Do not let your hearts be troubled

We read John 14:1. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, beliveve also in Me.

This message is based upon a sermon that I held in Byske in the beginning of September, and it is based upon the Words of Jesus in John 14:1, but also on a prophetic word from the Lord to His people in Byske.

But I am convinced that this message also is very general, it is a message to the Church of Jesus Christ all over the world, since it is based upon the Scriptures, but also in line with many prophetic words all throughout the world. This message is in line with what I see and hear from the servants of the Lord.

I will read to you the exact prophetic message to God’s people in Byske. It is from a sister in Christ who has walked a long time with the Lord and I have great confidence in her life in Christ. It is a message that gives us courage and consolation.

It goes like this: do not be troubled and fear not. There will be trials in our country Sweden, but the Lord is with His people. Those who turn back to the Lord and follows Jesus wholeheartedly and do not look back, but walk the path which is given to them, the path that the Lord shows them, they shall not fear, nor be troubled.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, tells His people, His disciples, the beloved and chosen ones: do not let your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me. Write these words in your hearts and in your minds now already. Think of them often. And let us remind ourselves that God is good and God is faithful. He will bring us through.

Personally I believe that God has reached a point when it comes to my country, Sweden, but also Western Europe and the United States, where He realizes that more good times will not bring us back to God, will not bring us to repentance. God has blessed us, yes, but the blessings made us turn away from God. More good times, more prosperity, more earthly blessings will result in many, many being lost for Eternity in the West. To God, who is love, Eternity is of much more importance than here and now, and if we think twice, the same thing should be the case with us.

And God knows that if anything brings people back to God, it is times of trouble. When we are in a crisis, many people start to look and think about God. That was the case for me, and the same goes for many others. I have heard that if you check how many believe in God and start to pray when a aero plane is about to crash, it is far more than that are checking in before the departure of the flight. In good times most people tend to forget about God, we see that pattern all through the Old Testament, but in times of trouble, many start crying out to God, and also that is seen in the Old Testament.

I believe that the judgement of God is about to come over the Western World, over North America, Western Europe and also Sweden. I base that upon many prophecies from great and true men of God. I also base that on many personal dreams about that the last year. And I also can see that what these prophecies say is confirmed with what is now happening in the world. I believe that it’s true.

When God judges, He is just. You can not say to God: what are You doing? He has warned Sweden, USA and the rest of the West many times. But we haven’t been listening.

David Wilkerson, a great man of God from USA that went home to be with Jesus a few years ago, was a voice in the United States for many years. He was the voice of the prophet of the Lord. His message to the country was: humble yourselves and turn back to God, because the judgement of God will come upon this nation otherwise. He was also a clean voice to the church. Stop preaching the prosperity gospel, and preach the true, real gospel. He was a prophetic voice to the Western World: repent!

But very few would listen. That is the pattern from the Old Testament. The Lord sends His prophets to the people to tell them to turn back, but very few listen. The false prophets, speaking about continiously good times, are many more and far more popular.

And I believe that hard times are coming to the world, but especially to the West. But God is faithful. He will take care of His people. Yes, one day we will all die, but God will not let allow that to happen before He says: now, My beloved child, I take you home. If you stay close to Jesus, He will take care of you.

The people of God should not be troubled but hold on to Jesus in the turmoil.

God is faithful. He will not leave us, nor forsake us. Jesus will, to those who seek Him, send power and anointing from Heaven to get us through. During my fifteen years in the Swedish Special Forces, we often said: preparatus supervivet. It is Latin and means: the one who is prepared will survive. But there we trusted upon our own ability, upon ourselves.

I must be honest. I don’t trust my own ability, my own strength anymore. Not even the least. And I must be honest once more: I don’t trust in your ability either. But I believe and trust in the ability and strength of Jesus. I believe in the faithfulness, compassion, caring, kindness and love of Jesus Christ. That is a good foundation to build upon, because Jesus can be trusted. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, bit gives us power, love and self-discipline. So let’s trust Jesus, not ourselves. Just say in your heart: Jesus, I trust you. Whatever I must face, Jesus, I trust You.

Let us also bear in mind what the apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord always! Once again I tell you: rejoice! I don’t want to tell you and promise you things which are not true. It is not always easy to rejoice in the Lord, I know that. I have personally been through things when it was more or less impossible.

But I still believe that it’s something that we can learn and that it, at least to some extent, is a choice. We rejoice in the Lord not because of our circumstances, but because of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done and won for us on Calvary. And those two things don’t change. I might be suffering, but it is still a fact that Jesus died for me two thousand years ago to give me and you Eternal life. And it is still a fact that Jesus remains wonderful, glorious, full of love and compassion even when I am hurting.

And that joy is a source of great strength. If we learn how to rejoice in the Lord now already, we will have more strength to get through what lays ahead. And if you don’t have that joy today, I remind you of the words from the mouth of Jesus: ask, and it shall be given, seek, and you shall find, knock, and it will be opened. Start asking: Jesus, fill my heart with joy. Jesus, fill my heart with your love. Fill my heart with your peace. I believe that He will give it to you. He is a good and loving Father. If you are filled with those things, the fruit of the Spirit, it will carry you a long way in hard times and it will lift you up already today.

I don’t know when this comes, but that must not make us stop working today. We follow Jesus and we trust Him. We do the things He gives us today, day by day, but we have an inner preparedness that these days might come, and therefore we will not be taken by surprise. We have a Master to serve and tasks to fulfill, so let’s keep on doing that. Let us go to Uganda if He tells us to, let’s pray for someone who is sick if that is His will. Let’s just keep on serving Him and following Him.

And let’s have our eyes fixed on Jesus. Not on Kim-Jong Un, not on Donald Trump, nor on Vladimir Putin. Personally I believe that Putin is a cunning man and that he is looking with a hungry heart to the West, and so also towards Scandinavia and Sweden. I believe that he has plans that are thoroughly and carefully worked through on how to invade Poland, the Baltic states, the rest of the Ucraine, Finland and Sweden, and the same opinion have my former colleagues at the Headquarters of the Swedish Defence. There is a clear risk and danger that Putin might try to invade the rest of the Ukraine, the Baltic States, Poland and Scandinavia. I believe that. And I believe that it might also spread further.

But we should listen to what God says: fear not. We have God Almighty on our side. Who is stronger than God? Kim-Jong Un? Trump? Putin? No, they’re nothing compared with God. The earth and all that dwells there in belongs to the Lord. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God, an invisible Kingdom, a Kingdom built not by the hands of men, but by God. A Kingdom that cannot be shaken, cannot be destroyed. What can men do to us? What we have lasts forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away.

That is what Jesus said. His Words are true. Let’s rejoice, because the Kingdom of God is drawing nearer and the Return of Jesus Christ is not far away now. No one can stop the Kingdom of God from coming. No one can prevent Jesus from coming back to earth to deliver His people. Not Putin, not Trump, not Kim-Jong Un. We should remember that we have our city and our joy in Heaven, not here on earth.

I don’t want to make empty promises that are not true, but I believe that this time Africa will suffer less than Sweden, Western Europe and the United States. I believe it is our time to suffer. I underline: that is my personal belief, I don´t know for sure.

I don’t want to scare you or make you frightened, but we must live in reality, and the Lord wants us to be prepared, to be ready. It is easier to go through things if you are prepared and not taken off guard. I want to be a faithful servant and be a true and good shepherd for the sheep, and it means I must tell you what you need to hear to be prepared. But, fear not! Be prepared, but fear not.

I have spoken a few times about Times Square Church in New York, because I love that church, and a few months before 9/11 and the falling of the Twin Towers, the Holy Spirit told the church that there was a calamity coming to the city. God made His people ready for the future.

They were not told exactly what, but there was a sense of seriousness in the church and they could just worship and canceled all the guest speakers. There was such a presence of Christ upon them. The people of God does not go into the future blindly, at least not if we listen to the voice of the Lord.

The entire church was told in a sermon, and a few persons rose up and left. They said they had come to hear something positive, to be encouraged and did not want to hear about a calamity. My personal reaction is: what good is a positive message if it is not true? However, the rest of the church, the majority, listened.

When the towers crashed, TSC was ready. People came to church, rolling up their sleeves and said: we are ready to serve! Tell us what to do! Give us instructions! The pastors told them to get sandwiches, water and head out in the streets, to pray for people, comfort them and such like. I believe that is the right way to act for followers of Jesus. I am proud to call them my brothers. All the glory goes to Jesus, but still, what a testimony.

But those who refused to listen, they were caught off guard. They were terrified, shocked and not able to act and serve. It was the same way in Egypt: those who refused to listen to the Voice of the Lord were caught up in trouble. If we are wise, we listen to the voice of the prophet of the Lord.

Just two weeks before the Twin Towers fell there was another ”prophet of God”. He had a different message. No, God is not going to judge New York, He loves NY. Carter Conlon said in a sermon: I wonder if he had the Twin Towers as a background when he said that. Yes, God loves NY. He loves USA. He loves Sweden. But He is also just. We can not walk our own ways and think that God will be our Friend anyway.

I will conclude now with a few words. If hard times come, we should remind ourselves what Jesus Himself said: do not let your hearts be troubled. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.  As believers in Christ, no matter where we live, we should not be afraid. It is written many, many times in the Bible: fear not.

But we are humans, and sometimes fear arises in us, and that happens to most of us. But the point is that there is no true, no real reason for us to fear. The Lord has everything in His Hands. He has won a complete victory for us.

Then how can we overcome the voices of fear? I think that in order to do that, we must learn to lean upon and trust the Words spoken by Jesus, by God, and not our feelings. The news might soon be saying: everything is in chaos. But the voice of Jesus says: fear not. I have all things in My Hands. I know the outcome will be victory for Me and for those who belong to Me and believe in Me.

Remind yourselves often: there was a complete victory won for us on Calvary, that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ. The Devil or no man can hurt us. Yes, we might sometimes have to die as martyrs, so did eleven of the apostles, but that can not hurt us. It brings us to Heaven, to be with Jesus forever. We have Jesus on our side, and even within us.

So, hard times are coming, but believe in Jesus and do not be afraid. Keep walking with Him, work for His Kingdom, follow Him every day and just say: Jesus, I trust you. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me.