During a recent Sunday morning service,  the Lord began to give me impressions concerning the fresh move of His Spirit that is coming. 

First, let me say that it doesn't take prophetic insight to know that a fresh move of God is coming. Anyone who understands Church history and has any discernment of the times we live in can see that we (I speak of the United States) are in a sort of spiritual lull. And God, being faithful the faithful God that He is, will indeed breathe afresh on the church.

Second, the things that I relay here are not new. In fact, I have heard similar prophetic expressions in the past. However, when God speaks to our hearts, it is always fresh and new, and produces new faith to believe. That is why I share them. 

The impression I began to receive about the coming visitation was that it would be a stress free work of the Spirit with great joy. I also feel the work will be accomplished through the church body, not primarily through professional church staff holding larger meetings. Our job, as members of the five-fold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers), is to equip the members of the body for this work. As God's people become strong in the Word, they will naturally minister to those they come in contact with.

What I am describing here is not a rebellion against the local church or biblical structural authority. The result of an active church body  will, of course, result in more and larger meetings and more training responsibilities for the five-fold ministry. But this too can be a stress-free work of joy.

The impressions of the Spirt that I am sharing here were received on Sunday, April 17, 2005. Then, on Tuesday, April 19, I received a personal note in the mail from the well known and highly respected prophetic minister, Dick Mills. The essence of the note was, "Plan on the Lord's visitation. Very Soon."

The first thing that caught my attention was the obvious; a visitation of the Lord is coming! Praise God! But the next thing that I focused on was the word "plan." God gives us advance notice of his visitation so we can make plans for it.

Recently, a friend of mine called and said he would be in town on a certain date and asked if he could stay in our home. He explained that he had several appointments and wouldn't arrive until later in the evening. I was thrilled to have him and told him I  would be happy to have him. I assured him that we have a guest room and it would be no trouble at all. 

When the evening of arrival came, he called me about 10 PM. However, I had forgot to mention it to my wife and had completely forgotten that he was coming! He picked up on my surprise, despite my first attempt to recover from my embarrassing situation. I had to admit to him that I had forgotten all about his visit and hadn't mentioned it to my wife.

Now, for me, it would have been no problem to have him come on over, but for my wife, that is a different issue. She would have accommodated my friend, had I asked her, but she really appreciates advance planning time for guests. Husbands just shouldn't walk up to their wives at 10 PM and say, "Honey, we are having a house guest tonight. He will be here in ten minutes." My wife wants to be sure there are clean sheets on the bed and the house is neat. She also wants to make her guests comfortable and welcome. Being a married man himself, my friend was very gracious and completely understood. He gave some business to a local motel.

A visitation from the Lord has some parallels to this story. If we know in advance that he is coming, then we can prepare. But if we don't, or if we forget about it, we will not be ready. As in the story above, He may visit our town, but not our house.

The Holy Spirit may lead us to plan for the Lord's visitation in many different ways. For us, we are placing a strong emphasis on learning the Word and establishing simple Bible Study small groups. They are not overly structured or hyper-formatted. The Leader doesn't have to be a  Bible know-it-all. Our plan is so simple that virtually anyone can be trained to lead. This is proving to be a great joy for me and the work of ministry is moving into the church body.

In my experience, it seems we have sometimes made the work of ministry a heavier burden than it needs to be. But Jesus says: 
 

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV)

As this passage points out, the prerequisite for the rest of the Lord is, "Come to Me."  It is important that we have "rest in our souls" when we minister to others. The world is full of strife and people are looking for a place of rest. If we have it, they will recognize it. If we don't, they will recognize that too. I suppose preparing for the coming visitation could be summed up by a few words that Jesus has already spoken:
 

Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' (Matthew 22:37-39 NKJV) 

A visitation of the Lord is coming. As a result there will likely be many new guests who come to our churches and homes. Lets be prepared to receive them, because Jesus will say,  "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." (Matthew 5:40).
 

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By Brad Sherman