Vision – Escaping the Spirit of the Age

By Gary/Dagazz.

Vision of the Present and Coming Western Church – 06-05-11:

I saw the people of God scattered in dark foreboding waters. They were
broadly scattered and mostly trapped into an apathy of the status quo. As I
looked I could see that many were comfortable being scattered and overcome
by the spirit of the age, but I sensed a storm was about to shake many out
of their apathy and awaken them to repentance and revival.

As the sea began to roar in the coming storm I was able to see that many
individuals were alone, discouraged and struggling as the waves and wind
began to beat upon them. Some began to realize the bondage and danger they
were in and call out to God, seeking a way of escape, many had begun to seek
out others in the tossing waves and together they had managed to keep their
heads above the swelling storm and encourage each other to hope and trust in
Christ.

I was fascinated and moved with empathy and compassion as I saw my brothers
and sisters struggle and endure; what I saw happen next amazed me. Those who
began to seek a way out of this ocean of bondage were lifting their heads,
seeking their Lord, seeing a glimmer of the revelation of His kingdom, power
and glory and beginning to move towards the brightening land that was
visible on the horizon of the dawning day. Those that did this were for a
time fighting for their lives as the waves tried to push them down, crashed
over their heads as the wind stung their faces and sought to blind them to
the hopeful vision they were beginning to see.
Those who didn’t struggle had no such drama and were carried along by the
storm, spared the battle that these others were going through. Some
struggled for a time, became discouraged that things seemed to get worse and
lay back, defeated in the dark waters.

As I watched those that refused to quit, it was as if these persevering,
praying, struggling saints suddenly became vessels, like small fishing
skiffs, or mullet boats as we call them. The wind and waves tried to sink
these vessels but as they got their bearings and began to steer the course
towards the growing glory, the bows of the boats rose above the waves and
the wind filled the sails and sped them towards their destination. Because
they had persevered and not been thrown off course these people began to
rejoice in the stability and freedom they were experiencing now they had
escaped the clutches of the raging sea.

I was excited as I saw that this was God’s church that was being raised up,
those in the vessels were of one heart and mind, focused on the Lord, His
kingdom and glory and filled with hope and joy. Some of these vessels would
rescue others as they sailed along and had soon grown into a great
multitude. As I saw what I believe the Spirit told me was the end time
church, I was impressed that they were what could best be described as a
powerhouse of encouragement, unity of purpose, prayer, proclamation and
exhortation.

I saw one of these vessels cutting through huge waves that were seeking to
drown a group caught in the storm. A cry of intercession came forth from the
body of believers in the ship that had a power like holy violence, it was as
though the darkness was in an instant driven back and the roaring waves
scattered. The sacrifice of these vessels, in seeking to save those lost in
the worst of the storm meant they had to turn aside from their straight path
and the comfort of rising above the waves, and again be for a time be beaten
and tossed by the storm, but love enabled them to endure this for the joy of
seeing captives set free. I was weeping as I saw this great love and
sacrifice for the sake of others being expressed by the church.

I then made two errors in comprehending what I was seeing, both ideas were
met with the rebuke of the Lord as they rose from my heart. The first was
that this church seemed to be free from leaders as we know them in the
church today and just seemed to be made up of ordinary everyday people doing
extraordinary things. I was asked a question. “Have I not set in my church
leaders, teachers, prophets, evangelists and shepherds; for what purpose are
they given to the church?” I instantly knew my heart was wrong, this end
time church was not against leadership, but was in fact the product of
ministry gifts that are focused on maturing and mobilizing the saints to be
God’s people. There were prophets in the Spirit of Elijah, convicting,
challenging and proclaiming holiness. As I looked closer I saw such people
uniting families, diverse cultures and age groups on the vessels they served
on. I also saw teachers, evangelists and other gifted leaders, all were
giving glory to God and proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ. He was their
head, their vision and their treasure. None were elevating themselves above
the people, they were lifting up Christ and enabling people to truly know
and walk with God for themselves. One crucial characteristic of these groups
was that they were all extremely sensitive to, and empowered by the wind of
the Spirit, and were no longer fearful of the storm or its power.

The other error I made was in determining in my heart to devote myself to
becoming part of the glorious church that I had just seen.
I was shocked that such a goal was subject to correction as I saw it as a
noble and valuable pursuit. I was encouraged to, “Seek first the Lord and
His righteousness,” and warned of the danger of settling for any experience,
movement or ministry along my journey that would cause me to camp at a
certain place of progress and lead me to not continue in the upward call of
God in Christ. I knew that my carnal, religious heart could easily settle
for less than the fullness that God desires to bring to His church.

One tragic part of the vision was that in the dark stormy sea I could see
large crowds of people gathering together but seeming to be at ease in this
environment. As I looked closer I saw that these groups of people were
gathering around gifted and charismatic people who held these storm tossed
but united believers together with their words, slick presentations and
dynamic personalities. I thought that they also would acknowledge that they
were trapped in worldly, satanic or other enslavements in this storm and
find freedom as others around them had begun to. As I considered this I saw
that during this time these groups would also gather new- comers who were
drawn to the big crowds and the bold encouraging words that the leaders
spoke. I heard many of the people trapped in these groups encouraging each
other that their church was growing and that this was a sign of God’s
blessing upon them.
They were also questioning the authority of these other believers sailing
past them to freedom, feeling they were not in proper submission to church
leadership. They were sadly comforted in their blindness.

Some leaders did realize the deception they were living under and turned
from being the centre of these groups and began to humble themselves and
lift up and turn the eyes of their followers to Christ.
Soon many of these groups were becoming like the others that I had seen,
escaping the storms, being mobilized in their true gifts and callings and
finding liberty and victory in their lives, with Christ as their head.

I pray this will encourage everyone in the storms they are facing or about
to face.

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