God's Special Force Team (Thu, 9 Jan 1997)

I am not a particularly big TV fan, but one day I felt led to watch TV -- yea, I know that sounds weird. Anyhow, Raid on Entibee (sp?) was on. It is about some terrorists taking a French flight captive and eventually releasing all the hostages except the Israelies. They make demands that Israel release several terrorists from jail or they will kill all the hostages. The demands are quiet unreasonable and the terrorists will not negotiate. Israel responded by putting together a special elite military unit (the best of their best) to rescue the hostages. The unit trained and it trained and it trained some more. They build a "mock up" of where the hostages are being held and dry-ran the rescue over and over until the whole team functioned as one and everybody did exactly their part at exactly the right instant. They had pictures of the terrorists and studied them until they could instantly recognize the enemy by sight. They practiced breaking into the room, telling the hostages to get on the floor and stay down and simultaneously eleminating each terrorist. I think they trained about 16 to 18 hours per day. It was hard gurling work for each soldier as they went through their training -- but each had in mind the goal -- setting the captives free -- and worked/trained with everything they had because they were totally committed to the goal.

While the movie was depicting the intensive training and preparation of the Israelee special force, the Lord's presense became very strong in the room. He Lord spoke to me and said, "Teresa, would you like to be on my Special Force team?"

"Of course, Lord," I replied without even hesitating.

"No Teresa," He said, "Understand what you are committing to before you say yes."

"Show me what You mean, Lord," I said.

Then He started showing me a lot of things. He showed me how the team spends a lot of time training and preparing for just one mission. He showed me how the stakes were higher than a normal scrimmage and how one mikstake by one member of the team could result in failure for the whole team. He showed me the gravity (seriousness) of the situations that this of team could be sent into. He showed me how the preparation was secret -- no one had a clue intensive training was going on or what it was for. Then I saw transposed over it a church setting. Folks who were on the Special Force were in intensive training. They were called to discipleship, a deep commitment to His Lordship. Those with a much less intense calling were already active in this or that ministry and looked down their noses at those who God was secretly preparing. The Lord showed me how important it was for each of God's Special Team members to be able to discern His voice clearly and to be committed to instant obedience no matter how odd the command sounded to them. He showed me how it was costly obedience for the team members and any one of them could be a casuality in the intense battle that lay ahead -- there was no guarentee of personal safety from enemy attack.

By then the Lord's presense in the room was overwhelming and I was in tears. I committed myself to Him and His plans for me as best as I knew how. If it was not for the intensity of His presense in the room, I might have written this off as the product of an overactive immagination sparked by the movie. But His presense remained intense and He reminded me that He frequently uses object lessons to speak to me. The movie of Israel putting together a special force to rescue captives was a type in the natural of what He is doing in the spirit.

People of God, respond to God's spirit and volunteer to be a part of the Special Force Team or Commando Army that the Lord is currently massing.