30 May 1999 I posted this word:

"Shortly there will be a time where the church will see fresh fire. The days ahead are days of fire. Gold is purified in the furnace. Faith is fuelled by this fire and sin burnt away like chaff. The fire of Pentecost returns but hotter and higher is the flame. On the earth you will see terrible things. Cities once secure will burn in a day. Wickedness held back up until now will spread. There will be no champion amongst the nations to stop the outbreaks and countries once at ease and confident of the advance of civilisation will find themselves invaded.

Yet a fire of the Holy Spirit is coming for the Lord's followers. The wind of the Spirit blows it into fierce heat. You will see wonders yet to be revealed, tongues of fire resting on believers. Some will see as Daniel saw, the throne with fire all around. These are days of fire and the Lord's word is a fire.

For those who have been washed by the blood, there is no fear of fire. Are you ready to live in the fire of the Holy Spirit?"

The longer form of this word I kept in my computer as I was reluctant to give more of it. It had come from a vision I had seen of cities in the USA burning - it had caused me to cry out in pain and intercession for these cities - I didn't see what cities they were, but they were West Coast - not East. With it came a terrible sense of the havoc on the rest of the world with the crippling of the USA. Nations that had perhaps been scornful of the USA would now find themselves at the mercy of other enemies who had taken advantage of the preoccupation of the USA with their own war.

No nation can be untouched if the current events do build up into world tension. Those of us outside of the USA need to pray not just for America but also for Israel.

Some odd things will come out of this time. Muslim areas and perhaps even nations will hear the call, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" With sovereign acts of God, there will be a harvest for Jesus amongst some Muslim nations. Few missionaries or preachers will be able to claim the honour, and these new believers will take the discipline of their old faith and serve God with a fervour and a holiness rarely seen in the West.

This is a time to be wary, but also to look up for God who IS great, is working his own will to do and perform his own favour. The day of the return of Jesus is ever closer. This is not a time to be shallow. The word says we get power with persecution. We want power, but not the persecution - well, the flip side of persecution is that it is a good time to look up, because it is in these times that God does act in spectacular ways.

Be ready for people who have never shown interest, to ask you about your faith - and God will give you the words and the Spirit to witness.

Chasing the trinkets of this world's prosperity will mean little as the deeper more eternal issues become more important. I have found it is difficult to see the fabulous 'pie in the sky' if your nose is always downward scoffing at the 'steak on the plate' - When people say they are after the blessings of God here as the 'pie in the sky' is remote and faithless, I always realise that the person saying this has never caught a glimpse of the 'pie' or they would not be able to make those comments. But to see the 'pie' it seems that we need to have died to the desires and cravings of this world, and apart from those who are blessed with trials, or illness, it seems few willingly seek the eternal.

I look at diamonds on this earth and have seen even the Kohinor as it lays in the vaults of the Tower of London - but I have also seen depictions of whole suns frozen in the universe that are four times the size of our sun, who lay in the soft blanket of the universe and that are whole diamonds. What God has made and prepared for those who love him dwarfs anything we could lust for here. Why grovel for the dust of this world when by comparison he even gives us these examples in the heavens?

It is time to look up!

Shirley Baskett shayka@xtra.co.nz