Lights, Camera... Action

2 Timothy 2:8-10: "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's Word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."

I am so thankful that God's Word isn't chained! The Word is free and can move and act according to His purposes. "The Word is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, and divides to the joints and marrow, the innermost parts of mankind" (Hebrews 4:12). "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory" (John 1:14). The Word was in the beginning and is in the end; "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 22:13). Y'all, we think in a cage made by time. We can't step outside of time, because we are bound by it, but God is not bound. His Word is working yesterday, today, and forever. Hallelujah!

Today as I prayed, the Lord showed me a few pictures, and I want to share them with you.

1.) I saw a stage where the players were set and ready to act, but they were in stasis, a pause, a still-life. The stage lights weren't on yet, but the players were positioned, and the auditorium doors were opening; people were filing into the rows with their bulletins and finding their seats. My interpretation of this: All of us are in preparation for a world-wide play. A lot of things are preparing to happen, and God has given us our parts and equipped us to play those parts and play them well. Our lines are memorized, our costumes and makeup are on. The crew is ready, the stage manager's hand is on the curtain and controls. Church, let's be ready for the curtain call; this may be the most important role we've ever played yet.

2.) I saw an enormous rift, a chasm that opened up across the entire nation with people on both sides. In the rift, the Spirit of God flowed in like a giant river, filling the chasm to the brim. My interpretation of this: we are a nation deeply, deeply divided. Nothing is going to fix this break, this division, except God. No laws, no peace deals, nothing thrown out by Washington or politicians or political pandering. Only the Spirit will be able to heal the rift, fill it up, bring wholeness again. Let's stay in step with the Spirit.

3.) I saw nests. This one gave me the heebie-jeebies. There are black nests across the nation, and when the light of the Spirit shone through those who were faithful to walk with God and reflected into those nests, the dark forces of evil skittered away from the light, but it made them angry. My interpretation of this: Satan has strategically placed strongholds across this nation, but he can't stand the light of Christ, and when we pray strategically and specifically, he must move away from those things he has set up. It makes him angry, but... greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.

4.) This one feeds into #3: I saw mirrors. Those who kept their minds on the Truth and prayed fervently in the Spirit reflected the light of Christ so brilliantly that it flooded the nation with light. It blinded people, much like when the light of heaven surrounded Saul on the road to Damascus, and it took Ananias's faithfulness to pray that Saul would see again, but this time, that he would see "through" Christ, with His lens. When he did, the scales fell from his eyes. In this picture, I saw scales everywhere, littering the ground. This one feels fairly self-explanatory: We need Christ in order to "see." Satan keeps those who don't look to Christ trapped in sin, bondage, and darkness. We need to be faithful to pray that those who are trapped in that darkness be freed, unchained, the scales be taken from their spiritual eyes and replaced with the lens that only Christ can give.

In light of all these things, I prayed for the faithful to be so full of the Spirit of God that the dark forces of evil must flee, that they must move aside and make room for God's light to shine through. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to flood this nation with the water of life. I prayed for "the justice of our cause to shine like the noonday sun" (Psalm 37:6). I prayed for the blind to see, for scales to be removed, and those who have been living in darkness for so long to truly see God. I prayed for no fear, for no shame, for the bride of Christ to be a beacon for those who are lost and seeking hope and truth. I prayed for pastors to continue to preach the Truth fervently, with strength and endurance through the long night, to be "workers," like Timothy, who did his best to present himself to God as one approved, as a workman who did not need to be ashamed and who correctly handled the word of Truth.

Truth gets misused and too often misconstrued. I prayed for faithfulness to God's solid foundation. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). "The Lord knows those who are His," and "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness" (2 Timothy 2:19).

2 Timothy 3:14-17: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

We are equipped for battle. God has given us His Word--which, as a reminder--is not chained; we are students of it, but now the time for the fight is coming, and we need to use what we've been taught. Get ready; the play is about to begin. Lights, camera... action.