PROPHETIC WORDS

2021 – PROPHETIC INSIGHTS AND UNDERSTANDING

by Lyn Packer

January 2021

Over the last few months I’ve not shared much of what the Lord has been sharing with me. Instead I’ve prayed, thought much, searched my heart and talked things through with Him, gaining insight into His heart and plans for mankind in general and the church in particular. I believe that now is the time to share the insight that He has been unveiling to me and the prophetic word that has been forming in my heart over that time.

Scripture tells us that all prophetic words need to be weighed and so I submit this prophetic word to you to weigh and pray through. For an article on how to weigh prophecy click here.

An Apocalyptic Awakening

Globally we are in a time of apocalyptic awakening. In using the word apocalyptic I’m not referring to the church’s belief that we are in “end times” but making reference to the original meaning of the word apocalypse. An apocalypse, translated from Greek, is – an uncovering, a disclosure of great knowledge, i.e., a lifting of the veil or revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something previously hidden, but now being revealed. That sort of revelation of knowledge often causes initial instability as it shakes up current understanding. And as we can see around us, everything that can be shaken is being shaken.

The systems of the world and the church are being shaken and in the midst of that we are being forced to acknowledge that the way we’ve been functioning as societies and as the church hasn’t worked well. Society overall has suffered from a collapse and crisis of values that is redefining the world we live in. We live in a world that has become scarred by violence, degradation, oppression, injustice, and institutional power that is centred around government, economics, and political suppression. It’s a world where narcissism has become rampant and normalised, as self-absorption and self-centredness has taken over people’s lives. The end result – we are seeing the collapse of governments, economic systems, the depletion of resources worldwide, the collapse of eco-systems, and more.

We are all busy blaming each other for the state of the world – races blame each other, church blames state and state blames church, left blames right and vice-versa, but too few of us realise that we each have a personal responsibility for how we got here. Over the centuries we have been too willing to allow the stewardship of the world to be given to institutional or governmental power structures, rather than seeing the state of the world as something we are each responsible for, something God has entrusted to us all. We’ve lost our sense of working for the common good and embraced the notion that our personal good, and the good of our immediate family, is our only real responsibility. We’ve lost the understanding that the world will not function well unless we look to the good of each other, as well as our own good. We have abandoned living by love, caring for each other, and having common values, to everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. Scripture tells us that the end of that way is death (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). It also tells us many times that refusing wisdom and following our own selfish desires leads to destruction, and we are seeing that happen in many different ways, from societal breakdown to trashing the planet, the collapse of eco-systems and the extinction of animal species.

In society and in the church we can continue in a “business as usual” mind-set and mode of operating, but many of us are seeing that “business as usual” will continue to lead us to more unrest, chaos, and catastrophe – it will not get us the results we want. Events over the past year in particular have opened our eyes and forced us to see that the world needs something to change. In the midst of it God is calling the church to change in order to become change-agents, thought pioneers, initiators, and leaders in global reformation. During the past few decades God has been bringing a fresh awakening to the church in order to bring reformation to it – causing us to realise how far we’ve wandered from what Christ meant His disciples’ lives to look like. He has been awakening us to see what we’ve lost in Christianity to religion through the centuries, and opening our eyes to the way Christ intended the church to look – a representation of the Trinity in the earth. And we are being re-awakened to the Trinity’s plan – the restoration of all things. 

It’s time to ask some hard questions

In bringing this reformation God must first open our eyes, so we see, and deal with, the wrong beliefs, practices and religious bondages we’ve formed over centuries, and consequently lived under. Being awakened spiritually isn’t always a pleasant experience. It can be uncomfortable and challenging, but we must be challenged in order to change. Being awakened can cause us to feel frustration, confusion, anger, sadness, grief, or a feeling of being “ill-at-ease” or “out of place”. Awakening is about metanoia – about our thinking being challenged and changed – which leads to a transformation in lifestyle. Metanoia means to perceive with the mind, to understand, to have understanding. In the church we translate metanoia to “repent or repentance”. True repentance is actually all about an awakening that causes a change in our understanding, and consequently, in our lifestyle choices.

In this time of awakening there’s an opportunity and a necessity to ask some fundamental questions, such as… 

• “What does being a Christian really mean?” “What did Jesus tells us His disciples would be like?” 

• “What filters am I looking through that are distorting my vision, only allowing me to see certain aspects of truth and causing me to not be able to receive others?”

• “Am I really open to my perspectives being challenged and some of them possibly being proven wrong?”

• “How do I / how does the church need to change to become an authentic expression of Christ in the earth?”

• “Are our church systems serving us, and the world around us, or are they actually working against us in certain ways?”

These are just some of the questions we need to be asking. 

Are we, individually and collectively as the church, willing to look long and hard at ourselves and see… where we have become something other than what Christ intended we be; where we hold prejudices simply because certain others are not like us. Racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, nationalism, political dogmatism, religious prejudices, etc. are as rife within the church as they are in society at large. We must be willing to look at the fact that the church has a history and current practice of turning a blind eye to injustices and sin that exists within its walls – sexual injustices, gender injustices, control and manipulation, slander, gossip, lying, adultery, greed, pride, arrogance, and more. We must look long and hard at ourselves in order for change to come.

Meanwhile all of creation waits for us to take up our moral and spiritual responsibility to look not just at ourselves, but beyond ourselves to the health of the whole planet. It waits for us to accept our responsibility to be an active part of stewarding the earth God gave us, and co-creating with Christ a better world than the one we live in currently, rather than sitting back and expecting institutions and power-structures to do that.

Jesus is our prophetic prototype

As a prophet Jesus contested, confronted, and challenged the systems of His day – the systems that held people in bondage, whether religious or secular. He reminded us that we are our brother’s keeper and that we should love each other and our neighbours. He told us we should do to others what we would have done to us; that these things, this type of lifestyle, is what will set us apart as His followers (John 13:34,35. Matt 7:12). Not just love for other Christians, but love for all mankind, who, as Paul tells us, are to some degree all children of God because our common origin as mankind is found in Him (Acts 17:24-28). Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it; to see all people, and even the earth itself, restored back to God (John 3:17; Acts 3:21; Jer 29:11; Isa 61; Rom 8:19). We have largely lost the vision that Jesus had of the restoration of all things back to God, and the establishing of His Kingdom here on earth through His children.

They who have ears to hear…

When God releases revelation into the world it is often picked up by both Christian and non-Christian alike, since we all have the capacity to hear Him. Everywhere around the world, from both Christian and secular leaders, as well as ordinary men and women, we are hearing the same message from God (if we have ears to hear) – that of mankind needing to return to caring for each other and the planet. I hear it all around me in the comments people are making as they question the status-quo, express their anger at the ways things are being run, and wonder what we can do about it. I have no doubt that the same concerns and thoughts fill your heart too, as they do mine.

Part of our problem in the church is that we hear the prophetic message God is releasing worldwide to all mankind, but we sometimes filter it out because we don’t like the package it’s wrapped in – the way it’s presented, or the people it’s presented through. So we ignore, or even worse, criticise and diminish the message that change is needed, when it comes through someone of a different religion, race, socio-economic status, or political leaning than ours. It’s time for that to change. God is calling us to wake-up and see that we are all in this together, whatever our political, social, economic, or religious beliefs. He is telling us that we must put aside our differences and work together for the betterment of the world we live in. It’s time for a resurgence of moral values, common-sense, and choosing to work together instead of fighting against each other. That’s the only way we can stop this train-wreck and save our world from an irreversible descent into chaos and anarchy.

As Christians, the Spirit of God is speaking to our spirit and calling us back to authentic Christianity – the Christianity that is redemptive and liberating, where we are both a lover of God and man, both prophet and releaser of healing power. The world is sick – both spiritually and physically – and the earth longs and groans for the revealing and release of answers through the sons and daughters of God (Rom 8:19-25). The changes that mankind, and the earth, need will not be done by prayer alone, or by telling the world how bad it has become. It will take each of us asking God what our part is in standing up and bringing change, and then stepping out and doing our part.

Moving the church from hopelessness to hope

Over the past few centuries the church has developed a hopeless view of the world we live in. We’ve had an escapist viewpoint and theology that has said the earth is descending into chaos and ruin and we are going to escape all that, so what’s the point in really dreaming of, and working towards, a better world. As a result the church has stepped back from being the initiators and proponents of societal change that they used to be, to doing less and less, until now we are largely known for the things we are against, and for our criticism of society, not for the good we do in society.

There are several things ringing in my heart as I’ve listened to God share His heart with me and talked those things though with Him. They are…

• It’s time for the church (individually and collectively) to repent – to radically change its thinking and the way it functions.

• It’s time for a fresh vision, filled with renewed and radical optimism

• Activated hope and vision will birth activated lives. 

Activated hope sees from the eternal plan – for the restoration of all things back to God, not the destruction of all things, and it knows that God can do exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we can hope and dream (Eph 3:20). We need to see from God’s perspective, and to embrace afresh His vision for mankind.

So while the words the Lord has given me to share are challenging, they are also words that give fresh vision of a better world – the world Jesus came to make manifest. A world where people are seen through the eyes of God – where they are loved, are seen as having value, included not excluded, championed not victimised, called to be creators not destroyers, co-operators not competitors. Jesus has shown us the prototype – a Kingdom unlike any other, the Kingdom of Heaven. Because of His work, the Kingdom of Heaven is here now, it’s not just some far off dream for the future, and our role is to be a part of the continuing co-creation of that Kingdom with Christ in the earth. We, the church, have been given the role of continuing the work of liberation begun by Christ. That liberating work includes the setting free of all mankind, and even the earth itself, from sin and the consequences of sin, from egoism and the consequences of egoism.

God is wanting to give us each renewed vision, renewed hope and renewed activation. We are called by Jesus to live as He lived – a lifestyle that dethrones ego and pride, that calls us to lay down selfishness, domination, and control, one that destroys victimisation and brings positive change through changed lives and lifestyles. To do this we must be willing to have civil conversations about the issues the church and society face. For this to happen we will have to lose our “I’m right” attitude and allow for others to share their perspectives. Scripture tells us in 1 Cor 13 that we each see in part and see as though in a clouded mirror. It’s only as we are open to other perspectives that we will see the things we missed and receive the  revelation we need to get a fuller picture.

So what does all this mean in practical terms?

• Allow God to search your heart and show you where you have taken on ungodly beliefs and perspectives.

• Allow Him to re-awaken you to His vision for the world, and realign you back to His original plan for mankind and the church. It’s that vision that will give you renewed hope, purpose and passion.

• Repent – that means allow a transformation of your thinking to take place, so you see things as God sees them.

• Ask God what your part is in making this world a reflection of His Kingdom. Ask Him how you can practically release heaven into earth in your daily life. Also ask Him for a bigger outlook or dream – a vision, a purpose that you can embrace, or initiate, that will bring help and change into a specific area of society. Your part, your contribution, will be different from another person’s, but it will be important to the overall change that’s needed.

• Allow your changed thinking to move outward to change your behaviour and lifestyle, where needed.

• Share your dream, your vision of hope, and allow others to become part of seeing it manifest and make a difference.

All of creation (people included) is groaning and waiting for the unveiling and release of the fullness of the Kingdom carried within the sons and daughters of God, and we are in the birth pangs of that time now. It’s time to wake up and each of us do our part in creating a better world – one that future generations will thank us for, not condemn us for.

BIO