Jesus' Return - to a Warzone?
Have you ever visited a friend and, upon arrival, realized that there was some hostility between your friend and their spouse? Unbeknownst to you, you had stepped into a warzone. Your friend offers you coffee or tea, the spouse reluctantly readies a cup-a, and all the while you could cut the tension with a knife. You find yourself looking at your watch and wondering how long you can endure this relational strife. The comfort, joy, and connection you were excited to experience with your friend have now been undermined by the strain in their relationship with their own family.
This is how Jesus feels when he comes to His house, His body, looking forward to connecting with exuberant joy and then, instead, discovers a warzone. The hostility amidst His own family members undercuts the relationship He so longingly desires.
When we, as Christ's church, quarrel, squabble, and hold unforgiveness, bitterness and hardness in our hearts towards one another, we not only break the bond between one other but, we fail to create an environment that is welcoming to our King. He may come for a short visit, but He cannot stay.
My wife, Jeannie, and I have six children. You can imagine that when people want to come over for a visit that there is quite a bit of tidying up to do, to say the least! It's all hands on deck as we work together to get our house in order for the coming of our friends. We clean, we organize, we prepare some tasty treats and do what we can to ensure that our hearts are prepared to enjoy the time with these long-awaited arrivals. Out of genuine love and honor for our friends, we want to create a space that is full of love, warmth, and joy. We want to prepare a place for them to come and enjoy their visit.
We are the house of God. God longs to come to His house not just to visit, but also to remain and make a home among us, to dwell in His house.
In Psalm 2, Jesus asked the Father for the nations as an inheritance. Czechia is part of the Father's answer to Jesus' prayer as His inheritance. We, as a national family, need to get our house in order to prepare the way for our coming King. Healing and reconciliation among siblings in the Body are needed in order for God to not only visit but to remain. He will not stay amidst strife and adversity between brethren. We must forgive one another and humble ourselves and honor the beauty in each other as children and fellow heirs of God.
Reconciliation does not mean we need to agree on everything, nor have some sort of false unity, but rather, to seek the heart of our King for our nation and to see each other as our Lord sees us. When we honor every person as one who is handcrafted by our Father, how can we not get along? God's workmanship is fearfully and wonderfully made and we have the privilege of searching out this beauty in one another and encouraging each other to continue growing into the head of Christ.
About five years ago, God asked me to build friendships with the beautiful people of Czechia. Since then, I have had the privilege of getting to know many wonderful leaders across the nation. Then, about two years ago, I had a dream in which Czech citizens were gathered in an assembly room. During the meeting, different people would raise their hands to express complaints and grievances about things that were going wrong in the nation. "The Germans are controlling our economy," "There is corruption in our government," "We are the least evangelized nation on the planet…." On and on the complaints went. Interestingly, however, the leader responded to each complaint in the same way.
"It's a new day!" he replied with joy each time, infusing the room with hope.
I realized that the leader was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and his power and presence flooded over me as I realized that He had revealed the message that He is declaring over Czechia: "It's a new day!"
As I have traveled around the nation, sharing God's declaration with Czech friends, more people have heard the dream and it has resonated with many hearts. Several leaders and faithful believers in the nation have shared how God had also spoken to them about this New Day in Czechia. God is confirming all across the country that we are in God's kairos time, the time in which he desires not only to visit but to remain.
In light of the 400 years since the battle on White Mountain, this is a significant time in Czech history in which God is turning the tide, removing the curse that was brought by centuries of betrayal, conflict, and strife. In a similar fashion to the way God delivered Israel after they had been enslaved for 400 years, so too, this is the end of era of spiritual captivity and oppression for Czechia, and for the beginning of an era of freedom and blessings.
With a longing for the New Day in Czechia, in the past year, a national family has developed consisting of people from all over the nation, both Catholics and Evangelicals and from all generations. This national family of Czech leaders, intercessors, worshippers, and lovers of God have, together, been seeking God about how to bring transformation in our land. Step by step God is leading us and revealing His heart for healing.
As the body of Christ, we have some tidying up to do in preparation for our King. In the spirit of Joel 2, we are blowing the trumpet that it is time to come together to stand before God and embrace His prescription for healing the nations: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chron 7.14).
It is our responsibility, as God's people, and as representatives of the nation, to lean into our Lord's heart to hear His voice and, together, do what He says. This is how we prepare the way for Him to come and stay. As Jesus said in John 14.23, "…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them."
Czechia, this is the day of your visitation!