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October 29, 2005
Cloud of
Witnesses Travail for This Generation
By Ryan Wyatt
Abiding Glory Ministries
www.abidingglory.com
 Naked
Before God
With all that is going on in the world right
now, I really feel that we are in a season of stripping and refinement before
the Lord. God is confronting the church and the world in this season and
challenging us to lay down all the worldly things that we have covered ourselves
with and allow Him to strip us and cover us with His glory. These are serious
times and God has incredible plans to fulfill through this generation, but the
church seems to be asleep and God is waking them up. We have come to a fullness
of time juncture, and God is accelerating His plans in the earth.
Cloud of Witnesses in Travail For This
Generation
In September, I was ministering at a Joel's Army conference in England and had
an incredible encounter in the midst of worship. The worship band was playing,
and the people were loudly praising God, and I began to hear people shouting my
name. I audibly heard people shouting, "RYAN, RYAN, RYAN." I looked all around
me and found no one calling to me.
I then realized that I was having a spiritual encounter
and entered into an open-eyed vision. I saw the Cloud of Witnesses and God's
Generals from the beginning of time, and they were lined up side-by-side in a
very long line. Every generation from the beginning of time was represented in
this line. Every person was someone who, during their life, had pressed into
their promised land and tasted of the powers of the age to come and like the
spies, they brought something back that touched their whole generation with the
love and power of God.
I noticed that the space in the line between each person represented many years,
and the line came up to this present day. It was obvious to me that with each
previous generation, there were very few that affected a whole generation. I
then noticed that the line continued on past this present day with forms of
people but there was no one to fill those slots.
I then saw the Cloud of Witnesses enter into a state of travail as they were
vigorously interceding for this present-day generation. They were not just
calling my name but countless thousands of names. Suddenly, I saw the hand of
the Lord come and very quickly begin to pick people up out of the world and fill
those empty slots in the line of God's Generals. There was a massive
acceleration that was taking place as God began to fill each slot with thousands
of revivalists and nation shakers from our time.
Things are accelerating in the earth, and for this reason, God is pulling out
all the stops and calling upon this generation to wake up and lay hold of Him
like never before. For this reason, God is beginning to strip his church of
every worldly thing that keeps her from full devotion to Him. It is only when
the church comes to realize her nakedness that she will begin to cry out in holy
desperation for God to fascinate and empower a whole generation. We must first
be stripped and come to realize our dire need for God.
"Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." -- Matthew 5:3
The message of the hour is that, "The Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand." Being poor in spirit is realizing our level of emptiness and crying
out for His fullness. The eyes of the Lord are roaming to and fro throughout the
earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely
loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).
The Hand of Grace is Being Pulled Back
"Slightly," and the Shaking of the Lord has Come!
For many years, I believe the hand of the Lord, in the form of grace, has
covered us and allowed us to continue on our own path. During this time, God has
given the church a chance to repent and turn whole-heartedly to him on their
own. However, the church and the world have continued to slip further and
further down hill and away from Him.
The church has cried out for the Lord to come, and He has come and is coming.
And now the church is being faced with the results of the coming of the Lord.
Look with me at Isaiah 64:1-3:
"Oh, that you would rend the
heavens! That you would come down! That the mountains might shake at your
presence -- as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil -- to make
Your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your
presence! When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down;
the mountains shook at Your presence."
When the Lord begins to come He brings a shaking and a
melting away of everything worldly in our midst. Look at Malachi 3:1-3:
"Behold, I send My
messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek,
will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom
you delight. Behold He is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the
day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's
fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of
silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that
they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness."
When the Kingdom of God begins to come, it shakes
everything off of your life that is not of God, and it leaves only those things
behind that God has worked into your life (Hebrews 12:25-29). I firmly
believe that God is in the process, right now, of actually preparing us for the
next great move of God to sweep the earth. However, before He can clothe the
church with another level of His glory, He is first stripping us of every
worldly thing that we have held onto.
The Laodicean Age
We are currently in the time of the Laodicean age. This generation is one of the
most messed up generations to ever walk the earth, yet we are also the
generation that has the potential to walk in the most unprecedented level of
power and glory, however, only if we submit to the current pruning of the Lord.
God is pulling back His hand just enough for a small portion of His judgments to
touch the earth. He is doing this because what He might have allowed in the
lives of believers in times past, He is no longer allowing. When God begins to
pull back His hand of grace, you find yourself in a moment of great decision.
This is not a time when God is going to allow nominal, middle-of-the-road
Christians in "His" church.
Those believers that will not embrace the Lord in this season will most likely
grow more and more hardened to Him. Remember that as soon as Jesus came to earth
in the flesh, it was the religious people that hardened their hearts and
persecuted Him. It will be no different in these days. Those that have been
lukewarm will either grow colder or burn hotter for the Lord.
We are in a time of decision. Many in these days are coming to a place of
realization that their life is empty, and they are feeling the burning of the
Lord upon their hearts. These believers are turning closer to Him and learning
to live a life of intimacy and passion with the Lord.
The Bible says in the book of Joel that many are in the valley of decision, and
we have always preached that as meaning unbelievers are in the
valley of decision. However, I also want to say that many believers are in the
valley of decision, as well, and the Lord is no longer giving the church the
option to just sit in the middle of the road. Battle lines are being drawn, and
we must choose to either grow colder or hotter for Him.
When the Lord spoke to the church of Laodicea, He rebuked them because they
thought they had everything together, when in fact, they were wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked. First, God had to alert them of their
desperate status before they would repent and follow whole-heartedly after Him.
Most of the church, right now, has sunk into a state of apathy and passivity
because, for the most part, the western church lives a life of self-sufficiency.
I was really struck with just how self-sufficient the
western church really is after I ministered in Jakarta, Indonesia, this last
January. I have not seen a hunger for God, like that of the Indonesians,
anywhere in North America or Europe. The Indonesians prayed and sought
after God as if they were absolutely spiritually bankrupt and could not live
another moment without a touch from heaven.
Most pastors in the western church have to poke and prod the people to even act
like they are hungry for God. The church in North America is sitting in the
middle of the road and has grown self-sufficient, thinking they need nothing.
Below is the address that Jesus gave to that church:
"I know your works, that you
are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because
you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' --
and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked -- I
counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and
white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may
not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many
as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent."
-- Revelation 3:15-19
Not a Heartless Rebuke
But Rather a Loving Warning
I don't see the above passage from Revelation as a heartless rebuke. It is
actually a loving warning from a loving God that wants to alert His Bride of her
state, so that she might wake up and turn and seek the Lord.
The admonition from the above reference in Revelation is that if the church will
realize her nakedness and begin to seek the Lord with desperate hunger, then the
church will hear the sound of the Lord knocking on the door and dine, rule, and
reign with Him.
Seek First The Kingdom of God
In a day where everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes and just
seeking to live the American dream, God is looking for a Bride that will do the
exact opposite. One of the greatest enemies to the western church is "how
blessed we are." The western world has lived under such a state of grace and
blessing for so long that it has caused the church to slip into a state of
apathy and passivity. The church has joined the rat race of the world that says,
"Do what you have to do to not only make it but to be on top!" So we have become
a generation totally consumed with "self".
The Bible calls believers "pilgrims" in this world. We are citizens of another
realm and are to live our day-to-day lives from the place of abiding in heavenly
realms and ruling on earth with heavenly love and power. The challenge for the
church in this hour is to submit to the pruning and stripping of the Lord, to
turn our eyes and affections from every temporal thing, and to begin to "seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
When the church begins to live for heavenly things rather than for earthly
satisfaction, then the grace and favor of heaven will be poured out upon us
abundantly.
"Therefore do not worry, saying,
'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For
after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that
you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
-- Matthew 6:31-33
Our Response to the
Shakings
I know that people are trying to figure out why all these hurricanes and
earthquakes and tsunamis and all the other disasters are happening on the earth
at this time. Some believe it is God judging us, some believe they are the
result of man's sinful actions, and still, others believe they are attacks from
the devil. I believe they are a result of all three.
Yes, I believe that the devil is trying to wreak havoc. Yes, I believe that some
of these disasters are occurring as the result of the world's sinful actions.
And yes, I do also believe that God is using them to teach the world
righteousness and lead them back to Him.
"With my soul I have desired you in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek you early; For when Your judgments are
in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."
-- Isaiah 26:9
Instead of joining the rest of the world and allowing our emotions to get the
best of us in response to these world shakings, let's allow these events to
awaken us to the reality and seriousness of the times we are living in. Let's
allow these things to cause us to seek the Lord with all that is within us and
lay hold of our divine destiny to walk upon this earth fully clothed in the
glory of God!
Nakedness Provides Opportunity for Fullness
Let me close with this. Before the fall, Adam and Eve were naked and did not
know it. I believe this was because their minds and hearts were so enthralled
with the Lord that they were literally clothed with the glory of God. All they
knew was 24 hour a day God-consciousness and face-to-face encounters with Him.
After the fall, the first thing they realized was that they were naked, and they
were ashamed. They immediately looked for something to cover their nakedness and
wrapped themselves in fig leaves. God came to visit with them as He normally
would and found them hiding and ashamed because of their nakedness. One of the
first things God did was take off the fig leaves and clothe them with skins of
animals.
God clothed them with animal skins because it required blood, and the shedding
of blood was the only thing that could cover their sin. God's divine design was
to send Jesus to shed his perfect, sinless blood to cover and wash away our sins
forevermore. This was so that we could again have our nakedness covered by His
Glory!
God is again looking throughout the earth for those who have not covered
themselves with the things of the world but for those who are willing to submit
to His stripping and pruning work and be clothed again from glory to glory! Are
you naked before the Lord? Do you need to be awakened and come to a realization
that you are nowhere near laying hold of your high calling? Are you truly poor
in spirit and desperate for a touch from heaven?
Allow the Lord to touch you afresh and put his finger on those areas of your
soul that are not of Him. This is the season to invite the refining fire of God
into your life because He is a consuming fire, and He is jealous to lay hold of
you!
By Ryan Wyatt
Abiding Glory Ministries
www.abidingglory.com
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Ryan's Upcoming Itinerary:
November 10-11, 2005
Redemption Ministries International
Plymouth, Michigan
Contact: Erica Bishop
www.redemptioncenter.net
November 13-14, 2005
Shekinah Worship Center
42640 10th Street West
Lancaster, California 93534
Contact: Pastor Joe Sweet
Number: 661-940-8378
http://www.shekinahworship.com
December 1-7, 2005
The King's Centre with Derek Brown
Aldershot, England
Highstreet
Aldershot, Hantz, United Kingdom
GU11 1DJ
Contact: Brenda Southon
Number: 01252 333767
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I
have come to know Ryan's life very well and he is a very close, personal friend
of mine. He is a man of integrity and the glory of God rests on his life. Ryan
traveled with me full-time for a season and continues on to this day as an
Associate Ministry with Fresh Fire Ministries. He has a strong prophetic and
miracle-healing anointing with many instantly healed and delivered in his
meetings. He has worked along side me in the prophetic, word of knowledge, and
healing so I have personally seen the anointing on his life and the dramatic
affect and restoration his ministry brings to people. Ryan also has an awesome
anointing and call to train and equip the church to live in intimacy with the
Lord, live in the supernatural and manifest the power of God. I whole-heartedly
recommend Ryan's ministry and believe that there will be a tremendous deposit of
the glory of God everywhere he ministers.
Ryan
Wyatt, founder of Abiding Glory Ministries, is a revivalist with a burning
passion to see every believer become the very habitation of God on earth. Ryan
releases the glory and power of God everywhere he goes through a strong
prophetic and miracle-healing anointing.
