Revival (50)

Watch LIVE Streaming, nationwide TV video interview with Terry & Barbi Franklin from Opryland Hotel on Friday, Sept 30th, 12noon CT on "AFA Today". They are introducing the www.AwakenUS.com story to their first media venue. Unite with millions across our land for this prayer effort Nov 21 - Dec 31, 2011! Click this link to watch at AFR for Live Streaming Video online
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AwakenUs: 40 Days to Fast and Pray

See www.AwakenUS.com to learn about nation-wide fasting & prayer event!  We're calling prayer warriors and churches all across America to unite in prayer for a Spiritual Awakening in our land Nov 21 - Dec 31, 2011. Thousands have already joined the effort nationwide. Millions will be hearing about this united season of prayer over the next month. Please spread the news!
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What’s Your Passion?

What’s Your Passion?

What’s your passion, and where did it come from?  As a columnist I notice lots of writers feel compelled to write about lots of different things.  Sharing ideas, concerns, passions, warnings, and influence can certainly promote our learning, growth, and appreciation of others.  But all topics are not of equal importance, are they?  For example, if you had a cure for cancer, wouldn’t sharing that be more important than merely filling up a space with some casual observations.  I fully support our free press and want to encourage authors to share their thoughts and ideas.  But clearly some messages can truly help people more than others.  If your passion in writing, serving, or working can truly help people, then go all out for it!  But perhaps some more consideration is called for if it’s more about you and your agenda than about helping others.

For   example, Samuel Clemmons (aka Mark Twain) said “I’d have written you a shorter letter, but I didn’t have time.”  I think we are all better off to take that self motive-check and editing time to improve our “helping efficiency.” 

Obviously any room full of people will differ as to what is most important to them.  There is likely to be more agreement as to ways we can truly help others.  But when we are concerned enough to take time to find out what is most important to us, we and others will benefit, especially if we live in accordance with those values. 

God has given me 3 main passions: prayer, discipleship, and revival.  None of these popped up overnight; they each took years, and went through the stages of listening, taking notes, prayer, follow-up, and then practice.  Fortunately they all require strong partnership with God, with Him taking the lead, and therefore Him getting the credit.  It is humbling to affirm that although He could use rocks instead of me, He loves me so much that He lets me participate in all these passions and thereby experience Him more deeply.  Who else gives such magnificent gifts, motivations, purposes, direction, and energy, and then throws in godly contentment and satisfaction, like whip cream, on top?  Hopefully this might encourage someone else to analyze their passions and sources, and write or live them out for the benefit of others!

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Hi!

Every Friday night from 10pm to midnight we're traveling from church to church to pray for revival and unity, and to pray for wild blessing over the pastors, staffs and their vision.

 

We'd love to connect with you (or your pastor)!

 

Check out the site at www.revivallab.com and you can request a date for the team to pray in your church.

 

Here's the plan:

 

There’s an increasing hunger in the body in Detroit for a move of God, and our heart is simply to gather these people together and to pray. I had the privilege to give leadership to a similar prayer movement in Colorado Springs and the impact was truly amazing. Every Friday night we’d be in a different church in the city, and at times we’d pack 150 people or more into a tiny church building—people whose only motivation was to bless God and bless the church.

 

The protocol is intentionally simple:

1.       After I give a short briefing for those who have never been to theLab, we spread out and pray fervently in tongues for around an hour and a half.

2.       I will give direction at times throughout the night as we focus on different issues. For example, I may call everybody together to pray over the church’s leadership, or we may move outside and pray for homes and businesses in the area.

3.       We will close with 20-30 minutes of reading scripture together.

Here are some points that will help in understanding the vision of this ministry and the flow of the evening:

1.       We chose the 10pm-midnight Friday time so as to ensure everybody in the Detroit region is free to participate. We’ve found that’s almost always a wide open spot on people’s calendars.

2.       A primary call is for pastors and ministry leaders in Detroit to travel with us every Friday night as we move from church to church. What a powerful statement of unity it is when pastors from other church devote two hours a week to pray for blessing together over another church!

3.       We are believing for 1000 intercessors to develop through this ministry. People from churches all over the city are being positioned to simply pray together for revival in Detroit. Can you imagine seeing 1000 people show up to pray together in Detroit every Friday night?

4.       During the time when we’re praying in the Holy Spirit, we don’t allow time for prophetic words to be shared. We simply pray. However, we do encourage post-event reports to be sent in through a contact form on the website. Also, when we are reading scripture, we don’t include commentary along with the passage. We simply read the scripture. No teaching, no preaching, just the Word of God.

5.       We ask that you have the doors to your property open by 9:45pm the night of the event.

6.       Please have every interior room (classrooms, sanctuary, etc.) open so we can pray in them. We pray over the children’s ministry, over the worship department, etc.

7.       If possible, please have a microphone available for me so I can be clearly heard as I give direction.

8.       Invite your entire church to participate, and ensure your leadership team is there so we can pray for them.

9.       Plan on joining us the following Friday at the next church, and then the next and the next!

Here's an article published by Pray! Magazine regarding the prayer movement in Colorado Springs:

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO—Faced with dwindling attendance at prayer meetings, many church leaders address the problem by publicizing more, trying to find more “convenient” times to meet, and just plain coaxing. But a Colorado group has done the opposite. They picked what many people would consider an inconvenient meeting time—10 p.m. until midnight every Friday—and they don’t publicize at all. The results have been remarkable.

 

“It has the feel of an underground movement,” said Pastor John Burton, who coordinates the meetings. “We all show up in the middle of the night at a church we’ve never been to—there’s a certain mystique about it,” he said.

 

“Secret Prayer,” as it’s called, began almost a year ago when several pastors who believe God is sending revival to their community decided to pray with and for one another. “What we want to see more than anything is unity,” Burton said. “We need to love each other a lot. That’s what God is going to use to bring revival more than anything else, and prayer does that. It’s hard to hate anyone when you’re praying for, loving, and blessing each other.”

 

The format is simple. Each week a different church is targeted to receive prayer. Intercessors show up at that church, read Scripture and pray however the Holy Spirit leads. Usually they pray through the church, blessing and interceding for the various ministries that take place in each area.

 

Attendance varies, but is usually anywhere from 50 to 200, Burton said. It’s a very diverse group of pastors and lay people, with representatives from different denominations, ethnicities and church sizes. The largest participating church has more than 10,000 members; the smallest only a couple of dozen.

 

The biggest result is that people are always encouraged, Burton said. One story that particularly sticks out to him is of a little Baptist church the group prayed for late one Friday night. It had only about 30 regular attenders. But within two or three weeks of the Secret Prayer meeting, attendance had doubled.

 

Although many churches request repeat visits, and sometimes the group will do that, Secret Prayer more typically aims to pray in a different church each week in order to reach as many churches as possible, Burton said. Churches and intercessors find out about the meetings mostly by word of mouth, although there is a website and they have made up business cards to hand out to people who inquire.

 

We can’t wait to pray with you!

 

John Burton
theLab

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This topic has been on my mind for quite a while. I first delivered this talk at a missions conference in Montreal several years ago. It came to mind again this week after I was asked a question about the Second Coming during a question and answer session at Cannon Beach Conference Center in Oregon. I have been thinking and praying about what we should expect as we consider the call of Christ to take the gospel to the ends of the earth in light of the end of the age. It’s not just a question of missions and it’s not just a question of Bible prophecy. It’s a more focused question. “What should we expect as we do the work of evangelism in light of the Second Coming of Christ?"


There are several ways to get your hands around this question. Here are two preliminary observations:

1) What we believe determines who we are and what we do.

We can never separate theology and practice nor can we divorce doctrine from daily life. Belief matters because ultimately whatever is in the heart comes out in what we say and what we do.

2) Our view of the last days shapes our view of evangelism and world missions.

Perhaps a better way to say it is that our whole view of the future shapes our hopes and prayers for what God may yet do around the world. Obviously there are missionaries scattered in many places who hold a variety of views regarding the end times. It is not necessary (or likely) to suppose that Christians will come to a general consensus regarding the rapture, the tribulation, the millennium, the eternal state, the place of Israel in God’s plan, or the proper way to interpret Revelation. We’ve been discussing those things for a long time, and there is no end in sight. What would seminary students do late at night if they couldn’t argue about the fine points of Bible doctrine?


And I suppose that one’s evaluation of the future depends greatly on where and when you make your judgment. Christians living during a world war are likely to view the future much differently from those who live in a time of peace and prosperity. No one does theology in a vacuum. To Christians in Muslim lands facing severe persecution, the hope of the Second Coming may seem much more real than it does to happy, well-fed Western Christians whose biggest worry is how much they can spend for Christmas this year.


With that background, I would like to focus the question a little bit more. Are there any reasons to believe that we will yet see great spiritual awakenings around the world? I think the answer is yes, for reasons I will set forth in this message.


For many years I’ve read about great revivals in the past. Note the last three words. “In the past.” Sometimes those stories sound so amazing that you wonder if such things could happen in our day.


Could there be another Welsh revival in our day?
Could there be a Third Great Awakening?
Could there beanother Laymen’s Prayer Revival?
Could we see whole nations shakenand changed by the preaching of the gospel?


Instinctively we know the answer is “yes.” Of course those things are possible in our day. God is not limited by the moral decay around us nor is he bound by our unbelief. My sermon hones in on one key point. If these truly are the Last Days before the coming of the Lord, could these things still happen?


In order to answer that question let’s back up and answer another one first. What will the world be like in the Last Days? Here are two lines of biblical evidence to consider.

1) It will be the worst of times


“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days” (2 Timothy 3:1). The word translated “terrible” occurs only here and one other place in the New Testament. In its other occurrence, it refers to the two violent men who were possessed by demons in the region of Gadara (Matthew 8:28). They were wild, uncontrollable men who lived among the tombs. The “last days” will be fierce, violent, dangerous and frightening. Savage times will come as men cast off all moral restraint and society begins to disintegrate.


Two decades ago evangelical philosopher and theologian Carl Henry predicted that as America progressively loses its Judeo-Christian heritage, paganism would grow bolder. What we saw in the last half of the 20th-century was a kind of benign humanism, but he predicted that by the start of the 21st-century, we would face a situation not unlike the first-century when the Christian faith confronted raw paganism–humanism with the pretty face ripped off, revealing the angry monster underneath. His words have come true, and we see the proof with every passing day. So Paul warns Timothy, “After I am gone, things are going to get worse before they get better. Buckle up, Timothy. Terrible times are coming.” That’s why Paul said, “Mark this,” or “Understand this,” or “Pay attention to this.” Don’t be naïve and think that everything is going to be okay. It’s not all going to be okay. But forewarned is forearmed. If we know what is going to happen, we won’t be surprised when it does.


Consider two more verses:


1 Timothy 4:1 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”


2 Peter 3:3 "Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.”


We can summarize this line of biblical evidence by saying that the entire age will be characterized by unbelief and religious apostasy as men continually reject the truth and follow their own desires. There is a sense in which these things have always been true for the last 2000 years, and there have been many periods of extreme spiritual darkness. When Jesus uses the image of “birth pains” in Matthew 24:8, he may be telling us that we should expect these hard times to increase as we near the end of the age. The moral collapse of the end times will be like labor pains before a new world is born where Christ reigns as king.


But that is not the end of the story. There is another line of evidence we need to consider.

2) It Will Be The Best of Times

Let’s look briefly at two lines of evidence:


First, consider these words from Joel 2 that are repeated by Peter on the Day of Pentecost:

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:16-21).

This passage is extremely important because of where and when Peter uttered these words. It’s as if Peter is saying, “The Age of the Holy Spirit is now upon us.” It certainly means that God intends to pour out the Holy Spirit across a wide swath of humanity. What Joel predicted and Peter preached not only characterizes this entire age, it will come to a climax in the final days of human history. There will be amazing signs in the heavens and on the earth surrounding the Day of the Lord. And there will be a great movement of evangelism in the last days, starting 2000 years ago on the Day of Pentecost, continuing through the Church Age, and coming to a vast climax just before Jesus returns.


Second, we have the parable of the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13. Jesus told a story about a farmer who sowed wheat in his field, but during the night his enemy came and sowed weeds (sometimes called tares) among the wheat. The farmer had no idea what had happened until weeks later when he discovered the wheat and the weeds growing together. When his servants volunteered to pull up the weeds, he told them to leave the weeds alone lest they accidentally pull up the wheat at the same time. They were to let the wheat and weeds grow together until the harvest, at which time he would have the reapers gather the weeds for burning, then the wheat would be gathered into the barn (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). Later his disciples asked him to explain the story.


The wheat and the weeds represent believers and unbelievers in the world. The Lord sows the good seed that produces believers while the devil sows bad seed that produces unbelievers. That’s the world as we see it today. Christians and non-Christians live and work and play side by side. We shop at the same stores, we eat at the same restaurants, we drive on the same roads, and we work in the same companies. Very often we watch the same programs on TV, and we may even send our children to the same schools. The real point of the story is that you can’t always tell by looking who is a Christian and who is an unbeliever.


Superficially we may appear to be much the same. And when we die, we are all buried in the ground. I’ve walked through many cemeteries, and you can’t tell much about the spiritual state of those who rest six feet below the surface. The saved and the lost rest side by side. We are much the same in life and in death. But a day of final separation is coming when the Lord himself will send his angels to separate the righteous from the unrighteous. Since he alone will be the judge, there will be no mistakes.


What does this parable teach us about the Last Days? I think it suggests that there will be parallel harvests of good and evil in the days preceding the coming of the Lord. Evil will be more outrageous than ever before, and the good will easier to spot. Evildoers will become more brazen, and there will be a corresponding harvest of righteousness in the last days. The Lord’s work will prosper in the midst of continuing moral decline. This leads me to believe that the greatest revivals in history are still ahead of us. We’ve all heard it said that the darker the night, the brighter the light shines. When a jeweler wants to convince you of the brilliance of a diamond, he places it against a black background.


If we are indeed living in the last days before the return of Christ, we should expect things to get better and worse at the same time. I think we should believe God for amazing answers to prayer, culture-shaking moves of the Holy Spirit, and unprecedented open doors for evangelism. We should pray for the gospel to spread like wildfire across India and China. If there is going to be a final harvest of righteousness, then we should expect to see hundreds of millions of people coming to Christ in the years to come. And at the same time, the devil will do all he can to ignite an explosion of evil around the world.


As we rush headlong into the final days leading up to the coming of Christ, we should expect hard times and good times, increasing opposition and amazing open doors, trouble ahead and glorious gospel victories. All these things go together just before Jesus returns to the earth.

What Difference Does It Make?

As I travel to various places to speak, I sense worry and uncertainty everywhere I go. Last week during the question and answer session at Cannon Beach in Oregon, I talked about trends that may be leading to the events of the Last Days. At one point a person in the audience raised her hand and said, “If all of this is going to happen, what can we do about it?” Excellent question.


So I shared a short summary of this message and said, “I think these are great days to be alive. Think of it! We may be the generation that sees the return of Jesus Christ.” And that’s truly how I feel. I’m optimistic about what God is doing in the world today.In light of all this, how should we live?

Be Alert!

The last days will be a time of confusion and spiritual delusion. Don’t be sucked in by the spirit of the Antichrist that is already in the world. That spirit tries to make us think that sin isn’t really sinful and that there is no such thing as right and wrong. It also seduces us into silence when we ought to be speaking out. Ponder the words of I Peter 5:8 (ESV), “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Don’t let that “someone” be you. A great deception will come to the earth in the last days. Many will be deceived. It’s easy to say, “That would never happen to me.” Don’t be too sure. Many will be deceived who today would laugh at that suggestion.

Don’t be Naive!

This is a time for the people of God to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Don’t be naive about the true nature of sin in the world. Bad things happen because evil people cause them to happen. They hijack planes and fly them into skyscrapers. They mail anthrax to public officials. The strap bombs on young people who then blow themselves up on crowded buses. They loot and kill and destroy and defraud and break the laws of God and sometimes they go on TV and gloat about it. If we are indeed living near the coming of Christ, then we ought to brace ourselves for further outbreaks of hideous evil. The worst is yet to come. No matter how good the world seems to be in terms of technology, the moral compass is pointing in the wrong direction.

Don’t Be a Pessimist!

Believe God for great things in the last days. Pray big prayers. Ask God to bring in the last-days harvest in your town, your city, your state, and your nation.

Be Bold!

This is no time for compromise. In times like these, Christians ought to be bold and open about our faith. Raise the flag of Jesus high above your head and then take your stand under that flag so that those near and far know who you are and whose you are. Open your mouth and say a good word for the Lord. Speak up for the Savior. Let your voice be heard so loudly that no one can doubt whose side you are on.

March in Tight Formation!

This is no time for believers to wander off on their own. Stay tight with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Stay tight with your local church. Stay tight with your Sunday School class or your small group. Stay tight with your Christian friends at work. Stay tight so you can’t be easily picked off by the enemy. When we march in tight formation, we are a formidable force to be reckoned with. When we try to go it alone, we become easy targets for Satan’s attacks.

Live Without Fear!

If we know the Lord, we are joined with the One who is the ultimate Victor in the battle between good and evil. A friend reminded me that one of the old spirituals says, “My Lord, what a morning, when the stars fall from the skies.” The slaves often sang songs that talked about the coming of the Lord because that great hope contrasted so vividly with the bleakness of their bondage.


If we read about “terrible times” to come and then give in to fear, we have missed the great point that Jesus is the Victor in the end. We live in hope because our God is a God of hope, and in Christ we have great hope for the future. The church has always done its best work in bad days and hard times. When the skies are the darkest, it is then that the glory of the gospel shines the brightest.


Charles Dickens began his epic novel A Tale of Two Cities with these words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That stands as a good description of what lies ahead of us as we approach the end of this age. Satan will unleash his full arsenal, knowing that his time is short. Therefore, we should not be surprised when hard times come. But this age will also end with an unprecedented spiritual harvest around the world. I can’t imagine a better time to be alive.


We are fighting a battle we cannot lose.
The Lord is looking for somesoldiers who will serve in his army.
Will you answer the call?

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The Next Spiritual Awakening

If you don’t believe we are in need of a spiritual awakening in our nation, you are not obsessed the news networks like I am! Seriously, you cannot live in this nation without some awareness that a movement of God is desperately needed.

Historically, this nation has experienced some powerful spiritual awakenings that have dramatically changed the spiritual climate of society. However, we are perhaps 150 years overdue for another nationwide, saturating awakening.

But there are hopeful signs! Before every great spiritual awakening, there were some common indicators that we’re beginning to see emerge once again. Billy Wilson of Awakening America Alliance shared some encouraging observations with me in an interview.

One of the first signs is an increase in the use of revival and spiritual awakening language. In the past few years, great movements of prayer have been rising up, including alliances of Christian ministries devoted to prayer for revival. Eighteen years ago I wrote my first article on revival. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I was aware that there had to be something more to faith in Christ than what I was seeing displayed in the Church. Now the call for revival is becoming commonplace in prayer circles.

Another sign is an increase in the fervency of prayer among the “remnant.” These are the pastors and intercessors who have prayed faithfully and sought God for a greater move of His power in our midst. More and more prayer warriors are joining the ranks of those praying fervently for revival. This is one of the most encouraging and hopeful signs, as almost all revivals have started with less than 12 people praying. God loves to work through a remnant!

As we close in on a desperately needed move of God in our nation, there are two more indicators that will increase just prior to revival breaking out:

  • There will be an increase in united, extraordinary prayer. This prayer is passionate, fervent, and repentant in nature—and this is increasing exponentially!
  • There will be a restoration of integrity to the pulpit. You will begin to hear greater boldness in messages based on the truth of the gospel, and it will include the message of repentance. Not only will the messengers of the gospel proclaim the integrity of the gospel more clearly, they will also experience their own repentance and transformation. This is something we should all long for our own lives.

Keep your eyes on the horizon. Revival fires are not far away. Keep praying; keep repenting. As we humble ourselves in brokenness, God will draw closer and closer to us. Come, Lord Jesus!

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Behind Closed Doors

Elisha was a man of unusual “God moments.” I’m still pondering the floating axhead story—and have absolutely nothing to write about that!

But I am especially struck by the details of two miracles involving Elisha: the widow with the replenishing oil and the Shunammite woman’s son who was raised from the dead. Both of these stories from 2 Kings 4 have a common thread that intrigues me.

In the first miracle story, the widow was in deep financial trouble. She called out to Elisha for help, acknowledging that she was down to her last few drops of oil. Elisha instructed her to gather up as many jars as possible in her home. Then he told her to go inside and shut the door. Behind that closed door, the oil began to flow and the widow was supplied with more than enough to sustain her family.

In the second miracle story, the woman from Shunem lost her son, perhaps to a brain aneurism. (Just my guess—the passage says that he died after a horrible headache.) She was distraught and went to find Elisha. Elisha’s servant got to the woman’s house first and tried to help the boy according to Elisha’s instructions. Nothing.

Then Elisha showed up, went into the room with the boy, and shut the door behind him. Alone in the room with the lifeless body, Elisha began to pray. He lay on top of the boy, mouth to mouth, hand to hand. As Elisha’s body covered the boy, a sense of warmth began to return. Elisha got up, paced around the room, and then stretched out over the boy again. Suddenly the boy sneezed seven times with the breath of life!

Both of these miracles were done behind closed doors. No crowds; no big fanfare. Just simple acts of obedience and prayer in times of desperation. One miracle resulted in provision; the other resulted in a revived life.

I’ve noticed in my own life that God is calling me to more times of intercession behind closed doors. It’s just me and my God. Mostly I’m pleading with Him for revival of the church and spiritual awakening of our nation. I’m praying for the dead to live again!

But perhaps the greatest miracle is what God is doing in my own heart and life when I shut the door and get alone with Him. I think I am living again!

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From the AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER


ARE WE PREPARED TO PRAY THE PRICE TO SEE GOD MOVE IN OUR NATION

by Stuart Robinson. At the time of writing this article The Rev Dr Stuart Robinson was the Senior Pastor at the Blackburn Baptist Church in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Luke 11:1 Lord teach us to pray


Introduction

In 1952 Albert Einstein was asked by a Princeton doctoral student what was left in the world for original dissertation research? Einstein replied, 'Find out about prayer'. English preacher Sidlow Baxter, when he was eightyfive years of age, said, 'I have pastored only three churches in my more than sixty years of ministry. We had revival in every one. And not one of them came as a result of my preaching. They came as a result of the membership entering into a covenant to pray until revival came. And it did come, every time' (Willhite 1988:111).

Chaplain of the United States Senate, Richard Halverson, advised that we really don't have any alternatives to prayer. He says, 'You canorganise until you are exhausted. You can plan, program and subsidise all your plans. But if you fail to pray, it is a waste of time. Prayeris not optional. It is mandatory. Not to pray is to disobey God' (Bryant 1984:39). Roy Pointer, after extensive research in Baptist churches in the United Kingdom, arrived at the conclusion that wherever there was
positive growth, there was one recurring factor: they were all praying churches.

In the United States of America, at Larry Lea's Church on the Rock in Rockwall, Texas, numerical growth was from 13 people in 1980 to 11,000 people by 1988. When he was asked about such amazing growth, he said 'I didn't start a church I started a prayer meeting'. When David Shibley, the minister responsible for prayer in that church was asked the secret of the church, he said, 'The evangelistic 11program of our church is the daily prayer meeting. Every morning, Monday through Friday, we meet at 5.00 am to pray. If we see the harvest of conversions fall off for more than a week, we see that as a spiritual red alert and seek the Lord' (Shibley 1985:7).

In Korea, where the church has grown from almost zero to a projected 50% of the entire population in this century alone, Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho attributes his church's conversion rate of 12,000 people per month as primarily due to ceaseless prayer. In Korea it is normal for church members to go to bed early so they can arise at 4.00 am to participate in united prayer. It is normal for them to pray all through Friday nights. It is normal to go out to prayer retreats. Cho says that any church might
see this sort of phenomenal growth if they are prepared to 'pray the price,' to 'pray and obey.'

Cho was once asked by a local pastor why was it that Cho's church membership was 750,000 and his was only 3,000 when he was better educated, preached better sermons and even had a foreign wife? Cho inquired, 'How much do you pray?' The pastor said, 'Thirty minutes a day.' To which Cho replied, 'There is your answer. I pray from three to five hours per day.' In America one survey has shown that pastors on average pray 22 minutes per day. In mainline churches, it is less than that. In Japan they pray 44 minutes a day, Korea 90 minutes a day, and China 120 minutes a day. It's not surprising that the growth rate of churches in those countries is directly proportional to the amount of time pastors are spending in prayer.

Growth a Supernatural Process

The church is a living organism. It is God's creation with Jesus Christ as its head (Colossians 1:18). From Him life flows (John 14:6).We have a responsibility to cooperate with God (1Corinthians 3:6). We know that unless the Lord builds the house we labour in vain (Psalm 127:1). The transfer of a soul from the kingdom of darkness to that of light is a spiritual, supernatural process (Colossians 1:14). It is the Father who draws (John 6:44). It is the Holy Spirit who convicts (John 16:811). He causes confession to be made (1 Corinthians 12:3). He completes conversion (Titus 3:5). It is the Holy Spirit who also strengthens and empowers (Ephesians 3:16). He guides into truth (John 16:16). He gives spiritual gifts which promote unity (1 Corinthians 12:25), building up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12), thus avoiding disunity and strife which stunt growth.

This is fundamental spiritual truth accepted and believed by all Christians. However, the degree to which we are convinced that all real growth is ultimately a supernatural process and are prepared to act upon that belief, will be directly reflected in the priority that we give to corporate and personal prayer in the life of the church. It is only when we begin to see that nothing that matters will occur except in answer to prayer that prayer will become more than an optional program for the faithful few, and instead it will become the driving force of our churches. Obviously God wants our pastors, other leaders and His people to recognise that only He can do extraordinary things. When we accept that simple premise, we may begin to pray.

In the Bible

The battle which Joshua won, as recorded in Exodus 17:813, was not so dependent upon what he and his troops were doing down on the plain. It was directly dependent upon Moses' prayerful intercession from on top of a nearby hill, with the support of Aaron and Hur. In the Old Testament, not counting the Psalms, there are 77 explicit references to prayer. The pace quickens in the New Testament. There are 94 references alone which relate directly to Jesus and prayer. The apostles picked up this theme and practice.

So Paul says, 'Pray continually, for this is God's will for you' (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Peter urges believers to be 'clear minded and self controlled' so that they can pray (1 Peter 4:7). James declares that prayer is 'powerful and effective' (James 5:16). John assures us that 'God hears and answers' (1 John 5:15). In the book of Acts there are 36 references to the church growing. Fiftyeight percent (i.e. 21 of those instances) are within the context of prayer. We would all love to see growth in every church in the world like it was at Pentecost and immediately thereafter. The key to what happened there is found in Acts 1:14 when it says: 'They were all joined together constantly in prayer.'

They were all joined together one mind, one purpose, one accord. That is the prerequisite for effectiveness. Then,they were all joined together constantly in prayer. The word used there means to be 'busily engaged in, to be devoted to, to persist in adhering to a thing, to intently attend to it.' And it is in the form of a present participle. It means that the practice was continued ceaselessly. The same word and part of speech is used in Acts 2:42: 'They devoted themselves...to prayer.' Over in Colossians 4:2, Paul uses the same word again in the imperative form: 'Devote yourselves to prayer.' Most significant expansion movements of the church through its history took up that imperative.

In history
When we read the biographies of William Carey, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, or whomever, the initiating thrust of the work of their lives began in prayer encounters. About a century ago, John R. Mott led an extraordinary movement which became known as the Student Christian Movement. It was based amongst college and university students. It supplied 20,000 career missionaries in the space of thirty years. John Mott said that the source of this amazing awakening lay in united intercessory prayer. It wasn't just that these missionaries were recruited and sent out in prayer; their work was also sustained through prayer. Hudson Taylor told a story of a missionary couple who were in charge of ten stations. They wrote to their home secretary confessing their absolute lack of progress,and they urged the secretary to find intercessors for each station. After a while, in seven of those stations, opposition melted, spiritual revival broke out and the churches grew strongly. But in three there was no change.When they returned home on their next furlough, the secretary cleared up the mystery. He had succeeded in getting intercessors for only seven of the ten stations. S. D. Gordon (1983:40) concludes, 'The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is to pray.'

Luther, Calvin, Knox, Latimer, Finney, Moody, all the `greats of God' practised prayer and fasting to enhance ministry effectiveness.John Wesley was so impressed by such precedents that he would not even ordain a person to ministry unless he agreed to fast at least until 4.00pm each Wednesday and Friday. Yonggi Cho (1984:103) says, 'Normally I teach new believers to fast for three days. Once they have become accustomed to threeday fasts, they will be able to fast for a period of seven days. Then they will move to ten day fasts. Some have even gone for forty days.' These people seem to have latched onto something which we here in Australia hardly know anything about. We are so busy, so active. We try so hard to get something good up and running. But it doesn't seem to grow much, or permanently change many lives. Why? Is it that the ground in Australia is too hard? Compared with other times and places, this could hardly be so. For example, back in the 18th century things didn't look good.

Eighteenth century

France was working through its bloody revolution, as terroristic as any of our modern era. America had declared its Rights of Man in 1776.Voltaire was preaching that the church was only a system of oppression for the human spirit. Karl Marx would later agree. A new morality had arisen. Amongst both sexes in all ranks of society, Christianity was held in almost universal contempt. Demonic forces seemed to have been unleashed to drive the church out of existence. In many places it was almost down and out. Preachers and people would be pelted with stones and coal in places in England if they dared to testify to Jesus Christ in public.

But even before those satanic forces collaborated to confound and confuse, it appears that the Holy Spirit had prepared His defence, like a plot out of some Peretti novel. In the 1740s, John Erskine of Edinburgh published a pamphlet encouraging people to pray for Scotland and elsewhere. Over in America, the challenge was picked up by Jonathan Edwards, who wrote a treatise called, 'A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom.'

For forty years, John Erskine orchestrated what became a Concert of Prayer through voluminous correspondence around the world. In the face of apparent social, political and moral deterioration, he persisted. And then the Lord of the universe stepped in and took over. On Christmas day 1781, at St. Just Church in Cornwall, at 3.00 am, intercessors met to sing and pray. The heavens opened at last and they knew it. They prayed through until 9.00 am and regathered on Christmas evening. Throughout January and February, the movement continued. By March 1782 they were praying until midnight. No significant preachers were involved just people prayingand the Holy Spirit responding.

Two years later in 1784, when 83year old John Wesley visited that area, he wrote, 'This country is all on fire and the flame is spreading from village to village.' And spread it did. The chapel which George Whitefield had built decades previously in Tottenham Court Road had to be enlarged to seat 5,000 people the largest in the world at that time. Baptist churches in North Hampton, Leicester, and the Midlands, set aside regular nights devoted to the drumbeat of prayer for revival. Methodists and Anglicans joined in.

Matthew Henry wrote, 'When God intends great mercy for His people, He first sets them praying.' Across the country prayer meetings were networking for revival. A passion for evangelism arose. Converts were being won not through the regular services of the churches, but at the prayer meetings! Some were held at 5.00 am, some at midnight. Some preChristians were drawn by dreams and visions. Some came to scoff but were thrown to the ground under the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there was noise and confusion; sometimes stillness and solemnity. But always there was that ceaseless outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Whole denominations doubled, tripled and quadrupled in the next few years. It swept out from England to Wales, Scotland, United States, Canada and to some Third World countries.

Social Impact


The social impact of reformed lives was incredible. William Wilberforce, William Pitt, Edmund Bourke, and Charles Fox, all touched by this movement, worked ceaselessly for the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. William Buxton worked on for the emancipation of all slaves in the British Empire and saw it happen in 1834. John Howard and Elizabeth Fry gave their lives to radically reform the prison system. Florence Nightingale founded modern nursing. Ashley Cooper, the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, came to the rescue of the working poor to end their sixteen hour, seven day a week work grind. He worked to stop exploitation of women and children in coal mines, the suffocation of boys as sweeps in chimneys. He established public parks and gymnasia, gardens, public libraries, night schools and choral societies.

The Christian Socialist Movement, which became the British Trade Union movement, was birthed. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was formed to protect animals. There was amazing growth in churches, and an astounding change in society came about because for forty years a man prayed and worked, seeing the establishment of thousands of similar prayer meetings, all united in calling on God for revival. Missionary societies were established.

William Carey was one who got swept up in that movement. We speak of him as the 'father of modern missions'. The environment of his situation was that he was a member of a ministers' revival prayer group which had been meeting for two years in Northampton in 1784-86. It was in 1786 he shared his vision of God's desire to see the heathen won for the Lord. He went on to establish what later became known as the Baptist Missionary Society. In 1795 the London Missionary Society was formed. In 1796 the Scottish Missionary Society was established, and later still the Church Missionary Society of the Anglicans was commenced.


Nineteenth century

The prayer movement had a tremendous impact, but waned until the middle of the 19th century. Then God started something up in Canada,and the necessity to pray was picked up in New York. A quiet man called Jeremiah Lanphier had been appointed by the Dutch Reformed Church as a missionary to the central business district. Because the church was in decline and the life of the city was somewhat similar, he didn't know what to do. He was a layman. He called a prayer meeting in the city to be held at noon each Wednesday. Its first meeting was on the 23rd September1857.

Eventually, five other men turned up. Two weeks later, they decided to move to a daily schedule of prayer. Within six months, 10,000 men were gathering to pray and that movement spread across America. Surprise, surprise! Within two years there were one million new believers added to the church. The movement swept out to touch England, Scotland, Wales and Ulster. Ireland was as tough a nut to crack as any. But when news reached Ireland of what was happening in America, James McQuilkan gathered three young men to meet for prayer in the Kells schoolhouse on March 14, 1859. They prayed and prayed for revival. Within a couple of months a similar prayer meeting was launched in Belfast. By September 21, 20,000 people assembled to pray for the whole of Ireland. It was later estimated that 100,000 converts resulted directly from these prayer movements in Ireland. It has also been estimated that in the years 185960, some 1,150,000 people were added to the church, wherever concerts of prayer were in operation.

Twentieth century

Many would be aware of the Welsh Revival this century. It commenced in October 1904. It was spontaneous and was characterised by simultaneous,lengthy prayer meetings. In the first two months, 70,000 people came to the Lord. In 1905 in London alone, the Wesleyan Methodists increased from their base membership of 54,785 by an additional 50,021 people. Coming closer in time and nearer to Australia, in the Enga churches in Papua New Guinea there was a desperate spiritual state 20 years ago. To redress the situation, people there committed themselves to pray.

Prayer meetings began amongst pastors, missionaries and Bible College students. It spread out to the villages. In some villages, groups of people agreed to pray together every day until God sent new life to the church. On 15 September 1973, without any prior indication, simultaneously, spontaneously, in village after village as pastors stood to deliver their normal Sunday morning messages, the Holy Spirit descended bringing conviction, confession, repentance and revival. Normal work stopped as people in their thousands hurried to special meetings. Prayer groups met daily, morning and evening. Thousands of Christians were restored and thousands of pagans were converted. Whole villages became Christian, and the church grew not only in size but in maturity. In the Philippines in the 1980s, as a result of some people attending an international prayer conference in Korea, 200 missionaries of the Philippine Missionary Fellowship each organised prayer group meetings daily at 7.00 pm to pray for the growth of the church. They report that within a couple of years this directly resulted in the formation of 310 new churches.

Spectacular growth is occurring in Argentina. Jose Luis Vasquez saw his church explode from 600 to 4,500 with a constituency of 10,000members in five years following a visit from Carlos Annacondia. Hector Gimenez started his church from zero in 1983. His congregation now numbers 70,000. Omar Cabrera started his church in 1972 with 15 members. There is now a combined membership of 90,000 members.

Peter Wagner, who is intensely investigating what lies behind such effective ministry, has arrived at the conclusion that powerful intercessory prayer is the chief weapon. Much of it is happening in a Pentecostal, charismatic environment. But the structure or doctrine is not the essential thing. Walter Hollenweger, a prolific researcher into Pentecostalism said that for them, from the earliest Pentecostals onwards, it was more important to pray than to organise (1972:29). Wherever that principle is invoked, amazing things happen.

In 1982 Christians in East Germany started to form small groups of ten to twelve persons, committed to meet to pray for peace. By October 1989, 50,000 people were involved in Monday night prayer meetings. In 1990,when those praying people moved quietly into the streets, their numbers quickly swelled to 300,000 and 'the wall came tumbling down.' In Cuba in 1990, an Assemblies of God pastor whose congregation never exceeded 100 people meeting once a week suddenly found himself conducting 12 services per day for 7,000 people. They started queuing at 2.00 am and even broke down the doors just to get into the prayer meetings.

Asked to explain these phenomena, Cuban Christians say 'it has come because we have paid the price. We have suffered for the Gospel and we have prayed for many, many years' (O'Connor 1990:79). When a group known as the Overseas Missionary Society saw that after 25 years of work in India all they could report was 2,000 believers in 25 churches, they adopted a new strategy. In their homelands they recruited 1,000 people committed to pray for the work in India for just 15 minutes per day. Within a few years the church exploded to 73,000 members in 550 churches.

Will we 'pray the price'?

Today there is great pressure from many directions in our society to work harder, to become smarter, to produce results, or to be moved aside. The church in many western countries is in danger of absorbing this mentality into its own attitudes and practices, forgetting that in the divine human endeavour, success comes not by might nor by power but by a gracious release of God's Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). Years ago, R. A. Torrey (1974:190) said, 'We live in a day characterised by the multiplication of man's machinery and the diminution of God's power. The great cry of our day is work, work, work! Organise, organise, organise! Give us some new society! Tell us some new methods! Devise some new machinery! But the great need of our day is prayer, more prayer and better prayer.' Friends, in the church in the west we now have the most up to date, state of the art technology available to communicate the Gospel. Yet comparatively little seems to be happening in so many countries.

In terms of the growth and mission of our churches, could it be that whilst the world has learned to communicate with robots on Mars, in sections of the church we have forgotten to communicate with the Lord of the earth? If that is so, then our best course of action is to stand again with the company of the first disciples and, like them, return to the Head of the church Jesus Christ and say 'Lord, teach us to pray' (Luke 11:1).

References


David Bryant (1984) Concerts of Prayer. Ventura, California: Ventura.
Paul Y Cho (1984) Prayer: Key to Revival. Waco, Texas: Word.

S D Gordon (1983) 'Prayer, the greatest thing,' Australia's New Day, April, 40.
Walter J Hollenwager (1972) The Pentecostals. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg.
Greg O'Connor (1990) 'Miracles in Cuba,' New Day, May.
David Shibley (1985) Let's Pray in the Harvest. Rockwall, Texas: Church on the Rock.

R A Torrey (1974) The Power of Prayer. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
Bob J Whillhite (1988) Why Pray? Altamonte Springs, Florida: Creation House.
______________________________________________________________________

(c) Stuart Robinson. First published by the Australian Baptist Missionary Society, 1992.

Used by permission.

Reproduction is allowed as long as the copyright remains intact with the text.

ource: Rev Dr Stuart Robinson
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Christian Nationalism and the Call to Revival

Today, especially in the wake of the events of Jan 6 in our nation’s capital and the aftermath, there have been many thoughtful things written about the dangers of Christian nationalism.  One writer said: “The split we are seeing is not theological or philosophical. It’s a division between those who have become detached from reality and those who, however right wing, are still in the real world.”  I disagree.  I believe that the problem is theological, and the healing can only happen when we deal with the underlying spiritual issues at work here.  Bad theology (another name for heresy) blinds us to the underlying spiritual truths.  

I want to begin with the 18th century: Specifically the revivals and evangelistic campaigns of Finney and Moody.  The pattern at that time was revival of the church then evangelism of the community.  Revival was not about changing the culture or the community; it was about changing the heart of the church.  The life-transforming work of the Holy Spirit can be stifled by unconfessed sin which hardens the heart.  The challenge of unconfessed sin is that it is often deeply hidden in our hearts – or to use modern language, it rests within our subconscious.  It is something repressed so that we, perhaps, have a vague sense of something wrong, but in our everyday life it cannot be fully grasped or acknowledged.  The revival of the church happens when we individually and corporately search the depth of our souls.  It comes with the deep conviction that we are sinners in need of grace. That humility at the feet of the Cross gives us the power to break through the normal human defenses that hid our own sin from our self.  It is with the spiritual renewal that comes from revival that the church is then empowered to witness the Gospel of Christ to the surrounding community.  The power of the gospel comes out of human brokenness – a brokenness that has experienced the power of grace.  

The theological error of Christian nationalism is that it reverses the process and confuses revival with evangelism.  The narrative of Christian nationalism is that the nation needs a revival and that revival can only happen when more people become Christians.  The sin-focus is not on unconfessed sin within the church, but on the moral failings in the society.  The believer comes not broken but empowered, having the answer to society’s problems and using power to bring about moral reform.  This error is especially dangerous because it blinds us to our own failings.  We never get to the place of soul searching and confession of sin.  It replaces the truth of our own brokenness with the lie that Christians are powerful.  It then closes off the most important truth of the gospel: our own need for grace.  Thus falsely empowered, we use our sin-warped power – in the name of Jesus – in inflict more damage.  In this way, Christian nationalism transforms itself into a political ideology and becomes the enemy of true evangelism.

 

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Waving the Wrong White Flag

"Prayer is our most formidable weapon, the thing which makes all else we do efficient." - E.M. Bounds

I've been reading a booklet titled, Praying Effectively for the Lost, by Lee E. Thomas.  The author packs many foundational biblical truths, plus personal and powerful stories of persevering prayer, into what he's written.
One of the many points he touches upon is the matter of the Church, and the Christians who make up the Church, giving up too easily in prayer.  It's as though we are often quick to wave the white flag of surrender when we fail to see immediate results to our prayers when we pray.
Yet, in addition to surrendering too quickly, could we also be waving the wrong white flag in surrender?

Instead of surrendering our ability to pray because our expectations aren't fully met in the moment (or in the way(s) we expect them to be fulfilled), shouldn't we surrender ourselves, and continually do so, to God?



Do We Think We'll Really be Satisfied with Instant Potatoes All of the Time?

 

Our American culture can get us into trouble when we yield too much to its influence.  Our microwaved instant meals save us time, but sacrifice our health and nutrition.  We have the ability to "just add water" to powdered potatoes or other dried foods to create a "meal" out of something rather unappealing when we first open the box and look into it.  But should we expect to live off of that kind of meal consistently?
There's no comparison when we taste the "instant" meal alongside of a meal of substance.  The substantive meal, made with real fruits, grains, vegetables, and meats, will always taste better, be more appealing to the eye, and provide better health in both the short and long terms.
So it is with prayer and God. 
Whether God seems to instantly answer the prayer we've asked, or He answers it in what appears to be a delayed or prolonged manner, doesn't change who He is in the slightest degree!  It also doesn't change the power or effectiveness God has placed within prayer or within our ability to pray!
A.W. Tozer, poignantly brought this problem into focus:
"What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

"The words, "Be still, and know that I am God," mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling, worshiper in this middle period of the twentieth century (our modern day)."  (paraphrase added)

"The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us."
"Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, "What comes into your mind when you think about God?" we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man." - the above quotes gleaned from Tozer's book, The Knowledge of the Holy, preface and pg. 1.
God is not a formula; a boxed "just add water" god (like other gods).  He is all-mighty (meaning that all power as we know it- and even beyond what we know, comes from and is within Him).  He is perfect (in every way we can imagine, plus immeasurably more)!  He is sovereign, meaning that He does as He pleases, whenever He pleases, as it brings Him good pleasure.  He is perfectly wise.  He sees our current joys, trials, and challenges in light of everything He's done prior, everything He's currently doing, and everything He will do in the future.  In His wisdom, He has prepared all that we need for salvation, all we need in our present lives, and all we'll need throughout eternal life.  He is Redeemer.  Only God sent His perfect Son to be the perfect sacrifice to satisfy the perfect wrath and justice He requires as judgment for man's sin and rebellion.  And additional truths of the person and character of God could be written about from now throughout eternity.  He's that enormous, mighty, loving, encompassing, and more!
God is so complete and powerful, why shouldn't we continually surrender our lives, thoughts, words, and actions to Him?  Why would or should we ever surrender our ability to pray?  He's provided the means (prayer) for us to both communicate to Him and hear from Him.  Prayer is a two-lane highway of communication! 

Why would we ever want to quit?
Surrender to God the matters that bring you joy (giving thanks in and through prayer).  Worship Him (praise Him through word and deed as a prayerful act of surrender and worship).  Surrender in prayer those things that trouble you (requests and concerns), and more.

Persisting in Prayer for the Lost
Lee E. Thomas (mentioned above) writes, "Through the many vivid word pictures in the Bible concerning the plight of the lost, we can easily see why persistence in prayer becomes a necessary factor.  Isaiah 14:17 describes the lost as being prisoners whom Satan refuses to release.  Acts 26:18 tells us that they are under the authority or jurisdiction of Satan.
Persistent prayer is necessary because of Satan's reluctance to give the lost person up, not because God is unwilling to save them!!!
One of Satan's favorite tactics is to make the situation look so impossible that we get discouraged and quit praying.  The reason he does this is that he has absolutely no defense against prayer.  The old saying is true that Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.  All prayer is warfare and, when you pray, Satan is being defeated even though you see no change in the circumstances.

However, if we could see what is happening in the spiritual realm when we pray, we would be greatly encouraged.  So, keep on praying for the lost whether you see results or not because your prayers are being answered!!" (emphasis added)
Be encouraged, and continually persist in prayer (in all ways)!
Matters to Continually Take Before God
Here is a short, incomplete, list of matters to continually keep before God in prayer:
*  The deepening and growth of your relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
*  God filling you with His Holy Spirit.
*  Your appetite and ability to read, take to heart, and apply the Word of God.
*  The salvation of lost friends, relatives, acquaintances, and beyond (specifically name those you know, then persistently do so until He leads them to faith). 

*  Revival (when Christians, and the Church, become saturated with God).

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