Darkness before Light

Darkness Coming

The light of dawn is coming
but the night must come first (Isaiah 21:12).
The light that shaped New Zealand is fading;
spiritual darkness is rolling out over the land.
It will be deeper and darker than anyone expects,
so it will take a long time for the light to penetrate
and break it up.
A bright spiritual light will shine again
but not before we have passed through a season of darkness.

The spiritual powers of evil seizing territory
and controlling it without facing any opposition
gaining control of places of authority without any resistance.
Political leaders have been given more power
than they have ever had,
because they are expected to deliver us from evil
and restore our lives to blessing.
They lack the wisdom to achieve what they have promised,
but their pride is amplifying the power of spiritual evil.

New Zealand is entering a season of spiritual darkness:
with ambivalence towards the gospel
and hostility towards Christian moral standards.
The people of the world will feel free to harass the churches,
and Christians will be afraid.
They will hear rumours of evil
happening in other places,
and unknown fears are more fearful than known ones.

The church is floundering and confused,
doing the same old things over and over again,
hoping for better outcomes,
but knowing that it probably won’t work;
knowing that they need more of the Holy Spirit,
but unwilling to obey his voice.

People are praying for revival,
begging God to move by his Spirit,
but God is not the problem,
because his spirit is always moving.
The problem is the church.
It does not seem to be willing to make the changes
that God needs it to make
before it can carry the spiritual life that he wants to release.

The season for revival has passed
and will not come back for a long time.
Refusal to do what revival required
has allowed the spiritual powers of evil
to entrench their stronghold over the nation
and they will not be pushed out easily.

Prepare for Darkness

Instead of sitting around
and waiting for prophecies of revival to be fulfilled by God,
his people should be getting prepared to live through the darkness
and position themselves in a place of strength,
so they can share life and hope
with those who are lost in the dark.

The current model of doing church is inadequate for this task
because it cannot cope with the darkness of the night;
nor will it cut it when the light of the dawn comes,
because it cannot carry the Kingdom of God.
Reliance on personality pastors (or their sons)
and programs in buildings
will not be viable during the darkness that is coming.

Followers of Jesus should be preparing
by seeking the wisdom of God for their circumstances,
but they should base their preparation on an assumption
that they might not be able to drive to church meetings,
and that pastors might be unable to share messages with them
or even contact them,
because they have been shut down.

During an intense spiritual struggle
standing alone is the most dangerous place to be.
Attending a church meeting once a week will not be sufficient
to sustain spiritual life when real pressure comes on.
The best possible protection during tough times
is to be living close to other followers of Jesus
who can provide emotional, spiritual and material support
when it is needed, not when the next meeting is due.

Followers of Jesus who lived in isolation from other Christians
should move closer to other believers they trust:
close enough that it is an easy walk
to gather for prayer, for spiritual, emotional,
and material support for each other;
for loving one another as Jesus loved us,
and for serving each other and our neighbours.

The twilight season might last longer than we expect,
but if the darkness holds back for a time,
it is not a sign that revival is coming,
but an opportunity for followers of Jesus
to advance their preparation.

Light Breaks Out

When followers of Jesus gather together in their homes
something amazing will happen.
The Holy Spirit will make his home amongst them.
He will heal those who are sick and broken,
and many people will choose to follow Jesus.

God will raise up elders amongst them,
to watch over them
to teach them the way of Jesus
and to bond them into his body.
They will have balanced giftings,
with all the ascension gifts;
complementing each other
and submitting to each other to produce unity.

Evangelists will be released in pairs
to heal the sick and cast out demons in streets and marketplaces.
Taking others with them
to train them to be evangelists too.

People with pastoral gifts will watch over the new disciples:
praying for them;
teaching them to listen and obey the Holy Spirit;
helping them get rid of their junk,
encouraging them to move in the gifts of the Spirit,
building strong relationships with other followers of Jesus,
teaching them to do the One Another Stuff.

The elders will replicate their ministries,
in the people they are discipling,
pastors will produce pastors
prophets will produce prophets
evangelists produce evangelists.

They will form Kingdom Communities
from which they can take the gospel into the world
and expand the Kingdom of God on earth.
They will agree in prayer to push all evil spirits out of the territory
where they have authority
to establish a place
where the Holy Spirit is free to work.

These kingdom communities will expand
by sending their leaders out as apostles,
as others step up into their place
so the best elders can go out in a team
with balanced giftings, (pastor, prophet, evangelist)
to establish a new community,
where they will carry on loving and serving each other,
while keeping on listening and obeying the Holy Spirit;
and he will keep doing what Jesus did.

Prophets of Darkness

The dawn of day is coming
but the night must come first (Isaiah 21:12).
Because the people of God are so unprepared,
the night will be much longer and darker
than many expect.
It is good for watchers to share about the light of the dawning,
because it gives people hope.
But if they don’t warn about the darkness of the night that comes first,
it will be a false hope.

Many prophets know that God needs his church to change
They are talking about a big paradigm shift
in a season of restructuring;
a metamorphosis from one shape to another;
but they don’t seem to know the detail of the change he needs.
The church urgently needs more guidance about what he requires.

There is a time to laugh and dance,
but also a time to weep and mourn.
The twilight is a time for weeping, mourning and seeking.
Continuing to celebrate as if victory is being won
is discouraging for an army that is being overwhelmed
by forces that are stronger.

God is calling prophets of the night
who can prepare God’s people for the long darkness
that we must pass through to get to the dawn of the new day.
Some of the changes he requires will be painful.
If we don’t make them now in the twilight,
we will have to do it during the darkness of the night.
The changes will be the same,
but they will be hugely more traumatic during the darkness.