Prayer for the Nations and The Former and Latter Rain by Shawn Patrick and Christy Williams

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Prayer for the Nations

by Shawn Patrick Williams

 

Psalm 2:8 says, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” There is a heavenly burden that takes place in many followers of Christ that is so overwhelming you simply can’t shake it off! It’s a burden to pray for the nations. God has children in the nations of the earth and wants all of mankind to know Him personally.

 

As I have traveled through the world the Lord will burden me for nations and peoples. I may be in Nigeria and the Lord speak about the next assignment tin Asia. Many times, the Holy Spirit will prompt pray for protection, provision, or even advancement of His will in these nations and assignments. Praying for the nations is God’s will and we can find it all through the scripture. The prophet Neimiah had this burden while serving in the court of the King of Persia. He had a burden that shifted a nation for kingdom advancement.

 

Matthew 28:19-20 says “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Amen. Jesus gave us this great commission, before He ascended to the right hand of the Father. This great commission was a mandate to the nations. We all play a part in that mandate. Some go, some sow and some pray and some prepare! This is the mission of the Body of Christ. There is a clear instruction to occupy until He comes!

Ascend revival altars in June at a Friday night worship service.

Martin Luther said, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying ahold of His willingness.” We must pray through our assignments on this earth and pray for others assignments on this earth. My prayer is that God would use this article to burden some to pray for new missionaries, old missionaries, evangelist and church planters. Pray for their protection, provision, direction, families, health, vision, relationships and ability to operate and transition in and through their assignments well.

 

Ask the Lord for the nations. Pray for which nations to focus on. Ask the Lord for names, people and ministries to be revealed. He wants to use you as a watchman to the nations! Warrior Nations has so many things going on that has the potential to impact the nations in a major way. Please keep us in prayer!

Ascended Life TV Show in 150 nations.

A Note from Christy…

“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. Joel 2:23 KJV

Sometimes it’s hard to see what God is doing. He often tells us – trust Me. But trust can be hard for some and often dependent on our life experiences. Trust is risky to give, can be lost, and often earned back slowly when broken. The pattern of individual trust seems to be carried throughout our interpersonal relationships in which we related to others, the world, ourselves, and yes, God too. Does God mean what he says, will He do what he says, can He be trusted – we dare to ask and ponder at times.

 

Trust is defined as “belief in reliability, truth, ability, and strength of something.” So when it comes to God, that means trust in God’s reliability, His Word, His ability, and His strength. The Bible says in Numbers 28:13 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

Team at Feed My Sheep in Newport, TN rehab project.

As I prayed about this column and what needed to be shared, I heard “the former and the latter each have purpose.” Scripturally, the former and the latter refers to rain, two distinct periods crucial for the successful agricultural cycle in the ancient Near East – Israel.

Deuteronomy 11:4 mentions God giving rain for the land in its season. Hosea 6:3 uses the rains to illustrate God’s faithfulness. Joel 2:23 promises the return of both the former and latter rain. Zechariah 10:1 instructs people to ask God for rain in the time of the latter rain.

Shawn Patrick and Christy at TV 49 for a program.

The cycles of rain had purpose. The former rain, typically in the Fall was essential for planting of seeds. The later rain, or Spring rain was crucial for the ripening and maturation of crops, leading to harvest. The rains were seen as a blessing from God and their timely arrival was essential for the prosperity and well-being of the people. Key points about the former and latter rain: they had significance and were essential, they fell in God’s appointed times, they signified blessing from God, and they have spiritual application.

 

The former and latter concept highlights God’s ability to bring about greater than what appeared before. Whatever season you find yourself, know God has appointed seasons of rain for the planting and reaping of what He has ordained for your lives. There is purpose and He controls the seasons. Whether they are wanted seasons of prosperity and ease or seasons of toil and labor, or seasons of questioning and confusion, we can rest assured as we cleave to Him, that He holds us tightly and is fully trustworthy. Each season and appointed time has purpose and if we let God, He will bring a good harvest out of our seasons of rain, both former and later. Put your hand to the plow and keep on – the God of the latter and former sees and knows.

 

Warrior Nations’ Prayer Focus:   

  • “The Ascended Life” TV program
  • Two new online discipleship classes project
  • Expenses for 3 upcoming mission trips in 2025 to the UK, Asia, & Middle East
  • Monthly base budget met each month
  • Protection for family and teams serving
  • WNF leadership development and community
  • Ascend Revivals in SC, GA, TN

Securely give online through the QR code or mail your gift to the PO Box. Thank you for your faithful giving!

A New Season by Shawn Patrick Williams

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A New Season by Shawn Patrick Williams

It is a new season for Warrior Nations. God has increased our outreaches. Online, we now offer free online Evangelism and School of the Spirit 101 & 201 courses. These courses can be accessed at www.warriornations.org. Locally, we are taking teams out every first Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm for in-person training in Greenwood, SC. All are welcome. Every Sunday night at 4pm we have equipping services at the i3 ministry hub in Greenwood, SC.

Shawn Patrick, Christy, Ada, & John at Ignite Hawaii.

Currently, we are in the middle of taping a new TV program called, Ascended Life. We are working diligently to have things ready to launch in the next few months. Revival is still happening in Greenwood, SC with services  every Friday night at 7pm. Pray for us, as we are currently planning upcoming meetings in the upstate of SC; Washington, DC; New York City, NY; Newport, TN; the UK; Pakistan; and Qatar this year. The crazy thing is, that’s all happening in 2025! Folks are hungry and the harvest is whitened, John 4:35.

 

At the beginning of this year, a lot of prophetic voices were saying this year will be a year of double grace. I was happy and encouraged to hear it. The grace I found in knowing Jesus was and has been beautiful, while overwhelming. To think He wants to give His kids a double portion. Wow! Little did I know that God was giving us an acceleration in our ministry assignments this year. WNIM is seeing double the activity and impact. That also means our budget has doubled. I asked the Lord why this was happening, and, in my heart I felt the Holy Spirit say, because His return is nearing.

 

When we look at all the things going on in this world, we can see the signs that this is true. We see wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, disasters, and a culture that calls good evil and evil good. Luke 21:28 says, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”

 

We appreciate your faithful prayers and support. Please continue praying as the Lord has opened doors for us to travel as a family again and we are doubling down on the great commission. We have been blessed with more prayers, help and community than we ever have in the history of our ministry. We thank you for all your prayers and support as we are going from the neighbors to the nations. God is good!

 

A Note from Christy…

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV. 

 

Hi Friends, Christy here. It’s been some time since I’ve shared, so I wanted to catch up. God is doing some new things and I wanted to fill you all. He is truly the author of our stories, turning the pages, writing new chapters. Often, times and seasons are markers used to quantify and denote times of change. We sense it at times and other times are taken by surprise. Just as we daily operate on calendar & clock time (chronos), God operates on another time (kairos) – appointed now, suddenly, right times. It’s a focus on quality of time rather than quantity. In essence, chronos represents measurable forward moving time, while kairos captures significance and opportunity within that flow. It’s in the moments rather than just the minutes.

 

 

Recently, I was able to have some precious moments with some precious people on two trips that I was pleasantly surprised to be able to take – one to Panama and one to Hawaii. These trips were life changing for me. I’m so glad I was able to go. For the past 5 years I’ve served as a trauma counselor to child and adult victims of abuse and assault. I’ve walked alongside those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and other severe mental health issues, seeing many get better and heal. This behind the scenes call to quietly and confidentially bring light in darkness, allowed for precious conversations, healings, and people to be set free all within a secular setting. It was a rewarding yet intense and exhausting season. It brought much growth, reward, advancements, opportunities for advocacy, and trials as you can imagine.

 

The enemy doesn’t like God’s light, love, and power encountering people who are lost, hurting, and may never walk through a church door. Each client was lifted in prayer before each session. God faithfully encountered many, regularly showing up in ways only He could. God even provided Damascus road experiences when needed right in the therapy room – something that only He could do. He was and is so faithful. It was such a privilege to encounter these precious people and journey alongside them for a set time through a therapeutic relationship. Marketplace ministry can have a powerful effect if we choose to let Him use us as vessels to let His light shine – truly the harvest is plentiful!

Children gathered in Panama for food, fun, and school supplies.

Within the seasons are set times, Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 goes on the elaborate. “A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal…a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” We can most likely all relate to some of this scripture if living any substantial time on this earth. We’re reminded of a powerful truth: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Life unfolds in rhythms and cycles, some joyful, others painful. There’s a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. These words speak deeply to our human experience.

Christy at Unity Outreach in Panama serving lunch during an outreach.

As Christians, we find comfort in knowing that God is sovereign over each of these seasons. Whether we are in a period of planting or uprooting, building or tearing down, God is present and at work. He wastes nothing—not our suffering, not our waiting, not even our mistakes. Each season carries a purpose, even when it doesn’t make sense in the moment. Our calling is to press through the hard seasons, not cling too tightly to better ones, but walking with God through them all with trust and hope. When we trust Him as the Lord of our time and moments, we can find peace knowing that He makes “everything beautiful in its time” Ecclesiastes 3:11. Whatever season you’re in today, may you rest in the assurance that God is with you, shaping your heart and guiding your steps according to His perfect timing. We can trust him.

This season God has added to my foundation and years in His service. It’s a new and exciting next season which God calls, Rise. Founded on Isaiah 61, the focus continues bringing beauty for ashes, shining His light & love, a call to community and to the nations. God has already begun to open doors to the nations with an initial trip to Panama and then Hawaii. Both trips to beautiful kind people who are hungry for God Himself! What a delight to minister as His hands and feet to such hungry and on fire ones. Oh, our reward is truly Him!

 

While things are still unfolding, we ask for your continued prayers. Warrior Nations’ partners are family to us and we think of you often. As we co-labor in His fields of whitened harvest, may His will be revealed and His presence go with us all. Please see the giving code for your convenience to sow into the harvest as we go into the world. The harvest is truly plentiful!

Warrior Nations 2024 Outreach Report and Support Update!

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Dear Partner and Friend,

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I am communicating some of the most important information about our current outreaches. If you have been a part of our journey for twenty-two years, you don’t want to miss out on it!

“Watch therefore. For you do not know when the master of the house is coming-in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster. Or in the morning- lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” Mark 13:35-37

The climate in which we live confirms that we are in the last days. If you ever had a emergency to watch and pray, it should be now! Warrior Nations has taken this call very seriously and all our outreaches are in full force. Our local outreaches have never had a regional impact, as it does today. We have been in revival for 3 years now, but this year, it went to another level. We had to partner with other local ministries to accommodate the numbers of people attending and had to have multiple churches helping serve to facilitate this revival.

The international and missions’ outreaches have gone to another level! We are reaching India monthly with our support to Christian Living Ministries orphans. They have 60 kids we support monthly and their outreach to the Hindus has triple by planting home churches. We support our African pastor in Ghana and Nigeria on a quarterly level and hope to expand that to monthly.

The World Harvest Outreaches are impacting nations by our visits and Zoom meetings. We end the year in New Zealand and 2025 has us in Pakistan, Dubi, Sadi Arabia and Hawaii. Revival is breaking out in these nations, and we have partnered with key ministries to take part in larger outdoor meetings in these nations.

We have developed online course that are free for individual to gain necessary resources for growth. We are praying as new believers are trained in these courses, they would grow into their call and even the Lord will speak to new partners to support Warrior Nations. We do not hold many fundraising events, or campaigns. We have been too busy doing the work to focus on that and simply are trusting the Lord to bring increase. We have redesigned our websites for this new season and ask you to go check them out. We, also, have been creating evangelism videos for social media. These videos have been reaching people in a way our ministry has never reached. We are currently developing a consistent flow of evangelism videos that have the potential to reach millions with the Gospel of Christ. Please keep the development of this in prayer.

Warrior Nations Fellowship, our leadership network, has expanded this year greatly. We have had many new people join and a local church, called Grace Community Church. This is the host church for the revival services. WNF has had a wonderful year networking leaders and developing discipleship tools for leaders. See the website for more info.

The major project I want to present to you is a new TV program coming out called, “Ascended Life”. This will be a 30-minute TV program that will be airing on Sat-7 TV and Moab TV.  These two networks are not charging us any money to air. That is the favor of God! They both air in the 10/40 window. This is where 3 billion Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists live. We need funding to get the proper equipment, editing hours and covered for time. If we must pay for the editing of the show are a medium rate it will be $15,000. I believe that this show has the potential to see millions of people come to Jesus Christ.

If you are not currently a monthly partner, I ask you to pray about supporting Warrior Nations with a monthly mission offering. We need to double our budget this year because of outreach expansion and increase in cost of living/goods. Every ministry is dealing with the decline in American economy, but God is above American economy.  Thank you for your prayerful consideration and thank you to all those who have been supporting Warrior Nations through this monthly partnership commitment. You can go to www.warriornations.org and give. You can Text 833-732-0876, or mail to WNIM PO Box 2352 Greenwood, SC 29649.

Together we are Gathering the Harvest for our King,

Shawn Patrick Williams

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Warrior Nations Ministry Hurricane Helene Update!

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Warrior Nations Ministry Hurricane Helene Update!

 We have been getting messages from around the world to check on WNIM after hurricane Helene. My report to you is, All is well! Thank you for your prayer and concern. We are five days into disaster recovery and 17th week of revival services here home base. We are starting to see the city’s main streets and stores come back online. Gas, food and power are coming back. The outer parts of the county are still without power and resources. There have been reported shooting and fights in gas lines and food lines, but mostly safe. The National Guard has been called in and they are helping, as well as many power linemen. They are working endlessly to get the power back up in the rural areas. Recovery is happening quickly!

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord to them who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

The good news is that the church is in its finest hour. I heard the Lord say that in a time of chaos and confusion the church will excel! The community is connecting in a beautiful way. People are reaching out to strangers and helping in a time of need and the love of God is coming through His people in a very real way. The church was birthed in a time of crisis and God works His best stuff in tough times.

We are still having weekly revival on Monday and Friday nights at 7pm and normal ministry operations. We are still having the Fall Fire Revival meetings in Oct 18th-22nd. You are going to want to attend these if all possible! God is moving in uncommon ways. 45 testimonies of healings and dozens of salvations have taken place.

Please keep our ministry in prayer, as we are focused on continuing to keep our international humanitarian commitments, as well as our ongoing recovery and normal ministry operations. This has been a huge challenge. Our region has not been affected like East TN, or western NC, but we have never had a disaster like this. It is challenging and many people are in very difficult situations that hey have never been faced with.

All your ongoing prayer and support are so appreciated and much needed! For continued real time updates and connection go to www.warriornations.org. You can send prayer request, contact info and monthly support right there at our main website.

Gathering the Harvest for the King,

Shawn Patrick Williams

16th Week of SC Outpouring!

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Dear Warrior and Friend,

Revival is in its 16th week in Greenwood, SC! God is still touching people with the power of Jesus Christ. We have seen dozens saved, deaf ears and blind eyes open, lungs, legs, hearts and minds healed and filled. Every night God is doing something awesome. We are still meeting every Monday and Friday night at 7pm. Ascend Revival is going on and we are working with multiple teams to run with revival. Many different church teams are working together. Please pray for our teams and churches involved, as we are daily and weekly trying to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance on how to move forward. People are coming from all over the Southeast getting saved, healed, delivered and restored. Every week it is something new. It is a refreshing time! Bring your church teams to swim in the river of revival. Contact us if you are planning on attending. We want to know and prepare for leaders and ministries who plan to visit. God is working in leaders of nations and companies to shine His light in this critical hour. I can hardly remember all the things that happened. Dozens of healings and so many deliverances. Little kids getting filled with the Holy Spirit who have never experienced anything like this in their lifetime! Please connect with our Facebook, if you haven’t. We have put pictures and videos of these meetings for you to view. Also, we are working to put training online course together on out site. Be looking for them. Hopefully by years end we will have enough for a basic School of Ministry. We already have School of the Spirit 101 and 201.

Oct 18th-22nd we have teams coming in from New Zealand, Wisconsin, Kentucky, New York and more You are not going to want to miss these dates to attend. We have not seen anything yet! God is doing something in our region that is changing the community.

Gathering the Harvest for our King,

 

Shawn Patrick Williams. .

Revival and Ministry Update for August!

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Fellow Warrior and Dear Friend,

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”

Acts 3:19

Revival update is we are still going on into our 11th week of revival! People have come from all of the nation, and we have seen the Spirit of the Lord save, heal, deliver and touch people in an uncommon way. So many testimonies that we are not able to record all of them, but dozens of kids and youth have testified that they are experiencing the Holy Spirit of Jesus for the first time in their life. From drug dealers to local government officials, the Lord is touching this SC Upstate region. Please keep our teams in prayer during this time, as we are working through details of continued meetings. Please see our social media, or blog for links to these meetings photos and videos. Try to come visit, if you haven’t!

We have a new website after 10 plus years! Check it out. We have a blog, email sign up, online courses for evangelism and school of the spirit, ministry and mission training and more! We have tried to make it a place to keep up with the outreaches and get plugged into the ministry activities in a deeper way. i3 Ministry Center website has got a new look and a great place for discipleship tracks. We made it easy for churches to use the tools available on this new site. www.i3ministry.org

We are still actively planning outreach to many cities and nations for the next nine months. Columbia, SC, , Philadelphia, PA, Virgina, Miami, the pacific realm, the middle east and more! Your prayer covering and monthly support have been huge for us to keep going. Warrior Nations monthly partnership accounts for 65% of the ministry budget. Thank you! The Rethinking Evangelism Online Course just launched as well! School of the Spirit 101 online is live, as well. Keep us in prayer, as these developments continue to grow.

We thank you for your continued support and prayers. The sowing of the seed of the good news of Jesus Christ is the most important mission in humanity. Your commitment to helping us conduct that commission is priceless. We are so grateful to you! Giving is easy at www.warriornations.org and the best ways to support the ongoing ministry. If you don’t support WNIM on a monthly basis, please pray about doing so.

 

Together We are Gathering the Harvest for our King,

Shawn Patrick Williams

10th Week of Revival in SC!

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Dear Warrior,

Revival is in its 10th week in Greenwood, SC! We have some set days now. Every Monday and Friday night at 7pm. Ascend Revival is going on and we are working with multiple teams to run with revival. Many different church teams are working together. Please pray for our teams and churches involved, as we are daily and weekly trying to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance on how to move forward. People are coming from all over the Southeast getting saved, healed, delivered and restored. Every week it is something new. It is a refreshing time! Bring your church teams to swim in the river of revival. Contact us if you are planning on attending. We want to know and prepare for leaders and ministries who plan to visit. God is working in leaders of nations and companies to shine His light in this critical hour. I can hardly remember all the things that happened. Dozens of healings and so many deliverances. Little kids getting filled with the Holy Spirit who have never experienced anything like this in their lifetime! Please connect with our Facebook, if you haven’t. We have put pictures and videos of these meetings for you to view. Also, we are working hard to put training online course together on out site. Be looking for them. Hopefully by years end we will have enough for a basic School of Ministry.

Warrior Nations Missions Alert!

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In 2010 Warrior Nations started an initiative for leaders called, Warrior Nations Fellowship. This network of leaders brought together Joel’s Army leaders around the world for connection, encouragement, networking and discipleship. As I began to travel around the nation and the globe to preach revivals and missions, I found a hunger for leaders to connect to an end time mission for the church. We started to see the Holy Spirit develop this network around the same passion and mission WNIM began with.

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

2 Timothy 1:3

At this current time WNF has affiliates in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and America. We conduct World Harvest Outreaches all over the world, with Pakistan and New Zealand as important target nations. A WNF affiliate is one of WNIM’s international partners through formal agreements.

The Indian WNF leader has 215 home churches and an orphanage WNF supports monthly covering the food bill. The stateside WNF affiliate outreaches are in NY, NC, SC, FL, TN GA, and PA. We are developing urban outreaches in Atlanta, church planting in NY, FL and PA. The Ghana affiliate missions are 3 mission hubs outside of Accra. The Nigerian affiliate outreaches are different. We have leaders in southern Nigeria, but in the capital something very different is
happening.

Nigeria is the most Christian persecuted nation in the world, as of 2021. Over 71,000 Christians have been killed in the past 13 years. I spoke with the journalist Lara Logan in October and she has been covering this genocide. She challenged 100’s of world leaders to do something at the recent Liberty University CEO event, “Networking the Nations”. I spoke with one of the governors in north Nigeria at this event, as well, about corresponding with the government about
our efforts.

Bishop David Ina, WNF’s Nigerian affiliate, is based in the capital Abuja. He has sent 4000 missionaries from southern Nigeria into the north region in the past 23 years. That’s right. 4000 end time missionaries. He conducts 4 retreats a year to plan with these missionaries and recalibrate there assignments if needed. It takes these missionaries rotating at different times to get all of them through these retreats. As he has done this Christian service, local Muslims sympathetic to the north have caused him great problems. They accused him of being a terrorist, which caused an investigation that went all the way up to the DOJ and Interpol. All because he was a Christian working to send missionaries to this impacted area. Our offices were actually contacted by the DOJ during this investigation.

Please keep us in prayer, as we are working very intentionally to support and equip our affiliates to continue this important work in Nigeria. I will be in New Zealand at the revival summit with Pioneer ministry in November. Remember WNIM during this time of travel and WHO outreach efforts. Thank you for all of those who support this ministry with their monthly donations and prayers!

Gathering the Harvest and Advancing His Kingdom,

Shawn Patrick Williams

After being radically saved from ten years of drug addiction and occult involvement through a Damascus Road experience in a bar, Shawn Patrick received a burning commission to evangelize the United States and the world. His style of preaching brings a revival culture to the Body of Christ. He attended Christian Life School of Theology and received his Masters from the Institute of Theology and Christian Therapy.

His personal experience of the power of the Holy Spirit, powerful deliverance and gangster background has aided in giving him a platform to speak to the next generation of believers. His passion is revival fire and seeing Christ saves lives. He has preached in 30 nations and author 12 books. He has a Doctor of Divinity from Day Spring University, was ordained as a bishop in 2009. He then launched Warrior Nation Fellowship, which is an leadership network. He is also founder of the Omega Network and the training centers called “i3,” based in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Word of Warning Against Division in the Body of Christ

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As I was driving down the highway recently, I began to speak to the Lord. Before one word was spoken, he stopped me. He said, “There is an attack coming to the Body of Christ that will bring in a spirit of division.” The enemy is sending an attack on speaking in tongues that will be a divider amongst My people.” As I began to pray over this word, the Holy Spirit provided a greater perception of the attack and strategy the enemy has been using to bring division into the church. For revival to be sustained and thrive there must be repentant hearts that unify the Body of Christ. Anytime the Holy Spirit has ever moved significantly in the earth realm, repentance and unification have been the catalysts for God to release His glory.

 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:1-4. The enemy knows that when the church gets in “one accord”, heaven responds.

The release of the Glory of the Lord this year has been a significant advance in the church. God has gained more souls and more territory in such a short period of time. The Asbury revival is a key example of the global revival that God is pouring out all over. Not coincidently, a great division came against the church regarding the topic of woman pastors and then another from the topic of homosexual ministers in the church. While this is not a new strategy, it is telling that the enemy re-released them at this strategic time. The Holy Spirit gift of speaking in tongues is another prime target of division in the church that we as Spirit-filled believers must be ready to defend.

The book of Jude tells us, “3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” For the next fourteen verses Jude warns against this specific apostasy, which is “the abuse of grace”. He specifically mentions the act of homosexuality in this warning, and then Jude provides the church a divine strategy on how to contend against these things.

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” He told us to pray in tongues, walk in love towards people and hate the apostate teaching of cheap grace that has led to an apostate state of the church.

Many people within the church and many churches themselves have been divided on the topic of speaking in tongues. The people that do not understand this gift have disassociated themselves with those who do it and any type of function in the Body they have. The people who practice it come against those people who don’t with anger out of hurt and rejection. They won’t associate with those people in the Body who don’t speak in tongues and look down on them out of spiritual pride. Thus, the Body of Christ gets more deeply divided on a non-essential issue. We must remember, our salvation and core foundation does not depend upon the issue of speaking in tongues.

If you are in a church service where the pastor is preaching or worship is taking place and the Spirit of the Lord is upon you in the manifestation of speaking in tongues, please be mindful of a few things. One, if no interpretation comes through someone else, do not keep on speaking. You will become a distraction to the service, rather than the edification of the Body. On a Sunday morning service at a traditional church, new believers may be present that have no clue what is going on.

I conduct prayer gatherings all over the world, and I know in these settings at times prayer warriors will speak in tongues, and maybe a word of interpretation will come. The prayer warriors that are praying in the Spirit are standing in the gap on issues that only the Holy Spirit has knowledge of. That setting is fine because most attendees pray in the Spirit and understand what is happening. At a prayer gathering I held in December 2004, we all started weeping, praying in tongues and travailing in prayer. No one really understood what was taking place. This went on for two hours. We all left and knew the Holy Spirit had us standing in the gap for something big. At the same time as we were praying, the country of Indonesia was getting hit with a tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Praying in tongues allows you to tap into the Miraculous Realm in a powerful yet mysterious way. This gift is a powerful addition to your spiritual growth if you learn how to incorporate it into your life based on scripture and with balance. The devil fights the Body of Christ on this gift, especially if it is practiced out of scriptural context.

Many denominations have put out official statements recently changing their policy on forbidding its missionaries to speak in tongues. So many missionaries needed this powerful gift for their front-line work. An estimated fifty percent of them did speak in tongues, even when their denomination forbade it.

Due to this gift of the Holy Spirit being abused or out of order, speaking in tongues has become a point of contention in the Body of Christ. It is not always from those with a malicious spirit, it is out of a lack of understanding which leads to fear. Fear will fuel this divisive fight. Never come against something that you don’t understand! Stop to consider: What if you are fighting the very hand of God? 

 Gathering the Harvest and Advancing His Kingdom,

Shawn Patrick Williams After being radically saved from ten years of drug addiction and occult involvement through a Damascus Road experience in a bar, Shawn Patrick received a burning commission to evangelize the United States and the world. His style of preaching brings a revival culture to the Body of Christ. He attended Christian Life School of Theology and received his Masters from the Institute of Theology and Christian Therapy. His personal experience of the power of the Holy Spirit, powerful deliverance and gangster background has aided in giving him a platform to speak to the next generation of believers. His passion is revival fire and seeing Christ saves lives. He has preached in 30 nations and author 12 books. He has a Doctor of Divinity from Day Spring University, was ordained as a bishop in 2009. He then launched Warrior Nation Fellowship, which is an leadership network. He is also founder of the Omega Network and the training centers called “i3,” based in Greenwood, South Carolina.