The clear word I have for the church right now is, “A storm is coming”.

Many may ask, “Isn’t a storm here? Haven’t we already had storms in 2020?”

My answer is, “Yes, 2020 has given us storms, but there are even greater storms coming.”

There are two storms coming to America 1) There is a storm of divine discipline coming to our nation, specifically to the church and at the same time 2) There is a storm of mighty revival coming. 

Both are coming and both are going to be incredibly disruptive. 

In this blog, I want to address head-on some of the challenges the church in America is facing in regard to the political climate and the election. 

Acts 17:26-27 explains clearly, that God leads nations by shifting the geopolitical climate by moving their boundary lines as He determines, in order to cause people to grope for Him.

The book of Job uses the metaphor of a coming storm to explain this exact same phenomenon.

Job 36:31-33 “This is the way He governs the nations … 32 He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. 33 His thunder announces the coming storm…(NIV)

These passages make it clear that when God asserts His will in leading nations it manifests as a storm. Storms are incredibly disruptive and challenging. They are times of upheaval and difficulty. Storms lay bare the nations to direct them into God’s will.

The Storm of Divine Discipline

God disciplines those whom He loves. His discipline toward His people is judgment. Judgment always begins with the house of God. His discipline, though uncomfortable, is His kindness extended to us in order to bring us to Himself. 

When I consider the overall response of God’s people to the storms the Lord has released this year, the church (in general) has not become more like Jesus in humility, compassion, meekness, gentleness, and love. Instead it appears the church has fastened herself to issues that are not like Him, specifically political partisanship, human-centered justice, and unsanctified nationalism. 

So often the people of God believe they are trusting in Jesus alone, all the while they are clinging to things besides the Lord – things like economic prosperity, a democratic political system, a tax exempt status, or health insurance for all. These things are comforts we are so accustomed to that we imagine they are essentials instead of privileges. We would never say it outright, but we express in many ways that we doubt we can prosper without these things in place. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In America we have no reference for what it looks like to have our comforts removed until we have to trust the Lord because literally nothing else can deliver.

Some Christians believed that the only hope for America is if President Trump got re-elected. Others believe that the only hope for America is if Joe Biden was elected. I firmly and categorically disagree with both of these positions. The only hope for America does not lie within the presidential office of the United States. The only hope for America is for Jesus Christ to be enthroned and manifest His will and His ways in our nation.

The Storm of Massive Revival

Massive revival is not predicated on religious liberty. I am not trying to sign up for a totalitarian government, but I have been in nations that have dictatorships and at the same time they have massive moves of the spirit of God. What I haven’t experienced is finding “lukewarm” Christians in these nations. 

We in the Church in America have to ask ourselves some very difficult questions right now - “If religious liberty is the only path to religious revival, why has the gospel historically and currently gone forth with great power in nations that do not have religious liberty? If religious liberty is the path to revival, where is the revival in the United States, that so many have feverishly prayed for?”

When the intensity and pressure gets turned up against the church, it’s far more difficult personally, socially and societally, but it’s far easier to have a clear witness with a heart that is burning for the Lord. When the gray areas get removed so does lukewarmness. In order to stand for Jesus believers will either be all in or all out. Complacency and compromise evaporate when the church is under the pressure of persecution. Pressure has always been a good thing, a sanctifying thing for the church. 

Don’t hear me as saying I want our religious liberties taken. I am saying that when more pressure and persecution come, it will sanctify the church in America. 

I am trembling at these thoughts, but I am also internally excited at the prospects of the church in America becoming the Bride that Jesus has dreamed of. 

I am completely convinced that a massive revival is coming to the church in America. Our state of decline coupled with a growing prayer movement are key indicators. God is not done with America. He is going to see to it that the Church looks just like Jesus. A wide-sweeping kingdom overthrow of all of our American ways is the antidote for our current state of confusion and disarray. Revival is a must for God to have His way and therefore is eminent. 

In part two of this blog I will address some specifics of the coming storm and how we should respond.