A prophetic call to rise up and boldly advance the kingdom of God - part 1 in a 2 part series from Steve Uppal's Rousing The Warriors

Steve Uppal

The Vision

A few years ago, I had been invited to preach in a church. During the worship, the Lord spoke to me through a vision. I saw an angel on a hillside with a long straight trumpet in his hand. Below the angel, on the level ground, there were many believers. They were all involved in various different activities. Some were worshipping the Lord; some were talking to each other; some were standing, and some sitting. There was no real order or purpose to this group of believers; everybody was doing their own thing.

Then I saw the angel lift the trumpet to his mouth and begin to blow. A strong, loud sound came from the trumpet. Many of the believers who heard this sound responded to it, but not all of them. As they responded to the trumpet call, those that had stood to attention stood strong, facing the angel. They were alert, focused and ready for action. The sound from the trumpet continued and it went through the bodies of those standing, making them even stronger.

A Powerful Army

The Lord spoke to me that he was raising a powerful end-time army. I was to be one of many across the earth who have been called to blow the trumpet and rouse this army to attention and action. The Holy Spirit said that, if people would respond by opening up their hearts to this message (whether in book format or through preaching), then the sound of the words would go through them making them stronger.

The greatest army the world has ever seen is being assembled, made up of men, women and children, people from every tribe, tongue and nation. The educated and uneducated, poor and rich are all responding to the trumpet call. The army is being assembled on every continent of our planet. It is an army greater than our world has ever seen, more powerful than any historical or present-day army. They will be a mighty force for the Kingdom of God in these last days.

This army is not armed with physical weapons such as knives, guns, or heavy artillery. Their enemy is not an enemy of flesh and blood, or a particular nation on earth. They are armed with spiritual weapons fighting a spiritual enemy. Though the battle is spiritual, the results will be seen clearly in the natural realm. Lives will be changed as individuals encounter Christ. Marriages will be restored, families put back together again, and churches will find their rightful, God given place in our society. No longer will they be apologetic, passive, survivors but instead militant Kingdom advancers in their cities, nations and the world. Communities too will be transformed as the army begins its advance.

The world will become darker and more evil, but this army will become stronger and their light brighter. They will be a beacon of hope to the lost, and will save many from a dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of light. The world has not seen anything like this army before. Some laugh at the Church in its present condition, but the day is coming when they will laugh no more. They will see the Church as a strong force of hope and life in our world. When there is instability and fear all around they will see stability and safety in the Body of Christ.

Proclaim This Among the Nations: Prepare for War! Rouse the Warriors!

"Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
Beat your ploughshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
'I am strong!'
Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.
Bring down your warriors, O LORD!"
(Joel 3:9-11)

Whether you believe it or not, we are in a war. There is a battle on right now for the souls of men. God has worked out a great plan of salvation and has given his only Son that all who believe in him may have eternal life. The devil is trying his utmost to keep as many people as he can from that truth and from salvation. It is a battle for people's lives.

Many in the Church have been passive survivors. The light of Jesus in most believers has been a dim, flickering flame. We are busy with our programmes, and trying to keep our little Church worlds alive. We are busy, but busy with the wrong stuff. Our Christianity has evolved around our programmed activity and services; it is what we live for and spend most of our time and money on. We have spent our energy and focus on Church politics and pleasing or appeasing men. There has been much fighting within the ranks, people trying to preserve their little kingdoms. While we are busy majoring on minors and fighting each other, we remain irrelevant to the world around us and thousands each day slip into hell. They know little if anything about what we believe or even that we exist.

We need to regain an eternal perspective. Many believers have a temporal or temporary perspective. They are living for here and now. They are consumed with material things and have lost sight of the fact that this life is so short compared to eternity. I have a painting on my study wall that reads;

Only one life to live,
'Twill soon be past.
Only what's done
For Christ will last.

We must begin to prepare for war. The trumpet has sounded to rouse the warriors and wake them from their slumber. Believers and churches must be stirred and woken out of complacency, apathy, blindness, passivity and conformity. They must be brought into a place of being alert and ready for action.

It is time to arise from sleep to alertness, from laziness to action, from apathy to expectancy, from hurt to healing, from mediocrity to excellence, from self-pity to thankfulness, from failure to success. It is time to leave the past in the past, and take hold of today and the future. It is time to move from devotion to an earthly culture to devotion to the Kingdom culture, from doubt to faith, from fear to boldness, from limitation to enlargement and from uncertainty to confidence.

You can buy Rousing The Warriors from Cross Rhythms Direct for £7.59.