I was listening to a preacher one weekend not too long ago. He was talking about when the iron curtain fell. He shared how the year before the fall of this wall, there were prophetic voices all over the world prophesying that the wall was about to fall.
He shared how everyone was excited about the prophecy, but no one prepared for the fulfillment of it. What did he mean by that? I continued to listen.
He shared how when the iron curtain fell, ministries were rushing to get funds together to go and minister in those areas that had suddenly opened up. He said it took them a lot of time to get their money and supplies in place. In the meantime, other religions were headed to those areas as well as evil invading the place now accessible.
He shared that if they had prepared when the prophecies were given, they would have been in God’s timing and ready to move the moment it fell. He said, “because they didn’t prepare at the time of the prophecies (a year prior to the fall) they were reduced from prophetic timing to natural timing.”
As we know, there is a grace, an empowerment, in the timing of the Lord that is not always present in natural timing. When we are dealing with natural timing, it is often filled with labor and toil.
When I heard this teaching, I began to think about the prophecies I have heard lately. I don’t heed all prophecies, only those I feel are from God. I began to think about the ones that bore witness with my spirit. Have I heeded those correctly? Have I prepared for the fulfillment of those prophecies? Or am I waiting for their manifestation in the natural world before I even begin to prepare?
While pondering this, I thought about something else I heard recently.
It was, “when God gives us a prophetic word, a dream, or a vision, it is something that already exists – is already fulfilled in the spirit.”
That being said, if it is already fulfilled in the Spirit, should we not begin to prepare for it, the moment we hear it? Of course.
If my daughter called me and said she was bringing a load of things to my house – I would begin to prepare. Not when she arrived, but when she said it was coming. Should it not be the same with God? Do we trust His voice as much as I trust the voice of my daughter? We certainly should. Even more so.
While meditating on all this I had to go back and revisit dreams and prophetic words, realizing when I first heard them, they were already fulfilled in the spirit. Knowing that, did I begin to prepare properly? If not, I certainly need to prepare now.
For me, this was an alert. Alerting me to revisit dreams and prophetic words. Not only to revisit them but to prepare for them. Why? They are already fulfilled in the spirit.
I will, therefore, prepare and be ready. How about you? Perhaps you should revisit dreams and prophetic words from the Lord. Revisit them and make sure you are prepared for the fulfillment of them. Prepare as if they were already set in motion, for they are. Remain in the timing of the Lord.
There is another reason I am sharing this with you today. All this came back my mind on Sunday as I listened to Pastor Terry Trussell preach. He shared how he felt a revival was coming to our church – and he is urging us to prepare. To prepare our hearts. I thought about in the Old Testament, when God was about to come and dwell among His people, He always told them to prepare themselves.
They were told to wash their clothes and consecrate themselves. In other words, clean yourself up. This was required before they could be in the manifest presence of God. God is once again, through Pastor Terry, compelling us to clean ourselves up – check our hearts – get ready for God is coming to dwell in our midst in a tangible way. I don’t know about you, but that excites me. I want to be in the midst of all God is doing.
I love His presence, and I don’t want anything in me, keeping His tangible presence from me. Therefore, I am spending time preparing. Preparing my heart. I do not want to have to clean myself up once His revival starts; I want to be in on the very beginning of it – don’t you? If so, prepare…whatever you feel God has for YOU, prepare yourself for it. You will be so glad you did.
