from the 'prophets' themselves:
MINISTRIES TODAY: What is God speaking prophetically to the church as we enter the year 2000?
Haggard: God is saying that this is the generation of opportunity to reach every unreached people group with the gospel. The United States is the world's superpower for a reason. Global economies are prospering, and that globalization is happening in the megacities of the world so that we can spread the gospel to every people group.
We are in Matthew 24:14: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." We have now codified the people groups who are unreached and least evangelized, so we can now strategically work to complete the Great Commission. We are closer to answering Jesus' prayer in John 17:23 than ever before.
This is the generation of rapid expansion, an incredible outpouring of His Spirit and of martyrdom as the gospel threatens the darkest areas of this world. In the next few decades, Asia will be evangelized and discipled, and then the whole world will have known.
Jacobs: A new outpouring of revelation is coming to the church, and with it will come a new wave of deception. As God is moving to release the whole body of Christ into laying hands on the sick, casting out demons, and so on, Satan will try to deceive even the elect. We need to pray for a spirit of discernment now more than ever before.
One of the most important issues on the heart of God right now concerning the prophetic is the linking (or hitching, as Peter Wagner is teaching) of the apostles and prophets to function together to lay the foundation of the church.
Bickle: I will isolate one dynamic that the Holy Spirit is emphasizing: 24-hour-a-day citywide prayer in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David, or intercessory worship. This is spiritual warfare led by worship teams.
I believe that throughout the whole earth many people are receiving invitations by the Holy Spirit to embrace 24- hour-a-day prayer meetings in their cities. I urge everyone to seek God's way to combine intercession with worship. This is one of the most pressing things on God's heart to bring in the great harvest.
I believe we will see more than 1 billion new souls come to Jesus in the coming hour. In Kansas City we have been conducting night-and-day prayer led by worship teams 24 hours-a-day since September 1999. Free resources and information are available on our Web site, www.ihopkc.com.
Hamon: Since the Protestant Reformation, God has systematically been restoring truth to the church. God desires us to "be established in the present truth" that we might be fully equipped and made ready to accomplish and fulfill all the divine purposes for His bride, the church (see 2 Pet. 1:12).
The Spirit of the Lord is urging the body of Christ to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, make straight paths for Him and to make a people ready, just as John the Baptist declared before the first time Christ came to earth (see Matt. 3:3; Luke 1:17). God is raising up a mighty army of believers who will move in power and authority (see Mark 16:15-18), not only within the four walls of the church, but in the marketplace and government as well, that He might accomplish Revelation 11:15, which declares that the "kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
God desires that His people hear His voice and know His heart, will and mind so that they can accomplish His plans in the earth. We must be as the sons of Issachar, who knew the times and seasons and knew how to strategically respond to them (see 1 Chr. 7:5; 12:32). The church must walk in the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know God's purposes and accomplish them in His time.
I sense that this is a strategic, appointed, kairos time in which the Lord is encountering His church in a powerful way. We will see a fresh release of the miraculous anointing of the Spirit. Signs, wonders and miracles will become as frequent and free-flowing as prophecy has become in the last several decades. God will be stirring and activating this anointing, not only in the five-fold ministry offices of church leadership, but in the lives of the average saints who will begin to affect cities and nations with the power of God.
God intends to bring a mighty revival in the young people of the United States. This generation will be bold, daring and radical in demonstrating the message of the gospel to the world. I believe we will see a tremendous harvest of souls. In fact, I believe we will see more souls saved in the next several decades than we have seen in the previous 2,000 years. We are living in a time when we will see entire nations turn to the Lord in a day!
The season of favor is upon the church (see Is. 61:2), and we must position ourselves in faith and in diligent intercessory prayer to pull His purposes forth from the heavenly realm. God is declaring that this is the time for the transfer of wealth to the church to accomplish kingdom purposes (see Prov. 13:22). It is a time of the double-portion release of His anointing (see Is. 61:7) and of continued shaking in world governments and economic systems, terrorism and political instability. However, God is using this shaking to set the stage for a dramatic paradigm shift in His church, which is even now ushering in the final reformation of the church and the coming of the Lord Jesus to be united with His bride.
Editor's Note: The respondents were invited to pose a question they believed needed to be asked. Bill Hamon posed this question and answer:
Why is there such an emphasis on apostles, prophets and prophetic ministry?
According to Ephesians 4:11-15, all five of the ascension gifts of Christ (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) are needed to equip and perfect the saints. However, several hundred years ago some theologians started teaching that apostles and prophets were no longer a valid, active ministry within the church, and that even their very existence ceased after the establishment of the first-century church.
For the last 20 years, God has been restoring the reality of apostles and prophets as being active and vital today. Jesus said, "I will build My church" (Matt. 16:18). He is still in the process of building His church. Apostles and prophets are major builders within the church, and are actually foundational ministries upon which the building takes place (see Eph. 2:20).
1 Corinthians 14:4 states that "he who prophesies edifies [builds up] the church." Therefore, we see that the ministry of prophesying is one of God's strategic tools for building His church in power, that the "gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18, KJV).
For further reading on this subject, Creation House has the following books available on its Web site, www.creationhouse.com: Prophetic Etiquette by Michael Sullivant, and Thus Saith the Lord? by John Bevere.
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=21306&columnid=
originally from somewhere in the occult bowels of this site:
http://www.globalharvest.org/
MINISTRIES TODAY: What is God speaking prophetically to the church as we enter the year 2000?
Haggard: God is saying that this is the generation of opportunity to reach every unreached people group with the gospel. The United States is the world's superpower for a reason. Global economies are prospering, and that globalization is happening in the megacities of the world so that we can spread the gospel to every people group.
We are in Matthew 24:14: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." We have now codified the people groups who are unreached and least evangelized, so we can now strategically work to complete the Great Commission. We are closer to answering Jesus' prayer in John 17:23 than ever before.
This is the generation of rapid expansion, an incredible outpouring of His Spirit and of martyrdom as the gospel threatens the darkest areas of this world. In the next few decades, Asia will be evangelized and discipled, and then the whole world will have known.
Jacobs: A new outpouring of revelation is coming to the church, and with it will come a new wave of deception. As God is moving to release the whole body of Christ into laying hands on the sick, casting out demons, and so on, Satan will try to deceive even the elect. We need to pray for a spirit of discernment now more than ever before.
One of the most important issues on the heart of God right now concerning the prophetic is the linking (or hitching, as Peter Wagner is teaching) of the apostles and prophets to function together to lay the foundation of the church.
Bickle: I will isolate one dynamic that the Holy Spirit is emphasizing: 24-hour-a-day citywide prayer in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David, or intercessory worship. This is spiritual warfare led by worship teams.
I believe that throughout the whole earth many people are receiving invitations by the Holy Spirit to embrace 24- hour-a-day prayer meetings in their cities. I urge everyone to seek God's way to combine intercession with worship. This is one of the most pressing things on God's heart to bring in the great harvest.
I believe we will see more than 1 billion new souls come to Jesus in the coming hour. In Kansas City we have been conducting night-and-day prayer led by worship teams 24 hours-a-day since September 1999. Free resources and information are available on our Web site, www.ihopkc.com.
Hamon: Since the Protestant Reformation, God has systematically been restoring truth to the church. God desires us to "be established in the present truth" that we might be fully equipped and made ready to accomplish and fulfill all the divine purposes for His bride, the church (see 2 Pet. 1:12).
The Spirit of the Lord is urging the body of Christ to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, make straight paths for Him and to make a people ready, just as John the Baptist declared before the first time Christ came to earth (see Matt. 3:3; Luke 1:17). God is raising up a mighty army of believers who will move in power and authority (see Mark 16:15-18), not only within the four walls of the church, but in the marketplace and government as well, that He might accomplish Revelation 11:15, which declares that the "kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
God desires that His people hear His voice and know His heart, will and mind so that they can accomplish His plans in the earth. We must be as the sons of Issachar, who knew the times and seasons and knew how to strategically respond to them (see 1 Chr. 7:5; 12:32). The church must walk in the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know God's purposes and accomplish them in His time.
I sense that this is a strategic, appointed, kairos time in which the Lord is encountering His church in a powerful way. We will see a fresh release of the miraculous anointing of the Spirit. Signs, wonders and miracles will become as frequent and free-flowing as prophecy has become in the last several decades. God will be stirring and activating this anointing, not only in the five-fold ministry offices of church leadership, but in the lives of the average saints who will begin to affect cities and nations with the power of God.
God intends to bring a mighty revival in the young people of the United States. This generation will be bold, daring and radical in demonstrating the message of the gospel to the world. I believe we will see a tremendous harvest of souls. In fact, I believe we will see more souls saved in the next several decades than we have seen in the previous 2,000 years. We are living in a time when we will see entire nations turn to the Lord in a day!
The season of favor is upon the church (see Is. 61:2), and we must position ourselves in faith and in diligent intercessory prayer to pull His purposes forth from the heavenly realm. God is declaring that this is the time for the transfer of wealth to the church to accomplish kingdom purposes (see Prov. 13:22). It is a time of the double-portion release of His anointing (see Is. 61:7) and of continued shaking in world governments and economic systems, terrorism and political instability. However, God is using this shaking to set the stage for a dramatic paradigm shift in His church, which is even now ushering in the final reformation of the church and the coming of the Lord Jesus to be united with His bride.
Editor's Note: The respondents were invited to pose a question they believed needed to be asked. Bill Hamon posed this question and answer:
Why is there such an emphasis on apostles, prophets and prophetic ministry?
According to Ephesians 4:11-15, all five of the ascension gifts of Christ (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) are needed to equip and perfect the saints. However, several hundred years ago some theologians started teaching that apostles and prophets were no longer a valid, active ministry within the church, and that even their very existence ceased after the establishment of the first-century church.
For the last 20 years, God has been restoring the reality of apostles and prophets as being active and vital today. Jesus said, "I will build My church" (Matt. 16:18). He is still in the process of building His church. Apostles and prophets are major builders within the church, and are actually foundational ministries upon which the building takes place (see Eph. 2:20).
1 Corinthians 14:4 states that "he who prophesies edifies [builds up] the church." Therefore, we see that the ministry of prophesying is one of God's strategic tools for building His church in power, that the "gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18, KJV).
For further reading on this subject, Creation House has the following books available on its Web site, www.creationhouse.com: Prophetic Etiquette by Michael Sullivant, and Thus Saith the Lord? by John Bevere.
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=21306&columnid=
originally from somewhere in the occult bowels of this site:
http://www.globalharvest.org/
