I usually begin my morning quiet time around 5.00 am following the practice of Isaiah: “He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught” (Is 50:4). On Wednesday this week I woke early with much on my mind. (This was before I had any knowledge of the meeting between Boris Johnson and the Irish Prime Minister) I was asking some specific questions about what’s happening in Britain – with city streets blocked by climate protesters, a rebellious Parliament with politicians fighting among themselves, a rebel Prime Minister at war with many in his own party, a rebellious nation split by division that reaches even into friendships and family, a nation at loggerheads with our European neighbours.

“What is happening, Lord? Where are you in all of this?” I asked. Then something strange happened – I saw a picture. This is quite extraordinary for me because I don’t think in pictures. But I quite clearly saw a bucket – a large, shiny, bright, new, empty, black bucket. Then a single drop of water fell into it and I immediately remembered the Scripture “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket” (Is 40:15).

The View from Heaven

The Lord was putting things into perspective. Certainly, we are in the midst of an almighty storm and relationships are in a mess: there is confusion, anxiety and fear. But God holds the nations in his hands as a drop in a bucket. We are all so small and our lifetimes are quite tiny in the concept of eternity. There are long periods in history when very little happens; there is not much change; but in the lifetime of many now living, enormous changes have taken place, but all these changes are part of God’s creation and the working out of his purposes.

At the original time of Creation, God put all these things into the world and into the universe and now we are discovering them one by one – penicillin, inoculations, anaesthetics, steam engines, electricity, jet propulsion, atomic energy, the internet. We are like children on a treasure hunt. Each child who discovers a prize shouts with joy and runs to their father or mother to show them – forgetting that it was they who had hidden them in the first place. We forget that the God of Creation put all these things there for us to discover in due time! Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket!

God holds the nations in his hands as a drop in a bucket. We are all so small and our lifetimes are quite tiny in the concept of eternity.

A Great Storm

We need to get things into perspective in order to understand what is happening today. Yes, we are in the midst of a great storm and I believe things are going to get more intense before we come through to the other side, to calmer days. I believe it is God’s good purpose for Britain to leave the European Union and that the decision of the Referendum in 2016 was guided by his hand. But the powers of darkness are striving to overcome the good purposes of God which is what we are witnessing today. Those who are listening to the Lord will all be hearing a similar assurance to the word that was given to King Jehoshaphat at a time of great crisis in the history of the people of Israel. His prayer of faith called upon God for help: “‘For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you.’” The response was: “This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s’” (2 Chron 20:12-15).

I believe that what we are involved in is not just a battle of Britain, but it is a battle for the soul of Europe, and God is actually using Britain to work out his purposes to bring new life and saving power to the people of Europe who once had embraced the gospel, but have departed from the truth. This is why we need to be separated from Europe for a time.

I believe that what we are involved in is not just a battle of Britain, but a battle for the soul of Europe.

God used Britain twice in the last century to stand firmly against tyranny and the evil powers of fascism. In 1940 Britain stood alone, facing the whole might of occupied Europe in what appeared to be a hopeless act of defiance: it was Dad’s Army against the Luftwaffe and the Panzer divisions! Great Britain was reduced to a little bunch of nobodies, but that is how God loves to intervene and use ‘The Few’ to do mighty things beyond their normal human strength so that God gets all the glory. Even Prime Minister, Churchill, acknowledged in the British Parliament that Dunkirk and the ‘Battle of Britain’ in the skies had both been miracles.

Encouragement for the Remnant

Well, we need a miracle now to get us out of this mess! But God is no less powerful today than he was in the time of Jehoshaphat or during World War II. He doesn’t even need the whole nation to acknowledge him: he loves to work through small numbers like Gideon’s 300.

I believe God wants to reassure the Bible-believing faithful remnant in Britain that he has already heard their prayers and the future is assured. The drop in the bucket will in due time become a mighty outpouring of new life that will spread across the nation and spill over into Continental Europe.

There have been many prophetic words about these things during my lifetime. Many times, I had to stand alone and say that they were false prophecies because they were not what God was promising at that time. He was calling for humility and repentance.

The drop in the bucket will in due time become a mighty outpouring of new life that will spread across the nation and spill over into Continental Europe.

A New Move of the Spirit

But the vision behind many of those prophecies was right. It was the timing that was wrong. Jean Darnall was probably the nearest with the picture she received of small pockets of light dotted around the country and growing in intensity, and eventually joining up to become a powerful force sweeping across the land. These certainly represent the prayers of the faithful remnant today who need to be encouraged, not only to more intense prayer, but to faithful witness – declaring the word of the Lord, explaining what God is doing, especially to young people who are seeking to understand what’s happening in the world of Nature – they need to be introduced to the God of Creation!! They need to read Isaiah chapter 40.

The word I received was that we are now entering the height of the battle, “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees!” (Heb 12:12) because God is about to do mighty things and he has good purposes for Britain. I will not see revival in my lifetime, but in the third generation from now, there will be a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God. My children are in the remnant generation of faithful believers to pass on the baton to my grandchildren who will be the generation that will prepare the way of the Lord. It will then be the generation of my great-grandchildren who will rediscover the faith of their forefathers and see the great outpouring of new life and the power of the Spirit of God, that will transform the nation and spill over into the Continent of Europe. I believe this is the word of the Lord.