Introduction

This article is about a new national wave of harvest sweeping through New Zealand and the world, and renewal in God’s people as we prepare for it. This is also about God’s conditions to His family on this wave, what the conditions mean and why He has made these.  Some of you will find that our Father has already revealed some or all of this to you.

As I was in prayer in April of 1996, God revealed in a series of visions that a new wave of the Holy Spirit is about to come.  This wave has two stages.  Firstly for renewal in the Family of God and for some a return to salvation, and secondly to culminate in a national Holy Spirit move with compelling calls for salvation.  From comparing notes with other prophetic Christians that have been given similar revelation, I believe that this is a national and world wide plan of God, and follows the pattern of His periodic callings of man.  True revival of Christians challenges our complacencies and shakes us out of our ruts. He has always said to us “Behold I am doing a new thing, can you perceive it” and “For I am the Lord, I change not.......”. Isaiah 43:9; Malachi 3:6
 
He showed me that the fields are white with harvest and there are few who are ready to work in the harvest.  He touched my heart with His great sadness over this and I knew His yearnings for His family to listen to and learn from Him.  His heart yearns for His family to go to Him for personal vision for their work to help Him in His Kingdom.  He desires that each one of us should be walking their own path through the grass given by Him to walk, not be trolling along in the same old sheep tracks instead.

(Note: There is more resistance in the long grass and it takes a bit more effort than walking in a track that others have already flattened before.  There is of course a time for walking in tracks following another Christian in the early months of Christian life.  However, sooner or later God our Father calls us to our own individual walk with Him (out of which comes all true ministry) and often we will find that there are others walking beside us in tracks that are not quite the same but heading in the same direction).

A SERIES OF VISIONS IN THE SPIRIT

From an aerial view, on a plain white background I saw six meeting buildings in the town we were living in at the time.  This was a mixture of church buildings and halls.  There were crowds outside each front door, quite obviously straining to hear.  They were compelled to come by the Holy Spirit.  The buildings were not physically big enough to cope with the people He was bringing in and at one building I saw a man fixing speakers up on the church doors so those outside could hear.  I heard our Father say, “This is one day’s harvest”.
 
As the picture moved to the next scene, He showed me one of these meetings in a typical standard New Zealand school hall whose members were ready for the wave.  There was a triangle of wooden forms pulled together and one Christian was sitting teaching a small group of about seven or eight newly saved brothers and sisters.  I understood that there were many of these groups happening in that hall.  

As I watched, God said “what would YOU do if I brought one or two hundred new souls in the door today?”  I felt cautious and said, “I don’t know.  What should I do?”  He said, “Teach them to walk with Me and hear My voice and I will do the rest.”  Understanding was given to me that there were so many being saved, that even though I saw what I understood to be some experienced and well grounded Christians ready to welcome and teach and disciple them, those who were ready were feeling very stretched because there is so much work to do with so many. They were sitting with the new believers in small groups straight after the preaching service but still somehow part of the overall event. 

Then the scene changed and I was taken back to the Auckland 1970’s Jesus crusades we were involved in.  I saw again the great crowds from above and from the side and the huge number of those who responded to the invitations to salvation.  Then the picture changed to the present and I saw a handful of people standing in the middle of that great empty stadium.  They were standing shoulder to shoulder in a circular group facing outward with watchful, serious but peaceful expressions on their faces.  As I saw this, He said “I am not willing that one should fall away again” and He touched me with the grief in His heart over many evangelical meetings and moves where those who came forward were not picked up and discipled and so fell away in hurts and bitterness from lack of good foundations.

There is a vulnerable time between salvation and being able to stand up spiritually, win some battles, take the hits and walk with Him.  Our Father does not want the saved ones from this next harvest falling away in that crucial time.  Like all good fathers He wants His family to be able to stand on their own two (spiritual) feet and walk with Him.  He said, “They will not learn from the pulpit, but from those who walk beside them”.

At the end of these pictures, He said to me very clearly and I believe audibly, “This will happen if man doesn’t get in the way.”  The understanding given to me with these words is that Holy Spirit is talking about the human nature in His children to either: 1) do what we think is best without listening to His voice, or 2) not be ready to do what He asks.  

We may not wish to admit it, but self is with us until we graduate from this worldly existence.  The daily struggle to yield to Him is our cross to bear.  We need His help in working out the fight within us; between obedience to the Life of Jesus within us vs. what self wants to do.  Victory comes as each area is recognised and Jesus is asked genuinely and sincerely to overcome it, redeem it and be Lord of it.  And we can find down the track that we need to again submit these areas in a deeper way. When it happens don’t get discouraged.  Just be honest with Father God, asking for and receiving forgiveness and wholeness through the blood of the Lamb of God and listen for what to do next.

We generally find ourselves in one of these modes

a) Doing my thing my way ;

b) Doing my thing according to God’s ways – what we understand his ways to be (mostly from scripture and others teaching)
c) Doing my thing according to God’s instructions – His voice to save from our mess (we manage to hear His voice enough to be guided and saved from our mess but then we apply formulas to our lives instead of listening to Him daily.)
d)     Doing God’s thing my way – We hear, and vision is gained, but racing in to do it our way
e)     Doing God’s thing God’s way – vision and further prayer and waiting, resting in Him, reveals how to do it

Our Father is a GOOD and COMPASSIONATE father who wants to see His children living in freedom.  As you may know, He always challenges our complacency and rituals.  He will do so again and again simply because He IS a GOOD Father who aches to see his children living in freedom.  The beginning phases of this move, like others before, will bring challenge again.  But before we react to those challenges we need to remember and remain in the kindness of our Father and the gentleness He leads us with.

If you are one of my many brothers and sisters who are bruised and afflicted right now, please realise that it is not He who has done this to you.  He always desires to heal and refresh you.  We are encouraged by His scripture and His Spirit to turn to Him in the valleys of hurt and disappointment for the healing balm of His closeness.  Jesus will always respond to a heart cry of “Jesus, draw me closer”.

He desires to re-equip us to minister to others.  He desires to show us how to bring about healing of our brothers and sisters.  He desires us to sincerely reach out to Him for personal vision to bring re-equipping of His family.  He desires us to be encouragers to bring about the transformation of His family into able ministers of Jesus Christ.   Matthew 11:28 “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  Psalm 34:18,19   "The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart ; and saves such as are of a contrite (humble, bruised) spirit.”

Every member of the Family of God needs to learn to be able to be spoken to by Him.  We should be open, joyfully humble, and free enough to hear His voice, and do what He says immediately or we will not hear to speak at the right time to work with others, or bring in those He calls.  James 3:13-4:10 .  The scope of this is great.  Fellowships will be bursting at the seams and multiplying.  There will be so many new Christians that those of us who already are Christians will be working hard to get them through the first vital months.
    
Our Father's condition on the full release of this wave in each geographical area is and I quote “THIS WILL HAPPEN IF MAN DOESN’T GET IN THE WAY".  He spoke this so very clearly at the end of this vision sequence and filled my heart with the meaning.  We are all called to be able and ready to nurture a new Christian without being biased by our own self motives, so that we can hear our Father clearly and understand how to disciple and mentor (teach, counsel and lead) each one into a full and strong one to one relationship with Him.  We all need to invite the fullness of the Holy Spirit more daily.  As we walk with a focus on our Father, we grow to experience more of His released power in our lives day by day, week by week.  It is His grace and merciful power working in us that gives us freedom from self, especially our religious ways.  He asks us to be honest with Him just as He required of Peter and blessed Peter for at the lake in John21 .

Guess who gets in the way when God is trying to do something - yes, you and me!

Some days later while in prayer, I saw the town we were living in from a height, and not in any clear detail, but enough to recognise the pattern of the town streets and houses.  I was high enough up to see all the inhabited land to the north and south.  The actual geography wasn’t as important as the great semi-transparent dome of orange-red fire growing and spreading slowly out from a point somewhere central in the town.  This expanded out in every direction until it reached the very outskirts of the town suburbs.  Then, after a time, a secondary flat sheet of semi-transparent fire flowed out from underneath the first hemisphere of fire and travelled up and down the land to north and south and back into the heartland beyond the farming areas around the town. I didn’t see how far.  Understanding came that this is how God wishes to move in Revival, Conviction, Calling and Harvest in and around the towns and regions of New Zealand.  He wishes to release the fire of moves of the Holy Spirit in this two stage way.  First preparing an action and discipling centre to call people to and then comes the wave.  

Why should He move in this way when we (the Family of God, not the "professional ministry") are not ready to nurture new Christians until they can stand on their own two feet and walk with Him?  With the visions came understanding that this is what He is waiting for.  However, the primary reason revivals / harvests seem to be successful but in fact cause Him grief is that so many fall away for lack of knowledge.  The kind of knowledge that is real, walking with God, experience filled teaching.  The kind that does not come from theory or the pulpit, but from the victorious life experiences of their new brothers and sisters.  

I believe that revival and harvest in any one fellowship will last as long as the nurturing continues.  While the family of God are willing to nurture as He directs, He will keep moving.  Without good foundation teaching, the hurts, striving for money, demonic attacks and other things listed in Matthew 5 - 8 (in which Jesus lays down His foundation teaching), will certainly derail us from sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and cause us to stop walking forward in partnership with God our heavenly Father.

Let me ask you a question. How would YOU cope with Him bringing one or two hundred new souls in the doors today where you fellowship?  Are the Christians where you fellowship able to each sit down with a group of new believers and teach them the first necessary understandings for walking with God?  Let’s be absolutely clear here.  You see our Father showed me, as a part of the first visions, a church that was ready and still there were not enough front line people to go round, even though every Christian there was ready to teach and pastor these new souls. WAKE UP!!

2009

What are we doing with our time?  It is almost too late!  The wave is nearly here!  He has delayed this harvest almost as long as He can.
Ask yourself; “Am I ready to teach the basics of how to walk with God?  
Do I know what God himself considers the first basics to teach?
Can I teach this efficiently and accurately?
Can the people I fellowship with teach this efficiently and accurately.”  

God showed me in this that most of us are not.  His field is ready - the Harvest is ripe.  Where are the workers?  He doesn’t want to lose the harvest this time so pray for workers and get ready yourself to be a minister of Jesus Christ.  All of the Family of God are called to be ministers of Jesus Christ, not just a few.  You could say it is our birth right. Look at His great commission to all of us Mark 16:15-18, Matt 28:18-20 
There are many of His Family who seem to have the grounding in scripture.  All of us would like to see these visions come to pass in our area.  Unfortunately most of us need emotional and spiritual healing and preparation, and many need renewal of mind.  There are still others of our brothers and sisters who labour with hurts and bitterness and fears.

Satan and his hordes have done a good job of damaging here but we have not fully done our job of rescue and restore.  Pray for these people and seek our Father for a word of freedom for each one around you, and pray for those who counsel our battle-scarred brethren.  Be prepared; be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.  Drink deeply of His presence in your quiet time and seek every other opportunity.  Darkness is probably even now lying to you and your brothers and sisters using some form of fear, saying that for some reason or other God cannot minister through you or them.  You and they can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Philippians 4:13   Push for teaching in your fellowships on how to teach, counsel and lead groups.  Encourage people to go into prayer battle for the preparation of the Family and for the harvest in their closet/quiet times.  Ask our Father to feed you with confirmation of this from Scripture. 

Don’t take my word for it; reach out for vision for yourself.

A message from our Father

A new wave is coming and all My strenuous efforts to persuade My Family to get ready for it have not gone all that well.

Maturity of the spirit is the issue here. Address that and discipling is easy when someone who is more spiritually mature is helping another who is younger in spirit.  Growth is determined by determination to go after Me for growth.

It looks a bit different for each maturity level, yet the principle is the same.  It's a state of heart, not a state of mind.  The mind is convinced first, then the heart starts yearning.  Then I can answer the yearning heart while it is yearning.  If the yearning stops, I stop, because I no longer have permission.

Self will use many distraction techniques to sidetrack a yearning heart because there is only death for self from a yearning heart.  Be determined to pursue.  At times only a fast and crying out to Me will help a heart to truly yearn for Me and for growth in Me.  But expect trouble after a fast, for I will start to answer and many falsities deep within will be brought to the light and challenged.  Be ready for my dealings.  Be ready for the challenges to surrender.

Growth will follow.  Fasting is for those who are having problems with determination to grow that cannot pray it through with Me.  It is also for those whom I tell to fast.

Selah.