Breadcrumbs of divine guidance
In the Old Testament, God led his people through the prophets. In the Gospels, God came down to earth and led his people by speaking to them face to face. Since the Book of Acts, the primary way in which God leads is through the written word breathed upon by the Holy Spirit. The implications are staggering. We are now made oracles (mouthpieces) to speak on behalf of God.
Peter said we are oracles of God. Joel said that in the last days, God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh and people from every generation (sons and daughters, young people, old men and women) would prophesy, receive dreams and visions. In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon select individuals. In the New Testament, the Spirit now comes upon anyone who is hungry and thirsty for the living God.
What I’ve discovered in my journey as a minister of the gospel is that: the primary way in which God leads us is through praying and preaching the written word under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Smith Wigglesworth said that the greatest revival is yet to come and it’ll be a revival of the coming together of the Spirit and the Word. If we only have intellectual knowledge of the Scriptures, we’ll become Pharisees and fall into the pride of knowledge. If we simply have the “Spirit,” but do not have a life in the word, we would be absolutely lost and be led by our feelings. The last days revival will consist of people who will be full of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Having a balance of these two things safeguards us from pride and feeling-based Christianity. We must reclaim biblical christianity in this hour more than ever before as only 4% of GenZers have a biblical worldview and we are in a huge mess. But I believe that with a vacuum, a storm is forming. Before a storm moves in, there’s always whats called the “calm before the storm.” Right now it might not seem like there’s revival, but that is the very condition in which God is priming the atmosphere for a move of God. Joel 1 speaks of swarms of locusts devouring the land and people have strayed from the Lord, but that was the very atmosphere by which he would pour out His Spirit on all flesh (Joel 2). In Samuel’s time, “the word of the Lord was rare in those days,” and then God called Samuel to his mouthpiece. Right before the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus, the word of the Lord was rare for 400 years before the truth began to be preached. The word of Lord is rare in this generation, which only means that preachers are about to rise up.
The way in which he will bring about revival is through preachers who will be so full of the Spirit that they will start preaching the Word of God. Seminaries and Bible Schools are being emptied out. Many mission organizations have not received many missionary candidates in the past years. But I believe that there is a movement that is rumbling beneath the ground. Preachers who will desire nothing but to fulfill God’s Word in their generation will start rising up. People will have a revelation of the power of the preached word of God that they’ll take up the mantle left behind by the apsotles and heros in church history and God will raise up the greatest revival the world has ever seen.
In order to be part of a revival like this, you must:
Have a revelation that God is looking for preachers who will lead His people.
Have a prayer life. When you live a life of prayer, you are communicating with God in the heavens. You’re life will not be the same when you begin to hear the thoughts of God and feel God’s emotions.
Start studying and teaching/preaching the word of God.
Find regular/weekly opportunities to preach the word (whether in a family, small group, ministry context)
If you are currently not speaking regularly, don’t limit yourself to a church audience. Your pulpit is not simply the one in the church building. Your pulpit is your home, its the streets, its your neighbors. Your platform is beyond the one in church. Your platform is the world. When you think this way, you’ll realize that you have immeasurable avenues to lead yourself and others through the preaching of the Word.
I started out preaching on the streets, which led me to now preaching at churches. But the fact that churches now want me to preach doesnt stop me from preaching on the streets and sharing the word outside of the church walls, because I have received the revelation that God speaks through the medium of my mouth.
Once I realized this, every opportunity to obey the Lord by preaching his word became an opportunity to receive another breadcrumb of divine guidance. God doesn’t give us a clear picture of our destiny. We must search it out ourselves and one of the most powerful ways I’ve discovered is through the study and preaching God’s word. The beauty of preaching is that you don’t have to always hit a “homerun” in a sermon delivery. The point of preaching is not the great preacher, but encountering the Great God. The Word of God speaks for itself. The point of preaching is not the delivery, but hearing the Word of God.
For example, I’ve heard “terrible sermons”, but what stuck with me wasn’t the way they preached it, but what was imparted into my spirit was the verse or the bible passage that was preached. The main aspect of preaching is God’s written word, not one’s eloquence. Even Paul said that he didn’t preach with eloquence but the simple gospel backed by the demonstartion of the Spirit’s power. You may not be loud or passionate, but when you deliver God’s Word, you’ll be considered great in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that those who teach and do the commands of God will be called great. True success isn’t about personality, but our faithfulness to His Word.
Leading ourselves and others through the preaching of God’s written word is the highest honor that can ever be bestowed upon humanity. This revelation will revolutionize the way you see ministry. If you want to be led by God, preaching cannot be an option, but it has to become an essential part of one’s life. Imagine if the people in the Old Testament didn’t heed the words of the prophets..They all died in the wilderness. It’s the same today. If we do not heed the written word of God, we will die. But if we listen and obey His Word, we will live.
Are you ready to surrender your life to the written word of God? Choose a pulpit (Remember your pulpit can be literally anywhere in the world, not just the one in the church building) and preach the written word and start to receive breadcrumbs of divine guidance in order to lead yourself and others.
Today, I preached at City Lights Church. A breadcrumb of guidance I received today in my preparation and preaching of the word was this: Matthew 24:14 ought to be the vision for literally everything I do. The purpose of our existence is to behold the face of God and do whatever it takes to help the earth to encounter the Lord face to face before the day when He will come back to the earth and surprise everyone. Just as Jacob wrestled with God, we must also wrestle with the Biblical texts, because when we do and we submit to His Word as difficult as it may be, we will receive an unrivaled and unmatched inheritance compared to what the world can give us: the glory and beauty of beholding his face for all of eternity. This is the purpose of missions: to prepare the earth to behold the face of Jesus.