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!
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!
Oh yes, there are times like Habakkuk when I’m saying, “O Lord, how long shall and I cry, and how long will You not hear?” That happened to me in a communist prison, 50 years ago, in 1972, when I was saying, “O God, here I am, locked up in a prison, starving, hardly any food, not allowed out of my prison cell!” In the midst of all this, one morning God answered when I was alone in my cell, crying out in desperation that I couldn’t pray anymore… Suddenly it seemed as if the whole roof of the prison was blown off. I could feel the angels coming down, I could see the Glory and the Fire and the Power. I jumped up, singing at the top of my voice that famous song, ‘Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!’ But where did I see this breakthrough? In the distress and discomfort of a prison cell. I haven’t had an experience like that anywhere else!
But this is God! And like Habakkuk, we’ve got to seek for a fresh Vision, we’ve got to seek that God would revive us, awaken us. Joel is full of this, 2:21ff, “Fear not O land, be glad, rejoice, the Lord WILL do GREAT THINGS! Don’t be afraid… Be glad, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the former rain moderately – and He will cause to come down for you the former and the latter rain. The floors will be full of wheat and the vats will overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten… And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the Lord your God and none else, and My people shall never be ashamed!” – In my darkest hours in the prison, that’s what the Lord brought to me: ‘Those who trust in God will never be ashamed!’
I want to remind you. Whatever the circumstances, whatever the difficulties we may be going through, we shall never be ashamed of our faith and our trust in God, and in His Power and in what He is going to do…
…Because the prophecies of Habakkuk and of Joel lead on to the return of Jesus Christ! Yes, they also speak of the suffering. Joel 3:9ff says, “Gentiles, prepare for war, get the mighty men ready for war, beat your ploughshares in to swords, let the weak say ‘I am strong’. Assemble yourselves together… Let the heathen be awakened and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge the heathen. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe and their wickedness is great… Multitudes in the Valley of Decision, for the Day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision.” THIS is when the Glory of God will be revealed! Vv15ff, “The sun and the light shall withdraw their shining. The Lord shall roar out of Zion and utter His Voice from Jerusalem, and the Heavens and the earth shall shake. But the Lord will be the Hope of His people and the strength of the children of Israel!”
What a wonderful prophecy! Don’t be discouraged. I want you to get that Vision of what God can do! Get into your ‘watchtower’ and pray until God answers you and shows you His Power and His Glory! O Father, open people’s eyes, let them get into that place in the ‘watchtower’ where You answer them when they cry to You, “How long are You silent?” O God, be not silent, but show Your Power and Your Glory! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.