Poke Holes in the Darkness

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One day a friend came up to me
and said something odd.

“You are like the pointy end of the spear.”

There was a time when the romantic idea
of the “forerunner” was going around the church.

There is nothing romantic
about running ahead of the pack.
There is more danger out ahead,
and more often than not,
the pack behind you is happy to shoot you in the back.

Going ahead is part of the
prophetic calling.
It is central to the calling on the army of artists.
Run ahead
and make a way
for the coming of the Lord.

And I can promise you this.
Folks will not understand.
They will ask why you aren’t doing the “ministry” thing.
They will ask why you are working hard
but the fruit and the success is slim.
Folks will wonder what on earth is motivating you.

Nothing on earth is motivating you.
When you hear the call in the desert,
“Prepare the way of the Lord,”
and you go out to make a path
in the wilderness,
clearing it of stones,
and cutting back the underbrush,
you are called to a solitary calling.

You are not called to be a pack dweller.

If you hear His voice,
and follow it faithfully,
you are given a unique task.

Make a way
for the coming of the Lord.

Part of our forerunner calling
is to the “place at the gate.”
Earlier this year the Lord
began speaking to me about
New York City.
We pray for four cities almost daily:
New York, London, Jerusalem, and Hong Kong.

The Lord first spoke to me about New York in 1987 or 1988.
I thought I was going there a long time ago.

Instead,
I faced the furnace of humiliation,
and I learned a lot about life,
and about the Kingdom of God.

Last week a few members of our prayer team accompanied me to New York,
and we walked into Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
It was packed:
like Christmas Eve or Easter Sunday packed.
Not ideal for sight seeing.

I was about to leave,
when Zuzana poked me and said
"Look, there is a bishop up front."
It wasn’t a bishop.
It was Sean Cardinal O’Malley from Boston.
I was invited to work with Cardinal O’Malley
on a pro-life task force over ten years ago.
What are the chances of walking into St. Pat's and seeing a cardinal I knew?

I turned to the group and said,
"I think we need to stay."

We ended up joining a procession
of roughly 2000 Catholics
taking the Presence of Jesus into
mid-town Manhattan,
Rockefeller Center,
and Times Square.

I have prayer walked a lot of places,
and I have prayer walked New York.
But I have never prayer walked like this before.

God is calling us
to leave our religious ministry grid behind.
He is calling us to be the pointy end
that pokes holes
in the Kingdom of darkness
as a sign and a wonder.

Make a way
for the coming of the Lord.

He Never Fails,