The Revolution Brigade

I’ve long been fascinated by the straight edge movement.  Here’s a group of radical, uncompromising teens and twenty-somethings, although some are obviously older now, who live with a self-imposed standard of physical purity.  No drugs, no alcohol, no tobacco.  The idea was apparently conceived out of abhorence for the self-destructive behavior normally associated with the punk scene.

What’s interesting to me is that these people live this sort of uncompromising life with relatively little higher purpose, other than brotherhood and good music.  I tell you the truth, if I could get my hands on some Christian teens who are willing to dedicate themselves to this type of purity and devotion, mix in a little prayer and fasting, we could raise up an army that would totally revolutionize the culture of our country.

In my opinion, the straight edgers have several character traits that are in high demand in the kingdom.  They display a tenacity, energy, and focused devotion that put most of us to shame.   They obviously have no problem living according to a moral code.  They live more righteously than most christians I know. They major in brotherly love, at least towards other straight edgers.  Two thousand years later, the church is still working on that one.

My question has always been, “Why aren’t these people part of the kingdom?”  I think it’s a natural progression for people of such radical purity to wonder about God.  If straight edgers ever got ahold of the kingdom message, their radically pure and devoted lifestyle would yeild to them power to perform signs, wonders, miracles, and to do exploits for the Kingdom.  So, how have we failed to bring them in?

Simple.  The church has offered a pre-packaged form of godliness totally lacking in power and relevance to these people, and straight edgers have seen right through the facade.  We can’t expect to conform them to our version of “church.”  They simply will not wear shirt and tie to church on Sunday morning and coexist.  They are radical, and they need a radical expression of worship.

I’ve been weeping in prayer for these young people all night.  I see such potential in them, and yet they live in a counterfeit form of righteousness.  I pray that the Lord would draw them to this post, and that those who come here would have the courage to ask the question, “Is there something more beyond self-discipline?”

“Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears.”

So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe.

The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the hoes.

So it came about on the day of battle that neither sword nor spear was found in the hands of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, but they were found with Saul and his son Jonathan.”    (1 Samuel 13:19-22)

I believe that the body of Christ faces a critical mandate in this hour.  We must begin to produce disciples who are properly equipped with the knowledge of God’s word (the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…Ephesians 6:17) and the anointing to effectively employ it in the face of the enemy if these dread champions are to be fully prepared in twenty years.

The enemy, for his part, will do all that he can to limit the production of this sort of armament.  The Philistine ban on blacksmiths represents the world’s persecution on those who will stand for the true, uncompromising standard of God’s word in preparing a generation to do battle.

Let us not attempt to implement plow shares, axes, and hoes (intended to be domestic implementations) in the work of militarily advancing God’s kingdom.  In other words, a me-centric understanding of scripture and the “live-your-best-life-now” application of God’s word will not suffice in the coming struggle.  We must espouse a robust, thorough, militant application of the scriptures and be willing to “eat the scroll.”

Young People:  Your preparation to be a dread champion of the Lord must begin now!  We need fully trained, well-equipped soldiers in that great and terrible day.  Think of the special forces soldier who spends a lifetime in training and preparation for one moment of destiny.  Think of how that soldier devours training manuals and practices the application of his weapons over and over again.  This is how we must live; devouring God’s word and applying it in our lives until we develop the skills necessary, by His grace, to be a champion.

“Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”

This scripture comes from Song of Solomon Chapter 6, where the “friends” of the bridegroom are describing the bride.   In other words, this phrase is meant to be a prophetic picture of the end times church, a prophetic army of radically devoted fanatical believers.

Banners have much significance in antiquity.  They had several functions on the battlefield, all of which made them important:

They identified units: Each commander would have a crest, and each of his units would bear his crest upon their standard.  In this way, the commander would be able to keep track of his units in the confusion of melee.  Perhaps more importantly, this was a way for units to proudly declare, “We belong to our Lord.”

The prophetic end-time army of radically devoted believers will proudly bear the standard of the Lord.  They will be known throughout the land as His possession.  Rather than carrying a physical standard everywhere they go, these faithful men and women will carry the mark of the radical anointing upon their lives developed through years of praying, fasting, and hotly persuing the Lord.

They provided communication: In an era before radio communications were possible, battle flags were the way in which signals were sent from commanders to subordinate units.  “An army with banners” would have been an army that had a complex, robust, and reliable communications ability.  As a result, they would have inflicted terror on their disorganized opponents, able to maneuver efficiently even in the midst of melee.

Our ability to communicate with our commander will also be of the utmost importance during the coming conflict.  Banners, however, are not the answer.  Prayer and fasting, seeking His face, and learning to hear the still, small voice of the Lord is the only thing that will help.

“He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.”

The words above come from Isaiah 49:2.  In this text, I believe that the Lord has concealed a promise to any who would seek him.  I believe that he has agreed to turn his faithful servants into weapons of warfare, by which He intends to prosecute the end time destruction of our foes.   I believe that there are several important things that we can take away from this passage regarding our transformation into weapons of spiritual warfare:

Arrows begin as trees. Through the process of taking a piece of wood and turning it into an arrow, much of the wood must be sacrificed in order to reveal the true, straight shaft within.  Likewise, we must be willing to sacrifice much of ourselves in order to become weapons of warfare for the kingdom of God.  Every time you fast and seek the Lord, you are allowing him to fashion you into a weapon.  Every time you forsake your flesh and make a decision for purity, you are allowing Him to hack another piece of wood off of you, revealing the polished shaft.

Swords are sheathed, arrows are in the quiver. This passage makes reference twice to being “concealed” and “put in a quiver.”  I’d like to submit that the coming revolution of purity and power is not about personal recognition.  We are to be quietly developed into nameless, faceless warriors and then hidden in the Lord’s quiver until the moment of battle is at hand.

An arrow, when fired at the wrong time, gives away the position of the entire army.  However, when fired at the correct time, the arrow strikes fear into the heart of your opponent.  It causes him to alter his battle strategy.  It wreaks havoc in the enemy camp.  We must wait for the appointed time.

Swords and bows are both controlled by the soldier. We are the sword and the arrows.  Jesus is the soldier who will employ us in the coming battle.  Just as an arrow has no say over which direction it is launched, we must be submissive to the will of the supreme marksman.  We must have faith that the direction that he sends us is the direction we were intended to go.  We must have faith in the timing of his employment of our sharpened tips.

There are many arrows in a quiver.  Some must be fired before others.  Your friends may receive their mandate for the coming war before you do.  Fear not.  The Lord doesn’t make mistakes.

Yesterday I wrote a post about “spiritual special forces,” men and women who would not love their own lives, even unto death, for the sake of the gospel.  I began to pray about what I believe is a coming army of Nazarites devoted totally to the radical purity and devotion to the Lord that will be necessary to carry the end-times prophetic anointing.  The Lord started to show me some parallels between Spiritual Special Forces and actual special forces soldiers:

Sacrifice: For some reason, the word sacrifice has taken on a negative connotation in the New Testament church.  I have no idea why.  The Lord honors a sacrifice of love.  It’s not the sacrifice of religious duty, but rather the acknowledgement that a gap exists between the prophetic promise of the Lord to our generation and the measure of power that we currently walk in.  Sacrifice, in this context, is being willing to do anything necessary to bridge the gap and access God’s power and love for us.

Just as special forces soldiers sacrifice through years of training, physical conditioning, and deployments, we must also bear the burden of preparation if we are to walk in the fullness of His power.   If we are to see a Nazarite Army, we must begin praying and fasting as a lifestyle now.  It may take twenty years of sacrifice to see our destiny made manifest.

Total Devotion: You would be hard pressed to find a special forces soldier who is not willing to die for his country.  He understands that the risk is part of the job.  Likewise, we must be willing to die for our cause, both in the literal and figurative sense.

If we really believe what we say we believe, then we should not fear death.  Have you ever read the book of Revelation?  Even if we are the generation that will be raised up to usher in the return of the Lord, some of us will die.  It’s in the book, folks.  However, the death to which I’m referring right now is the death of self; to take up our cross and follow Jesus.  Prayer and fasting isn’t the cool thing to do.  It’s not going to become cool next week or next year.  It’s sacrifice, and people don’t understand sacrifice.  All I know is that I feel something within me that compels me to do it.  I must suppress my flesh in order to see Christ made manifest in me.

Militant: Special Forces soldiers can be nice guys.  I’ve known many over the years.  But make no mistake, when there is a mission to be accomplished they become totally devoted, single-minded prosecuters of warfare.  We would do well to mimic this trait.

2 Timothy 2:4 says, “No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life.”  I’m not trying to be elitist or stuck-up, but not everybody has what it takes to live the Nazarite lifestyle.  If you’re boy or girl crazy,  then you don’t have time for this type of devotion.  If you always want to be the center of attention, this is not for you. We’re not here to hold hands, although I suspect we will end up doing much weeping together.  We’re here to raise up Nazarites.   If I tried to talk you into it, you would just quit in two weeks.

Do you have what it takes to be fully devoted?

My Pastor sent me a quote this morning that’s messing me up.  It’s about missions.  It signifies the type of attitude that will be indicative of a radical generation full of faith and power:

“There are no closed countries if you don’t expect to come back.”

What if there arose a whole company of men and women, Nazarites who cared not for their lives, even unto death?  What if these men and women would blaze a trail into the remaining frontiers of the Earth and take the gospel where it had never gone?

What if we really cared about the nations and loved them enough to spill our own blood in the pursuit of the high calling?  This is the type of attitude that will open up the heavens and result in the nations being turned to the Lord.

In our military,  Special Forces soldiers frequently go behind enemy lines to conduct missions that are deemed critical to the war effort.  The cause is just and good; the defense of our nation.  They willingly risk their lives to carry out the intent of those who have been raised up as leaders, sometimes not even understanding the bigger picture of what’s really going on around them.

How much more should we be devoted to the cause of Christ?  Is there any higher calling than to infiltrate kingdoms of darkness with the light of the one true God?  Are we really willing to pay that price?  Do we really believe in the kingdom as much as these soldiers believe in America?  I pray that God would begin to raise up Spiritual Special Forces soldiers to carry the gospel behind enemy lines.  Lord, call forth the Nazarite Corps!

It is written, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Many who have worked with this generation of late teens and twenty-somethings would characterize them as “apathetic.”  Seemingly nothing can pry them from the comfy confines of their living room to impact the world, and they are seemingly satisfied with the status quo.

I believe that, although this may be true of the majority, there exits a spiritual  remnant who possesses the capacity and desire for great adventure.  I also believe that the Kingdom of God provides ample opportunity to get out there and love somebody.  I call it “Expeditionary Love.”

I presume that we know what love is.  I probably shouldn’t.  In the famous words of D.C. Talk, Love is a verb.  We should strive to live a life like Jesus ”and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:2).”  Notice how Jesus loved us by giving himself and by sacrificing. These are not sedentary terms.  These are terms of action.  So now, what about this “expeditionary” thing?

Dictionary.com defines “expeditionary” as the following: Sent on or designed for military operations abroad.

This definition brings up three interesting points.  First, being part of an expeditionary endeavor indicates that you have been “sent.”  It’s not just a mission, it’s a co-mission between you and the Lord.  Secondly, your expeditionary acts of love are a military weapon.  That’s what the military does, it brings weapons to bear on an enemy.  Third, these things happen abroad, as in not in your living room.

2 Corinthians 5:14 says that,  ”Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”  To compel somebody is to cause them to do something.   Christ’s love for us, if we are in right relationship with Him, should compel us to do certain things:

Missions trips across the globe are acts of expeditionary love.

Witnessing in the streets of your local city is an act of expeditionary love.

Prayer and fasting to contend for a generation is an act of expeditionary love.

Enough with the status quo.  Let’s get expeditionary and engage the nations of the Earth with the life changing love of Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to have militant faith?

Dictionary.com defines the word “militant” as follows:  vigorously active and aggressive, esp. in support of a cause.

The bible says in Matthew chapter 11:12 that, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”  The idea is that there are certain portions of the fullness of God’s Kingdom that can only be possessed by those who are willing to take radical measures in seeking God.

This is not the type of militant faith where we blow ourselves up because the world doesn’t do what we want them to do.  In fact, God has already shown us in his word that the world will grow progressively more preverse and evil until the coming of the Lord, so we might as well get over it already.  This is the type of militant faith where we do whatever is necessary to possess the promise of the Lord in our lives.

It might mean fasting and praying all night.

It might mean spending days or weeks in the secret place with Jesus.

Is there anybody out there who values the anointing and the presence of God more than friends, food, and fellowship?  Not that there’s anything wrong with friends, food, or fellowship, but if they prevent you from passionately persuing God, then they are idolatrous.  What if I told you that there was a HUGE pile of gold waiting for anybody who would fast and pray for two weeks.  I bet many more of us would be fasting and praying.  Jesus is the treasure, folks.  His power is the currency that will buy change in our nation.