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       The title for this week’s word is also the title of our upcoming New Year’s conference. In this gathering, we seek to hear a prophetic word for the coming year, thus we call it the Vision Conference. The Lord has honored this, and our words have been getting increasingly specific and exciting. At last year’s conference, Chris Reed gave his “40 Prophecies for 2023 and Beyond,” which would either happen or begin to unfold in 2023. Some of the more mystifying words happened within a few weeks. And now, as we approach the end of the year, it seems the rest will soon come to pass. 

       We believe the Lord gave the title for this upcoming gathering, “Prepare for War in 2024,” so we could seek Him for clarity on how to prepare. It is now obvious we are in a time of war, and it is more reality than prophetic. So, the real question is, what can and should we, the body of Christ, do about this? 

       There is no greater human tragedy than war. This tragedy becomes magnified with unnecessary wars. I have personally witnessed the Lord giving to leaders who were headed for war the opportunity and wisdom to avoid them. Still, even those leaders who acknowledged these warnings as coming from the Lord did not heed them. The Lord is always faithful to give us opportunities to avoid such terrible human calamities. It is the devil who comes to kill and destroy, and nothing kills and destroys like war.

       Winston Churchill is considered the greatest wartime leader of modern times. He called World War II “the unnecessary war.” History reveals this most devastating war, despite our chaotic and conflicted human history, was avoidable. Even when it became unavoidable, had the leaders at that time recognized it had crossed this line and engaged this with resolve, its devastation could have been reduced to less than one percent of what it became because of their hesitancy and lack of resolve to fight when it was time to fight.  

       The point is many lives can be saved if we will just recognize when a situation has crossed a line and act quickly and decisively. General Douglas MacArthur rightly said, “It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” 

       Those who lead during wars with only the goal of peace usually accept terms for peace which later lead to even more devastating conflicts. We must resolve to completely vanquish the evil that has manifested, as Joshua did at Ai. So long as he held out the spear, Israel prevailed. When he drew it back, their enemies prevailed. Joshua finally held out the spear long enough for their enemies to be defeated. 

       When our adversaries perceive that our resolve is tepid or hesitant, their resolve and courage only increase. Alexander the Great famously said, “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” We can have the most capable army on the planet and still be defeated if our leaders lack clarity, resolve, and wisdom. 

       Churchill called World War II “the unnecessary war” because Hitler could easily have been defeated in 1938 when Germany began threatening its neighbors. At the time, it was estimated this would have taken weeks at a cost of twenty thousand casualties. The Nazi generals later agreed with this assessment, realizing when they toured the Czech fortifications in 1938, they could not have defeated them. Still, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his French counterpart, Edouard Daladier, considered this a horrible price to pay and decided instead to pursue a policy of appeasement. A year later, when the appeased Hitler attacked Poland and war could no longer be avoided, the human cost was eventually between 50 and 100 million. 

       Peace is always preferable to war, but some wars must be fought because the cost of not fighting them is too high and the delay in recognizing this can cost even higher. Appeasement has and never will work when confronted by a bully spirit. 

       History proves if you give in to the demands of a bully, it will result in greater demands. Bullies don’t really want what they demand, so much as they want dominance over others. If we are not willing to become their slaves, we must fight back. The sooner we do this, the less we must fight. Is there a single example in history when this was not true? 

       Since we are now in a time of war, what does such resolve look like? This we will cover next week. 

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