In Habakkuk 2:1 the prophet says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me on my tower, and I will watch what God will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” In the midst of his depression and anxiety, Habakkuk resolves, “I will go into my tower. I will watch and wait to see what the answer is. And – what shall I say to Him if I’m reproved?” You know, there are times, spiritually, when God HAS to reprove us. I know. There have been times in my life when I have had to face reproof. And there have been many times, when I have been over-concerned and over-anxious.
Now the prophet writes in v2, “The Lord answered me! He said, ‘Write the Vision, make it plain, that he who reads it may run with it! For the Vision is yet for an appointed time. But at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it shall surely come and will not delay.’” God is saying, “I’m going to show you the Vision (what will happen) – write it down, speak it clearly. And then run with the Vision, because it is for a specific time, it WILL come, at the appointed time. And although it seems to you to delay, it will not fail!” Sometimes in our lives we need the patience to wait for the fulfilment of God’s Promises…
Looking back over more than 70 years of ministry, seeing the difficult times I’ve been through – God has never failed me! There have been ups and there have been downs in my life, believe me! I’ve been in poverty. There was a time when I was newly married with twin girls, I was evanglising, and I had no money – we lived for a week on mushrooms which someone gave us! But God never fails!
Now the Church, in addition to doing the work of evangelism, must also enter a period of self-examination. And I think the Church would face reproof, because if God were to speak the truth into the Church today, it would not just be, “Oh, how well you have done, what a fantastic job…” Yes, there are times when God says that. But there ARE times of rebuke. Habakkuk says, “What I shall answer when I am reproved? In wrath, remember mercy…” So sometimes what God is saying to us, brings an element of fear. And yet the prophet says, “Revive Your Work in the midst of the years! Make Yourself known!”
This should be our cry, whatever we’re going through – persecution, distress, or the godlessness of the nations we live in… Godlessness is increasing by the day, our governments are passing laws approving things which should not be done – I’m shocked and discouraged by what I see… I’m crying out to the Lord, “In the midst of these years, revive Your Work!” It’s not just ‘revive me’ or ‘revive the Church’, but ‘O Lord, revive Your Work!’ Get a Vision of what God can do!
Proverbs 29:18 says, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish – they die!” This is why God says to Habakkuk, “Write the Vision!” Where there is a lack of vision in the Church, in our lives – then we are in danger of getting cold, falling away and needing reproof. I NEED a vision of what God WILL do. My vision at my age is not just of the past. Yes, I testify of what God has done in my life, because it’s the past which gives me strength and confidence for the future… Because I can look back and say, if God could do that then, and if we cry out, “O Lord, revive Your Work in the midst of the years” – God can do GREATER things now than anything He has done in the past! When I’m in prayer, and in fellowship with my prayer partners, we are sensing – as we stand on our watch – a vision so clear – of the future!
God can do GREATER things now than anything He has done in the past!
But this has to be a Vision of God, of what HE wants to achieve, of what HE wants to do. Today the Church is so often more governed by its own counsels and ideas, rather than simply being led and guided by prayer and the Holy Spirit. In my life I try not to depend too much on what other people are saying and advising. I’ve had so many people prophesy over me, but not many of those ‘prophecies’ have ever come to pass! They’ve not been in line with what God is telling me to do! From my earliest days I’ve had a clear vision. In fact, my ministry is called Eurovision, because God gave me a vision of Europe. He gave me that clear vision back in the 1980s, a vision – at the height of the Cold War in Europe – that He would break the Iron Curtain that separated East and West, and that the Power of God would sweep across Europe from East to West. That’s why I held the first of four East/West Karlsruhe Conferences in 1988, and within 12 months – that’s what actually happened: in 1989, only one year later, the Berlin Wall fell, and from there the whole of communism began to collapse, though Russia itself did not come free until 1991.
Because God had given me such a clear Vision, I ACTED on that Vision, I ‘ran with it’! But I was in the East, preaching and ministering BEFORE that, in faith that, even if the vision was delayed, God would not fail, God would not lie, He would do what He said. How powerful it was! Look at the revival that came in Russia and Ukraine: the Holy Spirit swept across those nations, first in the satellite states of Eastern Europe – Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria. God never fails!
But that was 40 years ago! That’s a whole generation ago. We need a fresh Vision, a fresh revelation – this is what I am asking God for, and this is what He is giving me: a vision of what He is going to be doing in the future. But not just the future – we need to run with that vision now – and not despair! Look at Joel 2:18ff, ‘Then the Lord will be jealous for His Land and pity His People. Yes, the Lord WILL answer His People, “Behold I bring you corn and oil, and you will be satisfied, and I will no longer make you a reproach among the heathen… Fear not, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do GREAT THINGS!” This is the vision God is giving me. How strong can I be on this point? And how strong can the Lord be? Because He says to you, “Fear not, because I will do GREAT THINGS!”
I don’t think we have seen the end of God’s Power. I believe that what we are about to see is an even GREATER revelation of His Power on earth than anything in the past. God’s Power doesn’t diminish just because there’s sin and wickedness in the world. God doesn’t change! God still loves the sinner. He still wants to redeem the earth. That’s why, in the near future, Jesus Christ is coming back – to fulfil every Promise, every Vision!