He points out that the American church has not really turned to God in a disparate way, that the circumstances may call for more radical responses on our part.

Personally looking over the history of our land, there has never been a time when so many major natural disasters have stricken this country in so short a period of time. Then we are in the midst of 2 1/2 wars while our economy is at its worst point in last 70 years or an entire generation.

What does the future hold?

We are preparing for the worse both naturally and economically out here in California. Too many words have come our way to ignore the possibilities of major trouble. However we are also expecting and hoping for revival in the midst of it all.

How are we to respond? Radical prayer is in order. Read the suggestions for responses to differing situations in Goll’s article: “Responding to the Times”

Related Posts?:

1. -California: Everything That Can Be Shaken…
2. -8.9 a Sign of the Times?

          (National Prayer Breakfast via Wikipedia)

Here’s President Obama at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. this morning:

"These past two years they have deepened my faith." …

"My Christian faith then has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years, all the more so when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time. We are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us, but whether we’re being true to our conscience and true to our God."

He then quoted Scripture: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you, as well.’"

Also according to the article by Elizabeth Tenety the President shared the following:

Shared that he prays "that I might walk closer with God and make that walk my first and most important task."

Called Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) "a brother in Christ."

Characterized his father as "nonreligious" and his mother as spiritual, but not religious.

"I came to know Jesus Christ for myself," while working with faith leaders as a community organizer.

Every morning and night, the president said, "I wait on the Lord," asking for strength and forgiveness.

On the prayers of a father: "As I travel across the country, folks often ask me, what is it that I pray for? And like most of you, my prayers sometimes are general: Lord, give me the strength to meet the challenges of my office. Sometimes they’re specific: Lord, give me patience as I watch Malia go to her first dance, where there will be boys. Lord, have that skirt get longer as she travels to that dance."

We also learn in this article that Florida Pastor Joel Hunter and Potter’s House T.D. Jakes have served as spiritual advisers to the President.

Response: We really need to be praying for this guy. After all Paul was inspired to tell the early Christians to pray for the Roman leaders how much more should we be praying for a fellow Christian even if we don’t agree with his politics- and I disagree personally with almost everything he has done and stood for in the last two years.

Nevertheless, as I have prayed for the President and his family I have become far more sympathetic for the position he is in and have strangely begun to like him personally even though I still disagree with him at nearly every turn.

We live in dangerous times and we really do need the Lord to bless our leaders considering all of the chaotic things that they are facing economically and in the World.

Here are two prophetical messages that include something about the President Obama and a coming governmental/Constitutional crisis in America. Both suggest that we need to be praying for our leaders and be careful about be too negative and uncharitable towards the President:

-2011 Prophetic Perspectives 

-A Prophetic Word for 2011

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           (Image by Te55? via Flickr)

Some prophetic folks around here keep seeing visions of butterflies in connection with 2011. Lately we have had lots of rain in the natural which is usually a portent for an abundance of butterflies in the spring.

The message seems to be that many ministries and called ones have been hidden up and have been going through a time of preparation or metamorphosis but will soon be released to fly and do what they have been called to do.

Some are like Joseph who did his best as a slave in prison but was released in a day to do and be what he was really called to do. Others have been doing ministries they have not really been called to do –e.g: prophetical ministers and evangelists serving as pastors. These are about ready to be coughed up on the shore like Jonah and finally become who they are really called to be and do what they are really supposed to do.

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(Image by wallyg via Flickr)

There is major shaking going on economically and politically in the World. We are in the midst of a major re-alignment of World power and leadership.

Just today came the word that China had passed Japan as having the 2nd largest economy behind the USA. Meanwhile the USA is in decline and many are predicting that China will pass up the United States before the decade is finished.

Also today came the word from a number of different sources that it would be best if Israel attacked Iran in the next 3 days before their Nuclear plant comes on line. Otherwise the fallout could affect the entire region. Time to obviously pray for the leaders of Israel and the USA.

Meanwhile the Church itself is going through a major shaking. In America there are signs that unless we have a major revival Christians will become a minority in this country in one generation. I believe that revival is in the works. However a small revival would not be enough to reverse the trend. Therefore the church should be praying for a move of God that goes way beyond all of our greatest expectations.

Here’s a word from Barbara Yoder that is basically telling us not to fear the shaking but to go with it:  “There Is a Rumbling in the Earth!”

I found the following parts right on and particularly helpful:

There is a rumbling in the earth. God is rumbling you out of mindsets, positions, identity, locations, relationships, bondages, fears.  …

There is a rumbling that has already started in the heavens. But the Lord would declare to you that the rumbling is also now on earth under the feet of leaders, for He is calling us out of the old, out of the past, out of that which would trap us in nonproductivity and irrelevancy, to reposition us for the future. And we will not only look spiritually different, we will not look the same physically—the way we have in the past—for we have entered a season of massive change.

"Fear not the rumbling, for I will shake you out of the systems and paradigms that have held the church captive and I will cause you to be poured out in a whole new way to the world. I am shaking the church and I am shaking the world. The rumbling will not soon disappear, until it has accomplished its full work to shake the church and to shake the world. For I will have a meeting place with My people, and what is left when the rumbling is done will be a people who release the kingdom of God on earth. And the church will be poured out into the world." (See Hebrews 12.)

<Read the whole message>            *Top

“We have witnessed unprecedented flooding, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, including the erupting of a volcano that shut down most of Europe’s air travel. We have seen a historic oil spill threatening our coastlines and economic systems; massive earthquakes; tsunamis; wars; severe rioting; political unrest; economic turmoil and terrorists bent on killing masses.

Nations are in an uproar! What in the world is going on?”

Response: This is a question that many of us have been asking lately. At first it all seemed to be just a series of unrelated happenings and maybe some of them are just that . However, as these extreme events begin to pile up many are seeing the entire world turned upside down physically, economically, and politically.

It is no longer possible to ignore that something major is going on and changes are happening to our world that will change it for ever. Meanwhile the gospel is reaching nations and peoples in places where it has never been before. What is God’s message for his people and his church today in the midst of these chaotic times? According to Cindy deVille:

“The church can—and must—be ready for the days ahead!”

<<Read the rest of her message>>           *Top

The ‘end-time’ teachers are going crazy covering all of the major earthquakes lately falling over themselves noting how the scriptures include the escalation of world-wide earthquakes as one of the signs of the end-times.

Many are expecting to be raptured at any moment. However, I don’t believe that the Lord is finished with humanity quite yet.

If we are entering the final moments of history before the return of Jesus than we can also expect a world-wide harvest that touches every nation. After all, we are commanded to make disciples of all nations and for me the most important end-time sign of all is this one:

“And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end shall come.” –Matt. 24:14

Many looking for a quick rapture typically don’t consider** that there are still places in this world that the Gospel has not reached yet but the pace is picking up at an incredible rate right now. Already there are major revivals going on all over the world particularly in Africa, India, and Asia including a hidden harvests going on in Muslim countries. Over six million Muslims have been secretly coming to Christ every year since 9/11/2001.

Here’s a prophetic message from Cindy Jacobs:

“The Winds of Pentecost”

She believes that major revivals are going to break out at every one of the recent earthquake locations:

On December 31, 2009, the Holy Spirit spoke through me and said: “I’m going to shake the earth. You will begin to see earthquakes—I am going to shake everything that can be shaken. Look where the earthquakes are hitting because God is going to release a wind of Pentecost in those places.”

She also says that the Day of Pentecost this year is particularly important for ushering in a new world-wide revival:

Pentecost this year is May 23, …

God wants His winds of Pentecost to blow at Pentecost. The Lord says: “I want My people to pray in a new Pentecost that will sweep the face of the earth, for I am coming with divine visitation that will touch heaven and earth. Many will be swept into the kingdom of God, and My glory will pour out with signs and wonders both in heaven and [on] the earth!”

<<Read the whole message>>                *Top

**Note:  There is a popular teaching among many that there is nothing that still has to happen before Jesus returns for his church. Some teach that the Gospel reached the entire known world in the first century. But of course this doesn’t consider the millions that lived in the Americas which for me is a major problem for that theory.

One thing that should be obvious to most of us involved in the American church is that we are in a time of transition and nothing quite works the way it use to. Many major ministries that have been successful in the past are finding that past formulas no longer work and many find themselves in economic difficulty.

The lesson to be learned in this time of transition is to listen more closely to the Holy Spirit and ask for God’s help in everything that we do even the perfunctory tasks that we use to take for granted and perform automatically. We really do have to understand that ‘business as usual’ no longer works in the natural and in the Spiritual realm. What passed for natural wisdom can longer be counted on.

This goes even more so for Christians involved in businesses right now. It is a new day economically in America and Christian business folks should link up with intercessors and band together to support one another in prayer and seek special guidance. Spiritual creativity is in order as businesses fall away on the right and the left in America.

Here is a prophetic message from Barbara Wentroble that speaks about where we are at: “Transition Into Your Destiny”

She opens with this:

You and I are at the halfway point in a three-year time of transition. A prophetic word has come forth that the years 2008 through 2011 are a season of transition. In God’s timing, the halfway point can be the most dangerous time during transition. It is a time when some people decide the journey is too difficult. They can’t seem to catch the vision for the new place, so they decide to go back to an old place. Others make wrong turns that cause them to take a detour from their destinations.

Decisions made at this juncture will affect the future. They will either lead a person into his destiny or lead him away from what God has purposed for him.

Then at the end there is this important observation:

The Lord is transitioning His people from an old mindset of escapism to a more biblical mindset of occupying until he comes.

I believe that this last statement is 100% correct. For too long the American church has been a place of entertainment and escapism—also a place that only sells an ‘escapist’ eternal future. It is now time for the church to actually occupy until he comes and become the people of the Kingdom—‘Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth…”

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“A Great Visitation”

A few quotes:

"Prepare your fields for rain, for I am coming!"

“It is time for the church to awaken from complacency and slumber! It is time to prepare, just as this word says.

Remember, this Great Visitation—His glory—is not coming to entertain us or to make us feel good, but to transform us. It will be a time of great change in the church—a time to set His house in order; a time of great cleansing, purifying, unifying and making ready the bride of Christ to rise up and be glorious in the earth. It will be a season of being prepared for His great end-time work—to bring in the harvest of souls—as well as for His return.”

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Here’s A prophetic call for repentance across America but particularly for LA and Southern California from Rob Winters of Phoenix, Arizona:

“A Call for Repentance”

Some quotes from the article:

Although the “big one” has not yet struck the southern California coast, recent earthquakes that have devastated Haiti, Chile and other countries along the “ring of fire” have set off an alarm in my spirit. …

Therefore, I am issuing a call to repentance to Christians throughout America, especially those in greater Los Angeles. You may be wondering why Los Angeles is ripe for judgment. For the past century, through music and media, Hollywood has become the headquarters for the propagation of pornography, violence, greed, alcoholism, the drug culture, New Age practices, homosexual and pro-choice agendas, and a host of other anti-Christ views that have poisoned the lives of millions throughout the world.

Although repentance and intercession will lessen the number of deaths and degree of destruction, the Los Angeles earthquake will be formidable and is inevitable. However, we need to take action and mobilize prayer now.

<<Read the rest>>

Response: Repentance is definitely in order and a major component of any revival. Living in So. California myself, I would rather have revival instead. There is already a major stirring among the young people out here particularly on college and university campuses. I am hoping for another ‘Jesus People’ type move.

Southern California is already going through some major economic difficulties. The state of California is nearly bankrupt and increasing taxes right and left mostly through new fees for everything. Many businesses have left California and have relocated in Las Vegas and in Phoenix because of the excessive costs of doing business in the state due to taxes, business fees, and new ‘global warming’ environmental regulations.

The unemployment rate is officially over 10% but in reality it is closer to 20%. Those who has been unemployed for over 6 months are dropped from the official list. This doesn’t even begin to cover underemployment.

Some of the things that Rob Winters looks for have already happened. A major earthquake- ‘The Big One’ is long over due in Southern California and many Christians have had dreams and visions of it. It is a matter of time and God’s timing.

Major intercession and prayers among the Christian community in So. California have held back God’s judgment. I am still praying for major Revival instead. There are thousands of others out here who are doing the same.            *Top

The Cloud of Glory Has Moved

Here’s how it ends up:

We have entered into a strategic time when we must move beyond the focus on personal healing and restoration—which has been the emphasis for most of my life—to a focus on the kingdom of God. The cloud of glory has moved into the age of the kingdom of God, an age in which we must cross boundaries and minister the power of the kingdom of God to a world that doesn’t know Him. If you don’t pack up everything and move with it, you will stink up your house and die.

Destiny is at our doorstep.

Response: Amen. This is exactly what the Lord has been talking to me about lately-Thy Kingdom come on Earth and Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom. There is a major shift going on and we better not miss it!            *Top