“Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?”
(Joel 1:2)

2020 was a highly unusual year. A hitherto unknown virus emerged out of Asia, swept across the face of the earth, threw nations into disarray, and severely disrupted the lives of billions of people. It hit masses with fear, utter confusion, uncertainty and despair. At one point of time, almost half of the world was brought to a standstill through simultaneous lockdowns.

This is truly unprecedented!

Just as it seemed like the world was finally emerging from the pandemic, another shocking event occurred. In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. This was totally unexpected!

These two events have led to huge ramifications affecting nations around the world — food and energy shortages, inflation, economic crises, etc. All these are happening on top of ongoing natural disasters such as extreme floods, hurricanes, fires and snow storms around the world…

What on earth is happening? What was God saying?

Instead of having perfect vision to see what the Lord was saying and doing in the year 2020, the Church was completely blindsided by the Pandemic. God’s people are meant to be prophetic, yet we were caught unaware. Our response was hardly different from the world’s, and many “prophetic predictions” completely missed the mark.

Is God the One who orchestrated such massive disruptions? If so, why would He do so? What was He trying to tell us?

God was exposing and indicting us of our prayerlessness, our dull and hard hearts, our lack in the prophetic and of spiritual foresight, and our total unpreparedness for the storms that have come and that are coming!

God is shaking all things that can be shaken. He’s surfacing our faultlines, our false props of confidence, and our misplaced passion and pursuits.

He divinely interrupted our business-as-usual lives and brought the Church and the world to a pause so that we, His people, would awaken to the hour of human history we are in and pay attention to what He is saying.

If there is a passage of Scripture that speaks to the time frame of human history that we are in now, it would be Matthew 24:

“And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars… For nations will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matt. 24:6-8, NKJV)

We can tell from the signs in this passage that we are in the beginning of birth pangs. Matthew 24 warns us of greater intensities that are coming, such as persecution, betrayal, hatred of believers and martyrdom.

The nature of birth pangs is such that they start off mild and infrequent. They then increase in frequency and intensity until finally, the baby is born. In other words, the intensity of crises that will hit us and the pressures that are coming will escalate, and the respites in between will get shorter and shorter.

The Isaiah 60 Moment

With the Covid-19 pandemic, we have crossed a demarcation line and entered into a season of greater intensity in human history. We have entered a New Normal and will not return to the Old Normal anymore.

In the spiritual, we have shifted from a peace-time framework into a war-time framework. There are seismic shifts that have happened in both the positive and negative and there will be constant and drastic changes going forward.

Isaiah 60:1­–3 is the passage that best describes the unique spiritual dynamics of the End Times. Darkness will get darker and darker as we approach the End of the Age. Sin and iniquity will hit their max (Dan. 8:23). Lawlessness will abound as God lifts His hand of restraint, and allows evil in the hearts of man to be made fully manifest (2 Thes. 2:7; Matt. 24:12).

On the other hand, the true Church of Jesus who understands and prepares herself will grow stronger, burn hotter and shine brighter. We will carry the glory of God and display His love!

We are now stepping into the Isaiah 60 moment where there will be unprecedented escalation of crisis and darkness. At the same time, there will be unprecedented glory and light seen upon the people of God who understand, align and prepare themselves.

That is why in His mercy, God interrupted and spoke. In fact, in this moment, He is still interrupting and speaking. He is inviting us to be the ones who participate in the glory that He is releasing.

Covid-19 was a “shock event” meant to disrupt us from our own storylines and narratives and awaken us to His Grand Storyline and narrative, so that we can align to Him. It was also an indictment of our spiritual dullness, lack of prophetic insight, and unpreparedness, so that we will not stay here.

It is out of His zeal for us that He is calling us to take heed of His instructions and receive His grace and empowerment, so that we can enter into His invitation to partner with Him in His Grand Storyline at the End of the Age!

Indictment Unto Invitation

Thus, in the midst of the disruption and indictment stands an invitation. It starts with the invitation to open the door of our hearts to Jesus, who is standing at the door of our hearts — knocking (Rev. 3:20).

He is inviting us to open the door of our hearts to Him so that He can come in to feed, strengthen, and refine us, in order that we are ready to partner with Him to bring forth His light and glory in such a time as this.

It is through responding to Jesus’ invitation in this Revelation 3:20 moment that we begin the process of preparation for the times to come.

Will you open the door of your heart to Him in this Revelation 3:20 moment?
If the Lord has stirred your heart with the above, we encourage you to respond to Him by opening the door of your heart, hearing what He wants to say to you, and bringing what has been revealed in this email to the place of conversation with Him.