The cry from the One who sits on the throne in Revelation 21:5 is about making all things new. It doesn't say He is making "all new things," rather He is "making all things new." God never wastes grace, and neither are we to do so. In a consumer-driven culture that always wants new things, the order of the day is to discard whatever no longer has that "new" look or "new" excitement. It's called "planned obsolescence," and the economies of free nations have capitalized on that in the past century.
When we entered the second decade of the new millennium, we entered into what many called "The Shift Age," and for good reason. Behind all of history is the unseen hand of the Eternal God who is causing all things to work together according to His ultimate intention and purpose, whether those outside His Kingdom can see that or not.
So, as we look down the corridor of the year 2012, we need to be mindful of the reality that it is part of a larger "epoch" in the flow of history. It is connected to a decade that began in 2010 that will be marked by the need for many shifts in many areas due to the rapid and accelerated pace of unprecedented change. Daniel's recorded prophetic revelation from the Heavenly Messenger relates these words in what seem to be tied to these times: "...many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase" (Daniel 12:4).
There will be patterns of oscillation multiplying in the lives of many who are in the dark. Yet, there is an emerging company of those who have insight into the times and will lead many who are in a "back and forth" oscillating pattern (which equals being in a "stuck state") into the flow of a new day and a new epoch of the Spirit prior to the coming of the Lord.
It is time for the light within each child of God to shine brightly against the backdrop of the prevailing darkness that is covering the earth, not unlike the chaotic darkness that existed at the dawn of creation.
Compassion
Certainly, transition mastery will become a refined and upgraded "skill set" amongst those who walk in the light of God's glory. Added to that will be a renewal of life in the Spirit as God has intended it to be. There is a deeper work of the Spirit that will be an earmark in the coming days. There will be a "making new" of the Lord's wineskin, His elect, His "called out company," who will, as their Savior did, look out over the fields that are white unto harvest and see the multitudes that are going "back and forth," oscillating in a never-ending cycle of a nest of fear-driven behaviors and beliefs, and see them as distressed and downcast, as sheep without a shepherd. And, like their Master, this renewed company will be moved with compassion and bring a new level of healing and wholeness to those who cry out for answers, for peace, for hope, and for deliverance!
Compassion will become a watchword in the coming days as more and more structures in society will seem to be collapsing. As social containers continue to undergo radical shaking (family-relational structures, community-relational structures, and the like), multitudes in the valley of decision will be crying out for hope and help.
Our understanding of what it means to be an apostolic company will return to a renewal of the days of the early Church, and the government of God will not be in the hands of a select few, rather it will be manifest in companies of people who value community and relationship toward the end that they will be committed wholeheartedly to fulfilling the Great Commission.
God is Already Moving in the Lives of Those We've Yet to Visit
As the culture becomes more and more secularized, the renewed saints will partake of the new wine of the new day of the Spirit, and there will be a tremendous resurgence of the presence and power of God manifest, not only in the meeting places where the saints gather, it will also become more prevalent in the marketplace, where God has always been moving, even when the Church resisted Him and refused to go there.
A radical discovery is going to take place in the coming days, as radical as the discovery of the spies that were sent into the Promised Land by Joshua to spy out the city. The renewed saints who are moved with compassion for the multitudes in the valley of decision (who are distressed and downcast, and who are going "back and forth" in an oscillating pattern that offers no new direction or path to take) will discover, as did the spies, that God is already moving in the lives of those that we have excluded from the table.
We are about to discover that the Spirit is moving in places the Church has yet to visit. It will take a courageous, risk-taking company of the people that know their God to boldly go out to where the sinners are and speak to them of the One who is already working at some level in their lives, in order to bring them to the knowledge of the truth and the light of the glory of God in the face of the Son of God.
How to Flourish in a Hostile Environment
There will be a renewal of ancient and often overlooked patterns and principles that caused the Church to flourish in a hostile environment. Christianity in America has become a marginalized collection of individuals who now find themselves facing hostile opposition to the truths they hold dear.
This will only serve as a backdrop for the greatest awakening in North America since the 1700s. There is a Springtime coming in the next 48 months in the Spirit to a generation that is going to cry out to God and be heard.
There will come a radical shift away from the Church as an institution in the culture, to a MOVEMENT that will have the power to TRANSFORM the culture. Christianity as an institution has to die in order for Christianity as a MOVEMENT to be resurrected. God is making all things new by the ancient, tried and true process of death, burial, and resurrection.
This is the very reason that so many saints in the last number of years have found themselves in the midst of fiery trials and what the apostle Peter calls a "strange thing" that is happening to those who have been graced to share with Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings, in order to partake of Him in the power of His resurrection.
Resurrection Life
Resurrection will become more than a doctrine in the coming days, it will become a way of life. As the consumer-driven culture is losing hope in "things" and asking if there is not more to life than this, a renewed company of the elect are going to be rising out of dead things and pressing to the mark of the prize of their high calling.
Resurrection life is life on a totally different dimension. What does the next move of God look like? I don't know, however this much I do know: It won't look like the last one. It will have all the same essential, non-negotiable truths and principles, however it will be exercised with a methodology that is relevant to the Gospel and relevant to the culture. The days of God showing up in a three-piece suit may be long gone, yet some refuse to give their suits a decent burial. If we can't handle Jesus in tattered blue jeans and flat top sneakers, we might miss what God is doing.
The Government Will Be on His Shoulders, Not on Ours
In this season of 2012, there is a new sense of order emerging: The government will be on His shoulders, not on ours! Apostolic theocracy will be about giving Jesus back His Church for His purposes. Apostolic will describe not just a chosen few preachers, it will describe an entire company of the priesthood of all Believers who have been called to invade the culture with the love, compassion, and resurrection power of Christ Himself!
Apostolic theocracy won't be about a chosen few at the top with all the power. In fact, the genuine apostolic leaders are going to shift from being "on top" to taking a place "on the bottom," for the sole purpose of pushing the saints "to the top" and to the forefront. God is going to carefully minimize those who want to polish their ministries and exalt those whose goal is to "polish the saints" for the work of service, to the end that Christ will be able to be revealed through them in the marketplace where the multitudes are in a stuck state, in a pattern of oscillation, going back and forth, and going nowhere fast.
Renewed Intimacy with the Father
There is a renewed intimacy with the Father that is coming for those who press their way into what He has for them. The love of the Father and the heart of the Father are going to become far more paramount in the hearts and minds of the faithful.
While the darkness will cause the oppressed that are outside the Kingdom to downsize their dreams, the saints will rise and shine in the glory of their Father and model what it is to live in the Father's dream, and the lost will see the good works of the saints executed with grace and compassion, and the lost will begin to call out to the Father of lights and be reconciled through the Blood of Christ.
The Kingdom message will begin to prevail in greater ways, because the Kingdom is all about RELATIONSHIP, not about gold streets and mansions. It is about a prepared place with Christ before the Father, even in the present moment. Evangelism will no longer be the work of a committee at an institutional church. Evangelism will become the by-product of a called-out company of the renewed saints who will return to being a "witness" of the Light in the presence of the darkness.
Many will come out of hiding and fear and will begin to boldly tell their own personal, simple story of what God has done for them in the current hour. The multitudes are crying out not for our dogmas or our traditions, they are crying out for a direct experience with Christ, even if they don't know that is what they are crying out for. He is the Desire of All Nations, and in this year of renewed governmental order, He is coming to rule and reign in the hearts of the surrendered for the sake of the lost He came to save.
Relationship is the All-Governing Principle for the Coming Days
In addition and in closing, this is the Hebrew year 5772, and while there are many significant insights to be gained from the prophetic meaning of the numbers, one thing shines out to me above all others: This is a year of renewed INTIMACY. Greater intimacy with God leads to greater intimacy with others. Relationship is going to be the all-governing principle for the coming days. It is time to renew established relationships, rebuild fragile relationships, and restore broken relationships. God is on the move.
Compassion is NEVER HELPLESS; it moved Jesus to heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, and lift up the downcast. It is time for a fresh immersion in the compassion of Christ, a deepening of what it means to be "spiritual," to be "in the Spirit." It is time to bring healing and wholeness to those that are crying out for it, in every aspect of their lives, and in every area of their life experience. Destiny stands in need of YOU!
Dr. Mark J. Chironna
Mark Chironna Ministries
Email: markchironna@markchironna.com
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