Articles: Rousing the Warriors - Chapter 1. The Trumpet Call Exerpt from Pastor Steve's book Rousing the Warriors
You can read the first Chapter of Pastor Steve's book as an Adobe PDF
The book is available in Tamil, Malayalam and English. Other languages will follow. If you would like to order the book please contact All Nations using the usual contact information on the right.
For more infomation, please click onto All Nations Church, UK
The Vision
A few years ago I had been invited to preach in a Church. During the worship the Lord spoke to me through a vision. I saw an angel on a hillside with a long straight trumpet in his hand. Below the angel on level ground were many believers. They were all involved in various different activities. Some were worshipping the Lord; some were talking to each other; some standing and some sitting.
There was no real order or purpose to this group of believers; everybody was doing their own thing. Then I saw the angel lift the trumpet to his mouth and begin to blow. A strong, loud sound came from the trumpet. Many of the believers who heard this sound responded to it but not all of them. As they responded to the trumpet call those that had stood to attention stood strong, facing the angel. They were alert, focused and ready for action. The sound from the trumpet continued and it went through the bodies of those standing making them even stronger.
A Powerful Army
The Lord spoke to me that he was raising a powerful end time army. I was to be one of many across the earth who have been called to blow the trumpet and rouse this army to attention and action. The Holy Spirit said that, if people would respond by opening up their hearts to this message (whether in book format or through preaching) then the sound of the words would go through them making them stronger.
The greatest army the world has ever seen is being assembled, made up of men, women and children, people from every tribe, tongue and nation. The educated and uneducated, poor and rich are all responding to the trumpet call. The army is being assembled on every continent of our planet. It is an army greater than our world has ever seen, more powerful than any historical, or present day army. They will be a mighty force for the Kingdom in these last days.
This army is not armed with physical weapons such as knives, guns or heavy artillery. Their enemy is not an enemy of flesh and blood or a particular nation on earth. They are armed with spiritual weapons fighting a spiritual enemy. Though the battle is spiritual, the results will clearly be seen in the natural realm. Lives will be changed as individuals encounter Christ. Marriages will be restored, families put back together again and Churches will find their rightful, God given place in our society. No longer will they be apologetic, passive, survivors but instead militant Kingdom advancers in their cities, nations and the world. Communities too will be transformed as the army begins its advance.
The world will become darker and more evil but this army will become stronger and their light brighter. They will be a beacon of hope to the lost and will save many from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of light. The world has not seen anything like this army before. Some laugh at the Church in it’s present condition but the day is coming when they will laugh no more. They will see the Church as a strong force of hope and life in our world. When there is instability and fear all around they will see stability and safety in the Body of Christ.
Proclaim this among the Nations Prepare for War! Rouse the warriors.
Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, 'I am strong!' Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD! Joel 3:9-11
Whether you believe it or not we are in a war. There is a battle on right now for the souls of men. God has worked out a great plan of salvation and gave his only son that all who believe in him may have eternal life. The devil is trying his utmost to keep as many people as he can from that truth and from salvation. It is a battle for people’s lives. Many in the Church have been passive survivors. We are busy with our programs and trying to keep our little Church worlds alive. We are busy, but busy with the wrong stuff. Our Christianity has evolved around our programmed activity and services. It’s what we live for and spend most of our money on.
We have spent our energy and focus on Church politics and pleasing or appeasing men. There has been much fighting within the ranks, men trying to preserve their little kingdoms. While we are busy majoring on minors and fighting each other we remain irrelevant to the world around us and thousands each day slip into hell. They know little if anything about what we believe or even that we exist.
We must begin to prepare for war. The trumpet has sounded to rouse the Warriors and wake them from their slumber. Believers and Churches must be stirred and woken out of complacency and apathy from passivity and conformity. The must be brought into a place of readiness and alertness.
It’s time to arise from sleep to alertness, from laziness to action, from apathy to expectancy, from hurt to healing, from mediocrity to excellence, from self-pity to thankfulness, from failure to success. It’s time to leave the past in the past and take hold of today and the future. Its time to move from earthly cultures to kingdom culture, from doubt to faith, from fear to boldness, from limitation to enlargement and from uncertainty to confidence.
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack
…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 1 John 3.8
It is time for us to attack the enemy just like Jesus did. The Bible tells us that that was the purpose for which he was revealed. Jesus destroyed the works of the enemy wherever he went. If we are to be like him we too must destroy the works of the enemy. Christians have put up with the enemy and his works and devices for too long. Whether it is in our personal lives, marriage, family, work situation or Church we should not put up with it any longer. We have been conditioned not to fight but to accept the place where we find ourselves. We don’t question why or ask whether the situation could change. It is time for the fighters to draw near and attack. You were not just called to defend and hold onto your ground but to attack and advance. Remove the enemy and then establish the Kingdom.
It is not about being liked or being acceptable. Since when is Christianity supposed to be acceptable and nice? Too many Christians are always trying to be nice and accepted by man. The truth will offend people. Jesus went against the normal acceptable behaviour of his day; people got offended with him and upset with him all the time. The balance here is that Jesus never offended people because of his personal habits or bad attitude but it was the truth that offended people. He was true to the Word and his calling above the culture and religion of the time. We too must be true to biblical culture above our earthly culture. True to the truth of God’s word. You are first Christian and then, Indian, English, African, Polish or any other culture. The greater freedom you walk in, the more influence you can have in bringing freedom to others.
Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears
This passage from Joel talks about turning the tools of farming (maintenance and survival) into weapons of warfare (advancement and invasion). Many have been good at surviving and keeping things at an acceptable level but have not taken any ground or impacted their world for Jesus. You are not called to keep things at an acceptable level and just please people with your life or your Church. Maintenance is good for a season but you cannot live there or you will die there. We have been maintaining in: prayer, vision, planning, evangelism and even in our personal lives and walk with God. It is time to move out of maintenance into advance, from surviving to invading.
God has not called you only to hold the fort but to go out from the fort and beat the enemy. We should take back what he has stolen and kept in captivity and establish the Kingdom of God. Advance! It will take courage, boldness, faith and a pioneering spirit to advance but this generation of Warriors will have those qualities and will advance and pioneer a new way. Though this may be new to us it is not a new thing. This is the way the early disciples lived. They were not settlers but pioneers. They were not men pleasers but God pleasers. They were not building their own kingdoms but the Kingdom of God. They were not serving themselves but serving Jesus. They turned the world upside down in a few short years, advancing the kingdom and destroying the works of the enemy!
Come quickly all you nations and assemble there.
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. Romans 13:11-12
We must wake up from our slumber and realise the urgency of the hour in which we are alive. There is a challenge to come quickly, to respond immediately. This call is coming from our Lord and master Jesus not from an earthly man. Yet in the Church we have often been slow in our obedience to the Lord. Many have lived with a false delusion that they have all the time in the world to obey the Lord. They have the intention that one-day they will do what needs to be done. But one day never comes. It’s always some time in the future.
I recently challenged one of the people in my Church about their commitment and obedience to the Lord. The Lord was asking certain things from them in lifestyle changes and there was a challenge for them to walk in their calling. This challenge had been going on for a number of years. Their response shocked me. They said they weren’t worried about it and that it would all work out in the end. So many have a false sense of security, however, walking in disobedience is a dangerous thing. It results in many wasted years that could have been filled with productivity for the Kingdom. Today is the day you need to respond to the prompting and voice of the Holy Spirit.
So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, Hebrews 3:7-8
We need to move with him when he is moving and change when he shows us that which needs to be changed. Many take the grace of God in vain, thinking that they can just do what they like when they like and God understands. God doesn’t understand. He expects obedience form his children. Yes he is patient with us and a loving father but Proverbs 29.1 tells me that a man who remains stiff necked after many rebukes will suddenly be broken and that without remedy! You have to decide to do something about the apathy and the complacency in your life. This army will also be correctly assembled. There will be no jostling or one trying to take another’s place. They will know their place and stay in their place. They will realise that will be the place of fruitfulness for them, the place where they will be blessed and will also be a blessing to all around them. Some have wanted other people’s roles or jobs and caused much trouble and striving in their own flesh to get them. Stop struggling and striving and manipulating situations and people, move to where the Lord has put you.
The trumpet has sounded…. the call has gone out…. the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Will you join this end time army of Warriors? You now have a responsibility to respond to the challenge of this chapter. Maintenance or Advancement? Survival or Invasion? The choice is yours.
Application
§ In which areas of your life do you feel like you have settled into maintaining?
§ Are you wiling to change?
§ Take 30 minutes today with Bible, pen and paper and prayerfully write down
what you need to do to change.
§ Pray through these areas committing them to the Lord and asking for his help.
For more infomation, please click onto All Nations Church, UK
Leave a Comment: