The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. —Proverbs 28:1
I couldn’t shake the visions I would see over and over of church buildings emptying and people leaving the safe shores of ministering to the Body only to step into their odyssey of apostolic sending into the nations and governmental influence. Ever since I had the encounter in December 2009 in Redding, I was a wreck. I came from an outreach-focused church, so I knew what church out of the walls looked like, but it wasn’t like this. What I was seeing was a mass exodus of some kind or a shift of focus or an awakening?
More recently, I walked the halls of Bethel Church. I felt that I needed to come there and remember what God did that Friday night in 2009, but I asked new questions this time: What are You doing, Lord? What is coming? Where will the Church be in another twelve years? I know this much. Reformation is needed. We have needed the entire Church to stand up, not just the few, and we have desperately needed an awakening of the Bride like in the days of John the Baptist.
From the moment John stepped onto the scene until now, the realm of heaven’s kingdom is bursting forth, and passionate people have taken hold of its power (Matthew 11:12 TPT).
I believe almost twelve years later that what I saw is right now upon us. We have seen the old wineskin burst, and this max exodus from the prison of stale and powerless Christianity, and the beginning of the rising of a remnant once exiled who are moving into position as the navigators and voices of this great move.
THE DEATH, BURIAL, & NEW BIRTH
In 2016, the Lord said to me that a death to an era was coming. I wondered why He didn’t say end rather than death. I believe it was because where we are going won’t be a transition into a new time with the same paradigm. No, it will be so far removed from what we have known that it will feel like the old move and old ways and old methods died. Just like at the wedding of Cana that I have mentioned many times, the old wine had to run out before the new could come. This is what we call transition.
Let me make this clear: A single grain of wheat will never be more than a single grain of wheat unless it drops into the ground and dies. Because then it sprouts and produces a great harvest of wheat—all because one grain died (John 12:24).
I believe we have all been witnessing that death. Things are not working how they used to, and those who have attached themselves to moves and structures and not Jesus will have to adjust to move with the Spirit. But what is this era we are moving into? It’s the era of the voice of the Bride. I believe it’s the Church discovering she has something to say and has a major role in shifting the course of history and shaking the nations.
SPEAKING TO THE BONES OF A “ONCE WAS” ARMY
The following scripture spoke to me recently.
Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey (Judges 14:8).
Why would something sweet be in something dead? Then it hit me! This is our calling. We see beyond the storm, and we see the honey in the middle of the dead carcass. Wild ones have a strange knack and purpose that in a death-season they call forth the new life and new beginning that others don’t see. They are the ones at the tomb calling forth Lazarus, even when Lazarus feels done and doesn’t want to come. This is your role to the Church. You are a reformer, yes, but you are a cheerleader, champion, and coach as well. Our priority is this: We only have one thing in our sights, the ecclesia being raised up, roaring, bold, and shining bright in the earth.
We are in an Ezekiel 37 moment where the dead, dormant, and decommissioned need to be called back to life. This is what we are about to see:
• We are about to see the dry bones army. The sleeping Church will become some of the most radical warriors we have ever seen because the pandemic woke them up.
• We will see the Church throw out the pointless tools and weapons and messages and get back to the simple gospel again.
• We will see those who were decommissioned get back their fire and those who were stuck in a rut and on the sidelines get back their passion and purpose.
• We are going to see a soul-winning army arise. It will be an army whose anointing is to go after souls, and they will go hand in hand with revivalists who are called to uncap wells in the nations.
• We are going to see the next level of awakening around the earth, and it’s our job to prophesy them awake.
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army (Ezekiel 37:10).
This is an excerpt from "The Wild Ones" By Nate Johnston
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