The Revolution Brigade

When you’re a member of the military, “readiness” is a huge word.  It’s a word that’s used to describe that anywhere, anytime attitude that characterizes our military.  It means that you’re ready to go to the ends of the Earth at the drop of a dime to defend your cause.

Learning to embrace readiness is a process by which we transform ourselves from soft, docile people into rugged, violent, utterly prepared soldiers.  It’s more than just learning to fire a weapon or wear a uniform correctly.  It’s a lifestyle change.  There are several components to spiritual readiness for the prophetic army of God.  I’m going to discuss them in a series of blog posts here on the Revolution Brigade blog, beginning with a critical yet often overlooked aspect of readiness in God’s army:

Physical Readiness: Earlier today I asked the Lord to empower me to travel the Earth and teach the gospel.  I was surprised when He replied to me by saying, “What if I told you to hike up a mountain 50 kilometers to a remote village at an altitude of 10,000 feet?  Could you do it?”  I immediately felt the conviction of knowing that I wasn’t physically ready to carry the gospel in the way that the Lord had envisioned.

Prophetic warriors begin a program of physical discipline in order to gain the strength necessary to go anywhere at any time for the cause of the kingdom. This is not a youth retreat.  It’s a war.  War is tough.  War is physical.  Combat is stressful and tiring and we need to condition ourselves to be ready for any mission the Lord gives us.  We must lift weights, gain strength, and do regular cardio routines in order to be fully prepared for the fight that is ahead of us.  I joined a gym today, and I plan to chronicle the progress of my journey for fitness on this blog.  You can all hold me accountable.

Prophetic warriors can hike twenty miles in a day if necessary in order to reach people with the gospel. I’ve had the privilege of hiking twenty miles before, and I can tell you that you don’t just wake up one day with the ability to hike twenty miles.  You start with five miles, then ten, then twelve, then fifteen, and you eventually work your way up to twenty miles.  You gradually harden your feet over a period of time so that you become rugged and able to handle long marches.  You may find this hard to believe, but there are some countries where there is no gas to be had, and the only means of transportation is moe and joe (my nicknames for my left and right foot, respectively).  Do people in villages deep in the jungle hundreds of miles from the nearest road need the gospel any less than those living in cities with cars?

Prophetic warriors master the martial arts and are able to defend themselves against weapons. Here’s the part where the church gets up in arms.  “Jesus said turn the other cheek.”  Got it.  But, I’m a man of war.  I’m also a peacemaker.  I’ve learned that sometimes the best way to make peace is to place all of your enemies on their hind quarters.  Seriously, if we are to take the gospel into contested areas and evil regimes, we must be capable of defending ourselves on the most basic level.  Our prophetic intercessory warriors must know how to defend themselves open-hand-versus-knife and open-hand-versus-gun.  Can you disarm an attacker who has a knife?  What about a gun?  These simple skills might save your life or the lives of your flock one day.  It might be worth learning.

Physical readiness takes time.  You aren’t going to begin a program today and be ready to hike twenty miles tomorrow.  It takes dedication and a lifestyle of training.  This will be difficult for one of the most sedentary generations in history to embrace, but as always, I believe there is a remnant who will excel.

I was reading a post over on the Esther Project’s blog and saw that they had discussed the recent birth of Octuplets in Southern California.  The debate for forced abortion centers around the idea that more than two or three children in the womb at the same time means an increased chance of death or harm to the mother and the babies, so doctors should have the right to override the mother’s wishes and perform “fetal reduction,” which is yet another fancy word for abortion.

Here’s the quote from the original article :

The situation raises the issue of whether a doctor ought to override a patient’s wishes for the sake of saving lives, she said. Although the health care system in America gives patients autonomy in making decisions about their own bodies, when emotionally distraught, some people decide poorly,”  she said. (sorry, can’t find the original link now)

Each and every time I think we have reached the bottom of our ability to be evil as a nation, I’m surprised by a new low.  It’s bad enough that people choose to kill their own babies in the womb, let alone allow somebody else to force that decision upon a person who wants to let their children live.

In case you didn’t know where I stand on abortion, I’ll go ahead and recap.  We need to repent with weeping and solemn assemblies before the Lord in the hope that we can receive mercy for our national and state policies on abortion.  Abortion is an abomination before the Lord.  It smacks of Baal worship (which frequently required the sacrifice of babies), and it’s a strategy by which the enemy hopes to wipe out the last generation of Nazarite warriors. 

The church can NOT afford to be apathetic on the topic of abortion.  Social racial reconciliation is not a good enough reason for the church to support a pro-choice candidate.  Let’s awaken the sleeping giant and go after this thing with prayer and fasting!

In Isaiah Chapters 64 and 65, there is an interesting dialogue between the prophet and the Lord.

Isaiah: Your holy cities are destroyed.  Zion is a wilderness;  yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.  The holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. After all this,  Lord,  must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us? (Isaiah 64:10-11)

The Lord Replies: I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.  I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, “Here I am, Here I am!” to a nation that did not call on my name. All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.  But they followed their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes. All day long they insult me to my face by worshipping idols in their sacred gardens.  (Isaiah 65:1-3)

This description that the Lord gives of the nation of Israel moves my heart to compassion because I recognize that it’s a description of our country in this hour.  The United States is now a post-Christian nation.  Our people attend to their own schemes and ignore the paths of God.  Our culture is consumed with idolatry (stuff), Baal worship (abortion, baby sacrifice) , and the Asherah religion (the culture of sex).

Importantly, I don’t believe God is turning a blind eye to the wicked in this hour.  I believe that He is waiting on a righteous remnant of intercessory warriors to rise up and pray in His justice.   Let it not be said of us that we never asked for help from the Lord, that we never looked for His glory and mercy.

We’re coining the term “Combat Intercession” here at the Revolution Brigade because we believe that it will take spiritual acts of violence to bring this nation into repentance before God.   It will require a lifestyle of absolute consecration and purity.  Prayer and fasting will be minimums.  It will require praying for a nation that largely doesn’t want to hear what we have to say.  In some cases, the church will even speak out against the radicals who will become the watchmen for a generation.  Even against the prevailing odds, these young people will stand in the gap, holding back the darkness from consuming our nation completely.

There’s a quote from George Orwell that seems appropriate:  “Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”  It’s a nod to our military forces, but it has application in the spirit as well.  Where is the generation that stands ready to do violence on behalf of our nation?

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  (Acts 1:4-5)

What is this mysterious “baptism with the Holy Spirit, and what does it does it do for the believer?  I’ve heard much debate over the years by people who want to make the scripture more complicated than it has to be about how the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was only for the church of Acts, and about how the endwelling of the Holy Spirit happens subsequent to salvation, and how there is no separate Baptism at all.  Sometimes, it’s just best to read the scripture and see what you come up with.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Here we see Jesus discussing the ramifications of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, namely that when it is received we would be empowered to become witnesses to the ends of the Earth.  The baptism of the Holy Spirit is about power.  It’s a gift of grace, sent from the father, that enables us to live victoriously.

When you receive it, you receive a measure of the supernatural ability of Jesus as well:

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an essential tool to the combat intercessor.  Some of its more relevant applications include discerning of spirits, by which the intercessor learns what spirit he is engage with, and word of knowledge, which may include directions for attaining spiritual victory over a given foe.   Of course, the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit has much more practical and wider application as well.

Frankly, my intention for writing this post is two-fold:  First, to promote the fact that Baptism in the Holy Spirit is an absolutely necessary tool for the combat intercessor.  Second, to provide a basic starting point for curious Christians who are not baptized with the Holy Spirit to begin their own, personal, in-depth study on the topic.

It certainly is not my intention to have a debate about the merits or existence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit here for several reasons.  First, I am personally baptized in the Holy Spirit.  I speak with other tongues.  I frequently prophesy.  I operate in discerning of spirits gift.  My wife is a prophetess.  My kids prophesy to me before they go to sleep at night.  I have plenty of evidence of the power of that baptism in my life, and I’m not interested in hearing a heady, contorted, academic debate about something I know to be real.  Second, I believe that the “all flesh” thing hasn’t come to completion yet, and when it does, there won’t be any debate.

See some other cool Basic Training posts and get started on becoming a combat soldier for God.

This video is extremely graphic, and heart wrenching.  It’s a call to arms for all those who have been apathetically sitting on the fences in the battle for the unborn.  It’s time to do something.  Get involved!

This video is distributed by Abort73, an online coaliton against abortion.

For another Revolution Brigade article on the topic, click here.

I’ve just been perking up my ears a little of late and listening to the conversations around me.  I know that’s a little nosy, but it’s most instructive.  What I have heard loud and clear is a sense of fear that is subverting the church at large.

Fear of change.  Fear of adventure.  Fear of the future.  Fear of the stock market.  Fear of the government.  Fear of terrorists.  Fear of self-sacrifice.  Fear of being afraid.  The list goes on and on.

The problem is that fear will rob us of our destiny in the unfolding of the Kingdom.  Consider the story of the scouts sent into the land of Caanan in Numbers chapter 13.  Ten of them came back paralyzed by fear, and would have forfeited their inheritance as a result.   Only Caleb and Joshua recommended that they take possession of the Land:

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”  And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:30-33)

And so it is with us.  The church, instead of taking possession of the Land, has made itself content to sit on the hillside and gaze at the giants ravaging their inheritance.  Not all of us, mind you.  But enough of us have decided to forfeit our inheritance that we find ourselves almost without a place to call our own.

What’s the answer?  Perfect love, of course.

You see, a man without fear can impart courage to another person, but courage is simply the ability to operate in fear without losing your composure.   What we need is the complete removal of fear from among us.  The only answer is a renewed revelation of Jesus as the love-sick bridegroom God who lives and breathes to empower us to do exploits.

The world should seem a little less scary when we realize that the creator of the universe resides inside of us, and that His agenda is one of eternal benevolence on our behalf.

For anybody who knows me, I’m a big fan of Mike Bickle and the IHOP crew.  I snatch about every download I can as soon as it’s available and listen to it almost nonstop.  I’ve never met most of these people, but I feel as if we are from the same “tribe.”  If you don’t get that reference, go buy Seth Godin’s book.

I ran across one radical young person on Twitter whose blog I leveraged and found my way to several other radical  people who are on staff at IHOP in Kansas City.   I really enjoyed the read, so I figured I might revive the concept of the meme by sending them a few questions and seeing if they have the guts to pony up by answering on their own blog.

Question 1:  Why has the the vast majority of the youth in America checked out of the church?

Question 2:  What can be done to engage these same young people in their destiny?

Question 3:  What, or who (other than Jesus) made the biggest difference in your life and prompted you to follow after a lifestyle of prayer and fasting?

There it is.  Here are the five folks and their blogs.  Be sure to tell them that we sent you just in case they don’t have trackbacks:

Abby’s Blog

Jessica Gliserman

Matthew Candler (Not quite as young as the others)

Tim Cone

Truman Falkner

Be sure to check them out, give them some link love, and leave a comment.

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.