David Pawson shared the Commando prophecy during his tour of New Zealand in 1982. The reason that he was excited about this word was that it was a confirmation of one of two messages that God had given to him to bring to New Zealand. One of the burdens that God gave to David Pawson and which he shared in Wellington was as follows.

God want’s to bring revival to New Zealand for the first time.

God will bring revival through economic ruin.

He then asked, "Who is willing to pray for economic ruin to make revival possible". This is a tough question and it was not well received, so he asked God for confirmation. He received confirmation when a pastor in Dunedin gave him a copy of the vision of the Commando Army.

Many christians are looking for revival today, but they do not understand that God has not changed his plan. He still intends to bring revival through economic ruin. However, there is still one problem.

If the New Zealand economy were to collapse now, too many Christians would be ruined. Therefore God cannot bring revival because his church is not ready. This means that the call to form commando units is more urgent than ever, if we want to prepare for revival.