Mike Parsons
with Jeremy Westcott –
People from past generations have longed to see what God is doing in our day, and we have the privilege of being able to be involved in it. It is not something to be taken lightly: we must embrace who we are, we must embrace who God is calling us to be.
God is beginning to raise up a Joshua generation, who will bring in that harvest of labourers who in turn will bring in the final harvest at the end of the age. The Joshua generation will be a people of a different spirit; we will look at that in due course. The scripture that God is using to introduce this is found in Genesis 41: it is the story of Joseph.
We see in this chapter that Joseph was in the dungeon when Pharoah called for him They brought him up out of dungeon, and he shaved and put on new clothes so that he was fit to be brought into Pharoah’s presence. Pharoah sent for Joseph because he had had some dreams, and he had heard that Joseph had a supernatural ability to interpret them.
Supernatural
The church worldwide is going to be brought out of the dungeon – the dungeon of irrelevance, the dungeon of obscurity – and is going to find itself placed in the centre of the world stage. God is preparing us for that right now. It is a supernatural people who will be given this place of prominence: just as Joseph could interpret dreams and visions, they too will be a people who operate in the supernatural.
And it is a supernatural church that is required, not an institution, nor a religion, but an ekklesia which enjoys a relationship with the Living God in which He is saying ‘Come out of the dungeon’. He is saying that to some as individuals: come up out of the pit, come into the shining light, and let God use you. He is calling the church out into the light: just as it was said of Esther (Esth 4:14), we have come to the kingdom, come to royalty, for such a time as this. Our calling is to be royalty, and it will be clear that we are the sons of the King. We have a destiny in God, and we are called for such a time as this.
A time of preparation
Pharoah had two dreams which Joseph interpreted. They predicted a seven-year period of abundance followed by a seven-year period of total famine. And in the seven years of abundance, they would need to do something to prepare for the seven years of famine. In our days, God is saying that there is a period of abundance coming to the church in which a harvest will be coming in. This will be a harvest of labourers, and we need to be ready for that harvest. That harvest is what will be needed in the period of famine that will follow.
Pharoah said to His servants, “Can we find a man like this in whom there is a divine spirit?” (Gen 41:38). God wants us to know His Spirit is in us, that we are a habitation of God, of His Presence and power; that His kingdom is within us, manifesting through us. That is what it is going to take, around the world, to be prepared for this harvest.
As we read on, we see what Joseph did: he gathered 20% of all the food that was harvested in the years of abundance, and placed this food in cities: in every city he gathered the food from its own surrounding fields. I have listened to lots of prophetic words and voices about this recently and I believe that what God is saying is that we will see 20% of the population of the planet gathered as the first stage of the harvest: 20% of the people around the cities of refuge that God is establishing around the world are going to come in and be saved.
That adds up to quite a lot of people – about a billion or so – which is why we are going to need a much bigger building, in fact we are going to need this whole site that we have marked out, this whole campus that we have been believing for. There are going to be plenty of others like us too, in other places. A harvest, a billion people to be trained up as labourers in the even bigger harvest to come. Others have seen this billion people: some believe that it is the whole of the end time harvest, but I cannot believe God will be satisfied unless there are at least far more people saved than not.
Cities Of Refuge
When the famine came, as predicted in Pharoah’s dream, where did all the people of the earth go to get what they needed? They came to Egypt, they came to Joseph: there was no grain anywhere else. The whole world was in the grip of famine. And this is what is going to happen when we are ready, when the harvest of labourers is gathered into the cities of refuge. Those cities of refuge are the apostolic resource centres, regional centres which God is raising up around the world. They will have relationship with each other and responsibility for the people around them in their own area, to draw in that 20%.
I am not saying that is going to be just one church: it will be God’s people coming together in an area, in unity, in order to release this. So we need to be ready, to be prepared for that harvest of harvesters to come in. That is what God is doing with us here: He is calling us to be an equipping centre, to help train up all those people.
Prodigals return
Prodigals are going to return: that is one of the first signs of this, that we see the prodigals start to come back, people who have been hurt, disappointed, disillusioned, and who have walked away from God as a result. Angels are going to go out and draw them back in (in all this we are going to be working alongside angelic reapers). Family members, our children, and others, are going to be coming back.
We need to be ready for them, to train them and equip them in the supernatural, to do the works of Jesus and the greater works too: nothing else is going to be enough. All the nature miracles, walking on water, stilling storms, supernaturally multiplying resources, signs and wonders: all the things Jesus did, God intends us to be doing. And it is for all of us, not just for specialists, it is for every single individual Christian to be doing the works of Jesus. “Those who believe will do the works that I do” (John 14:12). That is what Jesus said: all we have to do is believe.
Soundtrack: Jake Hamilton – The Anthem (opens in new tab/window)
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