What God Told Me about the "Great and Terrible Day"

I have two prophetic words to share with you today. The first one I heard earlier today. I'm going to be sharing that one last, April 22nd. The other one I heard April 17th. I'm going to share that one first. But I'm also going to go through some scripture today because I believe this topic needs a little bit of biblical foundation for some people listening. I needed some as well. And that's part of the reason why I walked through this, you know, the different scriptures and when it comes to the great I'm going to be stepping on some toes today, just to let you know, that's not my heart. It's not my intent. It's going to happen. Not for everyone, but the Lord gave me a specific prophetic word in which the Holy Spirit used the phrase the great and terrible day or a great and terrible day. And then he also gave me a prophetic word that is going to act like a bit of correction potentially for some of the ways in which people have been using that phrase. So let's jump in. Hopefully you can take this with a grain of salt. There's a lot of prophecy in here. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of scripture as well. So when it comes to the prophetic words that I share, please take those to the Lord in prayer and ask for confirmation to say Lord, is this from you? Is this aligning with the written word and wait for the Holy Spirit to confirm it? And oftentimes if I'm looking for confirmation for a prophetic word, something I've heard or someone else has heard, I'll just worship the Lord. Like his presence is the best place to go. It's easy to go online and start reading blogs and articles and that, but that's actually not a good way to get a confirmation of prophecy. We've got to go to him. It's got to be the Holy Spirit living and active. You know the word of God living and active the Holy Spirit is in them in the mix, right? Like he is the one that reminds us of all Jesus said and teaches us all things. That's what Jesus said he was going to be doing. So if we need confirmation of a word, if we want to be sure, we've got to go to him. We can't just go to our intelligence or our knowledge bank or the internet and as good as, you know, Christian leaders and spiritual teachers are, we can't just rely fully on everything that somebody says. Why is that? Because the word says all prophecy must be tested. So even if somebody says this is a word from God, we've got to still test that word no matter how accurate or how good of a track record that they have. So should they have a accurate track record? Yes, right? If somebody's track record is not accurate, you should seriously question whether they're actually hearing from God or not because the Holy Spirit is going to know what he's talking about. He's going to be accurate. But if they have that even in somebody's prophecy, we still need to test it, right? We still need to wait against scripture and pray about it. So I'm going to jump into a little bit of the biblical side of this phrase, the great and terrible day of the Lord, okay? And then I'm going to share this first prophecy and then I'm going to share a little bit more scripture and then share the second one. So this is Malachi 4, 5, and I'm going to read 1 through 5. Go ahead and pull this up on my screen here. It says, for behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaffed. And the day that is coming will set them ablaze as Lord of armies. Not a good day, right? So that it will leave them neither root nor branches. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. Very different day, right, for the evil versus those who know the Lord. Very different. And you will go forth and frolic like calves from the stall, and you will crush the wicked underfoot, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing, says the Lord of armies. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, and the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. So one of the things I do want to point out here is this was written under the Old Covenant to the Old Testament Jews, the children of God inside of the nation of Israel, right? And Malachi is actually one of those prophetic books that talks about, you must, you know, don't forget the laws of Moses, do all those things, that actually gets updated through the New Testament. If you read the New Testament letters, Paul says, we're no longer under the law of Moses based on what Jesus did, but now we're under his grace, God's grace. Therefore, sin shall not be master over you. So we need to read some of these Old Testament prophetic words through that context. So when I remember the law of Moses, does that mean I keep all the statutes and ordinances in there, the 613 commands? No. But I do read it to be, because the word says, all scripture is God-breathed, is useful for teaching, correcting, training in righteousness, rebuking, right? So I do read it for those reasons, because the Holy Spirit's going to teach me what God expects and what God's like through those scriptures, even though I'm not technically under the law of Moses. So we do need to keep that in mind. Oftentimes, prophecies in the Old Testament can either have a one-time fulfillment where it gets fulfilled, we see it very clearly, like a lot of the prophecies about the coming Messiah were fulfilled when Jesus came, or they can have a parallel fulfillment, where it's Old Testament, at the end of the Old Testament, essentially that age, and the end of the next age, you know, before Christ's second coming, where you see two different fulfillments potentially happening. And then sometimes it's just a prophecy about the end, right, the end time. So it says, behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. So first, I want to look at what is the potential fulfillment here when it comes to Christ's first coming versus second, okay? First off, we have this verse 5. Yes, send you Elijah the prophet. I did not put verse 6 up here, but I'm going to read it. It says, he will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction. I forgot to put that one on screen, but it says that. I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction. Well, what does Jesus say? Matthew 11, 14, pull this up, and if you're willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. So before the great and terrible day of the Lord, Elijah's coming back, right? And then what does Jesus say before he dies on the cross? If you're willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. So there is one theological camp in interpretation of this that says, this is a prophetic word about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD, and Jesus' death, some of the signs and wonders actually took place that day. So one of them being, you see another prophecy about this great and awesome day or great and terrible day, Joel 2.31, the sun will be turned into darkness, the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. The sun literally got dark in the middle of the day, the day that Jesus died on the cross, and then we see the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. But I didn't pull it up, but verse 6 up here says, I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction. And so the gospel went forth, it says, I'll turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. The gospel went forth, it brought some reconciliation to the people of God who believed it, right? And then you see Jerusalem destroyed, but you don't see all of God's nation wiped out. You don't see a complete destruction, right? So potentially there's a fulfillment there, and if so, there's also a parallel fulfillment in the end times. So let's look at that. This is Matthew 24.21. This is Jesus speaking, for then there will be a great tribulation such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again. This is a very similar language to a couple other places in Scripture where it talks about and describes what this great and troubled day will be like. So it's very, very clear, I believe, that it is also, if not only, it's also referring to what's happening at the end of the age. I think most people understand that. But let's go to Matthew 24.25. Behold, I have told you in advance. Jesus speaking again. So if they say to you, behold, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. Or behold, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. So this is in the context of Jesus talking about this tribulation, right, and then the second coming. And he's warning them. He's saying some people are going to say the end has come before it's actually come, and some people are going to take events and put them somewhere they don't belong in the timeline. And they're going to speak, quote-unquote, prophetically to you and say, Jesus is actually here. We kind of missed that, but it was happening in this way, and here he is. Let's go find him. He's in the wilderness, right, or he's out here. He's on YouTube or he's here, right? And Jesus is saying don't believe him. He's saying these events, you're going to know when they're taking place. It's going to be very clear, very obvious. And so I would propose the same exact warning when it comes to things like the great and terrible day of the Lord, that when we take that out of context of Scripture and say, okay, that means this over here, something that's happening earlier on, and these other events have not taken place yet, we're actually getting ourselves into a sticky situation theologically. And I'm not saying that God would not use that phrase in a prophetic word. I mean, I'm about to share a prophetic word in which he used a very similar phrase to that, right? And so he can obviously use a phrase to mean something else. I'm not saying he's not. But when it comes to the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, we've got to be very careful with jumping to conclusions and saying here it is, there it is, right? Many people did that in 2012. We had a guy online saying, you know, Jesus is coming back 2025. It didn't happen, right? He's coming back a few months later. It didn't happen. There are many things that haven't taken place that need to take place first. This is Matthew 24, sorry, Revelation 8. Revelation 8. This is the example of the whole idea of the sun being darkened, the moon turned to blood, you know, like in the prophecy about the great and terrible day, that that was going to happen first. Well, let's look at Revelation 8 and see when it comes to the end time fulfillment. The fourth angel sounded and a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were struck so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it and the day of the night the same way. And so it could be referring to this occurrence in Revelation, Revelation 8. It sounds more likely that it's referring to Revelation 6 or maybe these are two different prophetic revelations about a similar event or a similar thing happening, right? The sixth seal, the terror. This is Revelation 6, 12 to 13. I looked when he broke the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair and the whole moon became like blood. So it sounds very similar to the idea of the great and terrible day of the Lord, right? And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree drops in unripe figs. It's unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. Well, here's what's interesting that I believe many people miss is, and this is why I tend to believe that the great and terrible day is actually a dual prophetic fulfillment, biblically speaking. One is, yes, it's an end times revelation. The other one is the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. after Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection and his ascension, which would make sense because Elijah had come at that point because Jesus said, John the Baptist was, if you can accept it, the Elijah who was to come. Now, also, you have two prophets show up at the end times, right? Whether one of those is actually Elijah or not or is a fulfillment of that, that word that Elijah's coming back again could be a very similar situation as to John the Baptist. I think that's possible as well. But look right here. It says, the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. Well, who was the fig tree when Jesus was walking around on the earth? It was actually the nation of Israel. It was God's people, and it was that religious system, that old covenant religious system. It was the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious leaders. Because Jesus goes into Jerusalem, and he comes out, and on his way in, he curses a fig tree because it wasn't bearing fruit. And on the way out, it's dead, and it's withered up, and his disciples are freaked out, right? And he says, you know, why are you surprised, you know? Who was the fig tree that wasn't bearing fruit? It was God's chosen leaders of Israel, right, of that time. It was that system. It was those who, you know, were serving the Lord with their lips, but their hearts were far from him. He was saying, through this old covenant system, there's never going to be fruit born again. And actually, it's already done bearing fruit. It's already not working, right? It's already dead. And he's saying, now, I'm cursing that. And so what happened is, if you look at it from that perspective, 70 AD was the withering up of the fig tree in a lot of ways. So very interesting, you know, connection there. Obviously, you know, open to pushback on that and all that. But I believe there's a dual fulfillment happening. And here's the point of this, of going through these scriptures, is we should be very cautious in saying this biblical prophecy is being fulfilled now when it's not in the order in which God said things were going to happen. And we need to be aware, if we're saying that something is actually being fulfilled, then we are putting ourselves in that timeline and saying that it's happening. And we've got to be very careful about that. I believe it's going to be pretty obvious, you know, when some of these things are happening. So, this is Joel 2.11. Joel 2.11 says, ask the question about the great and terrible day, who can endure it? Who can endure it? It's not going to be something that you can just, you know, it's not going to be something that comes and goes, right? It's going to be a sign of the end. It's over. And there's not a practical thing at that point to do. Like, it's like, get ready. You know, if you're a Christian, you're going. However you see the end times and, you know, pre-trib, post-trib, all that, it's happening, right? And so, this is what I heard on April 17th. This has to do with current events. I'm going to pull these down for a second. This has to do with current events, has to do with things that are happening on the earth today. And the Holy Spirit used that phrase, right? Is he referring to the biblical prophecy coming to pass? No, I don't believe he is. I believe he's referring to, he's using that phrase to describe something that's happening upon the earth. And then the Lord gave me a second prophecy I'll share in a few minutes that actually has to do with the idea of the great and terrible day from Scripture. April 17th, and a response to that. April 17th, this is what I heard. A sudden release of captives slain in battle. And that is such a weird phrase because if they were slain in battle, why would you release them? I don't know, right? But maybe he's talking generally people that were being killed and oppressed, they stopped killing them and oppressing them, right? I'm not sure. Then I heard the captives slain are free to roam again. They are released. A people group taken advantage of. A great and terrible time of reckoning is coming to set a people free. So he's using one phrase that's similar to that. A great and terrible time of reckoning is coming to set a people free. And they will be free because the gospel will come to a nation in a time of desperation and through the turmoil. So the Lord's talking, this is a dual meaning here. He's talking about something great and terrible and reckoning that's coming in order to release oppressed people from their oppressors, right? But also talking about the opportunity for the gospel to go forth and for true freedom to come, which is believing in what Jesus has done for us, becoming saved, becoming children of God, receiving the Holy Spirit, going from an old nature to a new nature, being, you know, he who the Son sets free is free indeed. That's what he's talking about, true freedom, which is life in Christ Jesus. Then I heard the Lord say, I will never leave you, my people. I know it's hard to understand what's happening at the moment. And then I heard, why must the peoples of the world go through this? He's asking that question from the perspective of one of us who's saying that, right? And then I heard, yet I am still working in the midst of the trouble. The stirring is from me and I will work it out for my glory in the end. Then I heard, this is the Iran conflict and another, two in one. He's talking about two different events, two different places. Then I heard, both of these nations are experiencing a time of conflict, a great upsetting, so that things can eventually be made right again. And he said, the other is Nigeria. And I see each and every person who is hurt or killed. I see every pain, every tear, every injustice. Then I heard, leave room for the Lord, leave room. So it's just a simple admonishment, encouragement to us. Yes, we should fight for truth. We should fight for people that are being oppressed or being taken advantage of or being killed unjustly, right? Being murdered. We should fight for those people, but there's a decision we must make in our hearts not to hate those who are doing evil because God doesn't hate them. God hates evil, but he doesn't hate those people. He longs for them to repent and to be saved. This is Romans 12, 19. I'm going to pull this up and then get back to this word that I heard. It says, never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. So God is a God of justice. And I shared an entire video about this. I believe it was this last weekend. If y'all missed it, I'll try to post a link to it in the description of this video after the live stream. That concept of letting it go, of forgiving, right? But I heard the Lord say this next. He said, it is hard to let go and let them, quote unquote, off the hook within the heart, but I will help you do it. He said, I'm with you. And then I heard this phrase. And this is the phrase that's very similar. I heard, a great and terrible day is coming. So he didn't say the great and terrible day. He said, a great and terrible day is coming, but it is not what my people are thinking it is. So now the Lord is specifically talking about, he's referring to, I believe, both Iran and Nigeria, both these nations, this great and terrible time of reckoning. That's what he's referring to, right? But he's also now responding to the phraseology of the great and terrible day and some of the prophetic words that have been shared online recently. I know many people are talking about this, and I've seen it. It's kind of been in the periphery. I've not watched through the videos. I'm not, like, following that kind of stuff, and that's okay. I believe I can still share what the Lord is showing me about it, right? And what I've heard. I know this is going to step on some people's toes. I get that. But my encouragement to you and my plea to you would be not to judge it based on what you know or what you've heard from others, but rather to take this word to the Lord in prayer and say, Lord, is this right? Is this really from you? What we need in the charismatic church is a revival of the nearness and the presence of God because there are places where he's not showing up. There's places where we still have tongues, prophecies, healings, the gifts of the Spirit. We still have these things being shown or demonstrated or attempted depending on who it is, but the Spirit of God is nowhere to be found. And that should be troubling, right? And even in our own lives, if we're following charismatic things or even trying to keep up with prophecies or whatever it is, but we're not experiencing the nearness of God and we're not hearing from God ourselves, that should be a red flag for us. And God has an answer, and it's in the word, and I'm going to share in a second. But this is what I heard. I'm just going to share it, y'all. Give me grace, take it with a grain of salt, pray about it. But I heard, a great and terrible day is coming, but it is not what my people are thinking it is. It's not what they expect. Many have unfortunately taken that word, the phrase they heard, and run with it, assigning it a meaning that I never have, that I never meant. And then he said, but I will help you to clarify my voice versus the voice of another if you will let me. The Lord asked me to teach on this. He said, it's not complicated at all. And so I'm just going to read some verses and share anything the Lord leads me to share. But these are signs that something is not a true prophetic word or that it's been shared in the wrong spirit. It's been shared in the wrong way. Is if it creates nothing but fear in your life, or if it creates a feeling, an extreme feeling of I'm either missing out on something if I don't listen to this and do exactly what it says, or we're all missing something, right? Like urgency. Urgency without hope. Urgency combined with fear, right? It's not the way that the Holy Spirit typically works. Now, sometimes people can have that reaction when God shows up or when God speaks. Absolutely, that can happen. There are words like this, you know, or there's a word that I recorded that I'm going to be posting Saturday that I'm like, it creates a sense of like nervousness, right? When I read it, I'm like, Lord, this is about a heavy topic. You know, it's about some crazy stuff. When I say, Lord, is that from you? The peace of God comes over me and the Holy Spirit begins to speak to me and his nearness is present and the power of God came with it, right? And that's very different. And the word I heard with it agrees with the scripture and is pointing me back to Jesus and to the gospel. And that's very different than, we've got this word, I'm trying to steward it and, you know, and I'm going to fumble around in my emotions and I'm not really sure. I'm hoping that it's, I'm 99% sure it's from God, but, you know, but I've got to do this thing. Now it put a weight and a burden on me and I'm afraid if I don't do it, God's not going to protect me. God's not, you know, that is called the spirit of fear. And 1 Timothy says, I believe it's 1 Timothy 6, if I'm not wrong, it says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind or self-control. And it's this idea of now I can be under the self-control, the fruit of the Spirit. I can control myself because of the fruit of the Spirit in my life and I don't have to go along with the crowd. I don't have to be tossed here and there by the waves and the winds of doctrine, right? And in some cases, it's crafty scheming. People know that they're making stuff up in some cases, right? It's not always the case. Sometimes people themselves are confused or deceived or they've misinterpreted something, right? But sometimes people are just making stuff up. And if I can't tell the difference between the spirit of fear and the Holy Spirit, I'm going to be, I'm going to fall for everything and then I have to backtrack, right? If something was prophesied and then it didn't come to pass, then I'm going to be in a place of confusion and I'm either going to backtrack at that point and go, well, now I don't know how to hear from the Lord, right? Or I'm going to go, I'm going to push in and go, well, the interpretation was wrong or the timing was off, you know, and I'm going to double down. And that's a problem because God is not, he's not the author of confusion. I'm going to show you how that, literally that verse is connected to prophecy, hearing from the Lord. Okay, I may have not put that one in there, but it's in the same chapter. It's, I believe it's 1 Corinthians 14. When it's taught, yes, it is. It's talking about the gift of prophecy and sharing in the church. Okay, so this is what happens when the spirit of God comes or when we have a vision or a dream, a revelation from God, is God does not bring fear unnecessarily. He actually comforts us in the moment. This is Luke 2.10, just some biblical examples of this. Angels showing up, right? To let them know Jesus has been born. The angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. Why is he saying do not be afraid? Because it's a little bit startling for an angel to show up. Matthew 17.7, Jesus came to them and touched them and said, get up and do not be afraid. They just had an encounter with the Father in the sense that they heard his voice speaking from heaven. They saw the cloud, Jesus, you know, transfigured. They had a heavenly encounter, right, with the glory of God, the kingdom of God. And Jesus immediately says, do not be afraid. He's like, come on, get up, keep standing, let's keep going, let's go back down. We got work to do, do not be afraid. He says, I don't want you to take fear away from this encounter, right? Matthew 14.27, but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take courage, it is I, do not be afraid. They're in a boat, a ghost shows up, right? It's not a ghost, it's Jesus walking on the waves. He says, hey, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. So he, and these are just a couple examples, but over and over in Scripture, when somebody encounters God, one of the first things that is said is, do not fear. God removes the fear. The Spirit of God removes the fear from the equation. And that's what should be happening. If many times when I've heard a word through somebody else or the Holy Spirit spoken a word to me where I'm like, Lord, this is upsetting, right? This is frightening. What is this? Immediately, if it's from him, he comforts me. He says, hey, either this is not as bad as it sounds, right? Or it's going to play out in a different timeline than you expect, or you're going to be okay. I'm protecting you, I'm protecting my people, I'm with you, right? There's a lot of different ways in which he brings comfort, or just reminds me of the Scripture, right? Or just the peace of God comes over me, and I'm like, or the joy of the Lord, I'm like, I'm going to be okay. Like, sure, the knowledge of that is a little bit concerning, but I'm going to be okay, right? I don't have to act in such a way where I am taking the control back into my own hands. I can still give God the reins. I can still give him control. This is 1 Corinthians 14. This is the gift of prophecy. Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. So you do not need a prophet to hear from God. Although prophets are real in the church today, but you don't need one to hear from God. You can hear from God. Why? Because it says everybody should earnestly desire to be able to prophesy. Paul also said, I wish you all would prophesy. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. Does that mean that God's going to speak to every believer as consistently or in the same manner or about the same kind of things or for the same purpose? No, but he can speak to every believer. And 1 Corinthians 2 says, we have the mind of Christ, all believers. And who knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit that's in the man? Same way, the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God, and he has also revealed those thoughts to us, 1 Corinthians 2. Okay, let's keep going. For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God. For no one understands, but in his spirit, he speaks mysteries. But what is the purpose of the prophetic word in the church today? The one who prophesies speaks to people for edification, exhortation, and consolation. So that's encouragement, building you up, exhortation. That can be a loving appeal, saying, hey, I'm going to exhort you, you know, to move in the right direction. Your heart's going this way. Let's go back to God, right? And he loves you, and he's going to help you. And then consolation, I'm going to console you in the midst of a distressing time, right? It's not fear-mongering. Again, can somebody take a prophetic word or a word of knowledge that does involve certain details? For instance, here's an example, and run in the wrong direction with it. Yes, somebody could do that, and it could feel like fear-mongering. Absolutely. But I'm saying, what is the intent of the Spirit of God behind sharing prophetic words or sharing words of knowledge? If you're in a service and somebody shares a word of knowledge about a disease or about an injury, right, that is not to scare people. God's Spirit is not intending to scare people like, oh, my gosh, what if I have that? No, that's not the purpose of that. The purpose is a word of knowledge that gives a person faith that God wants to heal them, and God sees them right where they are. Because when they go, I haven't told anybody about that, or this is my first time here, and how do you know that? Like, that was very specific. You know, and then they say, hey, we want to pray for you. We believe God wants to heal you. That stirs up an individual's faith, you know, and that's edification. It can also be consolation, like God sees you, right, where you are. He's not forgotten about you. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. So there should be an edification, there should be an encouragement that comes out of it, right? A building up of the church, not a tearing down, not a running away, but a standing strong. 1 Thessalonians 5 too, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night. Okay, so now this is 1 Thessalonians 5. What I love about this chapter in the scripture, and obviously the chapters are added later, right, this chapter, but it's this passage, is that it's talking about the gift of prophecy and it's talking about the day of the Lord, the second coming, and saying, hey, he is going to come. It is going to be shocking when this happens, right? There is going to be that aspect to the actual day and time, but we're going to know the season based on the signs of the times. We're going to be able to interpret the signs of the season, right? And then it's, and I'm not saying the literal season, you know, the general timeframe of these things are actually happening now. And then it goes on to say in verse 6, so then let's not sleep. So does this mean that we just go, oh, well, that's going to happen sometime, it doesn't matter what we do? No, but what is the word actually, what's the intention here when it says, let's not sleep, let's be alert and sober, right? What's the intention of that? How do we be alert and sober? Is it, do I have to meticulously follow every prophetic word and make sure I don't miss something or else I'm going to be the one person that misses out, right? Or is there another reason for being alert and not sleeping, not spiritually being asleep? Let's see verse 7. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night. It's talking about living in a manner that's not worthy of the calling to which we've been called. But since we are of the day, could be the difference between living in a way that pleases God versus not, right? We are of the day, let's be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. Okay, so very similar to Ephesians chapter 6, right? This idea of, you know, the armor of God, except here, the armor is being used to actually represent, it's being used as a metaphor in a different way. So there's no spiritual formula when it comes to the armor of God. It's not a spiritual formula. It's not something you have to say. It's not a list you have to pray through. It's a reminder of the way we ought to live as the day approaches. That's what it is. What is the way we ought to live? Put on the breastplate of faith and love. You know, Paul says in another place, put on the breastplate of righteousness, right? He's saying that's actually going to protect your heart. You are righteous, not through your works, but through His grace and through faith. Based on what Jesus did for you, you're righteous. He's saying that's going to protect your heart, knowing that, believing that, walking in that. What else is going to protect your heart? Well, put on the breastplate of faith and love. That's going to protect your heart too. You know, walking, the righteous will live by faith, right? And also, faith works by love. Put on the breastplate of faith and love. And as a helmet, this is going to protect your mind. This is what he's saying, the hope of salvation. It's going to help you to be at peace in your mind and in your heart. You're going to have the love of God. You're going to be walking in faith. You're going to be motivated by faith. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So it's just a reminder saying, hey, you have the hope of salvation. You don't have to be afraid of the things that are coming. That's not something for you to fear. He's saying you should look at it very differently. Instead, we're rejoicing in the salvation of Jesus Christ. Now, do we go through trials? Do we go through tribulations in this life? Yes. Are believers going to go through the great tribulation? That's a video for another time, right? But no matter what we end up going through in this life, whether now or then, we're not afraid and we're not running in fear. We're actually rejoicing because we're not destined for wrath. We're destined for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're looking at it differently. He's saying protect your heart and your mind by what? By reminding yourselves of what's already been done for you and what's already been freely given, and not focusing on what you might be missing out on or what you might be missing in the moment. Why? Because if you need something, the Holy Spirit's going to lead you. Walk by the Spirit. You're not going to satisfy the desires of the flesh. I'm not going to set my mind and my heart on things that are not godly. I'm going to dwell on the things that are good, the things that are noteworthy, things that are excellent, things that are pure, that are noble. 1 Thessalonians 5, 11, therefore, encourage one another. Same chapter. It's saying, hey, those things are happening. Those things are coming. Jesus is coming back, but you don't have to be afraid. And it says, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing, also are doing. So saying, this is where you ought to be is we are building each other up, right? We're not tearing each other down. We're not sowing fear into the body. We're sowing truth. We're sowing the word of God. We're sowing the grace of God. 1 Thessalonians 5, 16, same chapter. Now, it starts talking about prophecies, but look at what...this is what we ought to expect when it comes to prophetic words, okay? How do we recognize the voice of God? Whether it's through somebody else, excuse me, or something we're hearing. How do I know? I'm actually hearing from God right now, right? How do I know that? Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. So it's talking about a joy. It's talking about a nearness. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. So if it's something that is pulling me away from that, the lifestyle of Thanksgiving and just, man, I'm just grateful. Like, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm grateful that Jesus died for me. It says, that he who did not spare his own son, how much more will he freely give you all things? Like, I'm going to have that overcomer mindset because that's what the word says. Rejoice always. I'm going to keep rejoicing. This is not a fear walk. It's a faith walk. I'm going to pray without ceasing. I'm going to stay near to the Lord. If I miss something, I'm walking near to him. You know, this is a pray without ceasing relationship. I'm going to keep going to him daily for what I need. And if he's telling me to take a different step, if I need to practically do something, he's going to show me, right? Now, I can hear that through a prophet or through a prophetic word or through another believer. Absolutely, I can hear that. But the Spirit of God wants to be confirming that to me if that's truly from him, right? And he's going to say it in such a way where it's not going to get me off track of the faith walk. It's not going to put me on a fear walk. It says, do not quench the Spirit. So we should not reject prophecies, right? Or else we're quenching the Spirit. Do not utterly reject prophecy. So we should not be in a place where we say, eh, nobody's hearing from God. That we should actually test it, right? But examine everything. Hold firmly to that which is good. Examine everything. This is where, in some ways, we fail. We've been afraid of examining people's prophecies because we don't want to accidentally wind up in a place where we're not doing what God is telling us to do. And we put people on pedestals and we said, well, no, they hear from God, so they must be right about that. And if I disobey that prophetic word, I'm going to be out of the will of God. You can hear from God for yourself. And as Christians, we need to get back to a place where we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and quit going to a prophet to hear from God or going to a prophet to have a relationship with him. If something's off about it, you're probably hearing the Holy Spirit. That's probably the discerning of spirits or the gift of prophecy or the gift of wisdom. He's speaking to his people. If something's off, we need to say it. We need to examine everything. Listen, if we're not examining prophecies and testing prophecies and weighing it, if we're just swallowing it whole, if we're not weighing what we're hearing, guess what? Now we are disobeying scripture. Now we are disobeying the Lord. I know this sounds heavy. That's not—I'm speaking fast because I want to get through it and say everything the Lord's asked me to say and be done, right? But it's not heavy. This is so light and it's so good because when we get this, we understand, oh, God does speak through the gift of prophecy, but he does not want me to live in a place of turmoil or fear or—here's a specific example of that. You know, there has been a three days of darkness prophetic word that's just—it's bounced around the internet for the last several years, probably longer than that. I've seen it pop up here and there, right? The three days of darkness, three days of darkness. I'm not ever saying that somebody can't hear a word from God that involves that phrase, the three days of darkness, right? Somebody could, you know, and it could have a specific meaning to it. Sure. So that's not what I'm saying. But when it comes to the general overarching quote-unquote prophetic word of this looming day out there of three days of darkness where, you know, I went and watched some videos after I heard a word about it last year and I was like, what is this about, right? And it's—in some of them, they were talking about this idea of like everybody's going to have to hide in their houses for three days. There's going to be thick tangible darkness outside and there's going to be demons at your door telling you, you know, like pretending to be your loved ones and mimicking their voices and getting you to walk outside your house. As soon as I heard that, I knew absolutely, number one, theologically, that's completely inaccurate and false. Number two, absolutely, that's not the Spirit of God. Why? Because that is fear-based prophecy and it's actually exalting the power of Satan and the power of demons over the power of God. Listen, if three days of darkness actually happens and there's demons outside my door, do you know where I'm going to be? I'm going to be walking out that door and scattering them. I'm going to say, get away from my house, demons. You want to fight the Holy Spirit? He's living inside of me. Come on. Like, I would love to see you try to fight him right now. Not me. I can't fight a demon. But the Holy Spirit, absolutely, they have to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. So I'm not going to live in fear. If there's a prophetic word that goes out, and yes, there was some sort of like power outage for three days across the nation or something like that, or there was, you know, I don't know what it is, like some sort of weird eclipse or I don't know, something to where there's like a physical manifestation of something like that, that's fine. But I'm not going to live my life afraid of that happening. Why? Because no matter what, I'm going to stay in a place where I'm going to be rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, everything giving thanks for that's the will of God for me and Christ Jesus. I don't have to worry about that. I don't have to live a life of fear. God has not given me a spirit of fear, but a power of love and a sound mind. And I'm not going to bow the knee to fear in the name of, well, I got to believe what the prophet says, or I got to believe the prophecy, right? Not going to do that because the spirit of God inside of me is fighting against that constantly. He's saying, don't open that door to the devil. We're so afraid of opening doors to the devil, but the easiest way to open the door and allow the devil to start speaking to us and start influencing us is to start being afraid and start believing things that are dripping with fear instead of dripping with faith and dripping with the Holy Spirit and dripping with the word. I'm going to go back up to this real fast. It's very important. It says, but since we are of the day, let's be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. I'm setting my mind on things that are above. I'm setting my mind on Christ. Jesus died for me. He came back. The Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost. I'm filled with the spirit. I get to hear from God through prophetic words. I've got the gift of tongues. Listen, if you don't speak in tongues, that's okay. Can I just tell you that? That's all right. Now, God wants to give you the gift of tongues, but you're not sinning just because you're not praying in tongues, okay? That doesn't mean you don't have the Holy Spirit. Now, does he want to give you the gift of tongues? I believe that. That's true, right? We can have a whole theological discussion about that in another video, but the evidence of the spirit are in my life, and some of the greatest evidences are just the fruit of the spirit, right? You've got the gifts of the spirit, sure, but some of the greatest evidences, and I think the main evidence is the character has changed because the fruit of the spirit is there. There were times where I could not be self-controlled before Jesus. There were times where I didn't know how to love before Jesus. I thought I was loving, and I wasn't. I was just thinking about myself. There were years of not remembering what peace felt like, just being anxious and afraid, and trying to cultivate peace through worldly means, trying to mimic it, right, cover up the feelings. But now in Christ Jesus, I have the fruit of the spirit. So I have these amazing things that I don't want to throw away. I don't want to take them for granted. I don't want to push them to the side. This should be the main thing. Let's not sleep as others do. Let's be alert and sober. What does that mean? It means walking with the Holy Spirit, walking in faith and putting our full hope and trust in what Jesus has done, and looking forward with hope, with peace in our hearts, not being afraid of what's coming next, not being afraid of the end. So what does it say when it comes to prophecy in the church, right? Don't quench the spirit. Do not utterly reject prophecy, but examine everything. Hold firmly to that which is good. But if something's not good, what do we do? Abstain from every form of evil. We throw it out. If it's not good, if the Holy Spirit shows you it's not good, and you know that that's the Holy Spirit, or you read the scripture and say, no, they're ignoring this, you know, it's opposing the word of God, you can throw it out. And actually, the word here tells us to do that. And it could just be maybe the one thing that needs to be thrown out in some cases is the interpretation of the word. Maybe the word itself is good, right, but the interpretation of it or the assumptions made after that, maybe by the person sharing it or by the people listening, could go either way. But as Christians, we do not have to be confused. God is not the author of confusion. He's not a God of confusion, but of order. Verse 23, now, may the God of peace… So what happens when we do this, right? When we test prophecy and we examine prophecy this way, we get to live in peace. Now, may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calls you, and he also will do it. See, this is the…the word says, the righteous will live by faith. What does that mean? It means I am going to live with a confident trust in God's ability and willingness to do what needs to be done, to do what he said he's going to do. Now, what he asked me to do, I'm going to do that too. But I'm not going to live my life afraid that if I don't figure this out, something terrible is going to happen. If I'm not listening to every prophetic word out there, something terrible is going to happen. No. Now, if I'm not walking by the spirit, then anything can happen, right? Like, but…so I ought to be…so that my focus should be, I'm going to walk by the spirit. If I'm not allowing the word of God to be planted in my heart and take root in my heart, then, yeah, I'm going to wander away from God's plan. That's not good. But these are the things I should focus on, and I'm going to focus on God's faithfulness, not going to get up afraid, not going to go to bed afraid. Why? Because he's faithful. He's faithful. The word says that all of his promises are yes and amen in Christ, in Jesus. It says that if he did not spare his own son but freely gave him up for us all, how much more will he give us all things? Jesus said, if you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. Your father knows what you need before you even ask. That is a place of security and rest and trust in Christ's finished work and God's character and God's promises. Ephesians 6. So this is, again, you know, Paul's writing, again, he uses the same metaphor, but he actually uses it to mean different things. But all he's saying is these are simple spiritual truths that you can't let go of. These are the most important things. That's all he's trying to say here. It's not a religious ceremony where I'm putting on the full armor of God. It's just I've got to remember these things. I'm going to put my hope in what God's actually said, right? That's what it is. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. So don't cower. Don't run away. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. I'm not running from demons. They're running from the Holy Spirit inside of me. Put on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. How do they work most of the time? Most of the time, it's through lying. Most of the time, it's through deception. Most of the time, it's through clever means. They're going to get you to believe something that either God didn't say or that's just not true. They're going to get you to start thinking or me to start thinking. That's the devil's main scheme. To get us to believe something that's not true or to believe that God is saying something that he's not actually saying. Same thing happened in the garden. The serpent says to Eve, did God really say? He gets her to question God's word. What does God say in his word? He says, this is what he says in his word. Therefore, well, first off, he says, finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And so I'm choosing to do that. Joshua, you know, the book of Joshua says, do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. That was a command to Joshua to not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. So it's something that brings terror into my heart. It's not from the Lord. Something that causes me to walk in fear is not from the Lord. Now, God wants to address that. If I'm feeling fear, it's okay to be there. But I need to be honest with God about that. Say, hey, God, I'm feeling afraid. Like, can you help me? And God's going to point us to scriptures and the Holy Spirit. I mean, he can even give us a word of knowledge in that moment to show us what to do. Absolutely. But he doesn't want to leave us. He doesn't want to leave us there. When the spirit of God comes and his presence comes, it's unmistakable. The Holy Spirit's presence is not marked by anxiety. And some of us, we've gotten so used to anxiety accompanying a prophetic word that we think that anytime we feel strong emotions, that that's a confirmation of the word of the Lord. But it's not. The presence of the Holy Spirit is gentle, it's loving, peaceful, joyful. He's gracious. He's patient. He's kind. He's good. He's got good plans for you. So what should we do? Take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist. Are there going to be days of evil that come? Yes. But in this case, Paul's referring to a day where a believer's heart and mind are being attacked. He's referring to the idea of spiritual forces in heavenly places attacking a believer where it matters most. And he's saying, here's how you protect yourself, with spiritual armor. Having done everything to stand firm, stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth. So what is he saying? We've got to make sure we're actually believing the truth. Where's the truth found? In the scripture, in the word of God. We've got to go to the scripture and say, does the scripture actually say this? And if not, it doesn't matter what my feelings are telling me, I'm going to go with what's true, what the scripture says. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness, am I righteous based on what I do now or what I've done or my track record? No, I'm righteous based on what Jesus did for me at the cross. And so God looks at me as righteous by grace of faith, and so I'm going to actually approach him as if that were true. Ephesians 3 says, we have confident access, talking about God's presence, in him, in Christ. So I have confident access in him. So God, I'm coming to your presence right now. I'm coming to you right now. I know you hear me. I know you're going to speak to me. I know you're with me. You're not rejecting me. You're not throwing me out. I'm seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly places. All of that is based on what Jesus did and finished completely at the cross, and I haven't messed that up. Now, if I've sinned, I'm going to confess that to the Lord. I'm going to repent of that. But even that does not kick me out of his presence. Why? Because the Word says, Jesus died once for all time. And it says, sins that have been paid for, another sacrifice is not needed. Hebrews says, therefore, I will remember your sins no more. Now, if I'm walking in unrepentant sin, listen, I'm going to be creating turmoil in my own life through that, and that's on me, right? But I don't have to. I don't have to. Why? Because I can enter his presence, and I can say, Lord, this is what I've done. I'm confessing it. And tell me not to do that anymore. It's hurting. It's hurting me. It's hurting others. I want to walk by faith. I want to walk by the Spirit. I want to walk in a way that pleases you. And he'll meet us right there. And that's called the grace of God. And when we realize that, that God has not kicked us out, or he's not withholding from us because of a mistake, we're going to be so much quicker to run back to him and into his presence, and we're not going to stay in a cycle for a long period of time. We're not going to keep running from him and being like, well, someday I'm going to make this right. No, Jesus made it right. You can come home. Like, you can go to God right now and believe that he sees you, he's with you just as much as your favorite pastor or minister or whoever, or somebody who's done it a lot better than you've done it, somebody who's made a lot less mistakes. The blood of Jesus has covered everything. So that's what Paul's saying here. He's saying, remember where your righteousness comes from. And having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace, this is twofold, is I'm reminded of my commission, right? I'm here to preach the gospel, to share with others what Jesus has done. But also, I'm living at peace with all people. Like, I bring a message of peace. And that is, this is what Jesus has done for you, but I'm bringing that in a peaceful manner, if possible. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Flaming arrows, a lot of times those look like lies. Now, the devil can attack another way, sure. But a lot of it is, if he can get you to believe something that's wrong in your heart, it messes everything else up. And so, a lot of those flaming arrows look like deception, looks like lies. But I'm going to take a shield of faith, and I'm going to stand up to the devil. I'm not going to believe that today. I'm going to believe what the word says. And that all those arrows are going to be extinguished. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, putting my hope in Jesus' second coming. I'm saved. I'm not afraid of a day of wrath. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. I'm walking by the Spirit. Spirit's capitalized, Holy Spirit there. The Holy Spirit's leading me. He's speaking to me. And he's going to confirm his words with his presence, with his power, with his peace, with his joy, with the fruit of the Spirit. With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit. And with this in view, be alert with all perseverance in every request for all the saints. So, we still are alert, right? We still are awake. We still are praying. We still are spending time with the Lord. This is not, well, everything's fine. Now, I'm going to go to sleep. Paul's not describing apathy. This is still a battle, right? He's saying armor, put armor on. But he's saying this is the armor. It's the spiritual truths and principles. It's the most, the simplest part of the Christian walk. Those are the most important things. It's not a random prophetic word that, well, if I didn't, I didn't get a chance to listen to that whole hour-and-a-half video. This one's going to be an hour-and-a-half, obviously. I didn't get a chance to listen to that whole video, so I'm going to miss something. I'm not going to be blessed this week. That is a spirit of fear. If nothing else, just pray in the Spirit. You know, like, you're going to be okay. He's with you. That's what matters. This is what I heard April 22nd. And this is a response to the, you know, what's been shared around. Let me see if I, oh, wait, it's not on. Never mind. I don't know what I'm looking for. Just going to put that down. This is a response to some of the words that have been shared recently. I'm not going to call people out by name. I don't need to do that. I don't know who the Lord is. I don't know everybody who the Lord is speaking about, okay? He gave me one name. I don't need to say it. The Lord said, just share the rest of it. This is what I heard. This is today. He said, I want you to respond to this. It's imperative that my people recognize the spirit of fear when they see it moving forward. He's talking about as we're moving forward. We need to recognize the spirit of fear when we see it, right, as we move forward. And he said, many are unwilling to acknowledge the difference between my spirit and the spirit of the world, which leads you into anxiety and fear, not peace. I want you to respond to the recent quote-unquote great and terrible day of the Lord prophetic timing that has been released. And then I heard this phrase. Y'all take it to the Lord in prayer. Take it with a grain of salt. Give me some grace if I need it, whatever. But I heard it isn't for me. In most cases, prophetic words like this one are not for me. And then I heard, I speak life and truth, not fear over my people. And then I heard anyone who is telling you, you need to be afraid or to act in fear. And almost any time they put a timeline of pressure upon you, run away. He said, it's not helping you or your life. It's only making it worse. So y'all can pray about that, you know, be led by the Lord. If he gives you a different, something else, go with what he says. I'm submitting this as a prophetic word. It needs to be tested, needs to be weighed against scripture, also in the presence of the Lord, time with the Holy Spirit. But man, just, there's nothing wrong with just reading the Bible and living based on what the scripture says. Nothing wrong with that. And the Holy Spirit is going to speak at the appropriate times and the appropriate ways. And sometimes it would be better if we just focused on the one thing God's asking us to do and calling us to do. He's going to make provision for that. He's going to make a way for that. He's not forgotten about what he's called you to do. He's not forgotten about the tasks he's put in front of you and the people he's put around you for you to influence and to help. He's not forgotten about any of that. Even the prophetic words that have been spoken over you that are true, that are from him. He's not forgotten about any of that. But we are not the puppet masters that move all the strings and make sure, well, if I get everything aligned, then those things will happen. No, we are called to obey him, to walk with him. He's in control. We're the vessel, right? He sends us. We're the clay and he's the potter. He's molding us. And man, I hear the Holy Spirit saying, I'm with you. If you call out to me in truth, I'm right there. I'll never leave you. Jesus has done everything that's needed to be done so that can be with you. That's what I hear the Lord saying. Do not have to be afraid, my people. Do not have to fear. And I hear the Lord saying, there is no fear moving forward because that's not what I've called you into. That's not the way I have for you to go. It's not the path for you. There's a better way. It's a better path. It's freedom. It's life. It's peace. It's hope. It's joy. And I just feel the presence of God on that. Just reminded of the scripture where, you know, Jesus, he died and he rose again and he's been gone, right? And he comes and he walks through a door, you know, he literally walks through a wall and his disciples are hiding in a room with a locked door. They're hiding in a room with a locked door because they were afraid of what might happen to them. They're afraid the same thing that happened to Jesus might happen to them, too. Here's the thing. It was going to happen to many of them one day. There was going to be a quote-unquote great and terrible day for them specifically in the sense that God was going to ask that of them at some point. Now, he does not ask that of every believer, but he does ask that of some. We can see what's happening in Nigeria right now, places like that. So there was going to be a time where God said, okay, the end is coming for you, right? But that was okay, too, because God was going to call them home, right? And even Stephen, as he's being stoned, he looks up and he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. And God was calling him home in that moment. And I believe his spirit left, like, okay, let's go. This is it. But when Jesus comes, he says, okay, go. He says, now the Holy Spirit's coming. He breathes on them and he says, I'm sending you, right? So Jesus' plan was to fill them with the Spirit and send them out. And their plan was to hide behind a locked door. I just hear the Lord saying, that's not what I have for you. That's not what I've called you to do. This is not, man, I hear this so specific. This is not a game of hide and seek. It's a game of chase. You're chasing after lost souls with the gospel message. That's what I've sent you to do. Don't be afraid to go and do it. That's all I have to share with you today. I hope this has been encouraging. I hope it's okay. I love you all so much. I'll see you next time.