Aligning With the Holy Spirit for Revival

From this writer’s standpoint, the preaching I have heard from a number of leaders in the Church boarders on denial or a complete misunderstanding of the truth of the current situation in America, let alone the rest of the world.

The current watered-down version of the Bible that is being preached denies that the Lord has the license to move in judgment.  Either that or they don’t believe that the term judgment Biblical or necessary in the preparation of His Bride, the Church.  The soft-toned approach refuses to use a word that has become abhorrent to the Christian masses because their leaders never speak of it.  For fear of man, fighting under the guise of keeping unity, many leaders will not use a word they believe is archaic and meaningless, having lost their appetite for the truth.

But this is but a symptom among Church leaders who have wandered away from listening to the Holy Spirit, falling back on words of peace from the Bible that say we need not fear, preaching peace when there is no peace.  They preach half of the truth regarding salvation; it is true enough that Jesus paid the price for our sins, making a way for us to be part of His kingdom and more, to be a kingdom of kings and priests unto our God.  This is the safe side of the line where if this is the message, no one can throw stones because of our heresy.  “Jesus is risen, He is alive.  The stone is rolled away!”, was faithfully proclaimed over this past weekend.  No doubt the horrible price that Jesus payed for our salvation initiated emotions that are good and proper for Christians to have when we remember the cost for our redemption.

But this is not enough.  The Holy Spirit was sent to sanctify us and establish the character of Christ in us.  When we committed our lives to Jesus, we gave license to the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Jesus) to bring whatever change is required to conform us to the image of Jesus.  That includes guiding us along a path of suffering and discipline.  Now we have struck it!  We’ve hit another nerve of the Church that despises the “discipline” word and its close cousin, disciple.  The great substitution in Biblical doctrine has been for the word coach.  Coaching is far tamer than disciple, because it allows us to enter the humanistic fantasy that Christianity is more like a sport than anything else. 

The term coaching helps us because we cannot fathom or tolerate the notion that the Holy Spirit should have to crucify anything in us.  No, the denial doctrine has made the Holy Spirit unnecessary since human coaches keep telling us to do more of what works for us.  To do what the Holy Spirit instructs us to do would mean we would have to be obedient to His absolute truth, rather than have the choice to follow the instructions of a person whose sole interest is to extract another $100/hr. from our wallet.  Rather than being a living sacrifice, Christians have become the coach’s cash cow.

The great crisis that the Church is facing is that we refuse to accept the fact that we are the target of the Lord’s judgment.  With great precision, the Holy Spirit with one stroke hit the economic heart of China in Wuhan, thereby hitting the economic heart of the world.  The ripple effects are still being felt.  Freedoms that we took for granted were lost overnight.  China’s government has rightfully borne the brunt of scathing accusations from the nations of the world for its secrecy, lies and disregard for human life.  But this is but a superficial analysis of the situation, but it suits those who choose to walk in denial concerning the truth of the Lord at work.  The truth is that judgment is not made in China.

I direct your attention to the much quoted and beloved verses of II Chronicles 7:14, but now I must include verse 13 –

13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13–14, NASB95)

We have forgotten that vs 14 is preceded by the fact that the Lord is the one bringing judgment, not the devil.

Today’s Christian has been fed only part of the message of the Bible, believing that it is all encompassing, but nothing could be further from the truth.  The message that “God is love” is foundational to the Gospel and is unquestionably true.  The heart of the Lord is clearly expressed in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him will have everlasting life.  To this I say, “Yes and Amen!  Blessed be the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!”

But this does not negate Peter’s teaching that it is time for judgment to begin in the household of God (I Peter 4:17).  The Bible teaches that the Lord can, will and does dispense judgment and is thoroughly capable to secure that which He sends it forth to do – to bring forth righteousness in His Church; that means you and me.  But it is a double-headed arrow isn’t it?  For judgment is sent into the earth to warn the godless sinner who believes that he must submit to no one other than himself.

The indictment from Heaven is lengthy for the Church.  The bottom-line is that the Church does not want the Lord.  We claim we are followers of Jesus who have submitted to our coaches in the game of life, yet we deny the One who is the truth, the Holy Spirit.  Jesus proclaimed that He is the way, the truth and the life and yet the Church denies that truth.  The denial comes in the form of refusing to give room to the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Jesus.  We have bought the devil’s camouflaged lie that the truth revealed by the Spirit of Jesus is no longer necessary.  We have the Scriptures and we have our coaches!  Jesus said – 

John 5:39–40 (NASB95)  ³⁹ You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; ⁴⁰ and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

The ongoing decision we have made to resist the Holy Spirit, based upon our hard-heartedness, has cost us more than we can possibly comprehend.  The Church has chosen hatred for the Holy Spirit where Jesus said in John 19:27, “But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him saying to them, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’”  The end of this decision leaves the King no choice in Luke 19:27 – “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”  This is not a coaching session; this is judgment. 

Our sin of denying the power of the Holy Spirit today, coupled with restricting Him unlimited access to His people so that He can flow through them to a lost and dying world is so grave that it merits nothing less than the judgment Jesus pronounced against those in Jerusalem -

 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”” (Luke 19:41–44, NASB95)

We commit the same sin in each of our services and have done so for decades!  Restricting the move of the Spirit, actively standing in His way, resisting and grieving the Holy Spirit for so long that our rebellion and disobedience demands action from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  What a rebellious and wicked people we have become, and yet we have the audacity to stand and point our crooked finger back to those in Jerusalem saying, “You deserved everything Jesus said would come!”, not recognizing that we have done the same thing repeatedly, habitually, systematically and intentionally.  We stand without excuse and our guilt has now reached Heaven.  As a result, the hand of the Lord has lifted off the nation; I speak this by the Spirit.

If the fact of judgment is denied, then the Lord has no alternative but to release more of it.  Leviticus 26 outlines five phases of judgment, each worse the previous stage.  Neither the Church nor the world graduated from this being a possible consequence of hatred of the Holy Spirit.  The love of the Father is exemplified where He says that if we are obedient, He will turn toward us (Lev 26:9), make His dwelling among us and His soul would not reject us (vs 11), and that He would walk among us (vs 13).  He is the prize for our obedience born out of wanting Him.

In stark contrast, the penalties of disobedience are dispensed with wave upon wave of judgment in Leviticus 26:14-39.  The first phase is more than simply instructional – it is happening.  Make no mistake, the Bible makes it clear that judgments of the type we are currently experiencing in the form of Covid-19, are not from the devil.  The Bible repeats the phrase, “I (the Lord) will…”, throughout this chapter, so we dare not preach that the devil is coming against us in this hour.  The Bible is clear enough with the beginning of the first judgment phase in Leviticus 26:16 – 

I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up.

Instructional for us today is to note the undeniable similarities between, “sudden terror, consumption and fever”, and Covid-19.  Consumption, a common term for tuberculosis (TB), attacks the lungs, as does Covid-19.  Commonalities between TB and Covid-19 include being asymptomatic, both are infectious (the first being bacterial in origin and the later resulting from a virus), fever, cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, tiredness and aches.  Both can kill.  The other symptoms are not identical, but their similarities are striking, pointing to the warning that this type of disease is of the type described in the above verse. 

What is graver yet, is to read the long list of ever-increasing judgments that await us if we as the Church do not turn.  Our destruction is in sight, yet we deny the iceberg that is dead-ahead as we cruise in the U.S.S. Church.  We are doomed if we will not yield to the Master.  The prophet Balaam was spared judgment by listening to a donkey, but we will not listen to the word of the Lord set forth in the Scripture we claim to follow.

I would submit, that what we have for denied for too is now undeniable.  The unthinkable has become our reality.  More disaster is ahead if we do not preach and teach the truth of judgment that has come to our nation and to the world.  The time is short!  The Lord is righteous and holy and He has demonstrated that He will not tolerate the rebellious or the wicked, especially those in His house.  Ask Ananias and Sapphira or any one of a number of people in the Bible set forth as a warning to people such as we are. 

We must learn from Adam and Eve, Cain, those lost in the flood during the ministry of Noah, the architects of the tower of Babel, Pharaoh who took Sarai as his wife, the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses who struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it, Nadab and Abihu who decided to casually adlib, Korah, Dathan, Abiram along with 250 men of renown who presumed to lead, ten leaders who brought a bad report of the land the Lord had promised, Aaron, Saul, David, those exiled to Babylon, and other countless examples set forth in the Bible.  I would be remiss not to mention Paul who calls out Hymenaeus and Alexander who he delivered to Satan (I Tim 1:20), demonstrating the harsh realities of judgment in the early Church – a far cry from being benched by a coach!  May the Church be warned, the Lord does not play games like His Church!

The core example establishing the Lord’s righteous judgment is that He poured out His judgment upon Jesus Christ –

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:4–6, NASB95)

The prophet goes on to say, “By oppression and judgment He was taken away.” (Isaiah 53:8a) But it is the Lord, our risen Savior, who spoke to the churches in Revelation 2-3.  Woven through these passages we find warnings of judgment if changes are not made, including the taking of their candlestand, in the case of church at Ephesus, and the spewing out of His mouth in the case of the church of Laodicea.  I will leave it to the reader to read the indictments against the other churches, the church of Philadelphia being the exception.  I would submit that we are not the exception.

Judgment is a cause for us to feel shame, yet I dare say we have yet to blush.  However, in all this there is still time.  All we must do is to reject our denial of the truth.  We must embrace and confess the truth of our sin against the Lord.  Only then can we be spared from His great judgments.

“‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land.” (Leviticus 26:40–42, NASB95)

Having celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, we dare not spit in His face by denying our allegiance to His Holy Spirit and heeding His warnings.  If we do not change our course, we will perish.

Mark Biteler

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Father,

We as your Church have become arrogant and proud, thinking and acting as if we have need of nothing, when in fact we have nothing (Rev 3:17).

We agree with you and confess that we are blind, naked, wretched, miserable and poor (Rev 3:17).

We have habitually and systematically, with wicked intent, grieved your Holy Spirit by not allowing Him to have His liberty as we gather in your name.

We have stood in the way of your power flowing to your flock and to the world, proudly believing we could fulfill the Great Commission on our own.

We have stood and are standing in the way of your Holy Spirit making His dwelling among us, which has grieved your heart.

We have not judged ourselves properly for our sins of disobedience and luke-warmness, therefore you have brought this calamity upon us and this nation.

We have not cried out to you regarding the slaughter of the unborn.  We have not supported the sanctuaries that you have established and the ministers you have raised up to work at the front-line against the wickedness that kills your offspring.

We have not been faithful stewards of the resources that you have entrusted to us, but rather we have bowed down to the idols of recreation, leisure, comfort and sports.  We have wasted our money on the things of this world without consulting you.

We have moved in the sin of presumption and have become experts in doing our own thing under the pretense of Christian ministry. 

We have not consulted you or waited for your counsel regarding issues that demanded revelation. 

We chose to move in the wisdom of this age and lean on the wisdom of man, rather than waiting for your Holy Spirit to reveal what you wanted to do.

We have made choices, habitually committing the sin of presumption, for so long, that we have completely lost our way.

We have gone astray thinking we didn’t need your Holy Spirit to lead, guide and protect us in real time, when in fact our stubborn, wicked and independent heart has brought us to destruction and we are now surrounded by evil.

We have been committed to a course where we are the first line of defense against the outpouring of your Holy Spirit you told us would come.

We have loved the praise of man, rather than the approval that only comes from you, and as a result we have been disobedient to your word, your voice as well as the leading and prompting of your Holy Spirit.

We chose to preach the words of men and the wisdom of this age, rather than what your Holy Spirit wanted us to preach that comes by revelation within the framework of your truths set forth in Scripture.

We have muddied the waters and have tread down the pasture for your flock by moving in pride and arrogance to secure our position in your house, effectively frustrating your will (Ezekiel 34:17-23).

We have attempted to remove the truths of your word regarding the fact that you do move in judgment.  We chose not to believe those truths and preached lies to your flock and to the lost.

We do not have eyes to see, ears to hear or a heart to understand the full extent of our sin (Deuteronomy 29:4, Isaiah 6).

We stood in judgment against our government and the school system for their decision to remove prayer from our schools, yet we have systematically and habitually kept you out of your own house.

We have actively recruited those who were never called to minister or to be leaders, to take places of authority in your Church, failing to understand that you alone know who is to minister in the anointing that only comes from you.

We have participated in leadership and committee meetings where we looked for an answer in the horizontal, i.e. from men, rather than seek your wisdom and counsel.

We have embraced the corporate systems to manage and lead your Church, when we should have sought your wisdom that you are more than willing to share; we would not wait for you to move.

We have a form of religion but we actively and persistently deny your power, living in direct contradiction to your word that our faith should not rest on the wisdom of man, but upon the power of your Holy Spirit.

We have built buildings without your approval and we have designed programs we call ministry that are not by your Holy Spirit.

We have substituted activity for true ministry that comes by following your Holy Spirit.

We presumed upon your grace due to our pride and arrogance, believing the lie that you would never bring judgment upon United States or your Church in this nation. 

We refuse to accept the fact that your house is in ruins.

We have not listened to you or the prophets that you have sent to warn us.  Time and again we have allowed our ears to be tickled, but we refused to change.

We have put up numerous barriers to your gifts operating in your house.  We under-mind the wisdom you demonstrated in the founding of your Church on the day of Pentecost.

We taught your people that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today or that they weren’t necessary for the establishing of your kingdom on the face of the earth.

We have taken our stand against the Holy Spirit, moving in rebellion, while many of our leaders stand guilty of high treason against you.

We have not fed your flock fresh bread or Living Water.  Instead, we fed them what others were saying and what we reasoned we should feed your flock, rather than receiving nourishment for your sheep in, by and through your Holy Spirit.

We have relied upon strategic marketing campaigns to attract people, rather than following your guidance.  In seeking to be relevant to the world, we have become irrelevant to your kingdom.

We actively fought against your Holy Spirit as you brought up the spiritual David’s in this hour.  Due to our jealousy and pride, we have forced them to stay in places they were neither called to nor destined to move in.  In doing so, we have actively stood against your Holy Spirit.

We allowed the enemy to fill the void left in the absence of prophetic dreams, visions and revelation, that permitted pornography to infiltrate your ranks bringing millions into bondage.

We refused to discipline and correct the unruly, the disobedient and the apostate (those who have turned from Orthodox Christianity), thereby signaling to your flock that their teaching and behavior was acceptable in your house.

We have allowed the apostate to rule in your house in the name of unity, thereby compromising and denying the truth set forth in your word.

We offered nothing to those practicing homosexuality because we have long lost the true reality of the Cross and the power of the Holy Spirit to set the captive free from all forms of darkness.

We have made Christianity a matter of the mind and self-discipline, rather than the truth of the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus who is our righteousness.  We have taught believers to settle for a set of do’s and don’ts rather than setting their eyes on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.

We have not and do not love you.  We have not and do not want you.  We confess all of this wickedness and we ask for your forgiveness because of the sacrifice of your Son.  Our hearts have turned to stone, but we ask for a heart of flesh that only you can provide.

We have moved in presumptuous sin believing that you would protect us when we gathered in worship.  We took the bait of Satan thereby putting you to the test because of our pride and arrogance.

We have moved in careless disregard of our neighbor by defying the civil authority you instituted and because of this, we have caused the world to blaspheme your Name.

We have not demonstrated or manifested the power exhibited on the day of your resurrection yet we stand defiant claiming that you stand with us in our gatherings.

We easily see the darkness in the world but are blind to the darkness that you have allowed to fill your house because we would not allow your Holy Spirit in the front door.

We demanded that your sheep work harder and do more because of the threat of evil that stands to destroy, rather than guiding them into the rest of the Lord and the truth that it is not by might, nor by power, but by your Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).

We have refused to acknowledge our guilt, our error, our pride, our arrogance and our complete disregard for your Holy Spirit who you sent to lead us in your truth.

Our sins are great and have caused you to release your righteous judgments.

We are guilty for conducting services and living lives that the world has rightly repudiated as being without power or life.

We have spurned your Holy Spirit causing a great falling away of the flock you have entrusted to us, disregarding your truth that the kingdom of God is not merely words but power.

We remember your great promise to us in II Chronicles 7:13-14 –

2 Chronicles 7:13–14 (NASB95)

¹³ “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

You have defined our wicked ways and we agree with your position regarding our guilt.  I acknowledge my guilt; you have judged all of us correctly.  You have called us to turn from what we have confessed above.  Hear our cry!  We seek your face!  Come and dwell among us for that is our desire.

Forgive us because of your great Name.  Heal us of our backslidden condition.  Open our eyes to our spiritual poverty before you.  You are our Lord and we honor you.  We have utterly failed you as the Church.  We throw ourselves on your great mercy.  Cleanse us and we will be white as snow.  Demonstrate to us again how great and powerful you are, and we will testify of your great love for the world you have called us to witness to.

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There are nine videos on our Joshua Revival Project YouTube channel that deal with Judgment: China, America & the Church.  

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I submit an abridged version of an article below by E.M. McCrum who puts forth a simple exercise of applying Psalm 91 in our lives and certainly during the Coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreak.  I share it hoping that many who read it will find a model that demonstrates how we can apply Scripture as well as how Church at home can work.

I find that many Christians simply cannot grasp how to gather in their homes and invite Jesus in, sharing the Bible, praying and worshiping.  We have gravitated to a dependence upon large group gatherings when the definition of Church is wherever two or three are gathered (Matthew 18:20); this is where the Church began.

A SIMPLE STRATEGY TO DEFEND YOUR HOUSEHOLD AGAINST THE CORONAVIRUS

COVID-19 literally means “coronavirus disease 2019”. Only this past week did I figure out that the “19” stood for the year 2019. While God’s Word does not mention the coronavirus disease specifically, it does address disease and plagues in general and specifically. So, if we want to see what God’s thoughts are about disease and plagues, then we only need to look up Scriptures on these topics, read them, and then apply them to our family, friends, neighbors, cities, states, and nations.

The Insurance Psalm

Shortly after my parents were born again, their pastor in Williamsport, Pennsylvania asked them if they needed anything. They told him that their one-year old child, me, was born with an immune system deficiency and had to get shots for the rest of his life. The preacher prayed for me, and I was miraculously healed. I did not have to get any more of those shots. That was 48 years ago, and I have had a strong immune system ever since.

Over the course of my childhood, I witnessed the faith of my parents and saw them put their trust in the Lord repeatedly. They claimed God’s promises in His Word and the benefits that we have from being in Christ.

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

– 2 Cor 1:20 (NKJV)

Much of my life, I have lived without traditional health insurance. When I was about 6 years old, my dad left the Army. He received health coverage from the VA, but my mom, my sister, and I did not have health insurance most of my growing up years. Thankfully, I learned repeatedly throughout my childhood that God is the Great Physician and that one of his names is Jehovah-Rophe, meaning the Lord who heals you. As an adult, I have also gone without health insurance a great deal: during college, for most of the time between college and law school, as a young attorney with a young family when running my own law practice, and twice when I was working for small, private law firms. As such, I am grateful that when I was a young man, my dad taught me about what he called “God’s Insurance” – found in Psalm 91.

Psalm 91 (NLT) states:

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.

He will cover you with his feathers.

            He will shelter you with his wings.

            His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.

Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.

Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.

Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.

If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.

For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.

They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.

            I will protect those who trust in my name.

When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble.

            I will rescue and honor them.

I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.” (Emphasis added)

Conditions Precedent

In three different verses in this psalm, the Spirit of God (the author of all Scripture) mentions a phrase or word that is inclusive of COVID-19: deadly disease, disease, and plague. Many of God’s promises in His Word are conditional. In Elementary Logic class in college and in my Contracts class in law school, I studied something called a condition precedent. A condition precedent is simply the “if” in an “if-then” statement. The Bible is full of condition precedents. In Psalm 91, the condition precedent to God’s promise that no plague will come near our homes is that we must make the Lord our refuge and our shelter. If we make the Lord our refuge, then we are entitled to His insurance benefits. His promise is conditional.

Hearing v. Obedience

So many times when we are in church services and hear sermons, we hear God’s Word and grow in head knowledge but not in experience, not in obedience. Hearing is not the same as believing. Hearing is not the same thing as obeying. Hearing is not the same thing as experiencing God’s promises. Neil Cole, a leader in the organic church movement, writes, “We in the Western church are educated beyond our obedience and more education is not the solution, we need more obedience.” In other words, we need to apply God’s Word in our lives so that we experience His truth – that is true wisdom. So how do we apply the promises in Psalm 91 to our lives and those around us?

Practical Steps to Apply Psalm 91 to Your Household

Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 

- Ephesians 5:18-19

STEP 1: Read Psalm 91 again. Then meditate on it; ponder it. Think about the words and their meaning. Note if there are any conditions to the promises within the psalm.

STEP 2: Read Psalm 91 to your family aloud. Don’t hog all the reading to yourself. Learn to involve others by giving them a chance to participate in the reading. If you have a family, divide the Psalm into the same number of parts as the number of people in your family. (For example, if your family has 4 people in it, divide the 16 total verses of the psalm by 4 so that each person gets to read 4 verses.)

STEP 3: Discuss the passage with your family. Ask them questions based on the Psalm – questions like:

1. What does this passage teach us about God?
2. What does God require of us to receive these promises?
3. What does refuge mean? How about shelter?
4. What is your favorite part of this passage and why? (this is one of my favorite questions for Bible readings)
5. Is anything in this passage “jumping out” at you?
6. How can you apply this passage to your life over the next week?

STEP 4: Personalize the passage or pray your way through the passage, using the first person or inserting a family member’s name throughout the reading. Here’s an example from verses 8 and 9 of personalizing the passage by replacing the second person with the first person:

“If we (you) make the Lord our refuge, if we (you) make the Most High our (your) shelter, no evil will conquer us (you); no plague will come near our (your) home.”

Or here is an example of praying through the passage:

“Lord, I make You my refuge; Most High, I make you my shelter. I receive Your promises that no evil will conquer me and no plague will come near my home.”

STEP 5: Ask your family members to pick out one of the “if-then” statements with a promise and then ask each person how he or she will practice meeting that condition during the next week.

Distributing the COVID-19 Vaccine

It is interesting to me that “91” is “19” in reverse. If you want to reverse the rise of COVID-19, just flip the numbers to “91”. If we flip the numbers and apply Psalm 91 to our own lives and our households during this global crisis, the Lord will protect us from the COVID-19. And we can stand in the gap and intercede for our cities, states, and nations. Recently, I was thinking about whether Psalm 91 could be analogized to an antidote, but very quickly I realized that an “antidote” is not a good analogy since antidotes are for people after-the-fact, after they are poisoned (not before). God’s promise that plagues won’t come near our homes is preventative rather than after-the-fact. Instead, God’s promises in Psalm 91 are like vaccinations – something one uses ahead of time to protect from disease. f

In his article “The Gifted Teacher”, Neil Cole writes:

Getting the message right is only a quarter of the task for the teacher. Communicating the message so that others understand the content only brings the teacher to half of his or her role. Seeing the content applied well in the listener's context is another 25% of the task of the teacher. Yet this only brings the teacher to 75% fulfillment of the task. 75% on an exam is barely passing, and certainly not a success. How can a teacher get to 100%? The only way a teacher can fulfill one hundred percent of the call of the teacher is by releasing the learners to fulfill the task of the teacher themselves with other people!

When you are starting to pass the content on to others is when you have learned the content on its fullest level. To teach others best you must see the process through until the learners become the teachers.^[1]

If Neil Cole is right, then we really have only fully learned Psalm 91 when we pass it on to others.

People are ready to hear about God’s vaccine – PS 91. Everyday across the world, people are keeping abreast of the daily news, whether through tv, social media, or newspapers. People are reading about infection rates, shortages, quarantines, and death stats.

Yesterday, I was at a supplement store and made a purchase. I’ve known the owner of the store for about 10 years now – I’ll call him Bob. I don’t think Bob’s born again, but he believes in God. We started talking about the coronavirus and its spread. Before leaving, I told Bob that the Scripture contains a vaccine for COVID-19 … and that it is found in Psalm 91. That is pretty much all I said. I may have mentioned that there are some conditions to the vaccine. I then left the store. Before driving away, I called my wife. She asked me to get one more item in the store. So I went back inside. When I arrived at the counter, I was surprised to see that on Bob’s computer screen, he had Psalm 91 pulled up. Less than 4 minutes after I told him about God’s vaccine for COVID-19, Bob dug it up on the web on his own and was reading it. He even complained that his computer didn’t have printing capability. He was hungry for preventative medicine.

Right now, there is a global concern about the pandemic of COVID-19 to the extent that governments and individuals are taking radical action: closing businesses, working from home, quarantining, practicing social distancing, testing, etc. And we, wanderers in the Way, have the vaccine. Help reverse the curse. Turn COVID-19 on its head by vaccinating your household with PS 91. Then freely distribute the vaccine to others. Tell others of His promises found in Psalm 91.

-        written by E.M. McCrum, an ordinary Jesus-follower, on March 19, 2020

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The latest video regarding people committing the sin of presumption in the Bible: Joshua & His Committee - Running Blind. Not just good information, but essential to keep at the forefront of our thinking in this new season. What happened to Joshua and his committee is a grave warning to us.

https://youtu.be/Gk1ooJHJD_g

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I saw the Lord standing upon the earth with a Thompson sub-machine gun (made infamous by both criminal syndicates and law enforcement during the era of prohibition; it was also the weapon of choice in robbing banks), firing down upon the nations.  The interpretation is that the Lord is taking the wealth of the nations.  He is doing this with great purpose.

I then saw the financial and economic connections between nations rolling up and being disconnected; this will bring severe economic hardship to the peoples of many nations, if not all.  The first example/model of this is the economic ties that the Lord intends to break between the U.S. and China.  The judgment that has come in the form of the Coronavirus/Covid-19, that has brought economic havoc to that nation, is what the Lord is rolling out to the nations.  The Lord’s intention is to bring the government of China to its knees and turn to Him.  It is also His intention to bring the nations to the Lord through His judgments.

To understand what is coming, we should be watching what the Lord is doing in China.  What the Lord has released, and will release, upon China is a warning to the United States as to what is coming if we do not repent.  The Lord is firing a warning shot across our bow.

As the people of the nations cry out to the Lord for deliverance, He will bring economic restoration, but not without leaders relying on the Lord for revelation as to what they should do.  Man’s wisdom and the wisdom of the world will not save a nation from economic chaos and judgment.  The Lord has already planned on the restoration of the nations even though judgment is being released, but reliance and obedience to His Holy Spirit will be required.

 The restoration the Lord intends to bring is a holistic revival; it will be multi-dimensional including salvations, healings, miracles, restoration of economies, etc. 

As the Church aligns with the Holy Spirit and repents of its rebellion, many Christians will be given authority over great wealth for the purpose of ministering the Gospel.  With great resources comes great responsibility to follow the Holy Spirit in the administration of the wealth He is entrusting them with.  This will be the fulfillment of Haggai 2:6-9 (NASB) –

⁶ “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.⁷ ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ⁸ ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts. ⁹ ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”

The Church will be entrusted with great wealth to reach the nations with the Gospel.  The Lord intends to use the Church to bring the resources needed to minister to the spiritual and practical needs of the nations to demonstrate His love for the world.

As the financial and economic situation becomes severe and desperate, He will bring the supplies that are needed.

This is a time of incredible opportunity for the Church to align with the Holy Spirit and to come under His glory.  Obedience in this hour is critical, for the Lord is not obligated to protect rebellious Church leaders or Christians who are bent on doing their own thing without the counsel of the Lord.

As we align with the Lord, asking for spiritual eyes to see what the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is doing the Lord will reveal His plans and strategies for us.  As we cry out to the Lord for ears to hear what He is saying, He will bring the revelation needed during the dangerous and perilous times that He has proclaimed were to come upon the earth and are now here.

Please refer to our website for a historical overview of what the Lord has been revealing to me since 1996 and especially since 2013.  The revelations include prophecies concerning the judgment He was bringing to China that would have a ripple effect around the world.

May the Lord give us eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church!  The time is now for Church leaders to repent of doing ministry the way they think they should conduct ministry.  Following the Holy Spirit, being sensitive to His promptings and allowing Him to flow like a River in and through His Church is absolutely necessary; there is no Plan B. 

Heaven is sounding an alarm!  His message is simple to pastors and Church leaders – “Change or Perish!”

Mark Biteler

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There are interesting points one can observe about Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus. 

In Luke 10, she is attempting to pull Mary away from Jesus, demanding that He instruct her to help serve, yet there is nothing more important than sitting at Jesus' feet in simple devotion.

In John 11, she is attempting to keep Jesus from raising the dead, her own brother, even though she called Him into what was a desperate situation.  A word to the wise: when you call Jesus into a situation to raise the dead (physical or spiritual), don't attempt to tell Him how to do His business.  The best course of action is to get out of His way and do what He tells you to do. 

In either case, Martha represents the religious.  The religious attempt to pull people away from their simple devotion to Jesus, demanding they "get busy", or they attempt to obstruct Jesus from getting to those who need Him the most, with their rational and worldly arguments as to why certain things can’t be or shouldn’t be done.  For the religious its far better to simply let the dead remain dead.  The stone that must be rolled away is deep in the heart of the religious.

The funny thing about those who are steeped in religion is that they tend to think they know what's best when it comes to revival.  They want control of the Lord and the people who need Him; they want revival their way.

The dangerous issue about Martha is not that she was so busy, "worried and bothered about so many things", as the Lord points out (Luke 10:41), but that she attempted to keep people away from the Lord.  Well-meaning Martha’s are praying for revival in many churches, but they will never see it if they don’t decide to allow the Lord to be exactly who He is in His Church.

Mark Biteler

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{Note:  It is with a very heavy heart that I am releasing this prophetic word concerning China that I received on February 20, 2020.  Please pray that the leaders in China would turn to the Lord and surrender to Him.  I submit this word to the Church.} 

In a vision I saw the Emperor’s palace in China.  There was a wall with three doors and on the far left a man, who appeared to be a Chinese government official, declared, “We do not have any answers!  Bow the knee to the Lord!”  This will be the direct result of the judgments the Lord will bring with increasing intensity.

The first judgment the Lord has released is the coronavirus/Covid-19.  The second judgment He will release will be incrementally more severe.  The third will by exponentially more severe than the previous two.  This third judgment will bring the nation of China to its knees before the Lord; the government will declare openly that they do not have any answers or solutions for the judgments the Lord has brought upon the country.

The Lord’s purpose in doing this is to tear the spiritual veil, revealing who He is to that nation. 

The financial and economic sector controlled by corrupt men will be systematically dismantled and demolished.  I saw a building representing the financial and economic systems within China full of cracks from top to bottom.  There appeared to be left, middle and right portions or sections of the building.  The Lord would work from left to right and I saw Him begin at the upper-left corner of the building.  The sense I had was that He would remove the building, piece by piece.  Underneath the building was a vault where the wealth of China was stored.  The Lord stood in that section of the building giving directions to angels for them to remove the wealth that would be used by the Church.

What the Lord is doing and will do in China is a warning to the nations.

Jesus will then reveal to the Chinese government why He has dismantled the nation through His judgments.  He will let them know that He has taken control, and what they must do for Him to bring restoration.  Restoration from the Lord for China will be conditional.  He will help the people in China and will not leave them helpless.

All of this is coming sooner than we think.

Mark Biteler

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