I had a powerful dream a few nights ago. I will share portions of the dream with you here, but the most notable aspect of it was that when I woke up I heard the Spirit clearly say these words: “The church as you know it is disappearing!” 

Immediately I was reminded of the Scriptures. In Matthew 24, Jesus’s disciples are admiring the beautiful Jewish temple: its courts, structures, and architecture. Jesus turns to them and says: “Take a good look at all these things, for I’m telling you, there will not be one stone left upon another. It will all be leveled!” (Matthew 24:2, TPT)

Technology now permeates every aspect of our lives, from our phones to our programmable refrigerators.  At the touch of a button, orders are placed, documents sent and retrieved, and, sadly, unsuspecting children are seduced. Is the internet destroying life as we know it? Here is a prophetic perspective on technology, especially as it relates to your family. 

Developing an arsenal of prayer is critical, especially in the end times. We need to be ready to pray scriptural prayers that build our faith in specific areas and keep us immune to the enemy's lies.

With this in mind, I occasionally condense scriptures on specific topics into simple prayers that I can pray daily. This week, the Lord impressed on me the need to pray the verses from 2 Thessalonians against deception, a key tactic of the Antichrist in the end times. Deception leads to hopelessness, but the Lord has given us specific promises of hope to carry us through difficult days.

Take time today to print or download Prayers for the End Times in the Subscriber Resource Library. It's free with your subscription to His Inscriptions. I pray you'll begin to use it daily to inoculate yourself against the fears and anxieties that come from the enemy's lies! 

God speaks in the most unusual and unexpected ways! Sometimes we dream, and a person in our dream imparts wisdom to us. We don’t realize until we wake that it was Jesus, and we wish we had known it was Him at the time!

Sometimes, He shows up in human form, in a conversation that leaves a mark on our minds and causes us to realize something deeper or receive something we need.

And sometimes, He speaks from the mouths of babes… 

Are you ready to respond to an emergency? Would you be an effective leader in the midst of a crisis? How are you reacting to the disasters we are seeing on an international scale - would you be prepared to face one in your community?   

As a little girl, my greatest ambition was to become a nurse. Somewhere around age 7 or 8, I had a minor "emergency" of my own. I broke my leg in a biking accident. It was a spiral fracture of the tibia, I think. Stuck beneath my bike wheel, I couldn’t move my leg because of the pain.

I cried for my baby sister (then 3 or 4) to go and get help, but she laughed and kept on biking. She was too little, too carefree, to understand. I cried for my father, who was mowing the lawn at the time and could not hear me for the noise of his motor. After what seemed like hours of yelling at the top of my lungs, I finally convinced my sister to run and get my mother, who was inside the house. By then I was upset, frustrated, and terrified.

What happened next made such an impact on me that I never forgot it. A trip to the hospital was in the cards, and I was placed on an exam table by a nurse. Hers was the first smiling face I had seen in several hours, and her kind eyes made contact with mine and calmed me. Gently, she explained that they would need to take an x-ray, which meant straightening my leg.
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I panicked. I knew my leg would not straighten without pain. But this nurse knew how to position my leg just so. In an instant, my leg was straight, and it had not hurt at all! I was astonished, and I marveled at her ability to turn a painful and scary situation into one that radiated peace.

I remember not wanting to leave that nurse to go to the casting room. To alleviate pain and suffering – that was miraculous! To be so calm in the midst of a 7-year-old’s crisis – that was amazing! I decided right then and there that I would devote my life to becoming a nurse. Every scrapbook from subsequent years of my childhood bears notes in my mother’s handwriting to the effect that I would be a nurse when I grew up.

Although in the end I never pursued a nursing degree, I have chosen – perhaps unconsciously - to reach people in crisis, not only to alleviate their pain, but to extend the love and hope of Christ. I've spent countless hours ministering, praying, counseling, doing missions work, and even training as a volunteer first responder for my community.  All because of a “first responder” who took her job seriously and made a powerful impact on me.
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Retired USCG Rear Admiral Mary Landry calls this “purposeful work.” The desire to help others is a defining quality of those whom we call “first responders” in our communities: people like policemen, firemen, EMT’s, the military, and those involved in humanitarian work.
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I had the honor of spending the day with 700 Massachusetts first responders last week, at MEMA’s* annual training conference. The theme of the conference was “Effective Leadership During Crisis.” As I listened to the speakers, the Holy Spirit began showing me the need for believers to think of themselves as spiritual “first responders.” He seemed to be asking: "Are you ready to reach lost, wounded, and dying souls with all the peace, benefits, and resources of the Kingdom?"

I thought of the end times. We are closer than ever to the types of crises, or tribulations, that the book of Revelation describes. We are also closer than ever to revival. Many of my friends are diligently preparing themselves for emergencies, storing up food, water, and other necessary items. Like the nurse I admired, they are ready to deal with what’s called a “routine” emergency.
But what about compounded or extended large-scale crises, the events for which we have no standard "recipe" for our responses?

Dutch Leonard of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, explains it this way: in recent years, our nation has become very good at responding to what he calls “routine” incidents. If there’s a fire or a flood, you send the fire department. If there’s an active shooter, you send the police. You follow the recipe. However, when disasters are extended or compounded (as with “Snowmaggedon” in Boston or the Oil Spill in the Gulf), the incident transcends standard responses. Suddenly we need to get out of the box, so to speak, and join forces with others to define a more creative and effective response. Traditional methods don’t work in unprecedented events.

For example, the National Guard is prepared to clear up to 4 feet of snow in Boston at a time. But 15 feet? 20? They are prepared to plow for one night, or maybe two, without sleep. But a week of storms? Or a “Sandy” level hurricane? Suddenly, a cross-disciplinary response is required. We need reinforcements. We need to work together and we need to find creative responses in these novel situations.

Some of the most pressing needs in our communities are identical to those in the church. In both natural and spiritual emergencies, we must move beyond pleasing our “constituencies” to serving each other sacrificially. Just as a standard emergency-response framework will be inadequate in a multi-level crisis, so a denomination-oriented church cannot provide a unified response to either tribulation or revival. There is a critical need for us to work together in crisis, to lay aside doctrinal differences of opinion and selfish ambitions and focus together on spiritual restoration.

Think of Joseph, an Israelite, who helped the Egyptians prepare for an extended famine. Led by the Holy Spirit, Joseph was motivated through a dream to respond to impending crisis. (See Genesis 41-47) His was an “out of the box” response! Joseph both worked with and provided for people he considered unbelievers, in a large-scale disaster that affected thousands.

Or consider a positive, large-scale spiritual event such as revival. When God brings revival, He doesn’t touch just a handful of people. Revival, like disasters, impacts thousands.

If you read Jonathan Edwards’ accounts of the New England-based revival in the 1700’s, you find immediately that in the midst of a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit across his state, every pastor, church, and believer needed to work together to respond to what amounted to a gigantic “crisis of the soul.” The unsaved were crying out for help, asking how to deal with the unbearably deep conviction they felt in their souls. Day and night, people were pounding on the doors of the church, looking for hope.
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Someone needed to be available to tell them about Jesus. Are we ready for this? Are we the types of friends who will get up at midnight to provide spiritual bread for those who ask? Are we ready to work with believers outside of our own church or denomination to advance the Kingdom of God?

Retired Boston Police Chief Dan Linskey said something unique in his message on leadership in crisis. He stated: “It’s in the breaking of bread, not the exchanging of business cards.” Trusted relationships with others are far more valuable than a Rolodex full of potential contacts.
 
Dan was the incident commander-in-charge during the Boston Marathon bombings. I do not know if he is a believer. But in the midst of utter chaos that day, Dan said it was the people with whom he had drunk beers, shared meals, and built trust beforehand that helped him the most. In the midst of all the FBI, police, and medical activity happening on scene, it was the friend who stuck his head in the trailer and asked Dan, “What do you need right now? What can I do for you?” that mattered most. Why? Because Dan’s kids were home alone, and he needed someone to get to them. 

I don’t think it’s an accident that Chief Linskey referred to the “breaking of bread.” It’s a picture of where Jesus wants believers to be: in intimate fellowship with each other and in communion with God. Only then will we be ready for whatever crisis comes next.
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MEMA’s challenge to “work together” in crisis applies to believers, too. As God has challenged me, so I want to challenge you to move beyond traditional or denominational responses and work together under Jesus, your Divine Commander in Chief. Are you ready to extend all the peace, benefits, and resources of the Kingdom to a lost and suffering world? 

Prayer: Father, I believe You have called me to be a “first responder” for Your Kingdom. Train me to be ready. Show me what I should be doing to prepare for both natural and spiritual crises, so that when they come I am available to reach others with Your peace, grace, and love. Give me the kind of calm, steady spirit that a first responder needs. Help me to use this “downtime” to break bread even with those outside of my usual sphere. I choose to build relationship with others throughout Your Kingdom, to strengthen Your Kingdom’s corporate response in both the revivals and the trials. Amen!

c. Deborah Perkins / His Inscriptions. 
*MEMA is the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, a division of FEMA and Homeland Security.

Deborah Perkins is passionate about connecting others with God. She writes about knowing God and hearing His voice at HisInscriptions.com. To subscribe to her free weekly blog, click here. 

Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're fearless. 

In fact, God tells us  not to fear roughly 365 times in the Bible. That's once for every day of the year! Sure, there are some amazing examples of fearless faith out there, from the spies who entered the Promised Land to present-day martyrs facing ISIS. But most of us, even on a good day, battle fear in one form or another. 

We know that fear is part of the curse (see Leviticus 26:36-37 for an example), and God gives us the ability to overcome our personal fears. But what of the larger-scale fears, the things that threaten to undo not just us, but our communities, our nation, and our world? These things are on the rise as Satan propels the battle between good and evil to a climax. 

Luke records Jesus's words, saying that men's hearts will fail them "from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth." (Luke 21:26) Earthquakes, diseases, and famines will be the norm. He says the end times will be full of "fearful sights and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21:11). 

Those words don't seem very comforting at first glance. Many Christians avoid the end-time prophecies in the Bible, not just because they don't understand them, but because they seem full of "doom and gloom" for a people who should be continually filled with joy and peace!

I believe that every word Jesus spoke is still relevant to us today. And as I began to study fear as it relates to current events, I realized that these end-time prophecies are a critical key for us as we overcome our fears about what lies ahead. The reason? A known enemy is easier to defeat than an unknown one. 

Most of our fears are irrational, drawing their power from our emotions rather than the facts in front of us. Those of us who have been hurt in certain areas are predisposed to fears in the areas where we were wounded. 

I once was horrified to find a drug addict hiding behind his shower curtain, in an apartment a realtor intended to rent to me.  For a while after that incident, every time I opened a shower curtain, I did so with trepidation!  Statistically, the likelihood of that ever happening again was extremely low. But the fears persisted until I dealt with them. 

The genius of Jesus is that He prepares us ahead of time for what is to come. The power of  the fear I had about the man in the shower came largely from the element of surprise. What you don't expect alarms you far more than what you can foresee. This is why we prepare a child, for instance, by telling him that the shot at the doctor's will hurt, but only for a minute. We want him to know how it will end and assure him that he will be safe.

In the same way, Jesus tells us that the end times are going to be difficult, but only for a while. He takes great pains to give us details about the tribulations and about what He expects from us as we face them. He gives us specific things to do that will help us feel more peaceful during a chaotic time.  Click here for a free, printable download:  "10 Things Jesus Wants You to Do in the End Times." 

Apart from the wisdom of God, we also have the love of God to help us overcome fear. 1 John 4:18 tells us that perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with torment, or punishment. In the end times, only those who are living apart from God's ways will face punishment. I know from experience that when we pray and ask God for more of His love, He is eager to comply! 

So overcoming fear is a two-pronged approach. We need both the wisdom of God found in Scripture and the experiential knowledge of the love of God in our hearts. Isaiah clarifies this beautifully: "Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation." (Isaiah 33:6). 

Your testimony of God's love, combined with the strategic wisdom He gives you through His Word, will cause you to overcome any fears you might have about the end times. It will keep you stable when the world is falling apart. Instead of running from Goliath, as the Israelites did, you'll stand and slay your Goliath like David did. You'll be fearless in the face of fear. 

c. Deborah Perkins, His Inscriptions.com. All Bible references NKJV unless noted. 

Deborah Perkins is a prophetic teacher whose passion is connecting others with God. She writes about knowing God and hearing His voice at His Inscriptions. You can subscribe to her weekly blog for free, follow her on Twitter, or contact her directly here.