A Wilderness Season is Coming to The Body of Christ

I’ve been having a lot of visions as I’m about to fall asleep, and these have come to pass very quickly so I’m sharing my latest one here. A more discerned version will be on my blog. I may make a Youtube video about it too.

December 26, 2023

11:11pm

In this vision I see helicopters hover in the sky over a desert. The strange thing about these helicopters is that they are a mixture between normal looking helicopters and locusts. Their wings were beating so loudly they could have been mistaken for the helicopter’s blades.

A crowd of people rushed over to them and started to hurl stones at them. The whole scene made me think of the Stargate motion picture when the people of Abydos fought against Ra’s army. But they were no match for the helicopters who simply shot them down. They weren’t killed, just injured. They were left lying there bleeding and in pain.

Then I saw the face of a lion appearing out of the desert sand. It opened its large maw and zoomed across the desert and consumed all the people lying in the sand.

The helicopters were the locusts that came out of the abyss in Revelation 9:3. They didn’t kill the people but stung them like scorpions. In this vision, like many others like them, they were tormenting people psychologically in the desert. For Christians the desert represents a season in the wilderness where they are tried and tested and refined like silver in a fire, so that they lose their impurities (sin/less godly characteristics) and are transformed to be more like Christ. We often refer to this as a season of suffering because it is painful to go through. God will target our weaknesses in order to strengthen us. But some people can get stuck here so live in an unending cycle of suffering. It’s only through an obedience to God and His Word that they can get out of it. Job 42:10 teaches us to forgive those who have wronged us, pray they are blessed and then then we will see restoration come into our lives.

The locusts as helicopters are symbolic of spiritual warfare. In Revelation 9:7 it says the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. In verse 9 it says the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.

There will be many demonic attacks on the people of God. This doesn’t look obvious but is manifested through fatigue, chronic body pains, confusion, financial problems, storms (one thing going wrong after another), depression, anxiety, and relationship problems. Some of these attacks can be temptations to go back to old sinful ways such as giving into lust, addictive behaviour, idolatry (putting anything before God), and self-medication (alcohol/drugs).

And anytime a lion appears from a mountain or the sand, it depicts the devil who roams around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). It represents a lure back into temptation to sin. Being consumed by it is representative of being under the oppression and bondage of the enemy and caught in a never ending cycle of sin.

This is a word for the Body of Christ. Many are about to go into a wilderness season where they will be psychologically tormented by locusts with anxiety, depression, despair, or other types of oppressive spirits. And this is how the devil will keep them in bondage.

They need to take this season to draw closer to God, allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives to put them through a refinement process to transform them. And they need to get into the Word and declare it to the enemy.

In this season people aren’t just being put through a trial so they can be tested, reshaped and remolded, but for discipline. God is separating the wheat from the tares so He can purify His Bride (the Church) to prepare her not just for the Bridegroom (Jesus) but so He can protect her and provide for her as a great shaking comes to the world in 2024, which will be felt first in the Church (1 Peter 4:7). He’s going to make sure His remnant Church becomes unshakeable (Heb 12:27).

The enemy has used a lot of people in the Church to attack other members of the Body who are the pioneers and trailblazers who were forging a path for God’s new move in the Church and in the nations. But God is bringing about their vindication by putting those the devil had used to harm them, delay or even destroy their destiny, through a trial of discipline and deliverance. This is to give them a chance to not be cut off from the Body of Christ.

God will allow Satan to attack them in order to test and train them up in spiritual warfare and to see if they have what it takes to be in God’s Army. And Satan will do everything he can to keep them in his bondage and away from them stepping into their destiny; fulfilling the plans of purposes of God in the earth. So, they will have to put up a fight by resisting the temptation of giving into torment and find an escape through worldly pleasures. This resistance can only be achieved by the power of The Holy Spirit and not their own efforts. And by drawing closer to God’s presence and putting their trust in Him and having faith that He will get them through it.

Some will go through a period of physical isolation where God will keep them from receiving support from others so they only put their trust in Him.

The Apostle of Peace
Prophet, Seer, Evangelist

How God Can Help You Manage Mental Illness

It doesn’t matter what religion you have or if you have any, everyone would agree that people have their own ways to manage their mental health issues. If you disagree then you should open your mind up because not every approach works for everyone. 

Christians have their own way of managing their mental health but instead of coming up with coping mechanisms, going to therapy or taking medication they seek first the Scriptures. I’m not saying that if anyone does those things, even if they are Christian, that it’s wrong. Like I said, everyone has their own way of managing their mental health. And not every Christian does first go to the Bible for guidance, but I would encourage them to because of the wisdom to be found there that applies to past and future generations. It is not an ancient book that has become irrelevant to modern society as many non-believers would have you think.

In the Book of Matthew Jesus instructs his audience to not worry because His father would provide for them, and if the birds in the sky do not store up food but are always provided for, should God not also provide for us, who He cares deeply for? (Matt 6:26)

On the surface just thinking if we give our worries to God that’s not enough to make them go away, and indeed I thought this most of my life. How can saying words make me feel better? But still I tried it and eventually things did get better for me. It didn’t happen instantly; days or weeks usually passed before I realised the good that was happening in my life was from God.

Take for example financial anxiety. Ever since I moved out of the family home I have been anxious about money. I had a very specific fear that I would eventually starve homeless on the streets if I was not careful with my money. I became a stingy giver if I did give at all, but then it was revealed to me that this wasn’t very healthy of me as a child of God. So, I started to give to those who needed it and I was rewarded for it.

One night when I couldn’t get to sleep because I felt I would soon run out of money to pay the rent and electricity and then I would have to cut out food, and begin starving. Suddenly my thoughts started to come up with a perfect way to budget so I could save a certain amount of money a month. For hours I worked out the calculations in my mind, and I’m very bad at mental math. I checked my calculations in the morning and found I had been correct. I feel this was God sorting out my anxiety around money. And ever since I have not felt as anxious about money. 

The Bible instructs us as Christians to endure our suffering because it is a sign God is working through us to make us stronger, and we will be rewarded for maintaining our faith. When we suffer God is strongest and He will give us strength if we come to Him with our problems. He wants us to rejoice during our suffering, which is easier said than done. It’s still something I’m yet to learn to do. Like everything it takes practice and it takes faith. You need to let the Holy Spirit work in you and change your heart so you will always know Jesus will be there to help you, so you can still praise Him during your trials.

Throughout 2020 and since late 2008 I have struggled with thoughts of suicide. But since becoming a Christian I have barely had them at all. I still go through depression and despair but it gets easier to manage, knowing my Father is watching over me. 

I have tried almost every approach to managing my mental health. I’ve taken medication, used cognitive behavioural therapy and created some coping mechanisms of my own, but those were never enough to bring me peace. Though I still have mental illnesses, just the thought that God will handle my problems, and reward me in this life and the next, is enough to keep my mind at ease. 

I was even worried about writing this blog. The words would just not come or they sounded too pedantic. I have a habit of mimicking the Apostle Paul in my writing style and it’s not the best way to write with emotion and actually reach people in this modern age. I asked God to give me the words to write and indeed that’s what He has done. Because I didn’t even plan today to write this blog post, instead I was going to do further research just so I had all the information ready to go, but He had other plans.

Even when I have failing physical health, like a fungal infection that won’t heal, despite the medications I’ve taken and the strict diet I’ve been on for 9 months, I still believe that eventually God will heal me. I look at the good that has come from it; I have had to completely change my diet to one that’s much healthier, and once I recover I have decided to stick to it. And even though I find myself with an incurable chronic illness that makes me incapable of work and gives me a limited amount of energy, aches, pains and immune and neurological issues, I know one day it will all be over when I meet my King the Lord Jesus Christ, on the new Heaven on Earth, in a new unfailing body. 

So, I encourage you to read the Word of God, the Bible, and recite the following scriptures during those times when it never seems like your anxiety or depression will end, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to take those feelings away. Give them to Him to handle and you will feel they are no longer a burden to you, so you can focus on more important things, and enjoy your life again.

-VP

Psalm 56:3

“Whenever I’m afraid, I will trust in you.” 

1 Peter 5:7

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 

John 8:12

“Jesus spoke to them again: ‘I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.” 

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:6-7‬

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Psalm 46:1-3

“God is our refuge and strength,

 an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam 

and the mountains quake with their surging.”

Isaiah 40:30-31

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.” 

Isaiah 41:10

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“But he said to me, ‘my grace is sufficient enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know I have plans for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”