Earlier this year, a couple days after I was pulled from Peru due to the Covid-19 lockdowns, on March 21st, the Lord directed me to Luke 13 in my quiet time. He specifically highlighted vv6-9.
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
I asked the Lord what He was showing me, and I knew right away by the Spirit of God that the fruitless tree in this story was the American church and that the three years of the landowner (God) coming to look for fruit had already passed (’17, ’18, ’19). We are in the fourth year— 2020. A year of digging out and fertilization.
Two weeks later, on April 5th, I was listening to a video by a man named Lance Wallnau, whose voice I trust to speak the truth of God’s word. He briefly mentioned the book of Haggai and its connection to the time, and I instantly knew this was the other half of what God had shown me two weeks prior.
Haggai 1:2-11 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”
3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” [emphasis added.]
I read this and felt wildly convicted. And I began to grieve and cry out to God for the American church… we have been so busy with our own houses, that we have neglected to build the house of the Lord.
After praying, I asked the Lord, “what are the three years? What opportunity arose during these three years that we missed because we have been so busy with our own houses and have neglected building yours?” And I heard, “Three years under the Trump administration.”
He then began to show me how Donald Trump was His chosen tool in this time in our history. I know, it doesn’t make sense to our religious minds. How could God use a proud man like Donald Trump for His purposes? But, does God not call king Nebuchadnezzar— yes, proud king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who overtook Judah— His servant (Jeremiah 27:6; 43:10)? Does God not speak of Cyrus, a pagan ruler, saying: “Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’ (Isaiah 44:28a)” and calls him His anointed in Isaiah 45:1? And does God not choose “the foolish things of the world to shame the wise (1 Cor 1:27)”?
He does.
Now, I don’t consider Trump a foolish person by any means. Not my point. What God was showing me is that sometimes He will offend our religion, our own minds and our own self-proclaimed righteousness to reveal Himself as the true author of history and source of our salvation. He does things I don’t understand all the time!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)”
So, back to Luke 13 and Haggai 1 and 2.
Initially, I didn’t understand. I got it how God could use someone that I didn’t deem “righteous” or “fit” for His plans and purposes (I didn’t even vote in 2016 for this reason… *eye roll* to voting my conscience rather than God’s will). But the big question still stood: How did Donald Trump in office connect to the church in America?
And then it hit me… In my lifetime, we’ve never had a president more openly pro-life; we’ve never had a president so open to prayer, intercession, worship and prophecy; we’ve never had a president who was willing to make Jerusalem the location of the US Embassy and to fight for Israel’s peace; we’ve never had a president so boldly speak for religious freedom.
During these years, we had a government administration who was fighting for the things that the church should care about.
Here are some of the things I believe are on God’s heart in this season:
- Abortion – There have been 61.8 million+ abortions in the U.S. between 1973-2018
- Human trafficking – 600,000-800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 80% are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors. (US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2005)
- Division/disunity – there is a clear and growing racial, political and economic divide in our nation, and I believe God desires a true, biblical movement to emerge that fights for real unity and peace. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility (Ephesians 2:14, 16).”
- Orphans – The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption pegs the current number of children in U.S. foster care at a staggering 443,000. Could we be a God-hearted people, both young and old, who take in foster children? Could we be a generation that carries the spirit of adoption and welcomes orphans home?
- Israel – God loves Israel and their salvation has always been at the forefront of the Biblical narrative. Paul writes in Romans 11:26-28b, 29 “26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”… as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”
We— the Church— had the opportunity to fight for and care about the things on God’s heart for over three years now. We’ve had resources to expand the Kingdom; we’ve had freedom to speak about LIFE and the tragedy of abortion in our nation; we’ve had the opportunity to fight for the voiceless and set the captives free; we’ve had time to pray and intercede for Israel’s freedom and salvation; we’ve had free rein to preach the cross of Christ boldly and make disciples.
Church, we have had the opportunity to SHINE and be FRUITFUL under this administration. But what were we doing in this time? Sadly, not many of the things above. We were too busy with ourselves, our own homes, our own ministry’s success, our own church strategies, our own visions and dreams for our lives, and even our own lukewarm preaching to grow our congregations and keep tithes coming in… all the while leaving God’s house in ruin.
Church, we have been fruitless for far too long. And because of that, God is allowing our roots to be dug around this year (Luke 13:8). Better that than cut down! Sadly, and thankfully though, what that’s allowing is for the sources in which we are drawing nutrients to be EXPOSED. Think about all the exposure that has come to corrupt or fallen ministries, leaders and pastors this year… I mean, A LOT. And praise God for that! God is digging out the old soil and revealing our dried out, tired, nutrient deficient roots because of HIS KINDNESS. “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works (Psalm 145:17).” No matter how painful 2020 may have been thus far, all His works are kind.
Following the digging out, guess what happens? RE-FERTILIZATION. Praise Jesus! This is because of HIS GRACE. I believe that in Luke 13, the person caring for the land represents intercessors, pleading on behalf of the tree— the American church— for the Landowner— God—to give us more time to repent and bear fruit. If you are an intercessor in America, thank you!
What has this re-fertilization looked like this year? Here are a few things that come to mind.
- God raising up leaders like Sean Feucht, who has been traveling across the country to call for repentance, true worship, and the freedom to worship.
- Franklin Graham calling thousands to the National Mall for 2020 Prayer March, believing for hearts to turn back to God.
- Amy Coney Barrett confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice and the hope for life that comes with that confirmation.
- Ministries like SaturateOC and others going out and preaching the gospel of Jesus in cities, seeing many repent and be baptized.
Many of these focus on the call to repentance for the American church, which I believe is the call of this year. In kindness and grace, God has delayed His judgement upon the house of God and our nation, will our response be repentance? Craig Keener writes in The IVP Bible Background Commentary: “Jewish teachers debated whether Israel’s repentance could change the set time of the end, but they agreed that God could suspend his judgement if he saw repentance.”
God has suspended His judgement on America. How will we respond?
My hope and prayer is that we will be like remnant of people in Haggai and will repent for being so self-focused and slumbering in our call to build the Kingdom of God.
Haggai 1:12, 14b “12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord… 14b They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God”
Within 24 days, they turned back to the Lord and began to build His house! Will we respond in the same way? Will we repent, Church of America? And will we rise up and do the will of God on the earth?
Following the remnants repentance, the Lord speaks through Haggai again and says in v19: “Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “From this day on I will bless you.” [emphasis added.]
Until now, for three years, we had not borne fruit… until NOW, church. It is time. Let us, from our repentance, bear the fruit of true repentance through our action (Matthew 3:8) and receive these words from v19 “From this day on I will bless you.”
Here are some action steps for RIGHT NOW!
- REPENT. For any unrighteous actions, inaction, idols, living for lesser loves, selfishness, pride, not preaching the full gospel, disobedience, or anything else that has kept you from living in communion with God and being a part of expanding His Kingdom.
- PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. Pray like your life depends on it. Because it does. The life of this nation and the culture we will raise our kids/grandkids in largely depends on our actions today. Pray for our families, our leaders, our churches, our government, ministries who are in the battlegrounds, missionaries around the world, for the ending of abortion, a new movement of women in unity with men to rise up, and Israel as well as other nations. Pray that the truth would be revealed and that corruption would cease in Jesus Name.
- FAST. Ask the Lord what He may be asking you to fast and for how long, and whether corporately or individually, seek Him in your fasting. In Jonah 3, Jonah goes to Nineveh and tells them the word of the Lord that they would be overthrown. Their response? A nationwide fast (V5). Even the king of Nineveh “took off his royal robes, covered himself in sackcloth and sat down in the dust (v6).” Then he gave a decree for all people and animals to fast, “call urgently on God, (v8)” and give up their evil ways. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened (v10).” Fasting is all about getting lesser loves out of the way and seeking the Lord with pure hears. And God responds to our humility, fasting, and prayers!
- GET INVOLVED. Get involved in your kids’ school system. Run for government positions. Team up with ministries, whether in action or financially, who are actively fighting to stop abortion, set trafficked victims free, and bring racial unity to our nation. Start a virtual bible study at your workplace. Share the gospel!
- RAISE YOUR VOICE. The time to be silent IS NOT NOW. It’s time to speak up about the things that God cares about, it’s time to be a city on a hill, it’s time to share your faith in Christ no matter what the cost.
It’s not too late.
With love and in the fear of the Lord,
Brittany
