Teaching

Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children. (Is. 66:8)

I used to read these verses and believe this word was related to the nation of Israel. No longer! Today, after I have traveled and ministered to over 30 nations, I'm convinced that God has a master plan to shift Israel and yes, even every nation, every people group, every civilization.

Moreover, if we look at the actual text of this verse, we will see the the word used for 'nation' here is the word 'goy', which according to the Hebrew concordance means: a foreign nation, a Gentile, i.e. every other nation outside of Israel. So this word is actually a promise for the Gentiles and the 'gentiles' make up the majority of people in this world.

What does it mean to be 'born'? It really means to be manifested. That which was hidden is now being manifested, the same way a baby, when he is born, is being revealed in fulness. I believe that due to the sinful state of mankind, the true calling of whole nations is hidden from the carnal mind of people. It takes a prophetic discernment to see the call God has for a nation against the background of all the natural history, as well as the past and the present state of a nation.

We know from Matthew 25 that God also has dealings with mankind based on national determination. We also know God has his dealings with cities, which at that time were looked at the same way we look at a nation today.

What does all this mean?

It means that we, the people of God, are called to be part of the birthing of the true (prophetic) destiny of whole nations. How can this be done? Do we need more conferences? More prophecies? More big-name evangelists to come and fill the stadiums? Hardly! Rather, the key to 'birthing' a nation lies in the cooperative efforts of the body of Christ, working together with the Holy Spirit, the leadership God sends to the nation and the 'midwives' from the outside - those whom God has sent to assist in the birthing process.

For many years we've looked at Zion being in labor as only related to prayer and intercession. I believe this to be true, but I also believe prayer and intercession and futile without the Church engaging fully into God's Kingdom strategies, which include so much more than prayer and intercession. They include much hard work both on behalf of God's leadership and the Body of Christ. Both the person with 5 talents and the person with one, working together and together working with the Holy Spirit in shifting whole nations. God's people in the parliaments of Europe, in corporate offices, in small businesses, in the media, in the arts, on the street and at school. Together we must take the prophetic words spoken over our cities and nations and apply the force and the labor needed to bring forth that which the prophets know how to declare in moments of visitation. Our mistake? We've thought of prophetic declaration as the pinnacle of God's process, when in fact they represent only the release of new beginnings.

Following are some insights related to the promise of 'birthing a nation'.

1) Every nation has her unique place and role in the plan of God

Christians have to start praying for their own nation and for all other nations and repent of carnal, nationalistic ways of looking at themselves, their nation and the world. It never fails to amaze me how many Christians still look at themselves and the world through the prism of their natural, ethnic, racial or cultural characteristics. This isn't to say we're not different. But when our differences (natural, ethnic, racial or cultural) become the reason for looking down on, rejecting, belittling or even hating another nation, this is a serious sin in the eyes of the Lord.

Example: God visits a given church in a given nation. A movement is born. The movement expands internationally and there is demand on those who represent the movement to go to other nations and share the blessing God has given them. Among other things, the revival 'experts' carry with them all kinds of cultural, racial and ethnic 'extras' and make them part of their 'formula' for a move of God.

Instead, can we discover the beauty of what each nation has to bring to the table and to release God's calling on this nation? It's all about being a body, it's all about a chain-reaction of blessing - nations blessing nations. Even the smallest nations can be a huge blessing, once they take their place in God's plan.

Missionaries have to master the art of going to a nation, raising up national leaders and then releasing them to be who God has called them to be, not treating them like a missionary project for the rest of their lives.

2) Institutional vs. apostolic leadership

What is the true leadership of a nation from God's point of view? Is it the institutional, mainstream, traditional Church or the leaders God has sent to a specific group, at a specific time and with a specific task in order to communicate His word and carry out his will?

You get it, right?

This is the essence of the 'apostolos', the 'sent one' dimension. Unfortunately many denominations, after experiencing a great move of God, become only a shell, which was once full of life. God of course can choose to visit such structures and fill them up with life again. The problem is that many times the leadership will never allow this to happen, since it will disturb their well crafted order.

So God decides to 'apostolos', or 'commission' his own servants - apostles and prophets, and speak through them in order to get his people to respond, position themselves properly in the earth and cooperate with His Kingdom agenda. This is in brief the drama the Church has gone through many times in history - on national or global scale.

The destiny of a nation can't be born through a Church that has lost the revelation and the ability of how to be a 'womb' for God's Kingdom purposes.

You can tell who are the true 'apostolos' and who are part of the dead, institutional churches very easily. Here are some markers for easy orientation:

a) Institutional Christianity:

- religious preaching and teaching (from the emotions or the mind only)
- politics and manipulation
- dead spiritual climate
- lack of strong prayer and intercession
- no faith for the supernatural works of God
- no preaching on holiness, rather, the message is - we're all sinners
- no generous and joyful giving for the Lord (people are counting pennies)
- the authority is in the board, or spiritual council of the group, not recognized in someone sent by God, be it a man or a woman
- dead worship experience
- no passion to reach the lost
- no vision and no real action to impact society

b) Apostolic (Kingdom) Christianity:

- strong vision and clear direction
- transparency and a sense of 'realness'
- faith for finances
- joyful worship and vibrant prayer
- revelation based preaching and teaching
- concern for the lost
- concern for a broken society
- creative thinking and relevancy
- entrepreneurial mindset

To the list below you can add the opposites of the first list and you get the idea. God can trust only leaders who have died to their own selfish, carnal agendas and are willing to hear from Him so they can give the direction of Heaven on earth.

True apostles carry a word to the nation and that word can shift the nation over time. I'm not referring to someone pointing their 'prophetic' finger and giving a 'prophecy'. I don't mean someone standing on a church or conference platform and declaring what the Lord wants to do, only to leave the next day and leave it all 'to God.' When I say 'having a word', I mean carrying the council, vision and will of Christ for different areas of the nation, the national identity, problems and aspirations.

God can't entrust unclean vessels to carry his council and word to a whole nation. A conference can never accommodate and release what a lifetime of preaching, teaching and work represent.

Therefore the wisdom of God also said, "I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,' Luke 11:49

Not all religious people want to persecute and kill the true apostolos of God. But most religious systems and people will try. John Kennedy said once: "Forgive your enemies but don't forget their names." We can't be naive when it comes to how rotten on the inside is the religious system and its functionaries.

3) It's all about timing

It's interesting that the promise of the Lord to see his glory on the earth is that it will happen in one day. This simply means that God has appointed a day for each nation, when things come into place, the prophetic utterances align with the altars of obedience God's people have erected for years and the apostolic decree actually breaks through and manifests the power of God.

If we study history, we can see many such events. They change the course of a nation and it's usually for God's glory. The fall of the Berlin Wall is one such example. While Christians were praying, God was building up his momentum and then a word was spoken. Not many people know the true story of what happened in Berlin on that November day in 1989, but it was utterly spiritual in nature the way the Wall came down. Crowds of people had lined up by the barriers dividing East and West Germany. This went on for many days. The German Communist party was considering calling the Red Army from Russia to come over and 'help' them. All the border guards had radios and were expecting what decision the Party was going to make. After all night deliberations, the spokesman of the Communist Party went live on the radio to read the decision. God literally took over the mouth of this man. When he was supposed to read that the party decided NOT to open the borders, he instead read that the party had decided to OPEN the border. The guards heard it, raised the barriers, the people streamed into West Germany, started smashing the Wall and this was the end of the Cold War as we know it. The man, the spokesman, was interviewed many years later on BBC and said: "I just don't know what happened. It was like something took over my mouth and I said exactly the opposite of what I was supposed to say."

Years of praying and preparing for this event culminated at this moment and the Spirit of God swept through Europe in a powerful way.

The same way today, we need to preach, pray and work to see the day the Lord has ordained for a nation to be born, to come in power and shift history in a dramatic way.

Changing nations - beyond the prophetic declarations by
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George P. Bakalov