Chapter 1

A Current Reality

Welcome to the Master Plan video course. Each lesson is made up of one chapter from the book. Watch the video first, then you’ll be given some questions to answer before moving on to the next lesson. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 Text

What an awesome time to be alive.

What an incredible time to be a son or a daughter of God.

What an excellent time to display the radiant testimony of the one true God!

We are living in a day of increased revelation. It is a time when God is bringing us into significant alignment with heaven. In his series,The Way of the Warrior, Graham Cooke calls this living “heaven to earth,” not “earth to heaven.” Ultimately, this is so the ancient promises and prophetic purposes of God can be fulfilled through us. We are the players in this final hour of time.

As I have often heard Graham Cooke say, “Prophecy is history written in advance. It unlocks the intentionality of God.” It declares to the world: “This is the way it will be”—and we get to be involved in the process.

The God of Restoration

God is forming something new in His people. Romans 14:17 states that, “the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The Message states the same verse this way: God’s Kingdom is about “what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy.”

God is the God of restoration. His very nature is one of “setting things right.” This is true not only in our personal lives, but it is also directly related to every purpose and promise He has ever stated in His Word, beginning in the Book of Genesis.

God established His plan and order for the human race from the beginning of time. It truly was “history written in advance” and it declares His intentionality. The very foundation of His plan was set forth in Genesis when the image of God was established as male and female. This was the structure through which God chose to reveal Himself and make Himself known in the earth.

The enemy has been hostile to this plan from the beginning. He has come against the foundation from the onset, and will continue his battle until he is finally thwarted and put under the feet of the genders, male and female.

Conflict, or war, is a strong and significant theme in the Bible and provides an important backdrop for God’s entire story. We need to understand that the restoration of the Church—male and female—will not take place in an atmosphere of peace, but will occur in the midst of conflict, due to the changing times around us.

Signs of the Times

As God’s people, we see evidences of physical wars around us globally, and we sense the reality of the spiritual war that rages simultaneously. We speak of “the signs of the times” and wonder whether we are living in the last days. Even our news broadcasts and morning papers have been known to put an eschatological spin on reports of violence in the Middle East, asking whether we as a world are heading toward Armageddon.

As believers, you and I know that no one can accurately predict the end of the world. Nevertheless, throughout Church history, one of the constant questions on the hearts of God’s people has been, “When will Jesus return?” and throughout world history, many have asked, “When will it all end?” Jesus Himself taught us in Matthew 24:36, 42: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. . . . Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”

Though we cannot predict precisely “that day and hour,” we are not left completely ignorant. Jesus instructed us to “watch,” and we know from His teaching that when certain things happen, we can recognize that the close of the age is near: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6–8).

The New Spirit-Filled Life Bible annotation for Matthew 24:8 teaches us that, “The term [‘beginning of sorrows’] means ‘labor pains,’ which were expected to precede the end, making the transition from this age to the Age to Come. The severe labor pains, followed by delivery and fulfillment, are also a pledge of the end and of the joy at the time of ‘delivery.’”

I believe we are feeling these labor pains, the “birth pangs” even now. It is a time of discomfort for many people in the Church; it is a time when many may be tempted to fear. As God’s people, you and I are living in a different day—politically, economically, and socially. We are certainly living in an intense time, a more volatile time, than in days past. Even a decade ago, the world was a different place. We are living in a time of war on many fronts, and that has brought the Church into a new reality. Church is no longer “business as usual.” Suddenly, it seems, everything has shifted. War, both natural and spiritual, has become a stunning reality. We are living in a time of conflict and great intensity, but it is an hour that is preparing us for the greatest victory and the greatest joy we have ever known.

Birth Pangs

Birth pangs are evident every time we turn on the news or pick up a newspaper. Think of the atmosphere in the world: nations are rising up against nations; the volatility of governments and economies is on the rise; terrorism and violence exist in ways we never dreamed possible years ago; new diseases pose serious threats to human life across the globe; cultures and ideologies are colliding with shocking intensity.

Think of the atmosphere in America: tense, anxious, “on the edge,” and on alert. We live with the threat of terror—both from nations and ideologies outside our borders and within our borders, in the hallways and classrooms of our own schools. We live with the threat of violence in ways that never entered our minds ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago. In a very real sense, as I have mentioned, we are at war.

Conflicts rage throughout the Middle East, and from the border between India and Pakistan to the heart of Africa. Acts and fears of terrorism plague countries and cultures from the United States and Europe to tiny villages on small islands in Southeast Asia—and many places in between. We face cultural, social, political, and spiritual wars. They are the clash of two kingdoms.

Wars and rumors of wars are not the only indicators of the end of the age. Matthew 24:7 teaches us that the increase of natural disasters, “famines, pestilences, and earthquakes,” is also a sign of the times. We see these destructive forces at work all over the world with increasing intensity and frequency—famine in Africa, North Korea, and other countries; epidemics such as AIDS, SARS, and the diseases commonly called “bird flu” and “swine flu.” In addition, we hear that earthquake activity has increased remarkably in recent years. In fact, one of the most dramatic earthquake events in recent memory occurred in 2004 and produced the tsunami that devastated Indonesia and affected more than seven other nations. This event destroyed families, wrecked economies, wiped out homes, and generally changed lives in radical ways that are almost impossible to comprehend.

In 2005, the United States suffered what weather authorities called the worst hurricane season on record. Hurricane Katrina tore through America’s Gulf Coast leaving miles of devastation. Lawns where children once played became junkyards. The earthly treasures of men and women, boys and girls lay mangled, faded, torn, and often unrecognizable on soggy ground, leaving nothing more than the remnants of people’s lives.

The birth pangs I have mentioned, and the intensity and frequency with which they are happening, indicate an escalation of events and speak of the prevailing conditions of this present age—all of which could well be precursors of the end times, indicating where we are on heaven’s timeline. Intensity and frequency always indicate to a woman how close she is to the birth of her baby. Birth pangs also reveal that the process has begun, and will increase until the time the coming event has occurred. The same principle applies to us as we near the end of the age.

A Spiritual Shift

I believe everything we are seeing and experiencing in the natural world reflects a shift that has taken place in the spiritual realm. We do find ourselves in a different season than we have ever known. Many people in the Church are aware of it. Now the world is aware as well. Indeed, we have entered a different time globally, nationally, politically, economically, and spiritually.

Many of us want to respond to the crises of the world and the challenges of our lives as the prophet Habakkuk did:

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds. Habakkuk 1:2–4

Look anywhere in the world on any given day and you will see the birth pangs—wars and rumors of wars, pestilence, natural disasters, strife, and contention. Unrighteousness seems to be prevailing in many places, and indeed, the law seems powerless to bring the unrighteous to justice. But the Lord responds to the prophet, and would respond to us as well: “Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you” (Habakkuk 1:5).

As I stated in the Introduction, every purpose of God will be fully revealed and fulfilled. As we walk through this shift in the spiritual atmosphere, we are keenly aware that we are involved in the unfolding of these purposes. God is moving by His Spirit in a very strategic way to advance His Kingdom. It has always been His ultimate plan for dominion, power, and authority to be exhibited through men and women joined together in a victorious way against the enemy. Restoration has begun. What He set in place at the dawn of time is beginning to come forth.

Summary

• God is the God of restoration and He sets things right.
• God established the foundation of His plan and order for the human race from the beginning of time. It was set forth when the image of God was established as male and female, the structure through which God chose to make Himself known in the earth.
• The enemy has always been and continues to be hostile to God’s plan.
• We are currently living in a time of natural and spiritual war on many fronts, and this reality has brought the Church into a new reality. This time of conflict and great intensity, the “birth pangs” we are experiencing, is preparing us to walk through the difficulties we face, knowing ultimate victory is ours.