⁵When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come ” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

⁶And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-7)

I had a prophetic experience with the Lord a couple of days ago.  This message may very well be just for me, but I thought I might share it with you anyway.

I was praying about what I needed to get settled in my life in order to be ready for the events of the end times.  I asked the Lord to reveal to me what I needed to deal with, and He replied, “Hunger.”

I said, “Lord, I’m pretty hungry for your presence.  I’m hungry for your revelation,” and He said, “That’s not what I’m talking about.” Now I’m really listening because I’m reminded of when the disciples were on the boat fretting about not having any bread, and Jesus started talking about leaven.  The disciples were puzzled, but Jesus wasn’t talking about bread.  Likewise, He’s not talking about hunger in the spiritual sense.  It’s scary how I over-spiritualized the voice of the Lord on that point, but that’s another sermon for another day.

The Lord began to reveal to me that he was talking about dealing with physical hunger.  He brought to my mind the scripture above from Revelation 6, and I began to understand.  In the last days, there will be a very literal, very physical food shortage on the Earth.  The Lord said to me, “If you want to be used in those days as a leader, you have better conquer hunger now.”

I’ve heard it said that “in a world of darkness, the blind man is King.”  Likewise, in a world of famine, the man who is not controlled by his appetite is positioned to be a leader.  The man who does not rely on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is positioned for supernatural advancement.  God is showing me that if I afflict myself with hunger now, I will be more prepared to operate within the context of world-wide hunger in the last days.

What does it mean?  It means I have to fast more than I have been fasting.  I have to loose the control that my appetite has over my spirit by any means necessary, and bring my carnal body into subjection to my spirit.  Like Paul said, I must beat my body and make it my slave.   If I can’t go a week without food and stay in the spirit, I’m not ready.  Like I said, that may just be for me, but it may be for you also.

I believe that we have arrived at a pivotal moment in history.  The stage is set for the rise of the Lord’s end-time prophetic army.  Never has a generation of young people been so apathetic, so calloused, and so disinterested in the things of God.  My belief is that this generation IS a valley of dry bones, wasting away beneath the hot sun of the status quo and waiting for a prophet to speak life into them.

“I’m just radical enough to believe that God can use me as the prophet.”

Radical Christianity was intended for every single believer who ever accepted Jesus into their heart.  The very nature of the gospel is radical.  Radical love.  Radical sacrifice.  Radical power.  Jesus revolutionized a culture in the space of three years of public ministry because of the uncompromising, in-your-face nature of the truth that He spoke.   He was a revolutionary.

We tend to think of radical Christians as fringe dwellers, way out on the edge of faith and purity with their fasting and devotion, their love and belief in the Word of God.   In truth, every single human being was intended to go off the deep end in their journey with the God who created us all.  Radical faith is not an innovation.  It’s the way life was intended to be by the giver of life.

You’re looking at prayer and fasting as a major imposition and interruption to your life, but the truth is that if you’re not praying and fasting you’re not yet living life the way that it was intended to be lived.  You’re not sold out yet because you’ve not yet experienced Jesus as the center of your being.  He was never intended to be “fit in” to your schedule, marginalized by your endless to-do list.

Radical Christianity is for YOU.  It’s for all of you.  Every one of you.  Period.

I’m going to revive an old principle here, and most of you will blatantly reject it.  I’m fine with that.  I already know that you think you know best about your life, and that’s probably the attitude that has resulted in the situation in which you currently find yourself.  I pray that you will find peace.  But, for some of you, you’ll hear what I have to say here today and it will change your life.

You’ve asked yourself, “Why do my relationships never seem to work out?  Why can’t I find that special someone?  Am I supposed to be alone?”

My answer is not the kind that people talk about at parties.  The conciliatory response of, “Don’t worry, you’ll find somebody eventually” will not be uttered here today.  My belief, and the belief of many who associate with me, is that some people are not supposed to be married, have kids, and live happily ever after.

Some people are called to be eunuchs for the Kingdom of God.

I submit that the reason you’ve never been able to find a partner who lives up to your standard is because you’ve been fearfully and wonderfully made by a creator who set his own perfection in your heart as your default standard for love.  You were created to transcend the limits of “worship” and find romance with your creator.  You’re called to be a warrior, totally devoted to nothing but your King, who will also become your husband in the last days.

I’ve actually heard a gay man tell me, “I’m gay.  I just never liked girls, you know?”  That doesn’t mean you’re gay!  It means that you were intended to devote your life to something else besides the status quo of a wife, a dog, and 2.5 children.  You were supposed to engage the globe with the Gospel of Christ.  Did the thought ever occur to you that God didn’t want you to have a wife so that you could be free to travel to Zimbabwe on a moment’s notice for the Kingdom?  Come on!

I swear to you, if these words are registering with you today, you will never find happiness outside of Jesus.  You have a God-shaped hole in your being, and no man or woman will ever fill it.  You might as well surrender now and live loved.

God loves you with a perfect love, and you will begin to grasp the extent of that love when you totally devote your life to worshipping Him.  Prayer, fasting, and late nights of fervent worship will replace myspace, facebook, and the bar and club scene.  Why?  Because true love causes you to change things.  Mark my words.

If this is you, ask me how it works.

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.