The following is an overview of the general direction I see beginning to unfold during the coming year.

The Joy Of The Lord

I see a general work of the Spirit increasing in several main areas. The first is joy. Deuteronomy 28:47-48 declares: “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies (or go into bondage)...” One of the primary reasons why Christians fall to the yokes of either legalism or license, is the failure to maintain the joy of the Lord. The Lord is pouring out a special anointing of joy to help deliver us from our bondage. 

Nehemiah, after rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and calling for a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, declared “Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). The Feast of Tabernacles was the last feast of the Jewish calendar year. It was also called

The Feast of Ingathering and was a prophetic type of the harvest that will mark the end of this age. Nehemiah spoke this just prior to leading the people into a time of heart wrenching repentance. We too are about to enter another period of deep repentance. There is a great and supernatural joy that is spreading throughout the church which is both a sign and an impartation from the Lord. If we lose the joy of the Lord during the repentance we will distort this work and fall into the bondage of legalism. The church must maintain the strength of His joy if we are going to accomplish our last day mandate.

We must also understand that every time the Lord sows wheat the enemy sows tares “in the same field.” There will be counterfeit manifestations of joy because the enemy can always find weak, insecure people to use in an attempt to discredit what God is doing. We can also be sure that there would be no counterfeit if there were not something real. The church desperately needs this impartation of joy in order to stay the course and to advance as she now must.

Cell Groups

The Cell Group movement was also initiated by the Holy Spirit and will continue as a main thrust of the church. This is a crucial strategy for preparing the church for the harvest. However, some extremes in the movement will begin to manifest with the potential to cause the shipwreck of many churches. Others will be tempted to react negatively to the whole movement and discard it.

There is much more wisdom that we need concerning this strategy of the Lord, and He will give it to us as we grow. There are many facets to this strategy that have not yet been revealed. The downfall of any movement begins when it stops moving. Those in this movement who close their hearts and minds to more understanding of this strategy will eventually be stopped.

That is how we can stop ourselves. The enemy also has a strategy for stopping this movement. For many he will try to make it just another program in the church, reducing its importance and effectiveness. Those that he cannot stop this way he will try to push too far, causing the extremes that the rest of the church will be tempted to react against. For these he will seek to have it take over the church, making compliance with the vision of the cell group movement a standard by which Christians judge others.

As with every movement, we must guard against the presumption of Mary, who, because she gave birth to Jesus, thought that she had the right to control Him. The control spirit is seeking entry into this movement. Without grace, tolerance and patience, this movement will soon suffer a very serious derailment, which would be a serious blow to the preparation of the church for her last day ministry.

Music—Anointing And Judgment

Music is a spiritual force. Like “the force” in the Star Wars movies, it can be used for both good and evil. As witnessed during the 1960's and 70's, music can prophesy and propel major sociological shifts like the erosion of moral foundations. It can also fuel revivals and spiritual awakenings such as the great Salvation Army movement at the turn of the century.

Music was created as a media for expressing our worship to God. Worship can be motivated by either adoration or fear, but all worship is basically a focus of our attention upon the object of worship. It is this power to focus men that has made music such a force in directing even civilization-wide changes. There is yet much for us to understand about this powerful force in the church and the world. The Lord is now moving in the hearts of His leaders to seek this understanding. If we do not learn to utilize music properly, the enemy will fill the vacuum and use it against us.

The Lord is going to give us this understanding in preparation for a great outpouring of increased anointing on music. This anointing will propel the church to higher realms of worshipping Him, which will cause the entire church to more fully abide in Him. When the church enters into the higher realms of worship, the result will be a focus and a power that releases extraordinary spiritual advances. The Lord is going to use music to help take all of the light that we have been given and focus it like a laser. The more focused it is the more power it will have to cut through any barrier or darkness.

The vision and strategies that the Lord is now giving His church will be put into songs that will help to grip and seal the hearts of the people with those visions. This will not be accomplished just with catchy tunes or lyrics, but with a powerful anointing that will come from the heart of the Lord to grip the innermost being of His people.

The Father is also going to share with those who are prepared to handle the power, the music from heaven that He loves. This music will grip all men’s hearts like no music that has ever been played before. This music will lift up those who have fallen to the low depths of self or idol worship, causing them to repent and turn their attention to the Lord. However, this power will not be trusted to those who are still in the snare of self or idol worship, which includes the worship of music.

Deliverance fromself-centeredness and focus upon the Lord frees us to receive this anointing. This great anointing can be misused, which would only result in a greater depravity and corruption of soul. Major changes must be made in the way the church is now stewarding her music ministries before the Lord can give this greater anointing— for our own safety!  

The music ministry has become the music industry and the Lord wants it back! The present state of the Christian music industry is not the result of schemers with evil motives, but is largely the result of well meaning people, who have disregarded the warnings of the Lord and succumbed to worldly forces and pressures. Seeking to reach the world, they opened the door for the world to come flooding in. As the old proverb declares, “The ship in the sea is fine, but the sea in the ship is not!” The sea is now pouring in and this ship will soon go to the bottom—without a miracle.

The Lord still does miracles, and His main business is redemption; but without major, sweeping repentance and change on the part of many involved in the Christian music industry, it will soon perish. Mammon has become a primary motivation in the Christian music industry, and we cannot serve God and mammon. With some this is greed; with others it is more insecurity and the lack of grace in handling “market forces.” The Lord begins judgment with His own house (I Peter 4:17), and He is about to release a James 5 judgment against the Christian music industry:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter (James 5:1-5).

This judgment is partly the result of the laborers not receiving their worthy wages. The world’s system that was adopted by much of the Christian music industry robs those with the anointing, such as the songwriters, musicians and singers, so that they are propelled into lifestyles that utterly sap the anointing they were given. Because of this the entire church is robbed of the gift.

The judgment has already begun as the “riches have rotted and your garments have become moth eaten.” First the resources for perpetuating the industry will not just dry up, they will become “rotten.” That is, they will come from evil, worldly sources. Because the Lord will remove His grace and anointing, even the most loyal Christian followers will begin to look at the whole of Christian music as a worn out garment that needs to be discarded.

The music and the anointing that the Lord is about to share with those who can receive it does have unprecedented commercial value. With the present system it would be tragically prostituted, and He is not going to trust us with it until we get the process right. We cannot use the world’s system of compensation for artists and others, but must seek the Lord’s ways, which will promote such equity, justice and grace that it will help to change the world’s system.

The first step toward a repentance that will result in the Lord’s endorsement, is to return to our first love—worshipping Him. Because all music promotes worship in some form, if our hearts are not right we will misuse the power of this anointing. Our music must promote the worship of the Father, obedience to the Spirit, and the witness of Jesus.

If the Christian music establishment does not repent, and return to its first love, its lamp stand will soon be removed and what light it now has will go out. When we do repent, we will find the greatest desire of our heart; peace, and even greater resources for the extravagant worship of the King.

Children and Youth

The Lord views every child given to a family or congregation as a most valuable “talent” that He has entrusted to them. The congregations who wisely devote themselves to the spiritual growth and care of the children will be blessed and prospered with greater anointing and resources; but those who do not will see even what they have given to others.

Many of the most anointed of the last day ministries are children who already have the authority and power to make a difference in the churches who are open to let them take their proper places as members of the body. The Lord does not want us to make them like us; He wants to make us like them, so that we can fully enter His kingdom.

Like Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, there is a generation of young spiritual leaders who will not eat the food offered to the idols of their generation, or bow down and worship them. They will also be confronted and tested by the conjurers, the sorcerers and wisemen of this age, but will be found to have ten times more wisdom than all of them. The Lord Himself will walk with them in the midst of the fire and they will not be burned. They will stand as a witness and turn many to the worship of the only God of heaven and earth, and cause some of the world’s most powerful leaders to worship Him. Like Daniel, every attack against them will only result in greater authority and esteem for them in the sight of all.

China

Communism is about to collapse in China. This is going to leave one of history’s greatest spiritual and cultural vacuums. The spiritual hunger will be so great that they will eat almost anything available. The sects and cults have been preparing for this and are already mobilized, but the church is tragically unprepared. A major emphasis of the Lord in His church for this coming year will be China.

The Lord is now giving dreams, visions, and prophetic words to mobilize His church for this great opportunity. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church about China. As Mahesh Chavda recently said, “The Lord has a special love for the Chinese— that’s why He made so many of them.” Let us bless the Lord by leading this great people to Him.

The enemy’s strategy is to ignite a war between Russia and China to prevent the great revival in both of these nations. Pray for peace between these countries. As friends they will eventually become two of the strongest and most stable countries in the world. As enemies they will sow discord and death throughout the world. Pray for the Lord to raise up laborers for the great harvest in China. Be sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit as to how you can help.

Germany

This is a year for increased mobilization of the church in Germany. Powerful new spiritual alliances will be initiated that will have a major impact on the work in Eastern Europe. Intercessory prayer teams will reach a new level of authority and effectiveness and must be seen as an integral part of every strategy and vision. The German church has been given seeds of reformation and revival to sow that will bear much fruit, especially in Russia and the Baltics.

More opposition will come but it is a sign of their authority. It is by the Lord’s stripes that we are healed, and their wounds will all result in greater authority for healing the wounds of the nations.

New Zealand

The Lord is about to give the church in New Zealand a special ministry to America that will help save her next generation. They cannot strive for it or presume, but love life and love the souls of the lost—then they will be at the right place at the right time to take action. Those with understanding in America will one day look to New Zealand and say, “We are in your debt.”

As racial reconciliation proceeds in New Zealand, the church will prosper in all ways and spread good will over the earth. Her greatest enemy is apathy. Her greatest strength is zeal.

Norway

Norway has strong bones, and sits in a place of great vision and prophecy. She has no small place in the plans of the Lord, but she must cast down the new age spirits of the earth that exalt themselves there. As she takes the spiritual dominion that she has now been given the authority to take, the Lord will give her this sign—the weather over Scandinavia will change and the sun will replace her gloom.

Russia

Russia has a very difficult road ahead, with some tragic failures looming, but eventually the road will become smooth. God’s grace is extended toward Russia, and though she will at times totter on the brink of anarchy, she will not fall. The Lord has prepared great leaders to help her. Germany will become the special friend of Russia to help her stand.

It is the destiny of Russia to precede the world in dealing with some of the problems that the whole world will face. Pray for wisdom from above to show them the way to build upon a foundation that cannot be shaken. When Russia is standing on solid ground she will be able to help pull many others out of the quicksand. The potential of the Russian soul is a great treasure. The greatest threat to Russia is not the resurrection of Communism, but the emergence of Fascism.

Sweden

The Lord will bless the efforts to bring down the walls and spiritual barriers in the church. Just as Barnabus had to go get Saul (Paul) before he could be fully released in his own ministry, the divided church in Sweden needs each other to fulfill their destiny. Saul was a hard and difficult man, but he would become Paul, and the Lord saw him as the apostle of grace who could be trusted with His most fruitful field.

The increased economic and social earthquakes are opportunities for those with vision. Sweden will be a fortress for the cross, and a light that shines to the east, the west and the south.

South Africa

I saw South Africa like a huge boiler. I saw the thermostat and pressure gauges and they were both well into the “danger” range, and climbing. I saw a relief valve called “the elections.” It was opened but only a tiny bit of steam came out, and the temperature and pressure continued to rise. I saw many large and small pipes running into this boiler. Some were called “the prosperity of the nations,” and others “the moral values of the nations.” I knew that if this boiler blew up, it would have some impact on every other nation. No man knew what to do to relieve the pressure and temperature.

The Lord is their solution. We must pray for the spiritual and civil leadership of this nation. If they turn to the Lord He will help them, but they must do it fast, or one of history’s most appalling tragedies is eminent. A great spiritual awakening is in her destiny and will come to South Africa either way. The foundation for a great and godly nation will be laid in South Africa. With humility and repentance now it will come with the crown of godly wisdom. Otherwise it will come with the crown of the martyr.

Turkey

Turkey has a Christian foundation (the seven churches of Revelation were in modern Turkey), which they are about to rediscover. When this happens one of the great nations of the earth will be reborn. Istanbul is one of the most spiritually strategic cities in the world. There the Lord will begin to heal some of the greatest divisions between cultures and races.

The United States

Revival is coming to the heart of this country. Like the floods of 1993, men will try to contain it, but they will not be able to. Because we are so unprepared for what is coming, many will consider the outpouring to be judgment, which it will be for those who are not prepared.

Revival is not coming to America after economic judgment—it is coming to help us aver/judgment. We are being weighed in the balance and revival is our last call. Even so, if judgment must come, there will not be an utter destruction of America. Our judgment will be to lose our leadership; our talents will be given to the nations that will bear fruit with them; and we will become the tail instead of the head. However, this will not be the Lord’s will, but our choice. His will is that this nation which is composed of those from every nation, would be a sign and a light until He comes.

Pray for the safety of the president, and that his spiritual renewal will continue. He is being prepared for a “defining moment” in his presidency, such as Kennedy had with the Cuban missile crisis. His leadership during this time will cause even his political enemies to be thankful that he was our president.

I saw Dan Quayle like a quail being shot by hunters. He kept getting shot, but he kept getting up and flying until he finally rose out of their range. He then changed into a magnificent eagle with great strength and vision. I saw the eagle continue to rise until he passed through a barrier called “the next century.”