As I was praying, the Lord showed me a person wearing a referee’s uniform. He stood on a playing field of grass, and was wearing black pants, a striped shirt, and a black cap. In his mouth was a whistle, which also hung around his neck from a cord. Suddenly, he reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a stopwatch. He studied it for just a moment, and then blew a loud, shrill blast with his whistle and, waving his arms above his head, signaled that the time to play had expired and the game was over.

It is the Lord who appoints the times and the seasons … for He holds all time in His hands. It is God who is the official time keeper who determines when it is not time and when it is now time for things to come to pass. As I asked the Lord what time was coming to an end in this vision, He said, “The days of the mingled remnant are over. It is no longer a waiting time. It is now a dividing time. Jeremiah 24 will be applied to the Church. I will separate them, as they were separated in the prophet’s vision, and I will give to the true remnant the promised blessing.”

Separating The Figs
In the twenty-forth chapter of the book of Jeremiah the prophet shares his vision of two baskets of figs. “The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad” (Jeremiah 24:1–2). Though much was destroyed and many were killed when King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, there was still a remnant of God’s people remaining. But these remaining ones were really made up of two groups. One group was good — God’s true remnant with their hearts set on Him, and the other group was bad — just a bunch of “leftovers” still seeking their own way. God drew out of this mingled remnant those with a heart for Him, and then pronounced His blessing upon them.

As it was in the days of fallen Judah, so it is for the remnant of the professing church today. The church is the remnant of God on this earth, for it is what remains of God’s desire to have His own holy nation. Just as there were both good and bad baskets of figs in Jeremiah’s vision which represented what was left of Israel, so too are there two different groups within the “church” in our day. Out of the remnant of the professing church the Lord is going to separate His true remnant from those who are only His in name.

A few years ago, the Lord showed me that He was going to awaken and arouse the apathetic church in America and draw out of it two groups: the apostate church — those who have a form of godliness but are not truly the Lords, and the apostolic church — those who have a heart for God and for establishing His kingdom. (For more on this, read the article, “The AAA Church” in the Living Water Journal Vol. 13 No. 2.) Now is the time when the Lord is going to be dividing the remnant. Even now the Lord is beginning to separate the good figs from the bad. In these days the Lord will not only be awakening the slumbering, apathetic church, He will be separating it into His true remnant (the apostolic church) and those who will reject His lordship (the apostate church). It is a dividing time!

God’s Wedge Of Separation
As I asked the Lord how He was going to separate the remnant of the church into the two groups, I suddenly saw a large stump. Presently a wedge came down from above. As the wedge struck the stump, the stump split into two pieces. One side looked healthy and strong, while the other side appeared brittle and rotting.

The Lord showed me that the wedge that He will use to separate the “good figs” from the “the bad figs” will be two things He is going to raise up in the church. One is a call to passionate worship that is truly centered upon Him. God is about to increase the intimacy of worship in the corporate setting. Those who merely want a form of godliness and not the Lord will find themselves uncomfortable, and will soon reject this for a more settled and soulish song time.

The second face of God’s wedge of separation will be a call to the fear of the Lord. This will be increasingly taught from the pulpit and experienced in our services. The Lord is going to make a permanent impression upon His Church that He is not only the Lamb of God, but that He is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Reverence for God will once again be taught and expected in His Church. The severity of God and His righteous justice will be proclaimed in His Church to the unsettling of many. The awesomeness of God will be declared, but it will turn away the hearts of those who are only His in name, for they only want a god to help them in their life; not the all-powerful, living God who is a consuming fire.

Churches will be refined and redefined as the separation continues to unfold. In a relatively short time, we will see across the landscape of America false churches who refuse to see God for who He is and give Him the worship that He is due (the basket of bad figs); and churches who having been refined and rekindled and are now awakened and aroused to pursue the Lord and His kingdom (the basket of good figs).

God’s Promises To His Remnant
The Lord told me that Jeremiah 24:6–7 is a promise to the basket of good figs — the true remnant who desire Him and to be His. “For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart” (Jeremiah 24:6–7). God’s promise to His remnant is that: His eye will be fixed upon us, He will build us up, and He will give us a heart to know Him and draw us to Him.

As I thanked the Lord for giving us Jeremiah 24:6–7 as a promise for the remnant of God, He said to me, “Jeremiah 29, verses 13, 12, and 11 are also My prophetic promise to those who are willing to seek Me and be set a part for Me.” He said that if the church will do Jeremiah 29:13, then He will do Jeremiah 29:12, and then we will have Jeremiah 29:11. Jeremiah 29:13 is God’s invitation to the body of Christ. “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). God is looking for those who will take their sight off the things of this world and fix their eyes and their hearts upon Him. And He promises that for those who do this, He will do verse 12 for them, which says, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” Here is a promise we can get excited about and rejoice in. The infinite, all-knowing God promises to listen to our prayers. We will be those who “have the ear” of God!

Once we begin to walk this out and live in the place of ongoing dialogue with God, we will possess Jeremiah 29:11,which says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” God’s promise to us is not only that He will know these things, but that He will reveal them to us! We will come to know His heart to prosper us, and begin to understand His plans for us. One of the problems most of the church has is that we have our plans, our own agendas. But we need to know the Lord’s plans. God’s desire is for us to align our walk and will to His way. Then, His favor and blessings will be powerful upon our lives.

Yield To God’s Drawing
These promises of provision, knowing God’s plan for us, and having God fix His attention upon our prayers are contingent on seeking God with all our hearts. How often we have been encouraged to do this, and how often we have fallen far short. But remember, God’s promise to the good remnant He is separating for Himself is that He will give us a heart that longs to know Him. “I will give them a heart to know Me …” (Jeremiah 24:7). He will give us this heart; all we have to do is yield to its desires for more of God.

How do we yield to the leading of our heart to draw ever nearer to the Lord? Recently, as I was praying with my wife, I saw a large magnet and some metal fillings. Suddenly the magnet enlarged and the iron particles began to move in an arced pattern toward it. The Lord told me that in these days He is going to be attracting believers toward Him in a powerful way. God’s desire is that we will become very close to Him, and He will be drawing and calling and wooing us like never before. The magnetic personage of God will draw us onto Himself if we will only yield.

Though God will be powerfully drawing us unto Himself, there are things that can diminish this pull. I learned from playing with magnets when I was a child that the drawing power of a magnet can be blocked or reduced. If you put a piece of wood between the magnet and what it is drawing the effect is blocked. If instead you use a piece of cardboard paper the attraction will be a little better. The less you have between the magnet and what it is drawing the stronger the pull will be. But if you want the full effect, you need to have nothing in the way.

Resolving To Yield
That is what we must do. We must determine to remove every obstacle in our lives that could reduce the draw of God. We must resolve to allow nothing to get in the way, choosing to remove everything that hinders God drawing us fully to His side. I am not talking here only about besetting sins but even good things that take your time or draw your attention away from the Lord. It could be reading the newspaper, watching TV, your favorite hobby, etc. For every person it might be different. But we must choose to eradicate anything and everything that diminishes even slightly the drawing of God to Himself in our lives. Can we do this … how can we do otherwise!

God spoke to me recently, “The Church has too many resolutions and not enough resolve!” I don’t want you to make a resolution to remove every hindrance that decreases the draw of God upon your life. I want you to have the resolve to do it! The word “resolve” means: “to come to a firm decision, to make a final determination.” Will you make yielding your heart to God and removing anything that decreases His drawing you unto Himself an unchangeable, fixed decision? Will you determine this day, as one of the remnant of God, to not only know the promises the Lord is giving to you this day but to actually possess them? It is time for the true church of God to resolve to have Him as the one thing for whom our eyes look, our hearts long, and our minds dwell upon.

Please pray with me: “Lord, I thank you for your great and precious promises. Thank you for awakening the church and using passionate worship and the fear of the Lord to separate unto Yourself your dearly loved remnant. I receive from You this day a heart to know you, and I make a set and final determination not to allow anything to hinder your drawing me ever-closer to your side. Amen.”