CHAPTER 1
MAKE ME "RAPTURE-READY": A PRAYER GUIDE
One day while I was in prayer, the Lord showed me three prayers that are crucial for the preparation and survival of Christians in these last days. The Lord revealed the value of these prayers and how they will play a vital role in our preservation. They will provide deliverance from many destructive situations. They will provide us peace and protection as we encounter persecution and hardships of every kind. They will open wide a door into the miraculous, and we will see many angelic interventions unprecedented in the history of mankind.
We do not have to be overwhelmed with fear or hopelessness. We can alter our destinies. As judgments are poured out upon all of mankind, we can be powerful witnesses to the saving grace of God's mighty hand of intervention.
As we secure our positions through prayer, two incredible situations will occur. The first situation will be an opportunity to witness to those who will seek to know this God who has provided miraculously on our behalf. There will be a great opportunity for evangelism, and we must be prepared for this.
The second situation will be severe persecution. Many ungodly people in the world will harden their hearts and express their hatred toward us. One of the most unexpected sources of persecution will not come from outside the church but from within the church. Christians who have neither surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ nor established any kind of a personal relationship with Jesus will hate us. God will not intervene on their behalf as He will for us. Jealousy will flood their hearts with hatred, just as it did with Cain before he slew his brother, Abel.
Christians who prepare themselves with prayer can place a mighty roadblock in front of rigid, religious Christians who may seek their demise.
Persecution will come, but there is a way to prepare ourselves, to protect ourselves, and to change the outcome and course of our futures.
The revelation I received of the Lord revealed how these prayers will establish a supernatural barrier of protection that will secure situations of safety and provide fearless peace in the midst of great turmoil and strife.
Christians will encounter several things before the rapture of the church. We Christians will become engaged in a battle for our own protection and safety on a scale unprecedented in history. Persecution will rage against true followers of Jesus Christ. Deliverance and safety will become major concerns. Faith, hope, and God's love will become essentials that must be rooted and grounded deep within our hearts.
Our hearts must become totally saturated with the very presence of God — the very presence of His glory. Our hearts must be secured with the power of His presence so that we may not be easily shaken or distressed, for our enemy, Satan, stands ready to unleash an attack upon mankind with situations of unspeakable despair and hopelessness.
As the wicked raise their voices of defiance and boldly challenge God's directives, we will find ourselves immersed in the midst of God's judgments. These are judgments that God will dispense upon the ungodly because of their own ungodly acts of rebellion.
Jesus Christ is able to provide in times of difficulty for those who follow Him. God has the ability to warn and to prepare or to remove us from destruction. With His miraculous hand of intervention, we can remain unscathed by any judgment that He sends upon the earth, and by His mighty hand, we can receive miraculous deliverance from any of Satan's efforts to destroy us. It is necessary that we become diligent in our efforts, spending time with the Lord Jesus Christ and listening to Him.
Remember the Israelites in Egypt. They sat right in the middle of every judgment and every plague God poured out upon the ungodly, and they were spared. They did not suffer any of the torments of the rebellious and defiant. They did, however, suffer ridicule, hatred, and ill treatment from those who were being judged.
Those who tormented the chosen of God were themselves grievously tormented. Many who brazenly opposed God continued to harden their hearts in defiance, and their hatred intensified until they became mad with revenge and rage. The Israelites listened to God's instruction for preservation, and they were kept safe. They were told to fill water pots with water before God turned water into blood. Warning was given beforehand to shelter their livestock and to take refuge from a deadly hailstorm. All of Israel was instructed to shelter behind blood-covered doorposts that would prevent death from entering their houses. Peace and safety followed those who obeyed God's instruction.
Simply being an Israelite did not offer protection. They had to be obedient to His instruction in order to be spared hardship, death, and destruction. They had to seek God, listen to what He said, and then act upon the instructions that were delivered.
Simply being a Christian will not offer you protection. Deliverance, protection, and safety will not automatically come to us because we are faithful in attending church or giving tithes or because we are involved in many good and charitable works. Though these things may help, they will not provide the protection we need.
Christians, we have to be in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to be able to hear His voice and His instruction. We have to be obedient to what He reveals to us and take action in those things that He instructs us to do.
Jesus said, "My sheep know my voice." If we cannot hear His voice, how will we know what to do? If we cannot spend time in His presence, how can we learn His voice?
Christians are about to face a horrific battle. We will come face-to-face with persecution and ridicule. We will come face-to-face with situations of desperation for our basic needs. We will earnestly desire the Lord's protection from the elements of nature, from political unrest, from ruthless and violent actions of insanity, and from hatred and jealousy of those who are within the church, as well as from those who are without.
It will be hard to deal with hatred, offenses, and the absence of forgiveness. Food, clothing, and shelter will become matters of desperation. There is no better way to prepare for the future than to pray for a protected future. We must secure ourselves in the Lord now. The longer we delay, the...
