August 12, 2009
THE GLORY CLOUD HAS MOVED
and other pertinent issues
and other pertinent issues
The glory cloud has moved: In the time of Moses a pillar of cloud indicating the Lord’s presence led the people through the wilderness. If it stopped, they stopped. If it moved, they moved. In our time the cloud of glory has moved and we must take note of it or run the risk of missing out on the coming move of God. The cloud has lifted from the season of renewal, personal healing and focus on self in which much of the body of Christ has walked since the beginning of the Charismatic Renewal in the 1960s. We’ll still do these things, but no longer are they the focus. Those who want to camp there will find that the presence of God has left.
The cloud has moved not into revival as many of us define revival, but into something much more than that. It has moved into the kingdom of God in which we live beyond ourselves for a purpose greater than ourselves to affect and change the world around us by ministering the powers of heaven come to earth. Matthew 10:7-8: "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” Signs and wonders are moving beyond the walls of the church and into the marketplace, the workplace and the neighborhood. This is the hour of our greatest glory if we will only decide to come out of the culture of self and go where God has gone.
Although there are those who have been proclaiming the end of the organized church, God is far from finished with it, but there is a condition attached. No longer can the church be merely gatherings of people who worship together and get their personal needs met. Churches must become indispensable resources for our communities, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, providing counseling services for broken lives, recovery programs for addicts, healing for the sick and more. Above all churches must become places where the presence of God is known and felt and where He is free to move in any way He chooses. Churches must be places where the Father heart of God is experienced and lived, where the very atmosphere resonates with His love.
Where these things are not in place, we will see buildings once filled with thousands standing empty as God redeploys His sheep. It has already begun.
The nation and the world: A number of months ago I wrote what I believed the Lord was telling me about the days following President Obama’s inauguration. In brief, I said that the first six months of his presidency would be months of delusory hope followed by the whirlwind. I “saw” in the spirit a tornado with papers swirling in it. I also said that at the six month mark we would see signs of economic recovery. All three of these words have proven true as any can attest by simply watching the news. What now?
I can’t think of a time in my life when it has been more important for Christians to keep their balance, nor can I think of a time in my life when we seemed to be more off balance. Lost in a whirlwind of prophecies of gloom and doom and apocalyptic fears, many believers seem to be caught up in a swirling tornado of negativity that mirrors the whirlwind of changes coming our way in our nation and our world. To use another metaphor, too many of us believers seem out of control in a feeding frenzy of anxiety in which one word builds upon another until we have generated so much fear and alarm that we have divorced ourselves from reality. All of this tends to dim the light of love that we so need to be exuding in this hour.
The trigger for most of this seems to be what we see or think we see in Obama’s presidency. Make no mistake, there’s plenty to be alarmed about these days, but we seem to have forgotten that Obama is President Obama, not King Obama. He is an elected official answerable to the voters, as are all members of congress. Ultimately they cannot just do whatever they wish without suffering the wrath of the electorate.
Reality checks: The health bill is running into huge opposition across a broad range of voters, even in congress and even among Democrats. Obama's approval rating is dropping like a rock. For the most part, he has not been able to advance his agenda and even the security policies that he promised to change from Bush's presidency remain intact. In actual fact, not much has happened so far. There is yet time to pray.
I continue to believe that we must obey Scripture and pray for President Obama with love and respect rather than propagate the hatred and condemnation that seems so prevalent in the Christian world. I also believe that at some point along the way if we will pray God will grant him a genuine encounter with Jesus. If God could stop Paul on the Damascus Road as he went to arrest and kill Christians, He can intervene in Barack Obama’s life as well. It may be that the defeat of much of his agenda and the impact of his falling poll numbers will pave the way for such an encounter.
Extreme alarmism among prophetic voices can be compelling because it engenders fear, and fear is a form of excitement. Excitement is very difficult for many Christians to resist. Excitement clouds discernment so that we often mistake it for the Spirit of God. We are indeed in for a rough ride in years to come. They will be years of radical change – the whirlwind - as well as of some very significant natural disasters, but those of us in the prophetic world must take care that what we say is conditioned by the heart of God rather than by fear, judgments, bitterness, politics or self-importance.
What is certainly going to happen: Economic recovery will be a long process. We are at the front end of a massive shift in the economic base of this nation and the world. This always causes anxiety and results in many people being displaced, at least for a time, as old jobs cease to exist and new industries become reality.
Because of our greed and corruption during the years of economic freedom and free enterprise that have led us into this deep economic recession, we're going to see a gradual erosion of certain freedoms in years to come as government steps in to protect us from ourselves. But the problem is that government, too, is corrupt. Tough years lie ahead - not years of collapse, but difficult just the same.
This is a season like no other to heed and live Jesus’ own words, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:33-34). The cloud of glory has moved.
(Prophetic
Moments is an occasional bulletin produced by
Pastor R. Loren Sandford, New
Song Fellowship, Denver, Colorado.)
AUTHOR'S COMMENT:
If you're hungry for another way of doing and being church, this would
be it. It's the hunger in God's heart and in mine! It applies to every believer and
the role he or she plays in advancing the kingdom of God. You just
might find your destiny on these pages. Endorsements
by Graham Cooke and John Paul Jackson.
The
key is in the subtitle: "Breaking Free from the Spirit of
Self-fulfillment". This book is more poignantly and prophetically
relevant now during these uncertain times than when it was published in
1995. IMPORTANT STUFF! Endorsements
by John Arnott and John Paul Jackson.
Foreword by John Paul Jackson.
A virtual
handbook for prophetic ministry. Great for those called to prophetic
ministry as well as for those who would benefit from, relate
to and nurture prophetic people. Endorsements by Marc
Dupont and
James Goll. . 
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