By Ryan Vanderstelt

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Where are you, church? Are you reading this? Are you as ready as I am to go home? If you are anything like me, you have been waiting a LONG time for Christ to return. We have been standing in the train terminal with our bags packed, peering down the tracks for the faintest glimmer of light, testing the ground for that particular tremor and waiting for the sound of that glorious call. 

We watch for Feasts. We watch for the planets and stars to be in the right positions and the right color. We watch for those things while we hold our breath: “Is this it? Is it going to be tonight? Maybe while I sleep tonight? Will I wake up to glory…or just wake up?”

And yet, here…we...are, still standing in the train station checking our watches. Is the train late? We don’t know. He gave us some indications of when to expect him and we see those indications all around us, but still no train home. 

The truth is, there is something lacking that we, myself included, seem to be overlooking─the one thing He said would hasten His arrival. We are waiting on some passengers to arrive at the station. We cannot expect to go until there are enough of us to fill the train to capacity. So instead of looking at all the things that are swirling around us, things we can all see are pointing to His return, I make the following proposal:

I want to form an “army” of sorts. A kind of “army of God.” Please hear me out. I can hear the rustlings in your mind thinking this smacks of the Middle Age Crusades─but I don’t mean exactly that. I am tired of waiting. It is time we start DOING! 

How many Rapture Ready articles have you read in the last year where the author puts out a heart-wrenching plea for the church to “wake up, time is short”? Well, I for one have been awake for a long time now, and I am ready to move! Will you join me? Consider this seriously. I want no knee-jerk responses here. 

If you are not right with God, GET RIGHT before you make that decision. If you go to church, but you are not part of the church, I am not talking to you. If you are looking for some way to bring some form of glory for yourself, to have people gawk and stare and applaud you at how “holy” you can be─you too can dismiss yourself from the rest of this “call to arms.”

 

I need prayer warriors to go ahead of us as we march. Send your mighty prayers out ahead of us and thrash those minions of our enemy like you were wielding a God-powered wood chipper. Ask God to bring the hedges of protection round about us as we go out looking for those stragglers and point them to the train station. Prayer warriors─you are our front line, you are our Marines. 

Next in line, I need those who have a strong knowledge of the Word: Evangelists, Bible study hounds─this is you. I need your strength in wielding the sword of truth. There will be those God allows past the hedges of our prayer warriors, They are getting through for a reason, and it is your adeptness in the inspired Word of God we will need to present them with our purpose for being on the move.

I need those with strong hearts of love, caring and compassion. The Evangelists are going to turn the lives of those they touch upside down. They will probably be a bit shaken and we need your special, God-given capacity for showing REAL love, REAL caring─the very nature of God, to those getting through the lines. 

 

Those of you with a real gift of patience and discipleship, I need you intermixed with our loving group. When those we reach make their decision for our King, they will need people to be at the ready, day or night to answer those haunting questions and to carry them through while they strengthen.

Remember, these will be babes in the new life. They will need your comfort and protection─like a baby being rescued from a burning building. It will be difficult for a while, but if you play your part and use the gift you were given, soon they will begin to carry some of their own weight and eventually be able to help you carry others. 

I am not done. We ARE the hands and feet, but we are also the legs and arms, heart and mind and the many, many other parts. For those of you who look at the roster above and think, “I’m not gifted in any of those areas, I guess I am not needed, I can play no part,” I want you to stop right there.  The time for pity parties has long passed.

Do you have strength in Media? Getting the word out? Making videos, writing letters, sending email, answering mail, making documents, doing graphic art, making music─heck, if you can lick a stamp we can use you! But you must be serious about this! You must be ready to give your all in front of God, the world and all of creation. 

Are you worried what your friends will think, or your co-workers, or strangers? Then this is not for you. Step aside to let the others through. If along the way your courage strengthens, we will be happy to use whatever gift you can share for the cause.

Will this be easy? Not likely. This is spiritual warfare people and I intend to make some waves. I want the enemy to see us coming and wet themselves as they tremble. If you do this, the world is going to turn on you like a rabid wolf and be looking for ways to silence you and rip you to shreds in the same breath.

The enemy will attempt to infiltrate, deceive, frustrate and confuse─BUT WE ARE THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD! We are HIS CHILDREN! We are the bride of our KING─CHRIST JESUS─Yeshua. What do you think the enemy possibly has to break-up that power?

NOTHING, that’s what! The enemy has gotten away long enough putting a straw man in scary clothes before us, and telling us to be quiet and turn back─or else. I will tell you what that “or else” is: If we DON’T “be Quiet” and we DON’T turn back, then we grab a kingdom full of souls out of the devil’s filthy hands! I kinda like that “or else,” how about you?

God has already told us we are warriors─we just need to stand up and take our positions on the front line. And I for one am ready to start. Doggone it let the sleepers sleep. We can make enough noise to rouse some along the way. Who among you is ready to TRULY believe on God like you say you do, ready to rest on His promises to prosper us and not harm us if we make His will, our will?

Who will join me in this? Email me, let me know you are ready and what gifts you have been blessed with.

Let us stop fighting amongst ourselves and trying to be “glory hogs.” Let us come together, as one─for the One, for the King and our heavenly country! Let’s go get these stragglers. Let’s go HOME and let us bring as many along for the ride as we can!

Email: vanderr12@yahoo.com