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 alm...

So many voices, so many conflicting opinions. It is overwhelming!  You can find a Christian leader, a pastor, a theologian, a prophet, etc. etc. who will tell you anything you want to hear right now! So BE CAREFUL who you are listening to! Be careful and discerning about whose counsel you are heeding!  The NT is full of admonitions to exercise discernment, to "beware" of false shepherds and false teachers.  I realize there are some well-meaning Christian voices who aren't "false" shepherds/teachers, who are simply giving wrong advice and wrong counsel at this time.  They haven't "heard" from God even though they will cite Bible verse after Bible verse to support their opinion. And that is what much of what people are hearing is - it is simply opinion! The Church, for the most part, was completely caught off guard by this global pandemic.  Much of the Church wasn't prepared. A lot of the teaching wasn't training and equipping people t...

There are simply too many stories now to document.  I tried to keep up but I've lost count of the dozens and dozens of people we have been able to encourage, to pray for, to share about Jesus with. Every man I have taken out with me has seen God at work, has seen the gratitude being expressed by people.  We have ministered to many non-Christians, and there has been absolutely no resistance.  Even this morning, a Lebanese Muslim woman was so encouraged when I prayed with her in Arabic. I met an American policewoman who also was from an Arabic background, and got to pray with her in Arabic.  Yesterday, I got to pray for many Persian Muslims.  So open, so receptive.  I got to pray that God would visit them in dreams and visions. Two young Moroccan-American Muslim women were very open to me praying for them and who wanted to meet my wife for further ministry. I think the thing I am struggling with the most is how many Christians who are completely missing the g...

I went out with a close friend to walk and to be "FEAR Extinguishers" - we chose a local area where there would be people and businesses/restaurants/shops open.  And just like it was in the Middle East ("just like" might be an understatement as you will see below), we were able to openly minister to I estimate a couple of dozen people in a couple of hours.  People were incredibly receptive.  This particular city is known as being somewhat hostile to Christianity, but I can honestly say, we saw NONE of that. We prayed for individuals mostly but in a couple of cases, it was up to 3 or 4 people.  One woman, a security guard, began to tear up, nearly crying as we prayed for her and her husband. One restaurant employee who was taking my order named "Jesus", let me pray for his entire family where everyone who had had jobs was no longer working.  Another manager at a large restaurant that miraculously had not let go of a single one of their 85 employees, ...

I had no idea what to expect upon our arrival in the United States. We have been praying for people and ministering to people in the Middle East since the COVID-19 crisis began with a level of openness and receptivity than I have ever seen in 28 years of living around the Arab World. But in my first two days in the US, I have been able to minister to many many people while I am out - mostly employees in stores and other businesses. It all started in the American airport where our plane landed.  I knew immediately that the door for ministry, the door to be a "Fear Extinguisher", was wide open in the U.S. I have found the same level of openness to me praying with them that I found in the Middle East. Everyone has a story, something they. are particularly concerned about and that is always the starting point.  The grace of listening to people!  And then the gratitude when they know they have been heard and their appreciation when we offer to pray for their specific need...