Welcome back!  I’m so glad you have chosen to join me as we lead up to the “Shake it Up” Prayer Event next week.  We’ll pray that God shakes things up in response to our prayers for:

• The peace of Jerusalem
• Persecuted believers
• A third Great Awakening in our nation that will impact the world

“Shake it Up” begins on Monday via this blog, and will culminate in a concentrated day of prayer on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving here in the US).  I will provide prayer points and suggestions on that day to guide your prayer time.  It’s an internet event, so just follow along on this blog!

Meanwhile, I want to share a bit about the foundation of the “Shake it Up” Prayer Event.  Over the past couple days, I shared how God “Shakes it Up” when He is angry, and to display His mighty power.  Today we’re going to find that the Lord has a lot more “shaking up” to do in the last days!  Come with me and let’s take a look!

We’ll start in the book of Haggai, chapter 2.  Here, God is speaking encouragement to Zerubbabel and Joshua who are leading the efforts to re-build the temple back in about 520 BC.  After encouraging them to take courage and not to fear, He seems to suddenly switch gears to focus on end times.  Verses 6-7 say:

For thus says the Lord of hosts, “Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.  I will shake all the nations
…and I will fill this house with glory.”

In the end, God will shake the heavens and the earth, and His glory will be made known in all nations!  Indeed, His shaking will be glorious in that sense and our prayers should be aimed at that target.  However, His shaking will not always be pleasant.

Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 24 speak of the judgment day of the Lord.  Man is told in Isaiah 13:6 to “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!  It will come as destruction from the Almighty.”  The following verses describe the terror and the fury, and verse 13 tells us that the Almighty will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken from its place.  Isaiah 24:18-19 goes on to say that the foundations of the earth shake and the earth is broken asunder, split through, and is shaken violently.  Furthermore, in tribulational context, Jeremiah 50:46 warns that “Babylon has been seized,” the earth is shaken, and an outcry is heard among the nations.

As believers, we will have been raptured prior to the tribulation and will not be here.  But no one will want to be there when God “shakes it up” on earth in those last days.

That’s why we are praying for a Great Awakening!  The world needs Jesus and, during the tribulation, the unsaved will face “shaking” unlike anything we’ve ever known.  Let’s pray for the Lord to shake hearts and minds to come to know Him!

But, oh my friends, the most glorious shaking will take place during our Lord’s glorious return!

But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
~Matthew 24:29 (parallel passages in Mark 13:24, and Luke 21:26)

Yes, the heavens will shake when the Lord returns!  His power will be on full display and He will come to rule and reign!  What a glorious day!

We are approaching that day, but tribulation on this earth must occur first.  We are living in the last days and time is short.  It is time for believers to turn their faces to the Lord and join Him in His Kingdom work on earth before it is too late.  You and I are those believers!  Please join with hundreds of others from around the world next week as we “Shake it Up” in prayer with our Lord Jesus!

Shabbat Shalom!