JOEL 2 GENERATION

I blogged about this very topic the other day and it appears that in California where I am currently a growing number of Church leaders are going to go ahead and try to resume big church meetings in their buildings by the end of the month. Did ANY of them consider that the word to "gather again" might mean to be gathering in small groups initially?  The vast majority of them have not done a single "in-person" meeting/service since the restrictions were put into place. Have ANY of these leaders considered that the majority of unbelievers (and I know this from my interaction over the past 3 weeks on the streets) won't go anywhere near a large church meeting for months? Were ANY of these leaders using the time that has elapsed since they had to suddenly close their doors, to come up with a plan to mobilize their churches into small units (house expressions) in the case that they could not re-open for months and months?  Did they devote this time to training lea...

While many Christian leaders in my state seem anxious to get back to "Church as usual", I am reminded once again of the old Vineyard adage, "The MEAT is in the street"!  This means that MORE is happening OUTSIDE the walls and confines of "Church meetings".  That has been my experience - and since there have been NO church meetings, that has been especially true since the COVID-19 pandemic began.  Go and EXTINGUISH FEAR - that is what the Lord told us and that is what we have been doing. I would say in the beginning that the majority of the people we were meeting, our primary interaction was to actually help them with their fear, anxiety, and worry in these uncertain times.  To pray with them, to encourage them, and literally see "fear extinguished" in the encounter.  Sure there was the virus issue, but the financial issues became as important to people - the fear of the future, the fear of getting a paycheck, etc.  But God ALWAYS seems to want to...

The Lord is saying "It is time for the church to start gathering again" (the Revelation) but many are misunderstanding what that means at this time (the Application).   One prophetic voice had a powerful prophetic dream where he received a timeline for 2020. (Note: we must always "test" prophetic words)   To summarize the contents of that dream:  1.     The first four months of 2020 (January-April) - REPENTANCE- Deep sorrow and contrition for sin. 2.     The second four months of 2020 (May-August) - RECOVERY- to return to a state of health, mind, and strength. 3.     The last four months of 2020 (September- December) - RECOMPENSE- compensation or reward for loss or suffering. Note: April has just ended and so what is the "shift" that the Lord intends??  Read on.   I've been back in the United States now for about 3 weeks and during that time, I have been on the streets almo...