Call Them Forth

Mike and Julie and family visited a week ago. They'll be moving to Nashville at the end of the year to join the ministry here.

Do you know there are things you can pray that God has to answer?

Matthew 9:38 says, ""Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

I love using the NASB version of the bible for this verse. Beseech is not a word I hear anyone use. However, the English language does not translate this word well. Most translate it as pray or ask. That's very dull compared to the original. 

It means beg, implore, in earnest! Also, send out is not just a peaceful sending of people. This "send out" is the same word elsewhere in the Bible where Jesus says, "If I cast out demons by the finger of God..." Can you imagine how fast a demon must move when the finger of the holy God comes in?? This is a thrusting, hurling out!

Back to Matthew, if we pray, beg, ask, implore the Lord of the harvest to thrust out, force out, hurl forth workers, He must respond. This is not only a promise, but a command! God's word does not return void! 

Let's look at one more simple example. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." 

Again, God is tied to His word. 1) If you lack wisdom  2) ask God 3) it will be given to you! and generously! Praise the Lord! We can stand on His word. It continues that when you ask, you should not doubt.

Look for these promises as you read the word. Here's one that's been particularly moving me lately. In Romans 4, there are two beautiful verses, "16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which DOES NOT EXIST (emphasis mine).

He calls into being that which does not exist! We know that from creation, but He is still doing it. When we got to Nashville, our team was our family. Mary and I and four kids, 12, 10, 4 and 3. Esther quickly joined us and we have had seven ever since.

We've been praying for a team for months, even before Nashville. We didn't want to convince people to join us, so we just kept praying. God, raise up laborers for the harvest... and send some here! After a few months, Mary got some more direction on what specifically to pray.

1 Chronicles 12 has some great gems about the people who joined David. They were able to shoot arrows or sling stones right or left-handed. They were brave warriors, ready for battle, and able to handle the shield and spear. Their faces were like lions and they were as swift as gazelles.

This really spoke to us and so we began to pray: God bring flexible people. People trained for war. People able to do different things. 

Shortly after we began doing this, I distinctly heard, "Call them forth!"

Now, I want to be clear, this is not some weird "name it claim it" ridiculousness. This is spending time with the Lord, discerning His heart on the matter and working with Him in the spiritual realm. For our battle is not against people, it's against principalities and powers, and things unseen.

So, when God says it's time, it's time. We are calling them forth, because that's what God is doing. Prayer isn't really moving God, it's us moving toward His heart. 

So, in faith, we began to call them forth. An army. A mobile militia that will wreak havoc on demonic forces. On dead religion. An army that will advance the Kingdom of God at all costs.

I'm glad I didn't post this when I originally wrote it two weeks ago. I want to preface the end with this... We can't make decisions for people or even convince them to join us. It has to be God. He gets all the glory. Also, people make decisions and have their own backstory of how God spoke to them about coming to Nashville. With all that said...

On Saturday, a family of 5 is coming to join the army, along with a young couple who are on fire for the Lord. More than that, two other families are coming just to see what God's doing here. There's another family who leaves on Saturday that is praying about moving and joining the body here as well. God is doing something in middle Tennessee, and it's bigger than any of us.

Pray His words and He will answer.

---

The fire of the Holy Spirit is coming to Nashville and...