The Revolution Brigade

I’ve been asking around the Kingdom, polling young people on why their generation isn’t actively engaged in Kingdom affairs.  I’ve heard a variety of different responses, but the common denominator seems to be boredom.

This truly blows my mind.

Is anybody out there serving the same Jesus that I’m serving?  The one who says, “Go into all the world and make disciples?”  I think the church must have slipped into a self-induced coma or something, because the Christian life is not boring, it’s an extreme sport.

God is challenging us to the most radical, unthinkable, crazy, off the wall, adventurous stuff we can come up with to spread the good news of the Kingdom.  Some of you are bored because you’re in your room playing X Box when you should be in Costa Rica preaching the word in the streets.  What has happened to our sense of adventure?

I met a guy recently that uses Monster truck rallies to spread the Gospel.  Bet he’s not bored.

I was all over the Earth by the time I was 17 years old preaching the word, performing drama in the streets of Ecuador and Peru, praying for people to get saved in Spanish….and I don’t know Spanish!

If you’re not called to stay, you’re called to go.  It’s time to remove your buttocks from the permanent impression that you’ve created in your couch cushions and do something.

Somebody needs to start a traveling paintball tournament to spread the gospel.

Somebody needs to sign up for a missions trip to Zimbabwe and preach the word to the tribes of Africa.

Since you guys like X Box so much, start a tournament that will attract hundreds of players and then hit them with the Gospel.

The more radical, the more outlandish, the more unthinkable, the better.  Let’s do something for the Lord while we’re young, before the heaviness of life has a chance to grab a hold of you.  Living in the Kingdom is an extreme sport for those who will engage it.

The biggest indictment that has been raised against the church is that its talk has always been louder than its walk. Basically, it has only delivered a portion of its promise. Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah.

Step right up, say a little prayer, get your ticket for eternity, and then live like hell (because of course, you have your ticket), and then just sit back and wait for the gospel ship (whatever that is) to wisk you away.

Behind the clamoring scenes of the religious parade of who has the biggest ministry, the pompous veneer of condescending self-righteousness, and celebrity showdom of scamming preachers who are little more than Hollywood wannabees, something powerful is emerging.

There is an awakening among a generation of disillusioned young people who have rejected the status quo, and are searching for the genuine faith of those who actually believe what they say and are willing to go to any length to allow the reality of truth to be manifest in their lives.

We now have enough light to see through the facade of “cheap talk” that has produced an impotent church. Shallow commitment will not usher in the Kingdom. If you can’t back up what you say by lifestyle, be quiet. If you just want to run around and shout about the devil, we are not listening. If you are afraid of what it will cost, get out of the way, the Kingdom life is not for you.

We want to live with purpose and die with honor. It is now time for all those lovers of truth and life to come together for a new movement of righteousness in the earth.

“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.”

Well, we’ve actually ran into more vision that we can honestly handle here at the Revolution Brigade. One of the things that we’ve decided to do involves combining our passion for great design with our love of casual clothing to produce a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled clothing line called Kill Adam Clothing.

That being said, it is our greatest hope that somebody from this site will eventually be able to enjoy the clothes that we’ve designed. This is our first offering in the Kill Adam Spirit Filled series, and is entitled “Bright and Morning Star.” It’s an awesome Christian T Shirt that’s available in both mens and womens shirts in multiple styles on Zazzle.

The shirt features the scripture from Revelation 22:16 that says, “I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. Click here to order.

BUY IT NOW

When we got back this morning from the Atlanta installment of Acquire the Fire, the Holy Ghost totally showed up in our service. We had three of our kids get filled with the Holy Ghost and begin to minister to other people at the alter. Now, when’s Acquire the Fire going to catch on to that?