Last week we began to discuss how making the path clear is important for motivating those who have been mobilized. In Proverbs 4:18-19 we are told, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.” So, if we are on the path of the righteous or the right path, the path itself should be getting increasingly clear. If this is not true in our lives, then somewhere we have missed a turn and are off the right path. If we are constantly stumbling over things we do not see, then we are somehow on the path of the wicked. As C.S. Lewis observed, in the Lord the wrong path never becomes the right one. The only way to get back on the right path is to go back to where we missed the turn and get back on the right path. It is called repentance.

This path of the righteous is made clear in the Scriptures, but it takes some motivation and diligence to search it out. However, few Christians are motivated enough to dig this out for themselves. The reason for this lack of motivation could be anything from doctrines that have been promoted which erroneously teach that everyone will be the same in heaven, to a general lack of self-motivation that most people have without some external stimulus. The “most people” in this statement is a fact, like it or not. However, we can do something about this, and those who walk in the anointing will.

Because you are reading this, which is obviously the result of a desire on your part to know and understand more about the Lord and His ways, you are probably in a group that contains less than 10 percent of all Christians, and some would say only 2 or 3 percent. We can blame people, leadership, religious systems, or the present state of the church for this, and all of these would probably be accurate, but we would do well to spend more time determining how to get out of this state than why we are there. Later, we should examine how this happened in order to avoid it in the future, but awakening a sleeping church is a priority right now, and just discussing her problems is not very motivational. The big question is: Who has some answers? For the sake of clarity, let’s review the basic questions:

A beginning would obviously be to impart a vision of why we should do this. There is no more noble cause than the cause of Christ, and the more clearly this is articulated by messengers of integrity, the more motivated Christians will be to their great cause. Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Other translations say, “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained.” Both are true. Christians will die spiritually without a vision. They will be unrestrained or as this could be interpreted, fall into lawlessness. Therefore, vision casting is a very important part of ministry, but we must include with the vision clear instructions as to how we can accomplish it.

The next step would be to make the path to maturity and spiritual advancement clear enough to be understood and followed. This, too, should be provided by leadership. I call this the Ezekiel 37 commission. In this chapter, Ezekiel was shown a valley full of dry bones. By the word of the Lord, he began to prophesy to these bones until they came together and became an exceedingly great army. One of the ultimate callings upon the prophetically gifted is to see in even the driest bones an exceedingly great army, and to have the words to prophesy to those bones until they become what they were created to be. 

It is easy to lead the motivated, but it is a higher form of leadership that can motivate the unmotivated. A basic challenge to leadership is to not be discouraged when the army of God that is mobilizing is a lot of “dry bones,” but to seek the Lord for words of life that will give life to those bones until they start becoming what they are called to be.

This was a primary motivation for MorningStar’s devotion to seeing an authentic prophetic ministry raised up in these times—to help the rest of the body of Christ, even those who may be the driest bones, see that they are called to be an exceedingly great army, and to start prophesying to these bones until they stand on their feet and become that army. What we try to do and impart to all who are joined to us, is the ability to see others, not just as they are, but as they are called to be, and to give them words from the Lord that will help them on their way. That is why almost every week we have people coming from around the world to our services to receive ministry from our prophetic teams. These people are desperate to hear from God about their own purpose, and those who serve on these teams have true prophetic gifts from God to help them.

Of course, we often hear that these people should be able to hear from God for themselves, and He can speak to them where they are. That is true, but we see in the Scriptures that is not usually how He does it. Those who do not value His word enough to go and seek it out often never get it. Kings, and even kings who were prophets themselves like King David, had the wisdom and the humility to seek a word from other prophets, often traveling great distances to seek a word. Traveling great distances at that time was probably more difficult and expensive than flying around the world today.

The Lord Jesus made clear that there is the necessary ingredient of seeking in order to find. What makes something a treasure is that it is either rare or hard to get. Who could ever put a value on a word from God? We have seen many thousands of lives changed who came with such an obvious devotion to seek the Lord and hear from Him. Only the hungry seek food, and only the thirsty will seek a drink, which is probably why the great army that is being formed now will come mostly from some very dry bones, who are desperate enough to seek, and will be thankful enough when they find what they are seeking to be willing to fight the good fight of faith until there is victory.