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Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/1321384
To make ready. That’s an inner thing. John’s task was to make the people ready on the inside, to turn their hearts, so they would be prepared for what was about to take place on the outside. He prepared them to receive the Lord Jesus! Scripture says John’s anointing was the same anointing as Elijah, whose anointing caused people to sit up and take notice of the work of the Lord. Elijah’s anointing caused people to repent of their wicked ways and turn back to God. His anointing gave people hope for their future and caused them to see that their righteous God was working on their behalf. It made them ready on the inside to receive change on the outside. Just like in the days of Elijah and John the Baptist, while we’re in the greatest times history has ever known, we’re facing some of the darkest times we’ve ever seen, heard of or imagined. In every walk of life, the enemy is at work trying to convince people that the way forward is the way of wickedness and darkness. But, thank God, there are people of God who walk righteously and are making the light and life of Christ evident wherever they may be. In our day, these amazing days, people the world over need to take notice of God’s work. They need to repent and change their opinions of Him. People need to have their hope renewed and realize that God is working for them, even now. They need to be made ready and prepared for the Lord! Today, God’s people carry an anointing similar to that of Elijah and John the Baptist. God has empowered His Body to be the force in the earth to make people ready and prepare them for the Lord. What a glorious mission this is! In every nation around the world, the Spirit of God is breathing something very fresh and powerful into the Body of Christ, and into those He has set in positions of leadership in His Body. Once again, in the history of the Church, God has placed His people on the crest of the wave in making people ready to receive the Lord! It’s Nothing New I say once again because throughout history, as we have seen in the days of Elijah and in the time of John, in every nation, in both the Church and in the world, humanity has gone through periods of darkness. People have experienced times of hopelessness and despair. But God knows people. He knows how they respond to circumstances. Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us there is nothing new under the sun. God has always been faithful to anoint people to make those existing in darkness and despair ready on the inside to receive Him and the deliverance He has prepared for them. When I compare the times we’re living in today with those of my early years, I see many similarities. The ’60s and ’70s were crazy times! The war in Vietnam was dragging on, and lives were being destroyed—both on the battlefield and at home. Lives were lost during the early days of the U.S. Apollo space program. And, as a nation, we were still recovering from the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert and Martin Luther King Jr. In the wake of these tragic events, America experienced dark days for many years. And there were some personal challenges for me as well. Growing up in Southern California, in my early teens I experienced firsthand the violence and horrific unrest that took place in the streets of Los Angeles and Watts in the midst of racial violence. I was introduced to marijuana at age 11, and when I was 13 my life was all but shattered when my father took his own life. Then, my life was about as crazy as it could get. It was a life of hopelessness, darkness and despair. But the truth is, I was not alone. I was just one of hundreds of thousands around the world who was walking blindly into destruction—living under the influence of darkness, not even seeking the light. Those were desperate times! Something New The good news, though, is that God was never oblivious to any of the things that our country, nor I, personally, was going through. He was not surprised by any of those things. He’s always on the scene—ready to raise up His people in messed-up America, and around the whole messed-up world, to make them ready to meet their Lord! For years, I was lost! I was a confused kid with no direction. But God was out to save me and get me on His path of life! 36 : BVOV