Prophecy

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On May 30, 1999, as I was waking up from sleep on this particular Sunday morning, the Lord began speaking to me. This is what He said:
“My people don’t believe Me. You must convince them that I’m coming back for a Church
without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. And I’m coming soon.” (Eph.5:27)

He also gave me a vision of His glorious self, walking with those dressed in white, following behind Him just as far as my eye could see. There were millions and millions of the righteous saints. I said, “Jesus, you’re walking. You said in Your Word that when you come back, you will be riding a white horse.” He spoke one word to me in answer. He said, “Prelude.”

The word, prelude means, “a short time, something taking place before the main event.”

We use the word “prelude” in wedding ceremonies when “prelude music” is played to herald in the main event. The main event is when the bride comes forth in all her glory to join the bridegroom who receives her unto himself. Prior to this, the bride has been in preparation for this main event. So, the Lord Jesus was saying that His Bride, the Church is in “Prelude,” a short time of preparation before He comes to receive her unto Himself, the Bridegroom. This of course, is referring to the “catching away” of the Church, when “the dead in Christ shall rise first and then those who remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air...”

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WHAT ABOUT TODAY?
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That was then and what is the Lord Jesus saying about this now, today? He says this, so listen closely.

“My people don’t think I’m coming back to this earth soon. What they think in their mind, they believe, and they think I’m not coming back for a Church without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. They think they can continue in unrighteousness, impurity and unholy living and they will be ready when I come again. There is a need for My people to change their minds.

I am indeed coming back soon for My Church, but not in their present state (condition). If I came back now, a majority would be left behind. My Church at present is spotted, wrinkled and blemished but they think they are okay. If they could only see from My eyes, their sad condition, they would fall on their faces in remorseful repentance.

So many of My people are neither hot nor cold, but rather they are lukewarm. They are just going through the mechanical motions of being a Christian. They are on dangerous ground. They think they’re rich when indeed, they are poor and wretched (Rev.3:17). They are doing plenty of works but have no outward show of lasting fruit. It’s imperative that you return to your first Love and passionately pursue Me as you did in the beginning.

Many of My people would not recognize Me if I walked right into their midst. In fact, I have done so when you were intensively worshiping Me, but yet, you knew not that I passed in your midst. You thought you were caught up in My Spirit but I tell you, you were spellbound by another spirit. You failed to recognize Me and to worship Me in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

There is a false spirit of worship among My Body that often causes a certain high pitch to be reached but when it ebbs away, there is no real heart change. The soulish feelings that many are experiencing soon subsides with no inward change that is lasting.

True worship of Me, by My Spirit brings real and lasting transformation that is inward and shows in the outward evidence of fruit that remains. I am coming soon, for a Church without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. Therefore, heed the voice of My Spirit and allow Him to get you ready, Church, for Me to receive you unto Myself. You shall be a glorious Church (Bride), just as I have said in My Word.”

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WORSHIP:
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True worship is coming where we worship God in Spirit and in truth. In some places, this is already happening to some degree. Still, we haven’t seen the full manifestation of it just yet, but it’s coming forth by the wind of the Holy Spirit. We won’t have to work ourselves up to a certain pitch to “feel” that we’re worshiping God.

The worship that Jesus is talking about is genuine and is of the Holy Ghost. It’s spontaneous, while in perfect order at the same time, even if it appears that it’s not to the human eye. It will be understood only by the spirit, not the intellect. Man can’t reason out spiritual things. They are “spiritually discerned.”

As this worship of God in Spirit and truth picks up momentum, you won’t have to spend an hour or more in services getting people to the point of frenzy that’s nothing more than “excited flesh.” Worship of God in Spirit and in truth is not spasmatic frenzy. True worship is not based on your senses---taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing, although your emotions are involved. Still, they are not to lead you.

The Holy Spirit is to lead you by your faith into the presence of a holy God, whether you “feel” goose bumps or not. As you yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit in worship, He will use every part of you to worship and give glory to Jesus, our Lord and King. Much (not all) of the worship we’ve seen so far has been based on “feelings” rather than faith and a yielding to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to lead us HIS way into true worship of Jesus.

We’ve become accustomed to thinking that we have to work ourselves up and work God up in order to be in praise and worship. Sometimes, He would rather that we “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10). But we’re uncomfortable with this kind of quietness. We have the tendency to think that praise and worship must either be extremely noisy or deathly quiet.

Can it be loud and noisy? Is that appropriate? You bet it is. Not only are we to “shout for joy” but we’re told in Psalm 33:3, “Sing unto Him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.” We’re told to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord”(Psalm 100:1). Again, we’re told to “shout unto God with the voice of triumph”(Psalm 47:1). That’s making a lot of “joyful and worshipful” noise unto our King of glory. But lets don’t forget that he also tells us to “be still and know that I am God.” In that is balance, rather than extremes either way.

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IS THE CHURCH READY?
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Consider these three groups of people:

Group # 1--The people of this group are genuine, blood-washed, born again, Holy Ghost baptized Christian’s. They are expectant, watching, praying---they are ready (as much as they can be).

Group # 2--The people of this group are those in denominations of religion who think they are ready for Jesus to come back to this earth, when in fact, they’re not. If this group doesn’t see the light of truth and allow the Holy Spirit to prepare them, they will be left behind to go through the tribulation. “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”

These are people who are deceived to believe that going to church every Sunday is enough to secure them a place in the catching away of the Church when Jesus Christ returns. They are deceived to believe that being moral; doing good works is enough. They are excuse makers. They have evil hearts of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12). They are into compromise in varying forms in and out of the church. They refuse to let go of “pet sins.” They are complacent, “let somebody else do it.” They are proud, self-righteous, boasters of works---and no real fruit that remains. This is the modern day Laodecia church Jesus wanted to either be hot or cold (Rev.3:15-16).

Group # 3--This group of people are those who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior; because Group # 1 and Group # 2 were too busy with themselves to be concerned. This 3rd group is destined to be left behind, due to the Church’s neglect. Part of this 3rd group did know about Jesus but they waited until a ‘better day’ before they made Him the Lord of their lives. They thought there would be a better time, when really, no more time was left.

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A CHANGE OF MIND:
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The Lord said that His people need a “change of mind.” Actually, this is what the word “repentance” means. It means, “to have a change of mind, to turn (from one thing to another), to go in another direction.”

We are a tri-part being, in that we are a spirit, who has a soul and lives in a body. Our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions.
Phil.4:7 says, “Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest (honorable), whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Our minds are ‘purified’ by the word of God (Eph.5:27). In John 15:3, Jesus said to the disciples, “You’ve been cleansed (from impure mind--thinking) by the words I have spoken.” We are also purified by also obeying God’s word (James 1:22). Not only is our soul, the mind in particular, able to believe (Heb.10:39 And love God Luke 10:27, our soul also has the ability to sin (Micah 6:7).

The focus in Phil.4:7 is the “mind of man, “ whereby he is to have a “change of mind.” A person’s mind is renewed by the word of God (Romans 12:2). Its renewed by exchanging old ways of thinking, that is, old mind sets, attitudes such a slave mentality, etc. A person exchanges this kind of wrong thinking that pollutes the mind to the right kind of thinking that's based on God’s word and brings about a peaceful mind.

This happens when you think on things that are true, not listening to a lot of religious unbelief from Aunt Bessie and Uncle BoBo. But choosing to think on things that are praise worthy such as the goodness of God. Thinking about Jesus and how much He loves you and how much you love Him. Thinking about the way He’s blessed you and took care of you, even when things looked impossible. Be more heavenly minded than earthly minded. After all, you’re not OF this world, even though you’re IN this world.

The Lord Jesus said, we, His Church, need to “change our minds.” If you noticed, He didn’t ask us if we’d like to. If you think about and hear about a thing long enough, you will believe it. Once you believe it, you will begin to speak it (confess it with your mouth). Once you’ve established a habit of these things, the next thing you will do is to put action to it. You will only act on what you believe to be true, whether that is God’s truth or the devil’s deception, regardless of how it comes.

Jesus said, “My people don’t believe Me...” If we, the Church, for whatever reason, do not believe that Jesus is coming sooner than we think, we will act on that belief. Thus, we will continue on as we have been, believing that we’re a-okay when in actuality, we’re not okay. We will continue to be lukewarm and complacent, doing nothing except what we just have to do in order to squeak by while hoping it‘s enough.

On the other hand, if we truly believe that Jesus is coming back at any moment in time, then we’re going to act on that belief also. We will be praying and watching while we allow the Holy Spirit to do His purifying work in us to get us ready for our soon coming King. We will be “out there” telling people about Jesus and bringing them into the Kingdom of God before it’s too late. We will be having a dramatic “change of mind.” We will be convinced that Jesus is who He says He is, He’s already made salvation available through the cross, and He’s coming back to this earth the second time, just like He said, to gather up His Church. The question that we each have to ask ourselves is, where am I in preparation to be rapture ready?

May we ALL allow the Holy Spirit to prepare us as the Bride in this “prelude” of time we’re in. For soon we will see the return of the Bridegroom, Jesus, Who will come and receive us unto Himself. May we ALL be looking, praying, ever watching for the soon return of Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He truly is coming sooner than you “think.”

Plain As Day Ministries

Shirley Williams
7-28-04

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