When man is in control of building the Kingdom there is confusion and grief, excessive strain and labor, and no rest. People are attempting to perform tasks in their own wisdom and strength. When God is in control there is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. There is harmony as each member functions in his proper office. The Lord's servants love to do His will and often are moving about joyfully, singing the praises of the Lord—the happy songs of Zion.

The Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel:

. . . Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. (Ezekiel 37:4)

There is a time to prophesy. There is a time to declare what God's will is, what He intends to do. Then the doing of it shall be accomplished by men and women whom God raises up by His Spirit—people in whom God places the necessary talents and strengths. The prophets do not have to fulfill their own visions.

It is our point of view that the past forty-or-so years have been a time for prophesying. The prophesying continues to the present hour but the time of fulfillment now is at hand. When the saints prophesy a vision for many years there arises a feeling there always will be prophesying but the vision never will come to pass. Such is not the case. If the burden is of the Lord it will come to pass in perfect detail and completeness.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 12:27,28)

For hundreds of years the Hebrew prophets proclaimed the coming of Christ and the Kingdom of God. Hundreds of years are a long period of time. But one day Jesus was born to Mary. One day the promise was gloriously, wondrously fulfilled.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:3)

Every promise of God to us, whether in His written Word or in a personal word to us, surely shall come to pass. We never are to relinquish our dreams, our hopes, our visions. God is the God of the miraculous, the impossible. All things are possible to us if we never lose our faith in the promises.

It is our understanding that God has a fabulous purpose and plan so far superior to anything men could envision that we continually are coming short of the Glory of God in our faith. We need to pray for the faith of Christ. We need to have Christ's own faith given to us if we are to be able to grasp what God has in mind to do on this earth before Jesus returns.

To be continued.