PROPHETIC WORDS

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

by Jill Smith

Arise and proclaim, “Prepare the way of the Lord”. Speak words that remove obstacles and create a pathway of revelation for people to walk on into the new day. Speak God’s heart and mind, His agenda for here and now. Come into His courts and listen for His updates, words that strengthen, encourage, adjust and direct you, and those to whom you are sent.

There is a fresh prophetic voice of clarity, authenticity and power that God is releasing to the church, a catalytic force that creates waves and activates new things in this nation and beyond. A mature, authentic, powerful expression that the Father always intended to resound from our land.

It is like...

• John the Baptist – set apart and radical, filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb, a forerunner, a way maker, a tide turner, a strident voice for change, preparing the way for Jesus.
   
• Jeremiah – strong in the face of resistance and opposition, soft and responsive to the Lord, creative in expression and delivery of the message, passionately devoted to the call, suffering yet faithful through it all.
   
• Elijah – bold, confrontational, with demonstration and power, a rain maker, spiritual climate changer, survivor of Jezebel’s death threats, reproducer and releaser of a double portion generational anointing.
   
• Gideon – who overcame fear, changed his mind about his identity and purpose, realised that God chooses the smallest and least to display His magnificent glory, obedient to God’s command, recruiter of an army that drove back the enemy with supernatural strategies.

It is time to release a call, to karanga (To call, shout, summon; a ceremonial call of welcome onto the mare) the church to awaken and advance, to drive back opposition and take territory, like the Maori battalion running to the battle side by side, or the All Blacks on the rampage on their best day. Kia kaha (Be strong, get stuck in, keep going) church, be strong and very courageous for the Lord Himself is with you! We have entered a new era of apostolic territory taking to bring the good government of heaven on earth with an apostolic spirit  that manifests the Kingdom and establishes peace. We are a liberation army sent to release territories and peoples from oppression and demonic occupation.

Aotearoa (Maori name for New Zealand) – God’s own country – there is a prophetic promise to claim and attain. It is time to light the fires of Kingdom occupation (Ahika is a Maori term for fires of occupation and thereby title to land obtained through conquest and resistance against all challengers) on every hill and keep them burning with prayer and devotion. It is time to take back territory that has been lost in regions and realms that have been occupied by the enemy for too long. It is time for a new prayer movement to emerge and fuel radical mission ‘that the Lamb may receive the reward of His suffering’ (The catch cry of Moravian missionaries who advanced the Gospel with a martyr's spirit and devotion).

The new wineskin is here - radical believers, raw and ready, devoted and determined, with nothing to lose, stripped back to bare essentials, Spirit and Truth, free and fierce, full of joy, powerful in praise, uncluttered, and responsive to the voice of the Lord. A prophetic apostolic people who advance with bold faith and radical love, changing atmospheres, breaking chains and welcoming the supernatural intervention of heaven on earth.

I heard the phrase “The marginalised are easily radicalised – they have no allegiance to the status quo.” We have a window of opportunity to recruit mighty warriors out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light. Loved sons and daughters who have been written off by many, will become champions in a Gideon’s army, a Kingdom revolution that sets the captives free.

Aotearoa, we stand in a moment of destiny, a turning of the tide. The scales have tipped in our favour, scales of justice and mercy, as we progress towards righting past wrongs. God’s eyes are upon us and He is intimately involved in our affairs of state as we embrace the call to manifest the ministry of reconciliation in radical ways.

I saw a hard crust that had covered the land, shattered by the loving shaking and shifting of the Lord, so that new life and freedom can break out everywhere. I felt the nation jolt and move on its foundations. God has given us a significant shove in the right direction, aligning us with our destiny and role among the nations. The whole land is “fizzing” with anticipation for what is about to unfold. Right now, it is a time to receive refreshing, renewal and strengthening from the Lord for the next leg of the race that has been set before us.

BIO