"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge" I Corinthians 14:29

The flood of prophecies for 2009 have begun to come in.   They sound remarkably similar to most I have been hearing for the past 15 years!  "This is the year of revival!  This is the year of His power.  This is the year of increase!  This is the year of harvest."   You mean it really, really, really is going to happen this time? 

I cringe to remember giving "prophetic" words like that!  We mistook emotional fervor and hype for anointing.  There was no judgement!  There was no accountability.  The only point was the "power" of the prophetic utterance in that moment.  It was paid performance art pure and simple!  Forgive us Lord! 

There is a major problem with all of the prophecies about revival to come.  It is a religious problem which Jesus encountered.  Religion will get all excited about the Messiah to come but try to kill Him when He is standing in their midst (Luke 4:16- 30).   Why?  The Messiah in the future does not demand faith and obedience now!  

The revival to come does not demand obedience now.  We can feel all warm and fuzzy about the wonderful word and clap at what God will do while conveniently forgetting that where ever people are simply obeying Jesus they are seeing the Kingdom multiply now.

The future  can be an escape from present responsibility!

Prophecies about revival to come lessen personal responsibility even further by emphasizing what God WILL do rather than what God has already done!  If Jesus has dealt with all sin on the cross and if Jesus has all authority, then we are completely, totally and absolutely without excuse!

The problem is not with God!  His work is finished!  The problem is with the laborers!  Jesus commanded us to pray for the laborers!  He did not ask us to pray for the harvest.  He did not even ask us to pray against the demons!  As a matter of record in Luke 10:18, Jesus saw "Satan fall like lightning from heaven" AFTER the disciples went out to befriend, demonstrate and declare the Kingdom.  The gospel of the Kingdom only has power as it is demonstrated and declared outside the four walls of our comfort zones!  Much of the fervor of the spiritual warfare movement is simply the avoidance of doing the now work in the fields.  

In John 4, the disciples did not want to go through Samaria  but Jesus did.  He talked to a woman and had a revival in that town.  Jesus pointed out the difference between Himself and the disciples.  It was a difference of vision!

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest?'  Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest", John 4:35.

The disciples saw bare, hard ground.  Jesus saw white fields.  Same view, different eyes, different vision!   The problem was not with the harvest but with the laborers!  

Harvest fields tend to be poor and difficult places. Harvesting is hard work where ever the field!  You have to get dirty and involved.  Sinners do not give honorariums.  Discipleship is about one on one stuff!  Jesus sent away the crowds in order to invest himself in the twelve.   Revival is not about platforms and performances.  It is about relationships, sacrifice and obedience.

I have a prophetic word for 2009.  It is a prophetic word which as been accurate for about 2,000 years and which always will be accurate!  It comes from Paul, 

"Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." II Corinthians 6:2b

And you are right!  This is the same as the "Prophetic Word for 2008"!  

That was the most forwarded article of 2008 and I think it deserves a resend.

Be challenged afresh!

Thanks to all who helped us to seek to walk this out.

Steve & Marilyn