跨時代的一年
新年總是充滿盼望的時刻，而盼望是一個最強大的力量。新年常常是我們下定決心實現一些誓言，如減重、花更多時間陪家人，或更委身於某些屬靈紀律，像是更多禱告或讀聖經。這些誓言通常能幫助我們更多聚焦完成，絕對是一件好事。

今年是瑪雅曆所謂的世界末日，正如使徒保羅提到克里特的先知，他們對克里特人的看法是真的，所以連假先知都有可能猜對某些事。在某種程度上，我認為瑪雅曆是對的─今年會標記為世界的末了。

我並不是在預言今年會是世界末日，或這世代的末了，或是耶穌的再來。我說的是巨大的改變將在今年臨到全世界，變得更好還是更壞取決於基督肢體，遠勝於其他因素。今年會是我們所擁有的最好機會，不單是我們的世代，更有可能是有史以來的最好機會。改變往往是由少數人開始，只要基督肢體一小部分的人甦醒過來，委身其中，今年的影響可能會超乎以往。

我並不知道這要如何進行，但我知道它會發生。我們『知道的有限』，『預言的也有限』。在過去幾年我個人並沒有領受太多先知性啟示，最近這些啟示傾倒而來，幾乎都與基督肢體的甦醒和委身有關。

過去五年我沒有領受太多啟示的原因，是因為神給予我一個任務，並應許我若忠心，在任務結束時我會得著從所未有的最大啟示。即便如此，我最近不斷領受是因為所處的時候極為關鍵。現在即將臨到我們的最關鍵議題正是歷史上最大的復興與收割，而我們還沒預備好。

我的幾位先知性朋友一直聽到主說：『現在的小事將是接下來的大事』。主告訴我這話是真的，並讓我看見其中一個應用方式。正如我在上週的每週一話所分享的，1987年主讓我看見收割的異象，我看見兩波復興浪潮即將來到。第一波浪潮開始於我領受此異象後的幾年，持續有十六年之久。儘管橫掃了南美洲、中美洲、非洲和亞洲，成為歷史上新信徒的最大收割，卻錯過了北美和歐洲。接著我看見在第二波浪潮臨到前會有一段平靜時期，一波更大的浪潮即將席捲全地，那將是歷史上神最大的運動。我們正接近屬靈平靜期的尾聲，下一波浪潮很快會臨到我們。

我看見在第二波浪潮中，有百人會眾的教會一週就加入一千名新信徒。聽起來很棒，但這也為教會帶來龐大壓力。這些新信徒將需要醫治、釋放與真理教導，而平常在教會教導或講道的人，突然間要帶領的會眾大半是新信徒。

我們可能以為大型教會在這樣的收割中，才會一星期增加數千名新信徒，但實際上卻不是如此。所有教會都會增加新人，但大教會不會像小教會一樣增加數千人─他們只會增加一些人。這是因為他們比較沒有像小教會一樣為收割來預備，而小教會在建造人方面做得比較好。

不是所有大教會都是如此，也不是所有小教會都會倍增，但普遍是如此。我們必須為著收割來做預備；每一位農夫都知道何時收割，你沒有時間浪費─所有人都要動起來。要預備好，我們需要做很多事，但最主要的事就是幫助教會每一份子都成為基督的真門徒，知道自己的恩賜、職分，並被釋放來各盡其職─以弗所書四章的命令。

我們只有很短的時間來預備一生的工作；這是先知和古時義人都渴望看見的時候，我們卻蒙召活在其中。今年我們要投入在神國的工作中，像是從來沒有過的，凡是這樣做的人將會開始看見神的國超越以往。神的國近了。
 
    (摘自 喬納 word for the week, Week 1, 2012)


A Year For The Ages
Week 1, 2012

The New Year is always a time for hope, and hope is one of the most powerful forces. It is often a time when we resolve to fulfill certain vows like getting in shape, spending more time with family, or being faithful to certain spiritual disciplines like more prayer or Bible study. These often help people focus enough to actually accomplish them, certainly a good thing. 

This is the year the Mayan calendar indicated would be the end of the world. As the Apostle Paul wrote about the Cretan prophets, that they were right about what they were saying about the Cretans, even false prophets can be right about some things. In a way, I think the Mayan calendar is right—this year will mark the end of this world as we know it.

I am not prophesying that this year will be the end of the world, or the end of the age, or the second coming of Christ. I am saying radical changes are coming to the whole world this year. Whether they turn out for good or bad will depend more on the body of Christ than any other factor. This year will be the greatest opportunity we’ve had, not just in our generation, but maybe ever. Times of change are usually steered by a small number of people, and if just a small part of the body of Christ wakes up and gets engaged, the impact this year can be greater than ever. 

I do not know exactly how this will play out, but I know that it will. We all “see in part” and “prophesy in part.” After personally going through several years with very little prophetic revelation, I have been getting a download recently and almost all of it has to do with the body of Christ waking up and getting engaged.

The reason I have not received much revelation in the last five years is because I was given an assignment and a promise that if I was faithful, I would get the greatest revelation I have ever had at the end of this assignment. Even so, I have been given a download recently because the times are so critical. The most critical issue coming upon us right now is that the greatest revival and ingathering in history is nearly upon us, and we are not ready for it. 

Several prophetic friends have been hearing from the Lord, “Small is the next big.” I was told that this is true and was shown one way it applied. As I shared in last week’s WFTW, when I was given the vision of the harvest in 1987, I saw two waves of revival coming. One began a couple of years later and lasted about sixteen years. Though it swept through South and Central America, Africa, and Asia with the greatest ingathering of new believers in history, it just about missed North America and Europe. I then saw a period of relative quiet before another, much larger wave swept across the whole earth that would be the greatest move of God in history. We are at the end of this period of relative spiritual quiet that I saw, and the next wave is nearly upon us. 

In this second wave that I saw, there were congregations of one hundred people that were adding a thousand new believers a week. This sounds wonderful, and it was, but it also brought enormous stress upon the churches. These new believers will need healing, deliverance, and teaching in sound biblical truth. Christians who had taught or spoken in a church service were suddenly leading large congregations of new believers. 

We might think that mega churches would be adding tens of thousands of new believers a week in such a harvest, but that was not the case. All churches will be adding people, but the mega churches were not adding thousands like the small churches—only a relative few. This was because they were less prepared for the harvest than the smaller churches. The reason they were not as prepared was they had been devoted to building programs rather than people, and the smaller churches had done a better job building their people.

This is not true of all mega churches, and it is not true of all smaller churches, but it is generally true. We must get ready for the ingathering. Every farmer knows that when it is harvest time, you cannot waste time—it is all hands on deck. There are many things we need to do to be ready, but the main thing is to help every present member of our congregations be true disciples of Christ, knowing their gifts, ministries, and being released to use them—the Ephesians 4 mandate.

We have a short period of time to prepare for the work of a lifetime. This is the time that the prophets and righteous of old desired to see, and we have been called to live in them. This is the year to get engaged in the work of the kingdom like we never have before. Those who are will begin to see it like never before. The kingdom of God is at hand.