The church is in God’s heart and is the way that He is going to function on the earth in the coming days.

As all of Europe was engulfed in the dark rule of Hitler and his Nazi forces, Sir Winston Churchill stood in the House of Commons and declared, “If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit upland. But if we fail, then the whole world….will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age…Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their Finest Hour.’”

The Church stands in an hour not unlike that of Britain in the days preceding the air war for her shores. The time is critical. I sense that we are entering into some of the greatest challenges for us as a nation and as a people, but it is also going to be the most magnificent hour of the Holy Spirit and His Church.

We are corporately coming into our finest hour. Haggai prophesies of just such a time, “For thus says the Lord of Hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory” (Haggai 2:6). Shaking will come, but the Church founded on the Rock, Jesus Christ, will not be shaken. The glory of this latter temple will be greater than the former.

From the very beginning God had the Church in mind. She is the centerpiece of the Kingdom of God unveiled in Revelation as the New Jerusalem, a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2). The creation of Adam and Eve is a foreshadow of the mystery of Christ and His eternal companion. As Eve was formed out of the side of Adam while he slept, the Lamb’s spotless Bride was fashioned as blood and water poured from Christ’s wounded side when He entered into the sleep of death at Calvary.

The Church is not “Plan B,” she is THE PLAN, the mission and the purpose for which the Lamb went to the cross: “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish…For we are members of His body, of His flesh and His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:25-27, 30-32). The Church is the first intention Jesus unveiled after Peter’s revelation that He was the Christ, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:17-18). She is the mystery, hidden from the beginning of the ages that “the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:9-11).

The church is us, filled with the presence of God and founded on the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is not an individual calling, but a corporate expression. We are the partakers, emissaries and ambassadors of the glory and presence of God. The church is in God’s heart and is the way that He is going to function on the earth in the coming days.

Destined for Glory:

Salvation is not simply what we are saved from, but what we are saved to: His presence and glory. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7,8 Emphasis added). The Father of glory sent the Lord of Glory to lift up mankind from the fall back into the glory of His presence through Christ. Being born again is the beginning process of glorification. God has ordained that the corporate body of His church be the container for His glory and presence on the earth. This is our destiny and our inheritance: The Lord wants to bring us into His glory.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost indicates the restoration of this glory to mankind through the Church. Through the ages since, God has visited His people with a fresh outpouring of the Spirit, bringing transformation and new revelation of His glory and purpose for His Body. Yet never before has there been such an outpouring and visitation as the earth has experienced in the previous one hundred years. Beginning with the Welsh revival at the turn of the 20th century, through the Azusa outpouring, the Latter Rain and Healing Revivals of the forties and fifties, the Charismatic Renewal and Jesus Movement of the sixties and seventies to the visitations that were sparked in various locations in the nineties, we have had unprecedented moves of the Holy Spirit in the church of this age. We stand on the outer bands of yet another Revival Rain even as I write this. Every week we are experiencing great miracles of healing and deliverance and the manifest presence of His glory in our meetings and services. It is a move that has not been reserved for just one segment of the church, but one we seen across the face of the Body: men, women, young, old, Catholic and Protestant.

In conjunction with this we are also seeing an increase of violence and evil on the earth. There are no great victories without great battles. Some of the greatest pain and challenges that Bonnie and I have experienced have been the gateway to the most glorious victories. Just a few days after our first son Ben was born, doctors discovered that he had a congenital birth defect in his kidneys. I was already traveling to the nations and seeing God’s glorious healing power touch thousands, yet we watched as our newborn son lay dying of a terminal kidney disease before our very eyes. The doctors operated on our son and gave him a less than 3% chance of survival. Our hearts were broken as he screamed in agony, and we could do nothing to comfort him from his pain. But Bonnie and I made a decision as we continued to pray for our son. We got on our knees in that little waiting room and gave Ben and our future over to God. We thanked the Lord for our son and prayed for his healing. Then we reaffirmed our devotion to the Lord and said, “No matter what, we will still serve You with all our hearts.” About nine hours later, the nurse came to get us. She was flustered, and we thought perhaps our son was no longer with us. But she said, “I don’t know what is happening.” We followed her to the room, and there surrounding our son was a golden light. The living glory of God came and took his pain and sickness and healed him. Not only did we experience the joy and relief that our son was healed, but when I shared the testimony of Ben’s healing during an outreach in Africa, more than 50,000 people gave their lives to Jesus. As I stood on the platform in the hot African night surrounded by the crowds of new believers in Jesus Christ, I heard the Lord whisper to me, “It’s worth it.” Jesus makes it all worth it. He brings redemption and glory, victory and triumph over the enemy’s attacks.

The Church is destined to be the vessel through which God pours out revival, glory and healing. We are to be an instrument of restoration and messengers that the time is at hand. God’s glorious habitation will be raised up as great consternation and trouble fill the earth, but out of this darkness His Bride will arise. Isaiah writes, “’As for Me,’ says the Lord, ‘this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from you, your descendants and descendants forever. Arise, shine; for your light has come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon you. Darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people, but the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you’” (Isaiah 59:21-60:1-2). God is calling us to take our place. We will have different battles, but the magnificence of Jesus, His glory, His signs, His wonders and the harvest of the end-time Church are going to be some of the most glorious days of the Church. Arise and shine for your light has come! We are going to be able to witness and take part in these days. Our finest hour is at hand.