First, my prayer for you this coming year is that it will be the best one you have ever had in the Lord. I pray that you will draw much closer to Him this year, and come to know His ways and His voice much better. I also pray that you will be changed more into His image by seeing more of His glory with your own eyes. His glory is going to be seen by His people this year.

I would also like to thank all of you who sent cards, encouraging words, and even gifts, all of which were very special and meaningful. Thanks.

By the end of this year we will have covered many of the important biblical prophecies of our times. However, this particular study is designed to unfold in a systematic, methodical way that will probably sift out the impatient. This is done for several reasons. The first is found in Hebrews 6:11-12:

Our primary goal is more than just knowing the things that are going to come to pass, but to “realize the full assurance of hope until the end.” Hope is the foundation of the true knowledge of prophecy, not fear. We will take the time to lay a solid foundation of hope that is based on the nature of God, and the clear, biblical teachings on the plan of God, in which a true hope must be based.

Our next goal is to build in our lives both the “faith and patience” that will enable us to “inherit the promises.” Not only will the impatient mishandle the knowledge of these things, but they will also miss out on inheriting the promises. Our goal is not just knowledge, but actually walking in the promises of God, and having a life that is light in our times.

Any eschatology that focuses on doom instead of the glorious promises has fundamentally misunderstood the prophecies of the end times. Certainly there will be troubles, even the greatest time of trouble that the world has ever known. Even so, troubles are not the main point! They are not even worthy of a sideshow. We are coming to the time of the greatest revelation of the glory of God that the world has ever known. This is the main point.

Christians are not doomed at the end of the age. We are coming to the time when Christians will prosper as never before. They will walk in the power, provision, and glory of God in a way which is so spectacular that Israel’s deliverance from Egypt was only a “shadow” of the reality which is to come. There will be a distinction made between those who live in “Goshen” and those who worship the idols of this world. Just as Israel left Egypt with its treasures, the wealth of the wicked is being stored up for the righteous.

However, just as Israel was not immediately taken to the closest shopping mall to spend their new found wealth, but rather into the wilderness so that they could use it to build a dwelling place for God, it will be the same for us. The wealth of the nations is not coming to us so that we can live luxuriously, but so we can build God a dwelling place to live among us. This is for the building up of the body of Christ, His church, and His dwelling place. The presence of the Lord among us is a far more wonderful thing than all of the luxuries of this earth could ever be.

As we have for weeks been seeking to lay a foundational understanding of God’s heart for restoration, we know that His first priority is the restoration of His temple, the church, so that He can dwell among us. However, the church is not the whole purpose of God, but it is a means, the vehicle through which He intends to restore all things that were lost by the fall. The earth and all it contains is the Lord’s, and will be restored.

The Nature of Discernment
One of the main goals of the knowledge of the times is for the purpose of our growing in discernment. The true gift of discernment is a gift that we are certainly going to need in the times ahead.

Many years ago a prophetic friend of mine sat with the then President of the United States and about fifty of the most visible leaders of the church in our nation. My friend was marveling at the wisdom that was present, and how even the President was listening to them. Then, to his surprise, the Lord spoke to him about something he was not expecting to hear. The Lord told him that not a single one of the Christian leaders in that room had the gift of discernment—that this was the gift we were going to greatly need in the times ahead. He wanted to give it not only to His leaders, but also to every one of His people.

My friend then began to perceive that this President was not really listening to these Christian leaders, but was setting them up to use them politically, which is in fact what happened. When my friend related this to me, he said the main concern was not that these men were being used in this way, but that the leadership of the church is so devoid of true discernment. He said this was going to lead to some of the greatest problems the church would face in the days ahead, which has certainly come true.

The Lord was not necessarily using this to reveal the nature of the President, who was only doing what politicians do, but that the men present did not discern how they were being set up to be used was the concern.

It was very soon after this that another prophetic friend of mine said that the Lord had told him that the church was being continually misled by “a false gift of discernment.” He said that a “spirit of suspicion” was masquerading as the gift of discernment in the church and hardly anyone recognized it.

This friend of mine then said that the Lord told him the true gift of discernment could only work through compassion. He had given him Philippians 1:9 as the Scripture for it, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.” The Lord went on to tell him that “anything but love will distort discernment.”

My way of thinking at the time was that “love is blind,” and more prone to cloud your discernment of a person rather than help you to discern accurately. However, the Lord said that the opposite was true. As I sought the Lord on this matter, He showed me over and over how suspicion had caused me to misunderstand many people, and how I had often missed His will in matters because of it.

The Nature of Spiritual Authority
It was at this time that the Lord began to speak to me about how all true spiritual authority is founded upon love. We see this in the Lord’s own walk on the earth. It was when He had compassion for the sheep that were without a shepherd that He became their Shepherd. It was when He had compassion on those who sat in darkness that He became their Teacher.

I was then told that I would know when He was sending me because I would feel His love for those to which I was being sent. I would know I was being sent to a church when I started to feel His love for that church. I would know I was being sent to a ministry when I started to feel His love for that ministry. The same is true for a city, country, culture, or a people group. It was only through this love that I would be able to discern the roots of their problems and bondage so that I could help them.

Truly loving someone does not mean you will only see the good in him or her. It means that you can see them as they are and only seek good for them.

It is for this reason that Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ controls us...” This leads us to one of those ultimate questions. What would we be like if the love of Christ was controlling all of our thoughts and actions? Then add to this the power of Christ abiding within us to do the works that He did, and even greater works. What would our days be like if this were true?

There will be a people, whom this will be true, who will walk the earth before this age is over. They will have His love in them and will therefore walk the earth like He did. As we will see, this is sound, biblical prophecy concerning the end of this age.

Because our goal for knowing the Lord’s will is to be prepared so we can do His will, let’s get even more practical. What would you do today if His love was controlling you, and His power was in you? Who would you heal? What devils would you cast out? For whom would you multiply their food? To whom would you preach the gospel of the kingdom?

We might also add some other practical questions to this. Would we have watched the television programs we did in the past? How much gossip would we have even listened to, much less helped to spread? Would we have become angry with our neighbor over such a small thing? Would I have gloated over the misfortune that struck the person I may have disliked?

The most important eternal truth will begin to be restored to the church this year. This is going to happen in powerful and dramatic ways. This truth is the truth of the power of the cross. This is going to change everything. It is even going to change us.