alive today. There is an emerging prophetic ministry that is rising to the true biblical standards of that calling with the kind of prophetic gifts which are beginning to rival anything seen in the Old Testament, and will undoubtedly exceed them. There is a new breed of ministry arising that will walk in true apostolic stature, authority, and wisdom.
After every great move of God since the beginning of the Reformation over five hundred years ago, there was a lull before the next one. However, each new move of God would exceed the limits of the previous one by a considerable margin. The much maligned Charismatic Movement actually resulted in more salvations, more churches being planted, more missions being birthed, and more missionaries being sent out than possibly all of the previous moves of God combined! There has been a seeming lull since the peak of that movement, at least in the West. But the one that is now building is truly going to be something to behold. It may well be the one that the prophets and righteous men of old all desired to see, and have been waiting for as members of the great cloud of witnesses.
I have been asked to speak to a few NFL teams just before their games. The intensity of the focus on their faces was like nothing I have ever seen. In 1990, I was speaking to the Denver Broncos before an important Monday night game with their rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Lord drew my attention to their “game faces.” He then said to me, “When you see that kind of focus on My people, the time is at hand.”
Since that night I have looked for this focus on the faces of God’s people everywhere I go. For years it seemed in most churches they more like kids in detention hall after school than a rising, conquering army. However, in the last four years I have begun to see the increasing focus and intensity that I know means the great advance is now close.
When you see those football teams just before a game, you think that if they are not released on their foe very soon they will begin to hurt each other! That is actually what sometimes happens in churches. When we build people up and then do not release them on the enemy, their intensity is released as frustration on other believers. This is the cause of many church splits and other devastating problems. It is now time for us to engage the enemy! We need church builders, and this is a job that some will always need to be occupied doing, but it is now time to turn our attention away from just building up ourselves to building the kingdom.
This is not at all to imply that the work in us is finished. However, much of the deep inner workings that we need can only come from the battles we are called to fight with the enemy. The worst enemy of Christianity is complacency, or as the Lord put it, lukewarmness. This is the greatest delusion and deception of all. How could anyone truly know the Lord, the Consuming Fire, and not be on fire? That is why His true messengers are “flames of fire.” Lukewarmness is not possible unless the delusions from the cares and worries of this world have choked out the seed of His Word in us. There is nothing that can shake someone out of complacency like war. If there is ever a greater focus than seen on a professional football team before a game, it will be on the faces of soldiers before a battle.
King David, one of the greatest souls to ever walk the earth and one of the greatest pursuers of God of all time, stayed at home during the time “when kings go out to battle,” (see II Samuel 11:1) and fell into adultery which opened the door for some of the worst problems of his life. When it is time to fight and we do not fight, we are almost certain to be overcome and defeated by the enemy in some way. It is now the time when we must go on the offensive and start looking to missions that do not just selfishly build our own church, but will begin to take territory for the kingdom of God. If we will do this, our churches would grow and become much stronger than they are now.
Human beings were created with a need for adventure. There is no greater adventure in this life than the true Christian life. Youth especially need adventure, and if they are not captured by missions in some form they are very likely to be captured by the spirit of the world.
There is nothing more boring than religion. C.S. Lewis once remarked that one definition of hell was to sit in an endless church service without the presence of God. Such services are one of the great devices of the devil to recapture and imprison believers. We must bust out of the prison of the four walls of the church! We must start to use the divinely powerful weapons that we have been given to engage the enemy and start taking the land that is rightfully ours!
Any church that is not actively engaged in missions will wither away, if not physically, at least spiritually. However, we do not just want to be engaged in missions, but in our mission. We need to be sent out by the Lord and led by Him. We need specific goals for our missions so that we can measure the progress, success, or failure of them. We need to define the Promised Land that we are crossing over to conquer.
Before crossing the Jordan, the Promised Land was divided up between the tribes of Israel. They were all to fight together and to keep fighting until all of the tribes had possessed their land. We need to do the same. Over the last few years, there have been gatherings of some of the great leaders of our time from many different movements. From these gatherings, councils have been forming and divine strategies illuminated. They are still very much in their formative stages, but there is an unquestioned and remarkable anointing on them. There is no question that an unprecedented advance of the gospel is at hand. It may yet be a few years in unfolding in all of its power, but it is undoubtedly a hand.
