NOW is the Time to Be Ready

Joseph Herrin (02-23-09)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday (the 23rd) the Lord sent forth His provision which enabled me to get the last things done to my van to make it ready to go out on the road. As I write this the van is in the shop having new brakes put on it.

As soon as I received money in the mail yesterday I went to the bank and deposited. Before I had driven away from the bank I called the mechanic to schedule to have the work done. The Spirit has impressed upon me that this is a parable. All the people of God must act quickly in this hour. They must press in to know the will of the Lord. As soon as He indicates we are to move, we must not hesitate, but act quickly. Those who do not do so will surely suffer loss because of the delay. For some the loss will be profound.

Vehicles are symbolic of ministry, and with this last repair being made to my van it is signified that all has been done to be made ready to go wherever the Lord would send me. I have not complained of the cost of the preparation, which has been considerable both in the type and the anti-type. The vehicle repairs have not been cheap, and neither has the cost of the preparation the Father has led me through in the past years. It has cost me much, but all was exceedingly necessary to make ready for very difficult days ahead.

I spoke to my friend and brother in Christ Randy Simmons last night. We talked about many of the experiences of the past years and how they have been necessary to make the people of God ready to endure a day of great difficulty. I was led in 1999 to quit my job and minister full-time while looking to the Father to provide for all of our needs.

In the years that followed my family and I met with endless trials. We faced many fears as we were brought to extremities time and again. Yet God was always faithful. He had a provision that never failed, though it was seldom what we would have chosen for ourselves. Indeed, we chose much more comfortable and bountiful provision when our lives were more self-directed in the years that I worked in the computer field.

The past years have included reproaches, reviling, condemnation, rejection from brothers, humble circumstances, loss of family and friends, and particularly in the past 5 years since I have been walking alone there have been seasons of hunger and thirst, of exposure and lack. But in all things I have learned to be content.

Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

People of God, the Spirit testifies that there will be days of famine and hunger ahead for America and the nations. Many Christians have never gone a day without food, and when they miss their first meal in coming days they will grumble and complain. When they go one day without something to eat, fear will grip many as they think they will surely perish.

During recent years the Father led me to extended periods where I was living in the forests of Georgia with little food and water. At the end of the last 40 day period I had no food at all during the last 17 days, and very little water. It was winter and I was exposed to cold and had only one fleece pullover and some summer clothes. I wondered then at the reason for the experiences, but I can see now that it was to toughen me up and to get me ready to endure the days which are at hand.

I am grateful for the Father’s preparation process. Every bit of it. Endurance is something that is developed. We are not born with it. We become hardened by embracing difficult circumstances without grumbling or complaint.

When many people in coming days are falling apart for having gone one day without food, those who have been submitting to the Lord’s hand by embracing fasting and humble provision will remain at peace. Those who have gone day after day without two nickels to rub together, but have found the Father faithful to provide every necessity of life will not fall apart when everyone’s money fails them. They will have learned the practice of looking to the Father in all things.

Undoubtedly, many will learn these things for the first time in coming days, and god will have seasoned leaders after the pattern of Moses to guide them. But many who could have been better prepared will rue the fact that they did not actively surrender to the leading of the Spirit in a day of peace that they might be prepared for a day of trouble.

The time is now exceedingly short. There is no more time to delay. You need to be crying out to God today to make you ready. You need to ask Him what He would have you do, and do not hesitate to obey. Survival in days ahead will depend on discerning the voice of God’s Spirit and quick obedience.

II Timothy 4:5
But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship...

II Timothy 2:3-4
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Yahshua. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

The days ahead will be hard. Those who survive, and even thrive, will be those who do not quail at hardship. It will be those who have confidence in their God, and fortitude to stay the course with patience. Many have grown weary while contending with the footmen. How then will they run with the horses?

I want to pass on some very important information that bears witness of the lateness of the hour. The first is a short 4 minute video on YouTube revealing some words of Alan Keyes on the peril facing the nation. Alan Keyes was a candidate for president in 2008 and has held government posts, including being an ambassador during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqkMfToY9Pk

Today, I was sent more than once, a link to a TruNews radio broadcast that is excellent. I was impressed by how closely the things shared parallel the symbols and message brought out in the recent plane crashes. Some of the same symbols and words were brought forth by the Spirit, albeit without any reference to the plane crashes. Swans, four-corners, great judgment to the nation, economic collapse, among other things, were mentioned. It is a sobering and anointed interview, and I highly recommend it. Look for the radio broadcast on 2-23. It is an hour long, but a very present word for the hour we live in.

http://www.trunews.com/listen_now.htm

That there are four men on the radio broadcast all receiving similar testimonies of that which is at hand, is itself sobering. One of the men declares clearly that the Lord spoke to him saying that Christians must seek Him NOW, or they and their families will suffer great loss. Our children must be prayed for or many will perish. It is time to turn off the television and put away the entertainments and seek the face of God.

I know there are those who have been saying that they believe judgment is coming to America. They have been seeing the signs, and agree with their meaning. Yet they are living their lives as they always have. They are not pressing into the Father to know what they can do now. They are not praying for children who are walking apart from the Lord. They are not interceding, asking that in judgment God might remember mercy.

Do not wait for the heaven to part and God to appear to you telling you to do something now. Go to Him acknowledging that days of exceedingly great trouble are at the door, and plead with Him to show you what you might do to prepare now to help others survive in that hour. It is now very close.

Many who read these words, and have heard the warnings of others, are doing nothing different. Their money will vanish in the day of calamity. They will rue the fact that they might have submitted all to God that preparation might have been made, but it will be too late.

Some might have sought the Lord and been led ahead of time to move their family out of harm’s way, but the opportunity is being missed by many. Many have had opportunities to endure some hardship to toughen them up for the days ahead, to lose weight, or begin to exercise. Some will have missed opportunities to get their vehicles in order, or to acquire camping gear, or lay in some provision, and they will rue the fact that they did not seek the Lord to know His will.

Yet, the most tragic lack is simply the lack of spiritual preparation. Many have not been taking up their cross daily and following Christ. They will find the cross a very uncomfortable fit in coming days. In a day that requires a strong faith, they will find that theirs is weak. In a day requiring patience, they will find they are impatient. In a day of needing quietness of soul, they will find that they are not able to quiet the raging storms within.

These things are learned and developed by experience. It is a terrible thing to take an elementary school child and throw him into advanced college courses. It is hard to take a toddler and put him on a Marine Corp obstacle course. The people of God should have been growing in the years of quiet, but many have not. It will now be with difficulty that the righteous will be saved, and what will become of the godless man and the sinner?

If I might do one thing in these blogs, it would be to lead you to a soberness of spirit that you might make yourself and your family ready that you might not suffer unnecessary loss in the days ahead.

Please don’t write to me and ask me what specific preparation you should make. You must receive this knowledge from the Lord Himself. It is much easier for many to write to a man asking for direction than to get down on their knees before God asking Him the same. Yet it is God that all people must hear from in this hour.

Seek God while He may be found. Press into Him. Pray on behalf of your family, your children, your loved ones. Hesitation has already proved costly. Any further delay may well be disastrous. Seek Yahweh today.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
Parables Blog: http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063