Dream of the Migrant Workers by Bryan Hupperts

Posted: 2007-07-10 11:19:26

DREAM of the MIGRANT WORKERS

NEW CHRISTIANS-Basics of Discipleship-Spiritual Warfare-Part 1-by David Nelson

Posted: 2007-07-04 19:58:00

Scripture verses referenced in this study:

I Peter 5:8-9
John 10:10
Ephesians 6:10

I Pet. 5:8-9 says,  “Be sober.  Be watchful.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  If you are in a war and you are a soldier, you can’t be sleeping very much.  Watchful means keeping awake.  If you were in the trench and the enemy was out there and you said, “Well, I guess we can get a few hours of sleep.”  I’m telling you, if he knows you are sleeping, that is when he is going to come.  Somebody has got to stay awake, to be watching the fields.  Maybe some of the others can sleep, but someone has to stay awake and be watchful.  Being sober has to do with not being worldly.  We must be alert, and very intense on doing God’s will.  It is kind of like this, if somebody were standing crouched, ready to spring into action, ready for anything—and they are looking this way and they are looking that way, they are looking behind them.  They are looking for the enemy.  Where is the enemy going to come from?  They are alert and they are sober. 

A good definition of worldliness is anything that dampens your desire or your zeal to do God’s will.  Anything.  Satan is going to try to sidetrack you so that you won’t do God’s will.  You won’t rush forward and do the will of God.  Your zeal will be dampened.  It is like throwing a wet blanket on something.  It is when you REALLY want to do something for God and someone throws a wet blanket on it; so, you just say, oh well, I guess I’m not going to do it.  You should throw that wet blanket off and get strong again and be sober—because the wet blanket or the dampening of worldliness will cause you not to do God’s will. 

Satan has many tricks.  He is trying to destroy you.  That is the final thing that he is really trying to do.  That is his goal, to destroy you spiritually.  What he will do is whittle away at your life.  He will do things in your life to cause you to get discouraged, to go down, to separate from other people, and slowly but surely he will get you out of the will of God.  In John 10:10, it says, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.”  His desire is to steal from you.  His desire is to kill you.  His desire is to destroy you.  He goes around as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  You have got to be a soldier.  You can’t be sitting in your living room with your feet up and drinking lemonade and watching television and going to sleep.  I mean, how are you going to fight a war unless you are standing strong.  You can’t be sleeping and you can’t be just letting everything go and you are just kind of resting back.  The enemy is ready to get you.  So, we have to be alert, sober, because he is going to try to destroy you.  He is very deceitful and he is very tricky.  Then, it says in I Pet. 5:9, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world.” 

When you put armor on, and you are a soldier, and you are in a war, it is hard.  We are in a war and war is not easy.  War is:  You get tired.  Your uniform gets ripped.  You get scratched.  You get hurt.  You fall down.  Your legs are tired.  You want to get eight hours of sleep and all you can get is three hours of sleep.  You are weary with the battle.  You have been walking all day.  OK, we are going to settle in for the night.  So, you settle in for the night and you have your watchmen.  Then, the enemy attacks and you are tired and you say, “I don’t want to fight now” but, somehow, we are in a spiritual battle where God is going to make you ready.  Even, if you think you are not strong enough.  I remember reading in a book called, Pilgrim’s Progress, about this man, whose name was Christian.  He was walking along the road and, all of the sudden, this huge dragon-like figure came out to him and said “Who are You, I’m going to destroy you, you can’t walk down this path anymore, this is my path….”  Satan was facing him.  Somehow he knew that this was Satan and he drew out his sword and said, “I come in the name of the Lord—you MUST let me pass—now, get out of the way because I come I the name of the Lord.”  Satan said, “I’m not going to get out of the way.  I’m going to stand here and let’s see what you are going to do to me—(this was a big dragon).  So, Christian says, “OK, I’m coming at you, with the sword of the Spirit.”  He came at him.  But, Satan knocked him down.  Satan put his foot on his neck when he was down and said, “Ah-Haa, Now, I’m going to get you…I’m going to bite your head off.”  So, Christian’s sword had fallen out of his hand—but he grabs his sword again and he says, “In the name of the Lord, Lord help me,” and he swung the sword and Satan went back.  It is not going to be EASY fighting Satan.  Do you think that he is just going to do everything that you want?  Some demons, you have to yell at them and you have to get them out of the way.  They are not going to go easily.  Satan might come at you and you might say, “In the name of the Lord, get outta here.”  He might stop, but that doesn’t mean that he is going to go.  It might take some words to get him out of here.  So, we have to fight the spiritual battle.  That is way it says, “The same experience of suffering is being experienced by all your brethren throughout the world.”  We are in a war.

Being sober and being watchful is like a soldier who is watchful and alert.  He would be looking for what the enemy is going to do.  He wouldn’t be going to sleep.  Being sober, again, has to do with not letting worldly things sidetrack you.  Satan is going to use worldly things to sidetrack you.  Eph 6:10 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”  How many of you have experienced that you do not have strength, that you are going to fall when Satan is coming at you and he bluffs you and he says, “I’m going to get you.”  We back off a little bit but God has something for us to do and we must say like Christian, “I’m going through.”  Then, Satan comes at you and he knocks you down.  God is going to allow you to be knocked down to see if you are going to give up.  And then you are knocked down, but you are still not going to give up.  Are you are going to say, “Oh, I’m down, forget it.  OK, fine, I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Satan.”  NO, grab your sword and say, “In the name of Jesus, get out of here” and swing at Satan and he will be gone.  You will be able to beat Satan.  Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  He is the one who gives us strength.  Eph. 6 says, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil.  Put on the whole armor of God.  In spiritual warfare—what is the armor of God?  I am going to tell you about one piece of armor now.

Put on the whole armor of God.  Don’t leave anything out.  You are a soldier.  That is why you have armor and you have to stand against the wiles of the Devil.  Wiles are tricks.  He has “wily ways.”  Have you ever heard of “Wily Coyote?”  He is always trying to trick the Road Runner?  He is always trying to come up behind you.  Satan is wily.  He is trying to trick you.  He is trying to sidetrack you.  But, he is not playing a game.  He is playing for keeps.  He is playing for keeps to drag people down into hell.  He has come to kill and destroy and to devour.  We can’t think that this is a game.  You can play a game of monopoly if you want, but that is not real life.  We are playing a real life, life and death struggle, a real war.  The final result of the war is that you are either going to be in hell or you are going to be in heaven.  That is what Christian was doing on the path in Pilgrim’s Progress—he was on his way to heaven.  If he got sidetracked in to any little town or bog or whatever---there were a lot of things to sidetrack him.  A lot of tricky things.  We have to stand against the devil and keep moving forward as a soldier, and keep pushing Satan and his devious tricks away day and night.

STRONG Christian Evangelism Quotes!

Posted: 2007-06-28 12:40:40

"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."
Author:  C.T. Studd

 "I'd rather have people hate me with the knowledge that I tried to save them."
Author:  Keith Green

Chapter 5 Corporate Revival (from book "Desiring One Thing" by David Nelson)

Posted: 2007-06-26 13:46:21

Chapter  5      Corporate Revival

We are on a very important journey at this time, it is a venture into the Lord’s realm as never before in history, exactly like this.  We need to go to a new area. The Lord wants us to go to a place we have never been before. Where we have been going in this book is toward the Lord’s revival.  In this chapter we are going to emphasize a little bit more the corporate side of revival.   

Corporate revival is somewhat different than the things we have been talking about so far.  We have been taking about our own excitement, our own zeal, our own fire, our own relationship with the Lord, that we would have the fire of the Lord, and that we would get close to the Lord.  However, there is an aspect to what we have said that will lead to coming together with other people and this will develop into a journey together with others

In Acts 15:14 James says, “Peter has declared to us how God at the first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, “After this I will return, and will build again (or raise up again) the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles, who bear my name, saith the Lord, who does all these things.”  What God is doing right now is raising up again the Tabernacle of David.  It is not the Temple, that he is speaking of here, it is not the tabernacle of Moses, it is the Tabernacle of David.  It was a particular time in history when David lived and David was a prophet.  He was also a king. David heard things from God.  David wrote a lot of the psalms.  David prophesied things about the coming Messiah and he also had other prophets around him, one of them was named Gad and another was named Nathan.  So, he had prophetic people around him and David saw things in heaven about what God wanted to do on the earth, and God gave him a revelation about the Tabernacle of David, and it involved music. As you may know, David was gifted in various areas of music. He played music for Saul and he even wrote psalms that were put to music.  And David was a prophetic person also, he prophesied things in some of the Biblical writings.  He was a music person too.  He wrote psalms and he was very skillful on the harp. And so, the revelation that has been given to many people in our day is that this is the time that God is raising up the Tabernacle of David again and rebuilding it.  It has to do with music and it has to do with the prophetic.  It has to do with revival, 24 hour a day revival.  That is what we are going to talk about, corporate revival, 24 hour a day revival, 7 days a week revival.  But it is already being formed in us, we are already being prepared for corporate revival by the individual revival we are beginning to experience. There is an every-day abiding in Christ, where we are learning to abide in Christ 24 hours a day.  It is the life that we are living where we are tuned in to his voice and he is speaking to us more, and we are hungering for him more.

I will give you a summary of what the Lord showed me a few years ago about the Tabernacle of David in I Chronicles and II Chronicles.  In I Chron. 25:1 we read, “David and the captains of the host were separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophecy with harps, with psaltries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was….” Now Asaph was very skilful with musical instruments. (cymbals and percussion especially)  And his sons were also skilful with musical instruments. Asaph also had a prophetic gift. Heman and Jeduthun were also skilful in music and prophecy. They would prophecy with harps, so there was music and prophetic utterance together. This is also happening more and more even in our day. In the coming corporate , revival meetings there will be music and prophecy and prayer unlike normal types of meetings in the past. God is going to restore the Tabernacle of David. These men and women given by name in I Chron. 25 played music and prophesied according to king David’s orders (verse 6). David said, God showed me that I am supposed to do this, and so now we have brought together some gifted people assigned by God to accomplish this. Heman was called the king’s seer. A seer is someone who sees what God is doing and tells people what he sees.  They see things other people don’t see (this is very much like a prophet or could be synonymous with what a prophet does, seeing and hearing what God wants to communicate to the people). In I Chron. 25:5 & 6 it says that Heman had 14 sons and 3 daughters who were gifted in song for the service of the house of the Lord. David had a “vision” from God as to what to do and he explained it to the gifted people God had prepared to carry out the “vision.” In verse 7 we read, “So the number of them, with their brethren who were instructed in the songs of the Lord, even all that were cunning (in these things), was 288. And they cast lots duty against duty, both the small and the great, teacher and scholar  (student) alike.” Everyone had their place and their duty and they were divided into 24 divisions (with 12 persons per division). So they served in the Tabernacle of David 24 hours a day with song and prophecy, prayer, praise, thanks, and service to the Lord that never ended. In Leviticus 6:9-13 it says that there will be a fire at the Lord’s altar burning 24 hours a day. In the Tabernacle of David there will be 24 divisions of people that will take their turns before the Lord 24 hours a day. This is to be the flow of the Spirit of God 24 hours a day through people. Not just a physical fire at an altar but the fire of God in people all the time. And that this would never die, it would never go out. When I saw these things I did not know that God was showing many people around the world the same things, independent of one another. As to how all the details will be worked out here and there for this 24/7 service to the Lord, that remains to be seen. The Lord might do things differently in Iowa than he does in Florida but wherever he works out his plans there will be the real fire of God and real revival. 

This is how I saw corporate revival begin in the state of Georgia. In Leviticus 8:33-36 it says that the priests were to be consecrated for 7 days. We are not to say to the Lord, we are going to do the “quickie” consecration in just 3 days. If God said 7 days then he wants us to be set aside or consecrated for 7 days. In Leviticus 8:33 it says that the priests were not to depart from the holy place for 7 days and 7 nights. When young people go to youth camp they may go for 5 or 6 days straight. And the young people may be thinking, “We’re going to go swimming, and we’re going to have fun, play volleyball, go for hikes in the woods, and they may be anticipating “fun” and spiritual things too. But when they get to Christian youth camp, for the morning, afternoon and evening meetings, God is desiring to speak to them through the youth leaders and change these young people’s lives forever. The youth leaders hopefully are ready by the Spirit of the Lord to be used for God’s purposes. God is not there only to promote the “fun part” but would like nothing better than to turn these youth to be on-fire and in love with Him. Let’s say for 6 days the fire of God is flowing through these youth leaders and touching deeply the hearts of the young people. Morning, afternoon, and evening they are basking in the presence of God (assuming God is free to do what he wants and the leaders are God’s anointed servants). And guess what, it works. By the end of the week, the swimming and the fun things seem to have faded into the background as the presence of God takes center stage. (In the light of His glory, the things of earth grow strangely dim). These youth have been drawn to the altar weeping and crying and are so on fire that they say, we don’t want to leave, can we stay another week? The answer is no. They have to go back home and go back to school, etc. But they come back to their home churches and they share in the evening service, and they begin to cry again in the service. You can see the fire of God all over them, flowing to the people in the congregation, hopefully to touch their lives and hearts. We have been changed and we are close to God as never before! But guess what, it lasts for a few days, it maybe lasts for a week, but soon they are back in their old world, in their “same old” routines, back in the church that didn’t challenge them and didn’t create the fire they needed. And so, the youth fire dwindles out, but God never meant for the fire to go out. When God says prepare yourself for 3 days to meet with your God (Exodus, chapter 19), He is wanting us to get ready, to experience his realm, to taste his fire. Three days of preparation can change us (acclimate us) to see God and hear God and be with God. The 7 days of consecration where the priests never left the Temple is similar to a youth camp that prepares us and consecrates us for God. We are away from the normal routines of life and God touches us with his fire. And he would like us to stay at a certain level of consecration and not go back to the worldly things that cool us off (stay at a place of closeness to God). There is this individual revival and there is a corporate revival that is going to happen.

In Numbers 19:9 it says that the ashes of a red heifer are to be put in water to make the “water of purification.” I have heard that in Israel today they have everything prepared to begin Temple sacrifices again. They have the priests, they have the holy anointing oil, they have the utensils, everything ready to resume sacrifices. It says in the Bible that when the antichrist comes he is going to stop the sacrifices. So, Israel is close to beginning sacrifices again except they are missing an acceptable red heifer. They still need to make the water of purification. In Numbers 19:12 & 19 it says that the water of purification is to be sprinkled on a person on the 3^rd day and on the 7^th day and then they shall be clean. But if he purifies not himself the 3^rd day then on the 7^th day he shall not be clean. We should do what the Lord tells us to do and not leave things out or do things the way we want. As we read earlier, the priests were to stay in the tabernacle for 7 days, 24 hours a day and not depart. No matter how the world pulls on us, if we are with the Lord continuously for a season and he draws us into his fire, the world fades away and loses its grip on us. Even the hardest young person can be touched deeply by the presence of God. And that’s where the Lord wants us to be. The Lord’s anointing is greater and purer and more powerful than the world if we will allow ourselves to get close to the Lord’s presence. Even the hardest heart can be broken and they will begin to weep in God’s presence. God wants to break us, God wants us to be close to Him. And then after the “7 days” he wants us to remain close to him at a different level than we have ever been before. By analogy, if we are sprinkled on the 3^rd day and sprinkled on the 7^th day then we will be consecrated, set apart, clean for the Lord. But if we only get sprinkled on the 3^rd day and we do not get sprinkled on the 7^th day we will not be clean. Or if we think we don’t have to do the 3^rd day thing, just forget that, we will only go on the 7^th day and get sprinkled, that should be good enough. We’re not going to be clean just coming on the 7^th day. We need the 3^rd day and the 7^th day sprinkling both, to obey God and get what the Lord wants. What I have found in my travels is that on the 1^st night that I come into a church, the Lord’s message begins to change people’s lives. Many others are being used in this way also, and this does not mean that I am better than the people I came to visit either, each one is to do what the Lord has told them to do. If we are sent somewhere to bring something that is the job we have been given by the Lord. The 1^st night is the beginning, the 2^nd night brings us farther, to another level, and the 3^rd night the Lord has acclimated us more to his realm and there is an excitement and an anointing that the Lord has accomplished if people’s hearts are right. This will happen if people are not side-tracked, if they are hungry and if they are not turned away by something. Then God will transform us the way he wants to. What will develop is a corporate dynamic that will not just be me speaking or me sharing good things and just the audience observing, I leave and nothing changes (people go back to where they were), but people will never be the same after those days, they have tasted of something and they will never be satisfied with the “same old” again. 

The thing that can be done for corporate revival is you begin meeting with 2 or 3 or 4 people. The messages that God wants to give to his people may cause some people to want to leave and go to some “easier” meetings. The messages may make some people not want to come back. People might say, we don’t want to do that, and pretty soon it becomes apparent that some people really don’t want to change. We need to get rid of this guy because we want to go back to where we were before. But the pastor in Georgia said, no, we don’t want to go back to where we were before. We want to move on with God. And so, after some people left it boiled down to a handful of people who said, we want to seek God and see what he wants us to do. Now I’ve preached the sermons, I’ve given the messages, now we need to get together and pray and see what God wants to do next. The instruction time and preparation time is over, it is now time to seek the Lord.

There’s a song that came out in the last few years that says, “I’m desperate for you and I’m lost without you.” You can sing this song (if you really don’t mean it) over and over, but is it really true in your heart of hearts? If you are not desperate for God where will your intensity of seeking for Him be? Can you say you are lost without Him, really? If he doesn’t come, then you really do have other things you can do, don’t you? Are we really lost without Him? We have to come to a place of wanting individual revival and corporate revival so bad that we can honestly say, I want nothing else, nothing else will satisfy me, everything else is empty till that comes. Could we ever come to the place where we could say we are waiting for revival and we have nothing else to fall back on till it comes? Can we honestly say we want nothing else and we have nothing else? As I traveled if God did not bring real revival right away, then people must say we’re not just going to return to having normal meetings, we’ve done that and we’re not going back to that, we want more (what God wants) and we won’t give up till the more comes. We are venturing into this new area and if God doesn’t come (which he promised he would if we don’t give up), we have come to the place corporately where we say, “We’re not going to give up till God comes.” We are going to pray for a break-through and seek God till we find Him. We must become acclimated to what God is and will be requiring of us. The messages will prepare us to the point where we say, now we are in the thick cloud, we are face to face with God, and we say, “What is next, Lord?” The Lord will steadily and surely transform our lives into a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week personal and corporate revival (or move of God), which will fulfill His restoring of the Tabernacle of David. It will not just be 3 meetings a day, but 24 hours, through the night, listening for God, walking with God, and hearing his voice. The revival in Argentina that has been going for over 50 years started out with desperate people in meetings that were just seeking God, with no sermons, no songs, just, “Where are you, Lord?”

In Exodus 33:7 it says that Moses had a tent of meeting that was outside the camp. It is a theme throughout the Scriptures, and yet we would not believe how much God wants to meet with us! (but we are coming to know how true this is). The Lord is really not interested in coming to a meeting that we are in charge of and watch our meeting. He wants to be at the center and show himself and speak to us as we love him and worship him together. In Ex. 29:35-46 it says that the Lord wants to be with all his people not just the leaders. God is saying, “Come,” everywhere and in many ways he is saying, “Come,” to those who have ears to hear. God is tenderly pulling us or drawing us back to where we are supposed to be. And he must get us ready in our hearts to want to be with him and to be consecrated in our hearts so we don’t come with a flippant attitude but a heart seeking attitude (with humility). Otherwise we would be burned up when he comes to us, but as it is he is desiring to burn up our dross only. In Ex. 33:7 it says that anyone who was inquiring of the Lord could go to the tent of meeting outside the camp (away from the normal, every day things). Whenever Moses would go to the tent the people would rise up at the doors of their tents and the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire would come down to the tent of meeting as God talked to Moses. In Ex. 33:11 it says, “And the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.” But the Lord wants this kind of relationship with all of us. Then Moses would go back to camp. But his young aid, Joshua, would not leave the tent. That has to be the attitude God is looking for. Somehow we have to get to the place where we say, “I’m desperate for you, God, I want more of you, I want to see you Lord.” Yes, it will be an individual journey but it will also develop into a corporate journey with others with others who are seeking as you are. The Lord will bring us together and place stone to stone to become his beautiful house of many facets and personal giftings. The Tabernacle of David rising up again, all things that the Lord has ever wanted for his people and Him together restored. Not just coming to a 3 day revival and going home, or going to a 7 day revival, but 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, a fire that will not go out. He touched Joshua and now he’s touching you and me in this glorious day.

What you can accomplish by yourself is one thing. No matter how gifted a person is, how many mysteries of God they see and proclaim, or how powerfully a person’s life abounds with miracles, or whatever, it will not compare with the many-faceted, glorious house the Lord wants to build with you or I just being one stone in that house. We as living stones are to be placed side by side with others and what may seem like the most humble stone God can exalt to show forth his greater glory through whoever he chooses at the moment, wherever, whenever, however he wants. We must always remember that it is His glory, his anointing, everything comes from Him, everything points back to Him, without Him we can do nothing, if he steps back, we are nothing without Him. As we are placed together the world will see much more of His glory through many and diverse vessels. What is accomplished by a solo trumpet player or violinist will not compare with the symphony of an orchestra with every artistic player playing the Lord’s music as He conducts.

How to "Rally the Troops" Part II by David Nelson

Posted: 2007-06-26 13:27:03

How to “Rally the Troops”    Part II        (6-14-07)

RALLY: To bring people together (to the “same page,” so to speak), to increase their courage and morale, so that together they can do more for the cause of Christ that is needed for this time. Webster’s dictionary definition: To muster scattered forces to renew their efforts, a “meeting place” where people come together, to arouse a group back to enthusiasm. (for the cause they have been hoping for).

In Part I the idea of writing each other personal letters and giving each other encouraging words to bring God’s people together is a good 1^st step but we will need to go further. It is going to take relationship. 

What is this relationship that is needed? When we go into a store to shop we certainly aren’t looking for relationship with the sales people. We just want to get something accomplished and hopefully they will help us, and then we probably will not ever see them again. In fact, many times in a store we would rather not be in contact with the sales people at all, we say, “No thank you, we’re just looking.” Sometimes we really need the sales people and sometimes we don’t. But an “on going” relationship with them is not really in our thoughts.  

Even if we do meet some very interesting people and friendships begin to strike up, maybe for a while there is an interchange of ideas and conversations, maybe a few meals together or a few invites over to each other’s homes. But what kind of relationship will be needed or is the Lord looking for for the Body to come together in the kind of love relationship the Lord said would be among His disciples and for the coming revival?

I believe it will take communicating with someone regularly to see how they are doing or what they have been thinking. We should talk often enough so that our mutual hunger for fellowship is satisfied and so that the Lord can accomplish His goals too. We will need to be honest, transparent, and be willing to share our hearts. To be a Body we need to be in contact with each other’s lives, affecting each other, giving to each other our gifts. The connection is hollow when there is no real communication or talking. So, who are you connected with that is depositing into your life and you are depositing into their life? Everyone needs other parts of the Body. You may be in a church setting where you seem to be giving very little to anyone and possibly you are not receiving from others to the level that you hunger. With whom and how then can you build these meaningful relationships that you need and that the Lord is looking for? With whom can we be one as the Lord prayed that His disciples should be one. (Jn. 17:21,22 (as the Father and the Son are one so should we be one)). And how can we love one another as deeply as Jesus loved His disciples? This is the Lord’s goal. We must ask the Lord to bring His people together into these kind of relationships. Then the world will see that the Lord is really with us. Who do you want me to connect with Lord? To whom can I give the gifts you have given me to the full extent you want, Lord? And from whom can I receive love, friendship, and the spiritual gifts I need to receive? Show us Lord how to connect with one another. May the Church be built by you Lord in this hour. We will do our part that you show us. Lord, send us the revival we long for!

How many people can we or should we connect with? How many people does the Lord want us to connect with? He can give us supernatural abilities to connect with as many people as it seems good to Him?

If we have love all men will know (we belong to Jesus) (Jn. 13:34,35).

If we are one the world will believe (that the Father sent Jesus) (Jn. 17:21).

How to "Rally the Troops"? by David Nelson with article by James Smith

Posted: 2007-06-12 20:22:06

How to “Rally the Troops”?    (6-5-07) 

My own definition of rally is to bring people together to one place, increase their courage and morale, so that together they can do more for the cause of Christ for this time.

Webster’s definition of rally is to muster (assemble) for a common purpose, to call again to order, to rouse for action, to rouse from depression, weakness or dejection, to renew efforts, to join together in a common cause, to recover (from sickness), to rebound (from setbacks). Also, to muster scattered forces to renew their efforts, or a meeting that people can come to to arouse a group back to enthusiasm. 

I think the following article by James Smith is meant to “rally the troops.” We have tried to rally people through various efforts in the past and we continue to do so even now. Jesus is the Living Stone who men tried and threw away (Amplified Bible) but who is chosen and precious in God’s sight. (We, of course, have tried Him and found Him very precious and have not thrown Him out). But we too are living stones that are being fit together and are being built together (by the Lord) into a spiritual house (for God). (I Pet. 2:4,5) (each one of us has also been chosen by God for His purposes). Jesus is the corner stone, and the whole body is being fitted (and joined) together and is growing into a temple. The whole body is being fitted and held together by that which every joint and ligament supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part (when each part is working properly) causes the growth of the Body. (Eph. 2:20,21 and 4:16)

This is the word that came to me. Each one of us has a gift from God and we should give cold water to others. What do I mean by cold water? I saw only two places in the Bible where the phrase cold water was mentioned, Prov. 25:25 and Matt. 10:41,42. Proverbs says that good news (or a good word) from a far country is like cold water to a thirsty soul. Are you thirsty for spiritual refreshment, don’t you love to hear or read a good word no matter where or from whom it comes, that refreshes your soul, revitalizes you, encourages you and sharpens you for the battles ahead? Jesus said that we should receive a prophet (hear what they have to say) or receive a righteous man and we will receive a prophet and a righteous man’s rewards. But notice that He also says if we give a drink of cold water unto one of these little ones (little in rank or influence (Amplified Bible)) even just because he is a disciple of Jesus, truly Jesus says you shall in no wise lose your reward. I’m sure this means being hospitable, friendly, kind and literally giving water to thirsty people. But how good it also is when we have heard something good from the Lord and we have a refreshing word to share and we give it out to encourage others. So, receiving someone and hearing someone’s word has a reward, and giving cold water to others from your own “spiritual well” has a reward also.

In the past years I have been so encouraged by things I have read in books and articles and we have distributed in typed form and on the internet many writings that have encouraged us. We would love to hear from you what the Lord has been showing you. We could pass on to others through our web-page writings that will encourage the Body, refresh people with the cold water the Lord has given you, help to knit the Body together a little closer, connect people, and cause the growth of the Lord’s house. I’m sure the Lord will be pleased to see His people sharing with each other what He has given to each even if we live in a “far country” from each other. Just think what might happen if more people were connecting with each other in the Lord?

The following article by James Smith was an exhortation for me and I have posted it for your encouragement, but then I asked myself what are we doing to rally people? We in Des Moines, Iowa have prayed for revival in small groups every week without ceasing. We have convened prophetic forums for each person to share what the Lord has been showing them and we have church meetings each week. We have traveled to many states and will continue to travel as the Lord leads. We also are “getting the word out” as to what God is saying to the Church now. We write letters and distribute books and literature to do our part to prepare ourselves and God’s people for revival. Please let us know what you have been doing or think could be done to rally God’s people to the great things God is now speaking to His Body.

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"WORD to THE REMNANT"
Anger and Courage - A call for action
-by James Smith.

"Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and
courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that
they do not remain the way they are."  - St. Augustine.

Most of us know anger quite well. Talk to someone who is involved
with the repentance scene and you will likely hear it in their voice
as they talk about the state of the church, you will see it in their
eyes as they explain the wrongs associated with the hyper-
prosperity, once saved-always saved or the seeker sensitive
doctrines. Anger at the way that things are has been at the heart
of the repentance community and is something that most of us
are well acquainted with. Anger by itself is not bad, it is a
tremendous motivator for the person seeking to change things.
But when anger is left alone and is not coupled with action, it
must end in the destruction of the ones who embrace it. Because
anger must be answered, that is its nature. It demands that a
wrong be addressed and if no solution presents itself, anger will
inevitably lead to frustration, withdrawal and ultimately a martyr
complex that can only destroy a Christian life and that is absolute
poison for any move of God.

We have seen that this frustration will many times introduce a
little known companion to anger named apathy. When the source
of frustration seems to be such that there is no ready answer for it,
apathy comes along as a form of learned helplessness. "I used to
be angry about such-and-such but then I just gave up, it is never
going to change anyway." And apathy crouches right now at the
door of the repentance community, stealing our resolve to see
change and sapping our strength for the battle ahead. I hear from
people from all over the world because of my ministry email list.
And the impression that I am getting more and more often of late
is that they are tired of hearing about everything that is wrong.
People in the community have grown tired of hearing about what is
wrong with them, with the church and with the world. Not that they
do not see the truth in what is being said, it is just that there must
be an answer presented as a solution to the problems that are
being exposed.

If a public leader or politician began listing the wrongs of a certain
country that he viewed as an enemy, it would certainly be possible
for him to generate a public frenzy in response to all that he has to
say given the proper platform. But if he were to present no ready
answer, no clear path to dealing with the situation, people who
were excited would quickly tire of the rants and quietly excuse
themselves from his rallies. That is human nature and it is no
different in this movement. We have cried foul against the current
system and the problems that we and those that came before us
have been exposing are very real. But without a plan to change
things, all of those people who allied themselves with us, even the
most ardent of our supporters, will eventually fall victim to apathy.
And apathy is the death rattle of any movement, the sound that
says that the end is inevitable.

Anger at the current state of things has carried us all this far but it
can not take us any further. The diversity of the issues that face
us when combined with their sheer size all but guarantees that
they can withstand our anger by simply ignoring us and keeping
us in obscurity. The tactic employed so far has been to ignore us
completely and when they find that they must give an answer to
our claims, they simply relegate us to being only the marginalized
fringe, conspiracy theorists and heresy hunters who are not worth
considering in the grand scheme of things, or fanatics that suffer
from too much intensity and need to just settle down.

Some people who would support what we do hear us and it all
rings true to them but what we offer as an alternative is so one
dimensional that it can not hold public attention long. Imagine if
the reformers would have contented themselves with exposing the
error of the Catholic Church and then went no further. After a while,
crowds would no longer have clamored to hear these upstarts
because they would have heard it all before. Thank God that the
reformers did not stop there but they presented real solutions,
else we would not be here today but would still be under the
domination of the Pope and that hellish system of indulgences.

The goal of any revolution is to supplant the current system. But
we have been hesitant to move in this or any other direction in the
repentance movement. Some parts of the group hate anything
organized while others hate any leadership at all in the church.
Some think money should have no part in religion while still others
believe that we do not need buildings but that it should be totally
street or home based. Some hate denominations and some even
seem to hate America in general and want to see it judged. I can't
say that any of those things are what I believe but I have seen
people who certainly do believe them in the last few years.
 
And with a lack of official central ideals to follow, no one knows
what to believe and so we do nothing at all and chaos reigns. If we
continue as we are without a central identity to call our own we
have zero chance of affecting any real change. The bible says that
every seed reproduces after its own kind and yet we don't even
know what we are, we only know that we aren't "them" and have
contented ourselves with that. It is my opinion that many of the
ideas that we tolerate in this group are simply utopian ideas with
no hope of practical application whatsoever. And some of the
ideas are just plain crazy and should not be tolerated at all, lest
the integrity of the movement itself suffer....
 
Our trumpets have been sounding an uncertain and even disjointed
sound and how can the people of God answer that? There are
many preachers out there preaching similar things, many of whom
I know personally. Some of these same men also have something
against other preachers who stand for things very close to their
own core beliefs. They will not work together, preach together or
stand together in any way and some will even go to great lengths
to distance themselves from these others. When a spirit of
fratricide is evidently running free among our ranks, how could
God ever trust us with revival? We will only bite and devour one
another in the midst of it and kill the work. That being said, is it
too hard of a question to ask what is it that draws us together?
What are the common threads that we recognized that caused us
to gravitate to one another? What do we feel that God wants us to
do in our time here on earth as a group, if anything? This is not
ecumenical agreement that demands severe compromise in order
for it to occur but simply the agreement of brethren who desire to
join together to accomplish more than they could as a lone
individual. It would seem that the core goals that we all seem to
desire the most are:

-We want to see real Christianity established in the place of the
humanistic Gospel of the last half decade.
-We want to see the power of God again and not this spirit of
Adonijah that parades itself in our day.
-We want to see revival change the course of history in our time.

As for me, I want to see the real enemy and his work destroyed
every chance that I get. I have at times forgotten about satan as I
focused on all of the wrongs in the church system. I have told
myself that he was behind all of the problems and so by going
after the church system, I was going after him. But then one day I
woke up and saw that in all my fighting, I had forgotten how to
fight him. And I vowed in myself to never make that mistake again.

Courage is the other daughter of hope mentioned at the outset of
this article and it is the one that has been most missing in what
we do. And it is the one that must come to the forefront now if we
are ever going to see God move in our day. We must do something
now before this brief window closes and there is no more need of
the watchman because the enemy is already at the gate. We
must decide what it is that we stand for, cut loose everything that
we do that does not directly apply to our vision no matter how
good it seems to be and begin to march together towards our
goals. We must put aside pet doctrines and differences that divide
us and rally around the principles that we all agree with. We must
work with one another to present a united front and a depth that
people can embrace. We must become a movement in every
sense of the word, moving together with all of the different parts
that we offer to a common goal.

And we must have the courage to remember that none of our
stances or projects really matter in the end, only what we truly do
for Jesus matters.

We will make the decision now whether this movement will have
any impact or not. If we can not move forward together then we will
lose this incredible moment in history when real change could
have occurred. I would remind you that we have come into the
kingdom for such a time as this and that not one of us should
delude ourselves into thinking that we will escape in the king's
house any more than anyone else. That if we do nothing then
deliverance and enlargement shall arise from another place, we
can be sure of that. But we may have missed the one moment
that we were born for, the war that would have given us our
identity that we could have only fought together.

~James Smith,
'American Pentecost'
Houston, Texas.

Revival and Prayer Quotes

Posted: 2007-06-04 11:38:35

Excerpts from www.Christianquotes.org

“Oh! men and brethren, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would go home and pray for a revival – men whose faith is large enough, and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here, as in the times of former generations." 
Category:  Revival      Author:  Charles Spurgeon

"It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants...From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."  [Philadelphia, 1730's, on the effects of George Whitefield's preaching] 
Category:  Revival        Author:  Benjamin Franklin

"Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground in silent or vocal prayer." 
Category:  Prayer        Author:  George Whitefield
                                                      

"You never have to advertise a fire."
Category:  Revival        Author:  Leonard Ravenhill

Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!" 
Category:  Prayer        Author:  Andrew Murray

A New Breed of Modern Preachers by Greg Gordon

Posted: 2007-06-03 22:46:24

A New Breed of Modern Preachers       by Greg Gordon     (taken from Andrew Strom’s E-mail list, prophetic@revivalschool.com)

This is not the article in its entirety but some excerpts and some whole sections which spoke the most to me (Dave Nelson). I am not trying to exalt myself or any ministry, for the Lord will speak His message for this hour through “the least” and through those who might be gaining “a name or a reputation” for proclaiming truth for our time. As to who “the least” or “the greatest” are in God’s eyes, He is the one who really knows. May the messages from God’s heart go forth from everyone and anyone who is hearing what the Spirit is now saying to the Church.

Quotes from the article by Greg Gordon:  God is preparing a new breed of preachers. Their message will so contradict all of what we know of Christianity that we will hardly believe they are from God. These men will be “much with God” and “little with men.” The things of earth to them will grow strangely dim.

Prophetic Preaching

A.W. Tozer spoke of this new breed of preachers in his short article 'prophetic preaching' - this is the need of our day and it will come: "If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation, it must be by other means than any now being used. If the Church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher. The proper, ruler-of-the-synagogue type will never do. Neither will the priestly type of man who carries out his duties, takes his pay and asks no questions, nor the smooth-talking pastoral type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to everyone. All these have been tried and found wanting. Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many), he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. Such a man is likely to be lean, rugged, blunt-spoken and a little bit angry with the world. He will love Christ and the souls of men to the point of willingness to die for the glory of the One and the salvation of the other. But he will fear nothing that breathes with mortal breath. This is only to say that we need to have the gifts of the Spirit restored again to the Church. And it is my belief that the one gift we need most now is the gift of prophecy."

PICTURE of a PROPHET

Leonard Ravenhill in his book "America is too young to die" speaks of the true picture of the coming prophets to Christendom. Oh how sorely we need them: "The prophet in his day is fully accepted of God and totally rejected by men.

"He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. In a day of faceless politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! He has not price tags. He is totally 'otherworldly.'

"He lives in the heights with God and comes into the valley with a 'thus saith the Lord.' He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow. He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead! He walks before men for days, but has walked before God for years.

"He announces, pronounces, and denounces! God talks to him about men. He talks to men about God. There is a terrible vacuum in Evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally otherworldly. the man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable.

"Let him be as plain as John the Baptist. Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and stagnant churchianity. Let him be as selfless as Paul the apostle. Let him, too, say and live, 'This one thing I do.' Let him reject ecclesiastical favors. Lim him be self-abasing, nonself-seeking, nonself-projecting, nonself- righteous, nonself-glorifying.

"Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself, but only that which will move men to God. Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place where he has received the order of the day. Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism.

"Let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon. God have mercy; send us PROPHETS!"

RUN for YOUR LIFE

The message of these men will seem strong and extreme to most. They will call for utter immediate implicit obedience to the commands of the Lord. They will call for a turning away from sin and from sinful practices. They will preach a God-exalting and men-abasing message. They will not be worried about men's self-esteem or happiness but rather their clarion cry will be: "Holiness Unto the Lord!"

Their message might sound like this excerpt of a message preached by Carter Conlon: "Run from gospels that focus on your success and prosperity. Run from those that use the name of Jesus Christ only for personal gain. Run from those that are picking your pocket in the name of Jesus. Run! Run from gospels that focus only on self-improvement, or on three steps to a better personality. Run from churches where men and not Christ are glorified. Run, get out of that place! Run from churches in America and Canada where there is no Bible, no cross, no searching Word, no repentance from sin. Run when there's no mention of the blood of Jesus. It's an unclean place, so run! Run from churches where the worship leaves you cold, where there's no sense of God's presence, because they don't know God. Run! Run from churches where you're comfortable in your sin. If you enter God's house with sin in your life, but you're not convicted of it, you're sitting at a table of devils. Run! Run from pulpits that are filled with politically driven men who use the pulpit of God for a personal agenda. Run! Run from those who preach division between races and cultures. Run! Run! Get out! Turn it off. They know nothing of God. Run from ungodly, spasmodic movements and endless empty prophesying. Beloved Church. Run for your life! Run from preachers that stand, who tell only stories and jokes. Run like you've never run before. Run from those that are only after money and they use one gimmick after another to get your money. One foolish thing after another to get your money. Run."

God is going to get the attention of us. He is going to shake "everything that can be shaken." We should be on our face brothers and sisters. Great times of shaking are coming. Are we standing firm on truth of God or are we allowing the world and its cares to choke our spiritual life? God is going to raise up a new modern breed of preachers that will be uncompromising and unrelenting in their proclamation of the heart of God. Hear this blunt blaring word from the late Dr. Joseph Parker: "Oh, ye white-faced, weak-kneed believers! Believers in what? Ye shifty speculators, stealers of prophetic mantles! go, drink yourselves to death, and go to your proper devil! Ye are not the Church of Christ, might well be the speech which ascended Pauls might deliver to us, as we reshuffle the theological cards, and rearrange our credenda, and modify and dilute our doctrinal positions and enthusiasms." Let us also hear one of Mr. Ravenhill's often quoted lines: "Our pulpits today are occupied with puppets rather than with prophets, with organizers rather than with agonizers." Does that smite? It is true! Let us start praying to see God revive, restore, renew and revolutionize the Church as we know it. We need a mighty touch of God's Spirit and men that will speak with that anointing from heaven. God is raising a new breed of preachers in these last days. Oh how we need them!

A Breath of Love by Cheri Henderson - May

Posted: 2007-05-08 21:57:19

The World's Intoxicating Bowl

Posted: 2007-05-07 20:59:25

A People Who are Drinking from the World’s Intoxicating Bowl   (Author not known)  (5-5-07)  (Some quotes by known authors are included)

2^nd Section by Debbie Przybylski

“Most men take the world for their chief good, and place their felicity in the enjoyments of it….” –Matthew Henry

There is something going on in the Body of Christ that is very disturbing. Anyone walking closely to the Lord can surely sense the off-balance message that is sounding out from the pulpits across the land.

Understand this- Yes, God does want to meet the needs of His children. Yes, He wants to free them from all oppression and depression due to debt and lack. Yes, He wants to give them an abundance so that they can fund His Gospel work and be a blessing to others.

However, it seems that this is all that some preachers can ever preach about. (And some “folks” really do want to hear this message.)

These same people need to take notice that there is (much) more in the Bible than the Prosperity and Abundance Message. They will find that it does teach on other subjects besides “Sowing your Seed for a Harvest.”

There is a fear that these churchgoers-whether knowingly or unknowingly-are drinking out of the “world’s intoxicating bowl” and don’t even realize it. Instead of the Lord, His Word, and His presence being their greatest desire, they are just like the heathen in that they are coveting after more and more of this world’s goods-only under the cover of “Sow Your Seed for a Harvest.”

Please do not misunderstand what we are saying here-we do believe in paying tithes and offerings to the Lord and also in planting in financial seed and then believing for blessings to come in return. Certainly, no one can out-give God!

But many have distorted this teaching to the point where they are more interested in the goods than the God who supplies them!

Let’s let the Word of God explain:

Psalm 61:5 says- “For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.”

Psalm 16:5-6 says- “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.”

Psalm 73:26 says- “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

Psalm 119:57 says- “Thou art my portion, O Lord….”

Psalm 142:5 says- “I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.”

Lamentations 3:24 says- “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul….”

Ezekiel 44:28 says- “And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.”

In the above Scriptures, you find words, phrases, or statements such as- “heritage of those that fear Thy name….” “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance….” “I have a goodly heritage….” “God is…my portion….” “Thou art my portion, O Lord….” “Thou art my portion in the land of the living….” “I am their inheritance….” “I am their possession….”

What did the Biblical writers mean when they referred to God as their “portion”?

They meant that He was their chief good…the supplier of all their needs…and the source of their comfort, refreshment, and happiness. He and He alone was the One who could content the desires and wishes of their spirits. While others sought for fulfillment from the things of this world like wealth, honor, pleasure, and fame-they found their God to be their all in all. All sufficient to counterbalance all their troubles and make up for all their loses.

Look around you today- not at the world- but at the Church. Just how many people do you know who can actually say with utmost zeal and confidence that- “The Lord is my portion”? Who is absolutely satisfied in just having Jesus as their source of comfort, refreshment, and happiness? Which ones are content to say- “You can have this old world…just give me Jesus and I’ll be satisfied”?

Are you getting the “drift” of what the Holy Spirit is saying through this message?

God definitely wants to bless His children. Just read what Psalm 115:13-14 says about this- “He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children.”

God takes delight in increasing His children and their children. There is no doubt about it!

But what should the attitude of His people be in return? Should thy forget Him and go after “the gold” so to speak?

Read what some of the Bible commentators had to say on this subject:

Matthew Henry said- “Those that have God for their inheritance and their portion for ever ought to look with a holy contempt and indifference upon the inheritances of this world, and not covet their portion in it.” “There is enough in God to answer all the necessities of this present time.” “It is our duty to make God the portion of our souls, and then to make use of Him as our portion and to take the comfort of it in the midst of our lamentations.” “Those that have God for their inheritance and their possession may be content with a little, and ought not to covet a great deal of the possessions and inheritances of this earth. If we have God, we have all; and therefore may reckon that we have enough….”

Adam Clarke said- “…he that has God for his portion has everything that can make him happy and glorious: all are his.”

Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown stated in their commentary- “To have God for our portion is the one and only foundation and hope.” “God is the all-sufficient Good to His people.”

Lamentations 3:24 says- “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.”

In the above Scripture, the people who make God their “portion” walk in great confidence, faith, and in an expectancy. 

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2nd Section

The following was written by Debbie Przybylski, “Intercessors Arise”

“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill be made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.”

The church in many parts of the world needs revival. We are right now living in desperate days, and God can use each one of us to prepare the way for the Lord. I trust that each one of you senses the urgency of the hour as intercessors. It is time to seek the Lord. The valleys of defeat must be filled, the mountains of disbelief must be leveled, the crooked places of dishonesty must be straightened and the rough places of disobedience must be made smooth. It is time to make room for the Lord. Revival is divine intervention in the normal course of spiritual things. It is God revealing Himself to man in awful holiness and irresistible power. It is such a manifest working of God that human personalities are overshadowed, and human programs abandoned. It is man retiring into the background because God has taken the field. It is the Lord making bare His holy arm and working in extraordinary power on saint and sinner.

I wrote the following two paragraphs almost 25 years ago, and I find that I must still ask myself the same questions today as I wrote then. “Am I desperate enough for revival?” “Do I realize the desperate condition of my country?” And if I trust in religious organization, material wealth, popular preaching, shallow evangelistic crusades, there will never be revival. But when confidence in my flesh is smashed and I realize my desperate wretchedness and emptiness before God, then and only then will God break through. “Lord, make me ready for revival. Revive me.”

I ask that you might join me in prayer for revival in our lives and in the nations- for prayer that is strong, prevailing, believing, God-moving, hell-defeating, devil-routing, sinner-saving, believer-sanctifying, Christ-exalting and worker-producing- prayer that takes all that we are and have. God Himself will motivate us to pray these prayers and have extraordinary consequences if we are willing, willing to pay the price. Pray that God will fill us with the very passion of Christ, with the power and persistence of the Holy Spirit, with the burdening sense of the church’s plight and the world’s appalling need, that the wheels of revival be set in motion.

How do we Personally Prepare the Way for Revival?

(Adapted from Andrew Murray)

“A revival of holiness is what we need. And how is it to be found? It will cost much prayer. It will cost more than that- much sacrifice of self and of the world. It will need a surrender to Christ Jesus, to follow Him closely as God is able to lead us. We must learn to look upon a life like Christ’s, having the very same mind that was in Him, as the supreme object of daily life.” Andrew Murray

Become thoroughly dissatisfied with yourself- Be sensitive to God’s conviction. “Press on towards the goal.” (Phil. 3:14)

Set yourself like flint toward a sweeping transformation of your life- Throw your whole soul into the desire for God.

Prepare yourself in the way of blessing- Pray with all your heart, and ask God to enlarge your prayer and worship life. Make time for God, and practice fasting. (Sometimes fasting is walking away from other things you enjoy to seek God, not just food.)

Do a thorough job of repentance- Don’t tolerate sin in your life. Let godly sorrow over your sin touch you deeply.

Make restitution when possible- Make the crooked ways straight in your relationships and life.

Be serious about personal revival- Pray instead of watching TV, and don’t get caught up in the ways of the world. Lay aside the crooked roads.

Deliberately narrow your interests- If you narrow your interests, God will enlarge your heart. Wanting the Lord alone is the way into a world that is infinitely wider and richer than anything else.

Make a new commitment to reach out to the lost. Ask God for opportunities (to be of service for Him, to touch people’s lives for eternity), and He will help you.

Have faith in God- Begin to expect God to move. All heaven is on your side. (He wants to bring glory to Himself through you.)

Revival begins with us. It is each one of us getting our lives straight and turning from the crooked paths. Take seriously the need for personal revival. Take seriously the need for prayer. God is dealing with His church. The following is the testimony of Charles Finney during a revival in a small village in New York.

“I should say a few words regarding the spirit of prayer which prevailed at Rome, New York during this time. Indeed the whole town was full of prayer. Go where you would, you heard the voice of prayer. If you were walking down the street, and if two or three Christians happened to be there, they were praying. Whenever they met, they prayed. Whenever there was a sinner unconverted, especially if he showed any opposition, you would find some two or three brethren or sisters agreeing to make him a special subject of prayer. No one could come into the village without feeling awe-stricken with the impression that God was there in a peculiar and wonderful way.”

Are we willing for God to transform our cities through prayer? Are we willing to pay the price? For many of us, God has brought us to the point of desperation. We are willing to lay down our own agendas and get on our faces before God for however long it takes. We have seen that our methods and plans will never change the increasing darkness that is permeating the world. We are becoming desperate, and that is a good place to be. Seeking the manifest presence of God in a region is risky, but it is the way towards a true and powerful transformation in a nation.

We proclaim, decree, decrease and defeat of witchcraft, Islam, abortion, stupor, secularism, paganism, profanity, heathenism, idol worship, greed, spiritual slumber, corruption, pollution, self-centeredness.