We bring you a Christ-exalting report of what the Lord is doing in the heart of America's largest city at Times Square Church, Manhattan, New York.
From the opening prayer — the Holy Spirit moved upon the audience with fire from on high. The Lord's presence in every service was mighty, with the Lord giving much evidence that He Himself had planted this church right in the center of the enemy's territory.
I want to bring you a report of what is happening as a result of the ministry of our book, Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth.
We expected a lot of criticism and backlash, but we were not expecting to hear from so many thousands of beloved saints of God who wrote to us saying, "We have seen the same things! God has been saying to our hearts that judgment is near! Your warnings express exactly what the Holy Spirit has been saying to us!"
You have heard of the hound of heaven. This is the Spirit of God who tracks a man down and never quits on him. He never gives up until He finds him. What I want to talk about now is the hunter of hell, who hunts down the most precious children of God to seek and destroy them. That is the Devil himself.
At one time his name was Lucifer, and he was a chosen, powerful ruler with God. This Morning Star, as Isaiah called him, was a bright star in God's firmament, a mighty angel, highly arrayed and chosen. But he became lifted up with pride.
Is it possible for a Christian to stay clean and pure in a world filled with violence, immorality, and corruption? Or is it inevitable that the spirit of this age will wear down the saints of God and vex their souls? It happened to Lot and his family in Sodom, and it is happening to multitudes of Christians all around the world. The overwhelming temptations of this evil generation have already caused numbers of Christians to compromise and indulge in ungodly practices.
Temptation is an invitation or an enticement to commit an immoral act. And right now Satan is raging over the earth as a roaring lion trying to devour Christians through powerful enticements toward immorality. No one is immune and the closer you get to God, the more Satan will desire to sift you.
“The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Psalm 25:14).
I believe God carefully chose the word “secret” to use in this passage. Its Hebrew root means “to be alert, to be on the lookout, to watch, to be a confidant.” The concept expressed here is powerful: God has a secret he will share only with believers who are willing to pursue it with passion. This company of seekers will become his confidants only by having a deep hunger to know his heart.
When I was a boy the cry of the church was, “Jesus is coming!” All through my teenage years, every evangelist who came to preach in my father’s church had a stirring message about the soon return of Christ. Even today their sermons remain burned in my memory: “The Bible says Christ will come like a thief in the night, when you least expect him. It will happen in the twinkling of an eye, with the sound of a trumpet. You must be ready at all times.”
Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables: “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:34-35, my italics).
The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). At the time these words were proclaimed, the Israelites had just returned from captivity in Babylon. Under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, the people had rebuilt Jerusalem’s ruined walls. Now they set their sights on reestablishing the temple and restoring the nation.
What is it about faith that keeps demanding of us greater testings? Why do our afflictions grow more intense, more severe, the closer we get to Christ? Just when we come through one trial that proves us faithful, our heart declaring, “Lord, I will trust you for everything,” here comes another test, increased in its intensity.
This experience is shared by Christians all over the world. I see it in all my travels, from continent to continent, and our ministry regularly receives letters from readers who testify of a growing intensity in their trials.
