The first time I street-preached it wasn’t on the street.
It was in my prayer closet – my daughter’s bedroom.
A hairbrush was my microphone, the Lord Jesus my audience.
Just me and Him.
I wept and pleaded for sinners to turn to God, to flee from the wrath that is to come. I preached my heart out, to Him.
Then I fell on my face and wept and wept. I was under the anointing and I knew He was pleased.
Mind you, it took a long time to get me to even this point. First there was the call to preach years before, then sometime later He commissioned me with Isaiah 40.
Both of these occurred when I was alone with Him in my prayer closet.
The commissioning was terrifying. I was so scared that I was shaking and ran out to my husband crying “God has just commissioned me! But I don’t know what for!” I was almost too scared to ever return to the prayer closet again. Both times I knew He was calling me to something but I did not have a clear picture of what it was.
He had asked me “Will you feed the multitudes?” and I had said yes, but at the time I didn’t understand what that meant.
Then came the dreams and “visions”. One dream was of me standing on a box in the CBD of the city and preaching God’s coming judgment, warning people in suits to flee from the wrath that is to come.
Another dream was of hell. It so terrified me that in my dream I awoke and ran to my front door crying out “I have to warn people not to go there!”
There was the “vision” of me preaching during the day in the city with a certain huge guy standing next to me, almost as a bodyguard. (This was fulfilled last year).
Then I actually began going out to the street, Friday nights into the city. I didn’t preach for probably a year though. I spoke with people, prayed with them, handed out tracts. The pastor I went with kept encouraging me to preach but I’d say “No, no, I couldn’t”.
Meanwhile Jesus was training me in my prayer closet. He was having me preach to Him. Sometime around this time I discovered two other occurrences of God’s similar training methods:
One was in Angus Buchan’s biography. This book details how God also first taught him to preach in his prayer closet, the cornfield. He would stand in the back of his truck and preach to the corn stalks.
The other occurrence was David Wilkerson. Before he went to the streets of New York God had him walk the fields around his home and pray and prophesy to the trees.
My first night of street-preaching, actually on the street, eventually arrived. I can’t remember why this particular night I said “Yes” when the pastor asked me to preach, but I did.
I got up there, terrified, microphone in one hand, Bible in the other. I deliberately held the open Bible two inches from my face as I read it so nobody could see me and I couldn’t see them. I read out John 3:16. Someone said “Amen” as they walked past me, then I turned the microphone off.
That was it.
That was all I could manage at the time. But I have been trained since, and I am still being trained.
And it was the Lord who trained me.
He trained me in the school of the prayer closet. He trained me by the Holy Spirit, through tears and through prayer. He taught me that when I preach I am to preach to Him. Even on the streets. Even surrounded by crowds. It is Him I am preaching to, it is Him.
I felt to write this today. It is the season of Pentecost and I feel it is for someone in particular to read, so I pray that this will bless, encourage and inspire whoever it is for.
The Blood Moon will be visible in our sky’s here in Mid and Eastern Australia (!) tomorrow night (Passover night on Tuesday).
“The total lunar eclipse on 15 April is one of two for this year, and will begin before the Moon rises, says Dr Nick Lomb, consultant astronomer and curator, Powerhouse Museum and Sydney Observatory…
Lomb says a twilight total lunar eclipse is quite rare.
“Just as the Sun is setting, the Moon will be rising, and it will be totally eclipsed, which should be fairly spectacular,” he says.
But because the eclipse will happen so low in the sky, to see it you will need to make sure there are no trees, hills or buildings in the way.
“The essential thing is to have a really clear view towards the eastern horizon.”
The Moon will already be eclipsed when it rises at 5:28 pm AEST, but at that stage the sky will still be quite bright, warns Lomb
“So it might be hard to see a slight reddish fudge on the horizon,” he says.
But wait five minutes for the Sun to set and you could be in for a treat.
“It’s a fair chance it will become a reasonably bright reddish Moon,”
says Lomb.
He says while the Moon is usually blood red, because the Earth’s atmosphere refracts light from the Sun, this colour is not guaranteed.
This is because the atmosphere could make the Moon too dark to see. But, says Lomb, since there is no volcanic activity around, this is unlikely to be a problem.
By 5:46 pm AEST, the Moon will be in the middle of Earth’s dark shadow and from 6:25 pm AEST it will start leaving the shadow.
Even if there are clouds, Lomb says people should still be able to see this partial eclipse, lasting until 7:33 pm AEST.
“Even if people can’t see the Moon when it’s red they should still be able to see the Moon creep out of the Earth’s shadow and that’s still interesting.”
To top this off the first of the Blood Moons is due in 3 weeks, on Passover, April 14, 15. This Blood Moon will be the first in an unusual Tetrad of Blood Moons falling on Feast days in 2014 and 2015. In the Bible the books of Joel, Acts and Revelations talk of the Blood moons as one of the signs of the Day of the Lord. Could these signs be pointing to something significant for us?
Enoch Lavender has written on this fascinating topic…
Davo’s Big Break
David – or Davo as his mates called him – was over the moon. After years of patiently developing his business, his business ideas had caught the eye of the prominent Chinese business leader Mr. Wang. Mr Wang had announced that he was going to make a special trip to Australia to see David and find out more – and they had excitedly arranged to meet at the airport.
There was only one catch – they were to meet on Chinese New Year and Davo had no clue what this meant. “I reckon it must be on the 1st of January”, Davo said to himself, “she’ll be right mate!”
So on the 1st of January, Davo got up early, put on his best business suit and even combed his usually unkempt hair. “Today’s the day”, he thought to himself excitedly. Getting to the airport just in time, Davo was surprised to find no sign of Mr. Wang. Davo waited for hours, looked up and down the different parts of the airport and asked repeatedly at the information desk, but no one could help him. Finally Davo headed home. Disappointed, he thought to himself: “Why didn’t Mr. Wang come as he said he would?”
Soon Davo settled back into his ordinary routine and forgot all about Mr. Wang and his appointment. Then one February morning Davo was wakened by his phone ringing. With a sleepy voice he discovered to his surprise that it was Mr. Wang himself. Today was Chinese New Year! Mr. Wang asked with a disappointed tone in his voice: “David, why weren’t you ready for my coming?”
We all have an important appointment coming up with THE Mr. Wang Himself – Jesus our Lord and King (Wang means ‘king’ in Chinese). He is indeed coming soon! But to be ready for this once-in-a-lifetime divine appointment, we need to make sure that we too are on the King’s calendar.
The King’s Calendar
Many of us have a hard time reading the book of Leviticus, but in it are contained some very important treasures. Leviticus chapter 23 outlines for us the King’s calendar. Let’s read in verses 1-2:
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.”
The word translated ‘feast’ here, does not really refer to parties, food and celebrations – although God does indeed through some great celebrations. The Hebrew word for ‘Feast’ is actually better translated as ‘appointment’ – a ‘divine appointment’.
Note that God describes them as ‘My feasts’. They are not some antiquated Jewish customs to be brushed aside – they are His Divine appointments with us.
We will be learning more about the Divine Appointments later this year, but it is sufficient for us to now know that:
There are 7 Divine Appointments and they all prophesy and foretell a future event that is important in God’s calendar
The first 4 Divine Appointments where fulfilled on the Day during Jesus’ first coming in great detail
The last 3 tell us of His Second coming – and warn us to be ready for the soon coming King
The big questions for us to consider are:
How close are we to the last 3 Divine Appointments?
Will we see them in our lifetime?
Are we ready for them?
Signs in the Sky on the Divine Appointments
There are many things happening in our world that we should watch – including significant developments concerning Israel, the Nations, and concerning the great harvest of people coming into the Kingdom from every tribe, tongue and kingdom! All this points us to the fact that we are living in a time where Bible prophecy is being fulfilled at a scale that has not been seen in history since the time of the Book of Acts. I believe we are indeed getting closer to the Lord’s return!
The Bible tells us to look for signs in the sky as we get closer to the Lord’s return. One of many verses that say this is found in Acts 2:20:
“The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.”
The most literal way of interpreting this is that there will be solar and lunar eclipses around the time of the Lord’s return.
A Pattern of Signs in the Sky
A few years ago, a Messianic Pastor called Mark Biltz made a startling discovery of a pattern where from time to time 4 consecutive lunar eclipses take place – precisely on the first and last ‘appointments’ or Feasts of the Lord for 2 years in a row. This is an extremely rare event, and what is even more interesting is that it appears to happen at times when there are prophetically significant events taking place on the earth.
Let’s have a look at an overview of when it has happened in the past when these signs have been in the sky:
Around the time of Jesus death there were 4 partial lunar eclipses in a row on the ‘Divine Appointments’ – as if God Himself was signalling to all of mankind the importance of this event!
Since then, it has occurred 7 times – coinciding with:
Major Persecution of Jews and or Christians
Islamic attempts at conquering Europe (and the World)
The Restoration of Israel and Recapture of Jerusalem
As we enter into 2014/2015 it is therefore important to watch and pray for Jews and Christians, for Israel and for the Islamic World.
Returning to the pattern, it is extra interesting to note that the 7th lunar eclipse cycle happened at exactly the time when Jerusalem was being recaptured by Israel – and 7 is the number of ‘completion’. It was truly a time of Divine completion of ancient prophecies!
The next time this will happen will be in 2014 and 2015!
As a Church, we are being encouraged to fast, pray and spend extra time to seek the Lord at this time. Make sure your own life is in order with God. If you are struggling with issues, take them to the Lord and maybe get one of the leaders to stand with you in prayer that you might be able to live fully for the Lord.
Also, please pray for Israel and the Middle East at this time – her sworn enemies would like nothing less than the extermination of Israel and hope and dream for that day to come. Iran seeks to clandestinely build nuclear weapons and recently released a video proudly showing them launching a nuclear strike. At the same time other terrorist networks are seeking biological and chemical weapons to add to their arsenals. Daily anti-Semitic propaganda is being published across the Middle East, and the level of general hatred for the Jews is comparable to the situation in Germany at the time when Hitler came to power.
So, let’s fast a meal when we can and spend extra time to seek God at this crucial time in history. We are called to be history-makers and we have a role in interceding for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Enoch Lavender has a B.A. in Intercultural Ministry from Harvest Bible College (2008) and was a youth leader for 3 years in ECCC – Eastern Chinese Christian Church. Enoch is actively involved in a range of ministries including Shalom Israel, Ebenezer Emergency Fund and Teach All Nations (Dr. Kameel Majdali). Enoch has been studying Hebrew and Hebrew roots for the past five years, and has a keen interest in the Middle East from a Bible prophecy perspective
On Saturday we went as a family to a local Messianic congregation to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). It was such a joyous occasion. Our daughter loves it when we visit this congregation as she loves the Messianic dancing and is always involved.
Messianic dancing
At the Feast of Tabernacles, on the Great Day of this 8-day Feast, was a spectacular water drawing ceremony. Water from the pool of Siloam gushed out and was offered to God as a drink offering.
Jesus attended this Feast and on the Great Day, as the water was gushing He cried out in the Temple:
“If anyone thirsts, let Him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water!” (John 7:37-38)
Can you imagine what the people must have thought? Here was water gushing forth in a joyous celebration of this living-giving fluid. In the Middle East in the first century water was not always easy to find and so it was symbolic of life and of God’s blessing. There would have been a procession of people, singing and playing flutes. And in the midst of this celebration here is Jesus standing in the Temple crying out for people to come to Him and drink. He promised them mayim chayim – living water.
So we see that the Feast of Tabernacles, as all of the Jewish Feasts, point to Christ. In verse 39 John explains that :
“But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Blessing the children
We see that the water gushing forth is a picture of the Holy Spirit. That the great truth played out by this Feast is that when we put our faith in Jesus and are baptized in His Holy Spirit, rivers of living water will flow from us.
May we all go to Jesus and drink of Him! And may rivers of living water flow from our hearts!
I would like to share something of urgency, which God has put on my heart today. Firstly though I need to do a little background on the Feast of Pentecost, which, so happens, is today.
Today (from sundown May 14-15) is the national observance of the Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot, in Israel. Shavuot is considered to be the time when God gave Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai after the exodus from Egypt. The giving of the Torah to Moses was by God Himself coming down to meet with him on the Mount in a cloud, accompanied by smoke and fire and a blast of God’s trumpet. This was to establish His covenant with His people and so Shavuot is celebrated as the biblical birth date of the nation of Israel.
The basic theme of Shavuot is “the harvest” and of giving thanks to God. Passover marked the beginning of the Spring harvest and on the Feast of First fruits the first fruits of a sheaf of barley was required to be presented before the Lord, as a wave offering in thanksgiving for the harvest. From the next day, seven weeks were counted until wheat harvest. This is why Pentecost is also called the “Feast of Weeks”.
Why is this relevant to us? Because God works by His prophetic calendar. In the year AD 30, on the day of Pentecost, something else of great importance was birthed. At Passover Christ had died as the Lamb of God, at Feast of First Fruits He rose again, then 50 days after His resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost, the Church was born.
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:1-4
God once again used fire, wind and other demonstrations of the Holy Ghost to establish a covenant with His people. This was also a time of great harvest, with many thousands of people being saved and brought into the Church at once.
So this leads to what the Holy Spirit has impressed on my heart this afternoon. Over the centuries since the Church was born at Pentecost there have been other times of great harvest and the ingathering of souls. As Peter said, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:17, 18) Times of the outpouring of God’s Spirit have been recorded through history. There was the Great Awakening traced to the Moravians in 1727, there was Whitefield in 1742, John Wesley in the 18th century, Finney in the 1830’s, DL Moody in the late 19th century, the Welsh revival in 1904, Asuza Street in 1906 – just to name a few.
But will God do it again? Will there be another time of a great outpouring of His Spirt, of revival, before the end of the age? It is my wholehearted belief that it will be so.
(It is not my intention here to prove that God will once again bring revival. I can recommend the following books if you would like to pursue this question further. One is Leonard Ravenhill’s “Why Revival Tarries”, the other is “In the Day of Thy Power” by Arthur Wallis.)
The scripture that God impressed upon me today was this:
“And he said, ‘Thus says the Lord, make this valley full of ditches. For thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water…” 2 Kings 3:16, 17
God required Judah and Israel to prepare for the coming outpouring of the water which He was to send by making the valley full of ditches. This was so when the water came it would fall into these catchment areas and not simply run-off and be lost and wasted. This is what God is speaking to His Church even in this day. It is no secret that water can be a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. He is saying to prepare for the coming outpouring of the Spirit – by making ditches in the valley to catch the water as it flows through.
I guess the Israelites must have dug into the desert floor with some sort of spade instruments. It can’t have been an easy task to make a valley “full of ditches”. But while it was probably hard, it wasn’t impossible, and they did do it.
How do we make ditches today? We need to dig into the hardness of human hearts with the instrument of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The hardness will be confronted with the power of the gospel and pride will be broken down when met with the Word of God.
Jesus said in Matthew 9:38 “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few, Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
God needs labourers to go out into the harvest once again and gather in the lost. God needs us to warn them that without Him, they will die. I am not being melodramatic. One thing God impressed upon me today is His urgency to have sinners turn to Him. He says :
“Say unto them, ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Ezekial 33:11
This is serious. If we truly believe that we are in the last days and if we truly believe that Jesus is coming back as the Lion of the tribe of Judah to judge the world in a Day of wrath, then we need to warn people. It is God’s heart that none should perish. But He has entrusted to us the precious task of preaching the gospel, of warning, of being watchmen. And He actually, really expects us to do it.
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for[a] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.” Ezekiel 33:7-9
This is not a call for an elite set of evangelists, or for someone with a special anointing, this is a call for every Christian. Jesus Himself said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15
I am sorry if this makes you uncomfortable or if it bursts your happy bubble, but God’s heart breaks for the lost every single day. And ours should too.
Of course, the very first thing that occurs when we are confronted by a hard truth, me included, is our sense of inadequacy. That I am unfit for the task, that I am too weak, too female, or too imperfect hits me most of the time. But God says we are not inadequate, we are not incapable. He has called us for this very reason and He will put His words in our mouths.
Listen to this: Ninevah turned from their sin when Jonah got over himself and warned them of their impending judgment.
They turned.
And they lived.
God is calling for someone to “make this valley full of ditches” in these last days.
Will it be you?
“The fact is, Christians are more to blame for not being revived, than sinners are for not being converted. And if Christians are not awakened, they may know assuredly that God will visit them with His judgments. How often God visited the Jewish church with judgments because they would not repent and be revived at the call of His prophets.” Charles Finney
Hosea 6:5: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."
End Times Bible Prophecy and News, End Times Deception, Societal Collapse, Apostasy, False Christs - Prophets - Apostles - Teachers, Whore of Babylon Church, Opinion, Commentary & Bible Teaching, Demonic Power, War, Rumors of War, Famine, Pestilence, Familiar Spirits,Salvation in Jesus Christ, NWO, UFOs, Earthquakes, Counterfeit Christianity, New World Order, Conspiracies, Nephilim, Giants, Signs and Lying Wonders, End Times Sin & Corruption
Grace and Truth 