super bowl prophecy

Those of you who have been reading my posts over the past year know that I highly value the prophetic. I agree with the teaching that Scripture is the standard by which all else is to be judged. But the prophetic gift is given to encourage and clue us in to what God is up to in the present. As Amos 3:7 tells us, "Surely the Sovereign LORD [YHWH] does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." If you check out both Biblical prophecies as well as non-Biblical ones you will notice that some of them don't fit into any neat category of how we think God should speak (once a friend responded to my telling him about a prophetic word by saying, "God doesn't talk like that.").  The following may seem  that way to some of you, but it has served to stir up some helpful insights which I'd like to share.

About 20 or so years ago one of the most respected of modern day prophets, Bob Jones (not the founder of the university with that name), who is no longer with us, said that the Lord told him that when the Carolina Panthers won the Super Bowl it would be an indicator of the beginning of a new Great Awakening. So you can imagine my interest in the Big game between the Panthers and the Broncos was quite high.  And my emotional state was quite low at the Panther's loss.  As I mulled over what significance to put on all this, if any, I was pleased that the following insight(s) came to me.

First of all it must be noted that there have been many, many prophetic words given over the last quarter century about a coming great revival/awakening that will usher in the final harvest of souls before the Lord's return.  It will eclipse every previous revival/awakening in church history, including the first century one.  None of these previous moves of God fulfilled Jesus' own prophecy that those who believe in him will be able to do even greater works than he did.  This last move will also fulfill the prophecy that Jesus' first miracle (changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana) spoke of - God is saving His best wine for last. Nothing has grabbed my attention or fueled my passion more than to read and hear about (and of course, want to participate in) this last and greatest move of God's Spirit.

So, if this long awaited and longed for event has been postponed for at least another year, what am I to do in the meantime? The answer to that question is "preparation!" My take on this super bowl prophecy about the Panthers and their loss is that it was a reminder that Jesus' prophecy that "the harvest is the end of the age" is very close and God wants us to be aware and prepared for that time. Both Biblical and contemporary prophecies are given, not to stir up our curiosity and prove how cool God is to foretell the future. No!  God wants us to be ready, to be prepared for what He is about to do.
As disappointed as I was that the Panthers lost the Super Bowl, once I began to think more deeply about it and ask God the meaning of it, I actually began to feel not so bad about it because I saw that indeed I and most others are probably, indeed, not prepared for what is coming. We tend to think that we just need to be forewarned about bad things that are coming. But in actuality we need to be forewarned just as much about the blessings that are coming or we would be in the greatest of danger of either missing them altogether (because they probably will not look like what we were expecting), or of squandering those blessings - not treasuring and handling them in an appropriate way.

Years ago God spoke to me as I was working as a painter, spending a lot of time trying to get a door ready for varnishing that had some cat scratchings on it.  I was rather peeved at the time that it was taking to get this part of the door smooth enough and looking just right so that when the coat(s) of varnish were finally put on it would look just right. Even though I didn't hear these exact words (it was more of an impression), in essence what God said to me was, "Bruce, just as you as a painter are wanting to do good work, taking however long is necessary in the preparation part, so that the finished product will be of the highest quality, so am I spending a long time in preparing my people to be able to receive my glory."  Any painter worth his salt will tell you that most of his work is taken up in preparation.  The actual putting on of the paint is relatively easy and quick.  If the preparation part is done too quickly and not carefully enough, the danger increases that the paint will either peel or simply not look as nice as it could have.  The lesson I learned was so clear and equally applicable in the spiritual realm as in the physical:  if you want something to last, to have enduring qualities, as well as to truly shine (radiate glory), devote the time necessary to preparation.  God wants us ready for the awesome move of His Spirit that is coming!   We have no time to waste. We cannot get sidetracked by things that are not in the flow of His moving.  Our focus must be on drawing closer to Him every day, hearing His voice, and being quick to obey.  The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.  If we lose our proper focus we are in danger of missing out (maybe not totally, but to some degree) on what will be the greatest move of God in history - the harvest, which is what will bring this present age to an end.