Engaged

 

It was just a snapshot.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, that one was worth a million—no, a hundred million.  

There they were, him and her, plain as day. Naked.

I’d never met them, but I knew who they were. I knew that they’d been like that all day, and the day before that, and the day before that. I’m not sure how long, but for a while, they’d been on some kind of never-ending honeymoon. Naked they were. Naked they’d stayed, unashamed…until that day.

Up until the snapshot, they were innocent, smiling, naked and unashamed.

Just after that snapshot, they dove for cover, clamored for clothes. They were never the same. Forever changed.

For the first time in their lives, they felt ashamed, naked and afraid.

Why?

Not because they wore nothing, but because they held something.

There they were, naked, still holding the remains of what they’d just eaten; the devil’s food—the forbidden fruit.   

Their eyes were opened, Adam and Eve knew they were naked and…exposed.

Exposed. That was the word that superimposed over the snapshot of the naked, blushing couple.

That was the word and that was the picture, the Lord gave me after fasting and praying for a number of days at the start of 2020.

Exposed was the word of the year.

Day after day the deep dark state of corruption was exposed beyond belief, beyond measure.

The whole world muzzled and masked and dove for cover for fear of being exposed to the invisible enemy…or,  the visible one, of rioting looting, burning and shooting.  

Countless times I read in headlines “Exposed…” and heard commentators say, “Exposed, exposed, exposed…”

But that was 2020. It’s in the rear-view mirror. Good riddance.

It’s true, America will never be the same after last year. We can’t unsee, what we’ve seen; but there is good news in all of this:

Exposure is the best disinfectant.

Exposure, isn’t pretty, polished or polite. It’s messy, chaotic and ugly. It uncovers rot, decay, infestations, corruption, cancer and the invisible enemy. Once discovered, the malignancy must be cut out, destroyed, removed. It cannot be ignored, without catastrophic consequences.  

Good thing God didn’t say, “Good riddance”, back then, to the naked, exposed couple. Instead, He showed up, with a wardrobe, an eviction notice and new job orders.

The consequence for disobeying God and dining with the devil was swift and just. They had to leave the Garden of Eden, the honeymooners paradise. From that day to this, whether making a living or birthing a life, labor was hard. Adam and Eve and you and me have suffered the consequences of that fateful moment.   

We too must execute swift and just consequences for the evil exposed in our nation or suffer catastrophic consequences.

This evil hasn’t been exposed for naught. It must not simply be swept under the rug of a new regime. It cannot be forgotten like a new year’s resolution.    

We the people, the sleeping silent majority, the slumbering Church has been awakened and we will not go back to our corners and sit down, shut up and go back to sleep. We are finally engaged; we will stay that way.

This exposing has triggered a reversal.

The fear reversal.

A giant boulder of fear was rolled over, we the people. We followed the rules. Locked up. Masked up.  Shut down. Sat down. Waited. Watched…prayed.

For a minute it appeared, fear had sealed US in a tomb.

But, all throughout the dark, cold, silent nights, a whisper could be heard. Folks were kneeling, not to BLM, but to God Almighty. Big tech, media, politically correct speech couldn’t silence or censor the prayers of the Saints.

God heard.  

These prayer warriors continue, without ceasing, their numbers are growing, their fervency increasing, even at this very moment.

God hears.

There’s been a switch in the atmosphere, there’s a rumbling, a shaking, a new wind blowing. I can feel it. See it. Can you?

The fear that caused Patriot Saints to panic, to cower, to bow, to yield, has been reversed. The praying populist are pushing back, courage is rising. The rock of fear is rolling back from which it came. The pundits and propagandists are so afraid, they’ve overplayed their hand in an attempt to silence dissent. The polished politicians are so petrified they have no peace, they can’t sit still, they cry wolf again and again, to their own shame. They throw smoke screen after hoax screen to try and hide their exposed, corruption and putrid nakedness. But all in vain, their efforts have only evidenced their guilt.

The people of God, all over the world, have fervently fasted and prayed for America. I’ve been on countless prayer calls, each with thousands of people from around the globe. I know it’s true. They’ve drawn nigh to God and, as promised, He has drawn nigh too. Which is why fear has no more hold on the righteous. God is love. Perfect love casts out all fear. (1 John 4).

That is why the enemy tried to put US in fear—to make love wax cold. To keep US worrying, instead of praying. But we prayed. And when one prays, God’s love lights up their night…and casts out fear like a spotlight in the night.

Now, the fear that tried to rule US has rolled back on the sender.

Adam and Eve only feared being naked, after they’d sinned. Fear of exposure only comes to the guilty.  

Fear is why everything about the election was hidden; observers; counters; machines; ballots.

Illegitimacy births fear. That's why Pharaoh, and then Herod, slaughtered babies. It's why DC is surrounded by razor wire fences, machine guns and soldiers.

Righteous rising.

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as lions (Proverbs 28:1).  

There’s a holy remnant rising up bold as lions. I saw it at the start of this year, 2021.

After doing the same thing as last year, fasting and praying for days about the coming year, finally I saw it. A snapshot. Of an army. A good army. Marching in perfect unison. A glorious army without spot or wrinkle. And the word, superimposed over that picture? Engaged.

Engaged, as in, deployed on active duty. Dispatched to a special ops mission.  As in, “all in.” Totally alert, locked, loaded and ready for orders and action. Passionately, intimately, intensely, fully committed; as in, engaged to be married.

This past year of exposing such corruption and evil, may have been meant by the enemy of our soul and our nation to beat US down, silence US into submission, but it has only served as a trumpet to engage an army that shall never call retreat.

Let’s pray:

Father, forgive US for sleeping. Our apathy has caused atrophy in Your Church, Your world, Your nation. We’ve suffered the consequences; lost loved ones, we’ve been masked, silenced, shut down and abused. Hell’s sulfur burned our eyes as our cities went up in smoke. Even now we feel our nation teetering on the edge of a communist abyss. The screams of those who hate US echo into the night. Yes, without doubt, we need You, now more than ever.

Thank You for Your promise to never leave US, or forsake US. Thank You for waking US. Thank You for exposing the darkness, not to scare US, but to engage US.

We hold fast to what we know and believe…not what we see. We know You hear US, and according to Your word, we have what we ask, according to Your will. Thus, Righteous King, we know You will grant our request for RIGHTeous rulers. We trust You will not allow the reigns of this nation to be placed in the hands of those who reject You; those who applaud the slaughter of innocent babes, mock Your divine design between man and woman and turn their backs on Israel, the apple of Your eye.

Far be it from You sovereign Lord, to ignore the prayers of Your people who have humbled themselves and prayed, who have sought Your face, who have turned from their wicked ways. Surely, You will hear from heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land.

Now Lord we thank You for hearing US and we ask You to show US how to engage.

Show US where we should go, how we should act, what we should say and where we should stand. We look to You our Commander In Chief.

You’ve revived US. Now, reveal to US, Your directives and ways. We are listening.

Here and now, Lord, we decree, we will engage as You lead, and we will not sleep.

We may be up against the Red Sea, with the enemy charging hard against US on the left…but we will not fear, for Lord we are fully persuaded that You will deliver US. We stand in awe of You as the wheels of the enemy’s chariots fall off and they are swallowed by wave after wave of the Red Sea.

But, Lord, please hear US, we want You to know, here and now, we decree, that even if You never delivered US, even then, even still, we will never bow to anyone, but You.  

You are our God, in You we live and move and have our being.

In Jesus Christ, God Almighty, King of kings, Lord of lords, name we pray.

Amen.