Cloud of Witnesses Travail for This Generation
Cloud of Witnesses Travail for This Generation
By Ryan Wyatt
Abiding Glory Ministries
www.abidingglory.com
Naked Before God
With all that is going on in the world right now, I really feel that we are in a season of stripping and refinement before the Lord. God is confronting the church and the world in this season and challenging us to lay down all the worldly things that we have covered ourselves with and allow Him to strip us and cover us with His glory. These are serious times and God has incredible plans to fulfill through this generation, but the church seems to be asleep and God is waking them up. We have come to a fullness of time juncture, and God is accelerating His plans in the earth.
Cloud of Witnesses in Travail For This Generation
In September, I was ministering at a Joel's Army conference in England and had an incredible encounter in the midst of worship. The worship band was playing, and the people were loudly praising God, and I began to hear people shouting my name. I audibly heard people shouting, "RYAN, RYAN, RYAN." I looked all around me and found no one calling to me.
I then realized that I was having a spiritual encounter and entered into an open-eyed vision. I saw the Cloud of Witnesses and God's Generals from the beginning of time, and they were lined up side-by-side in a very long line. Every generation from the beginning of time was represented in this line. Every person was someone who, during their life, had pressed into their promised land and tasted of the powers of the age to come and like the spies, they brought something back that touched their whole generation with the love and power of God.
I noticed that the space in the line between each person represented many years, and the line came up to this present day. It was obvious to me that with each previous generation, there were very few that affected a whole generation. I then noticed that the line continued on past this present day with forms of people but there was no one to fill those slots.
I then saw the Cloud of Witnesses enter into a state of travail as they were vigorously interceding for this present-day generation. They were not just calling my name but countless thousands of names. Suddenly, I saw the hand of the Lord come and very quickly begin to pick people up out of the world and fill those empty slots in the line of God's Generals. There was a massive acceleration that was taking place as God began to fill each slot with thousands of revivalists and nation shakers from our time.
Things are accelerating in the earth, and for this reason, God is pulling out all the stops and calling upon this generation to wake up and lay hold of Him like never before. For this reason, God is beginning to strip his church of every worldly thing that keeps her from full devotion to Him. It is only when the church comes to realize her nakedness that she will begin to cry out in holy desperation for God to fascinate and empower a whole generation. We must first be stripped and come to realize our dire need for God.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." -- Matthew 5:3
The message of the hour is that, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Being poor in spirit is realizing our level of emptiness and crying out for His fullness. The eyes of the Lord are roaming to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).
The Hand of Grace is Being Pulled Back "Slightly," and the Shaking of the Lord has Come!
For many years, I believe the hand of the Lord, in the form of grace, has covered us and allowed us to continue on our own path. During this time, God has given the church a chance to repent and turn whole-heartedly to him on their own. However, the church and the world have continued to slip further and further down hill and away from Him.
The church has cried out for the Lord to come, and He has come and is coming. And now the church is being faced with the results of the coming of the Lord. Look with me at Isaiah 64:1-3:
"Oh, that you would rend the heavens! That you would come down! That the mountains might shake at your presence -- as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil -- to make Your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down; the mountains shook at Your presence."
When the Lord begins to come He brings a shaking and a melting away of everything worldly in our midst. Look at Malachi 3:1-3:
"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold He is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness."
When the Kingdom of God begins to come, it shakes everything off of your life that is not of God, and it leaves only those things behind that God has worked into your life (Hebrews 12:25-29). I firmly believe that God is in the process, right now, of actually preparing us for the next great move of God to sweep the earth. However, before He can clothe the church with another level of His glory, He is first stripping us of every worldly thing that we have held onto.
The Laodicean Age
We are currently in the time of the Laodicean age. This generation is one of the most messed up generations to ever walk the earth, yet we are also the generation that has the potential to walk in the most unprecedented level of power and glory, however, only if we submit to the current pruning of the Lord.
God is pulling back His hand just enough for a small portion of His judgments to touch the earth. He is doing this because what He might have allowed in the lives of believers in times past, He is no longer allowing. When God begins to pull back His hand of grace, you find yourself in a moment of great decision. This is not a time when God is going to allow nominal, middle-of-the-road Christians in "His" church.
Those believers that will not embrace the Lord in this season will most likely grow more and more hardened to Him. Remember that as soon as Jesus came to earth in the flesh, it was the religious people that hardened their hearts and persecuted Him. It will be no different in these days. Those that have been lukewarm will either grow colder or burn hotter for the Lord.
We are in a time of decision. Many in these days are coming to a place of realization that their life is empty, and they are feeling the burning of the Lord upon their hearts. These believers are turning closer to Him and learning to live a life of intimacy and passion with the Lord.
The Bible says in the book of Joel that many are in the valley of decision, and we have always preached that as meaning unbelievers are in the valley of decision. However, I also want to say that many believers are in the valley of decision, as well, and the Lord is no longer giving the church the option to just sit in the middle of the road. Battle lines are being drawn, and we must choose to either grow colder or hotter for Him.
When the Lord spoke to the church of Laodicea, He rebuked them because they thought they had everything together, when in fact, they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. First, God had to alert them of their desperate status before they would repent and follow whole-heartedly after Him.
Most of the church, right now, has sunk into a state of apathy and passivity because, for the most part, the western church lives a life of self-sufficiency.
I was really struck with just how self-sufficient the western church really is after I ministered in Jakarta, Indonesia, this last January. I have not seen a hunger for God, like that of the Indonesians, anywhere in North America or Europe. The Indonesians prayed and sought after God as if they were absolutely spiritually bankrupt and could not live another moment without a touch from heaven.
Most pastors in the western church have to poke and prod the people to even act like they are hungry for God. The church in North America is sitting in the middle of the road and has grown self-sufficient, thinking they need nothing. Below is the address that Jesus gave to that church:
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' -- and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked -- I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent." -- Revelation 3:15-19
Not a Heartless Rebuke But Rather a Loving Warning
I don't see the above passage from Revelation as a heartless rebuke. It is actually a loving warning from a loving God that wants to alert His Bride of her state, so that she might wake up and turn and seek the Lord.
The admonition from the above reference in Revelation is that if the church will realize her nakedness and begin to seek the Lord with desperate hunger, then the church will hear the sound of the Lord knocking on the door and dine, rule, and reign with Him.
Seek First The Kingdom of God
In a day where everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes and just seeking to live the American dream, God is looking for a Bride that will do the exact opposite. One of the greatest enemies to the western church is "how blessed we are." The western world has lived under such a state of grace and blessing for so long that it has caused the church to slip into a state of apathy and passivity. The church has joined the rat race of the world that says, "Do what you have to do to not only make it but to be on top!" So we have become a generation totally consumed with "self".
The Bible calls believers "pilgrims" in this world. We are citizens of another realm and are to live our day-to-day lives from the place of abiding in heavenly realms and ruling on earth with heavenly love and power. The challenge for the church in this hour is to submit to the pruning and stripping of the Lord, to turn our eyes and affections from every temporal thing, and to begin to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
When the church begins to live for heavenly things rather than for earthly satisfaction, then the grace and favor of heaven will be poured out upon us abundantly.
"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." -- Matthew 6:31-33
Our Response to the Shakings
I know that people are trying to figure out why all these hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis and all the other disasters are happening on the earth at this time. Some believe it is God judging us, some believe they are the result of man's sinful actions, and still, others believe they are attacks from the devil. I believe they are a result of all three.
Yes, I believe that the devil is trying to wreak havoc. Yes, I believe that some of these disasters are occurring as the result of the world's sinful actions. And yes, I do also believe that God is using them to teach the world righteousness and lead them back to Him.
"With my soul I have desired you in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek you early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." -- Isaiah 26:9
Instead of joining the rest of the world and allowing our emotions to get the best of us in response to these world shakings, let's allow these events to awaken us to the reality and seriousness of the times we are living in. Let's allow these things to cause us to seek the Lord with all that is within us and lay hold of our divine destiny to walk upon this earth fully clothed in the glory of God!
Nakedness Provides Opportunity for Fullness
Let me close with this. Before the fall, Adam and Eve were naked and did not know it. I believe this was because their minds and hearts were so enthralled with the Lord that they were literally clothed with the glory of God. All they knew was 24 hour a day God-consciousness and face-to-face encounters with Him.
After the fall, the first thing they realized was that they were naked, and they were ashamed. They immediately looked for something to cover their nakedness and wrapped themselves in fig leaves. God came to visit with them as He normally would and found them hiding and ashamed because of their nakedness. One of the first things God did was take off the fig leaves and clothe them with skins of animals.
God clothed them with animal skins because it required blood, and the shedding of blood was the only thing that could cover their sin. God's divine design was to send Jesus to shed his perfect, sinless blood to cover and wash away our sins forevermore. This was so that we could again have our nakedness covered by His Glory!
God is again looking throughout the earth for those who have not covered themselves with the things of the world but for those who are willing to submit to His stripping and pruning work and be clothed again from glory to glory! Are you naked before the Lord? Do you need to be awakened and come to a realization that you are nowhere near laying hold of your high calling? Are you truly poor in spirit and desperate for a touch from heaven?
Allow the Lord to touch you afresh and put his finger on those areas of your soul that are not of Him. This is the season to invite the refining fire of God into your life because He is a consuming fire, and He is jealous to lay hold of you!
By Ryan Wyatt
Abiding Glory Ministries
www.abidingglory.com
By Ryan Wyatt
Abiding Glory Ministries
www.abidingglory.com
Naked Before God
With all that is going on in the world right now, I really feel that we are in a season of stripping and refinement before the Lord. God is confronting the church and the world in this season and challenging us to lay down all the worldly things that we have covered ourselves with and allow Him to strip us and cover us with His glory. These are serious times and God has incredible plans to fulfill through this generation, but the church seems to be asleep and God is waking them up. We have come to a fullness of time juncture, and God is accelerating His plans in the earth.
Cloud of Witnesses in Travail For This Generation
In September, I was ministering at a Joel's Army conference in England and had an incredible encounter in the midst of worship. The worship band was playing, and the people were loudly praising God, and I began to hear people shouting my name. I audibly heard people shouting, "RYAN, RYAN, RYAN." I looked all around me and found no one calling to me.
I then realized that I was having a spiritual encounter and entered into an open-eyed vision. I saw the Cloud of Witnesses and God's Generals from the beginning of time, and they were lined up side-by-side in a very long line. Every generation from the beginning of time was represented in this line. Every person was someone who, during their life, had pressed into their promised land and tasted of the powers of the age to come and like the spies, they brought something back that touched their whole generation with the love and power of God.
I noticed that the space in the line between each person represented many years, and the line came up to this present day. It was obvious to me that with each previous generation, there were very few that affected a whole generation. I then noticed that the line continued on past this present day with forms of people but there was no one to fill those slots.
I then saw the Cloud of Witnesses enter into a state of travail as they were vigorously interceding for this present-day generation. They were not just calling my name but countless thousands of names. Suddenly, I saw the hand of the Lord come and very quickly begin to pick people up out of the world and fill those empty slots in the line of God's Generals. There was a massive acceleration that was taking place as God began to fill each slot with thousands of revivalists and nation shakers from our time.
Things are accelerating in the earth, and for this reason, God is pulling out all the stops and calling upon this generation to wake up and lay hold of Him like never before. For this reason, God is beginning to strip his church of every worldly thing that keeps her from full devotion to Him. It is only when the church comes to realize her nakedness that she will begin to cry out in holy desperation for God to fascinate and empower a whole generation. We must first be stripped and come to realize our dire need for God.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." -- Matthew 5:3
The message of the hour is that, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Being poor in spirit is realizing our level of emptiness and crying out for His fullness. The eyes of the Lord are roaming to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).
The Hand of Grace is Being Pulled Back "Slightly," and the Shaking of the Lord has Come!
For many years, I believe the hand of the Lord, in the form of grace, has covered us and allowed us to continue on our own path. During this time, God has given the church a chance to repent and turn whole-heartedly to him on their own. However, the church and the world have continued to slip further and further down hill and away from Him.
The church has cried out for the Lord to come, and He has come and is coming. And now the church is being faced with the results of the coming of the Lord. Look with me at Isaiah 64:1-3:
"Oh, that you would rend the heavens! That you would come down! That the mountains might shake at your presence -- as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil -- to make Your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down; the mountains shook at Your presence."
When the Lord begins to come He brings a shaking and a melting away of everything worldly in our midst. Look at Malachi 3:1-3:
"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold He is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness."
When the Kingdom of God begins to come, it shakes everything off of your life that is not of God, and it leaves only those things behind that God has worked into your life (Hebrews 12:25-29). I firmly believe that God is in the process, right now, of actually preparing us for the next great move of God to sweep the earth. However, before He can clothe the church with another level of His glory, He is first stripping us of every worldly thing that we have held onto.
The Laodicean Age
We are currently in the time of the Laodicean age. This generation is one of the most messed up generations to ever walk the earth, yet we are also the generation that has the potential to walk in the most unprecedented level of power and glory, however, only if we submit to the current pruning of the Lord.
God is pulling back His hand just enough for a small portion of His judgments to touch the earth. He is doing this because what He might have allowed in the lives of believers in times past, He is no longer allowing. When God begins to pull back His hand of grace, you find yourself in a moment of great decision. This is not a time when God is going to allow nominal, middle-of-the-road Christians in "His" church.
Those believers that will not embrace the Lord in this season will most likely grow more and more hardened to Him. Remember that as soon as Jesus came to earth in the flesh, it was the religious people that hardened their hearts and persecuted Him. It will be no different in these days. Those that have been lukewarm will either grow colder or burn hotter for the Lord.
We are in a time of decision. Many in these days are coming to a place of realization that their life is empty, and they are feeling the burning of the Lord upon their hearts. These believers are turning closer to Him and learning to live a life of intimacy and passion with the Lord.
The Bible says in the book of Joel that many are in the valley of decision, and we have always preached that as meaning unbelievers are in the valley of decision. However, I also want to say that many believers are in the valley of decision, as well, and the Lord is no longer giving the church the option to just sit in the middle of the road. Battle lines are being drawn, and we must choose to either grow colder or hotter for Him.
When the Lord spoke to the church of Laodicea, He rebuked them because they thought they had everything together, when in fact, they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. First, God had to alert them of their desperate status before they would repent and follow whole-heartedly after Him.
Most of the church, right now, has sunk into a state of apathy and passivity because, for the most part, the western church lives a life of self-sufficiency.
I was really struck with just how self-sufficient the western church really is after I ministered in Jakarta, Indonesia, this last January. I have not seen a hunger for God, like that of the Indonesians, anywhere in North America or Europe. The Indonesians prayed and sought after God as if they were absolutely spiritually bankrupt and could not live another moment without a touch from heaven.
Most pastors in the western church have to poke and prod the people to even act like they are hungry for God. The church in North America is sitting in the middle of the road and has grown self-sufficient, thinking they need nothing. Below is the address that Jesus gave to that church:
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' -- and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked -- I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent." -- Revelation 3:15-19
Not a Heartless Rebuke But Rather a Loving Warning
I don't see the above passage from Revelation as a heartless rebuke. It is actually a loving warning from a loving God that wants to alert His Bride of her state, so that she might wake up and turn and seek the Lord.
The admonition from the above reference in Revelation is that if the church will realize her nakedness and begin to seek the Lord with desperate hunger, then the church will hear the sound of the Lord knocking on the door and dine, rule, and reign with Him.
Seek First The Kingdom of God
In a day where everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes and just seeking to live the American dream, God is looking for a Bride that will do the exact opposite. One of the greatest enemies to the western church is "how blessed we are." The western world has lived under such a state of grace and blessing for so long that it has caused the church to slip into a state of apathy and passivity. The church has joined the rat race of the world that says, "Do what you have to do to not only make it but to be on top!" So we have become a generation totally consumed with "self".
The Bible calls believers "pilgrims" in this world. We are citizens of another realm and are to live our day-to-day lives from the place of abiding in heavenly realms and ruling on earth with heavenly love and power. The challenge for the church in this hour is to submit to the pruning and stripping of the Lord, to turn our eyes and affections from every temporal thing, and to begin to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
When the church begins to live for heavenly things rather than for earthly satisfaction, then the grace and favor of heaven will be poured out upon us abundantly.
"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." -- Matthew 6:31-33
Our Response to the Shakings
I know that people are trying to figure out why all these hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis and all the other disasters are happening on the earth at this time. Some believe it is God judging us, some believe they are the result of man's sinful actions, and still, others believe they are attacks from the devil. I believe they are a result of all three.
Yes, I believe that the devil is trying to wreak havoc. Yes, I believe that some of these disasters are occurring as the result of the world's sinful actions. And yes, I do also believe that God is using them to teach the world righteousness and lead them back to Him.
"With my soul I have desired you in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek you early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." -- Isaiah 26:9
Instead of joining the rest of the world and allowing our emotions to get the best of us in response to these world shakings, let's allow these events to awaken us to the reality and seriousness of the times we are living in. Let's allow these things to cause us to seek the Lord with all that is within us and lay hold of our divine destiny to walk upon this earth fully clothed in the glory of God!
Nakedness Provides Opportunity for Fullness
Let me close with this. Before the fall, Adam and Eve were naked and did not know it. I believe this was because their minds and hearts were so enthralled with the Lord that they were literally clothed with the glory of God. All they knew was 24 hour a day God-consciousness and face-to-face encounters with Him.
After the fall, the first thing they realized was that they were naked, and they were ashamed. They immediately looked for something to cover their nakedness and wrapped themselves in fig leaves. God came to visit with them as He normally would and found them hiding and ashamed because of their nakedness. One of the first things God did was take off the fig leaves and clothe them with skins of animals.
God clothed them with animal skins because it required blood, and the shedding of blood was the only thing that could cover their sin. God's divine design was to send Jesus to shed his perfect, sinless blood to cover and wash away our sins forevermore. This was so that we could again have our nakedness covered by His Glory!
God is again looking throughout the earth for those who have not covered themselves with the things of the world but for those who are willing to submit to His stripping and pruning work and be clothed again from glory to glory! Are you naked before the Lord? Do you need to be awakened and come to a realization that you are nowhere near laying hold of your high calling? Are you truly poor in spirit and desperate for a touch from heaven?
Allow the Lord to touch you afresh and put his finger on those areas of your soul that are not of Him. This is the season to invite the refining fire of God into your life because He is a consuming fire, and He is jealous to lay hold of you!
By Ryan Wyatt
Abiding Glory Ministries
www.abidingglory.com
posted by KFF at 5:24 AM
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