Revival
In our time, more and more believers are recognizing the urgent need for God to move in our nation to right wrongs, bring forth justice, and raise up leaders of deep, heart-felt convictions. Built into the very foundation of our republic has been the establishment of government for the express purpose of protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens to follow their own consciences freely and to lead their lives as they see fit—including, if they so desire, the unapologetic and unhindered pursuit of God’s will for their lives. Therefore, as we pray for kings and all who are in authority, we need to recognize that multitudes of lives are connected to their decisions, keeping in mind that it is God’s will for all of them to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (see 1 Timothy 2:1-4).
But in a culture like ours, caught up in gross sin of all kinds, more than political change will be needed. Unfortunately, at this point in our history, reformation and “dialing things back” simply won’t cut it. What we need is sweeping revival. We need a nation-wide awakening to God to hit—hard. We need a genuine move of God—the real thing, not just stirring music, thrilling messages, awesome programs, or prominent name-recognition.
I read a book years ago with a message that was both ancient yet strikingly current. The book was Revival, by Winkie Pratney, published in 1983. The back cover asked:
- Are you disturbed by the apathy and despondency of people today?
- Do you wonder what the future holds for this immoral world?
It went on to say, “In an age where values are questioned, families are falling apart, and where quality is being replaced by quantity, there is an ever-growing need for a revival of the morals and beliefs of a more stable time.”
I agreed with it then; I agree even more now. These thoughts are more pertinent today than they were in 1983; without God’s intervention, our culture will continue to deteriorate at an alarming rate. Without divine interference, neither the best programs nor projects good men have to offer will be adequate to stave off the eventual collapse of our culture or return us to kinder, gentler days, saner days. We must have revival.
Pratney wrote about revivals, reformers, and revivalists spanning history from before the Great Reformation in the 1400’s up to the time of his writing. He wrote that “true revival is marked by powerful and often widespread outpourings of the Spirit.” He also pointed out that in past revivals “many times preaching had to cease because the hearers were prostrate or because the voice of the preacher was drowned by cries for mercy” (page 16).
Quoting In the Day of Thy Power by Arthur Wallis, Pratney shares concerning revival, “It is God revealing Himself to man in awesome 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” (page 17).
“Revival is periodic; evangelism is continuous,” Pratney quotes from an April 9, 1965 article in Christianity Today. “Revival will always vitalize God’s people…but revival is not always welcome. For many the price is too high. There is no cheap grace in revival. It entails repudiation of self-satisfied complacency. Revival turns careless living into vital concern…exchanges self-indulgence for self-denial. Yet, revival is not a miraculous visitation falling on an unprepared people like a bolt out of the blue. It comes when God’s people earnestly want revival and are willing to pay the price” (page 19).
It is interesting to note that the article in Christianity Today was written two years before a double-barreled blast of God’s intervention hit this nation. Both the Charismatic Renewal, starting among Catholic seekers and spreading into Protestant denominations, and the Jesus Movement, capturing disenchanted and disenfranchised young people for Christ by the tens of thousands and more, are said to have started in 1967, two years after the Christianity Today article was printed. Hunger for more than what they were currently experiencing in their churches and relationships with God was driving believers to seek God’s intervention in the mid 1960’s.
Pratney also warned, “Evil as well as righteousness can have a ‘revival’; there can be an unholy uprising as well as a holy outpouring” (page 21). Proverbs 28:28a declares, “When the wicked rise, men hide themselves” and Proverbs 29:2b says, “when the wicked rule, the people groan.” One strategy of the devil is to use intense widespread ridicule, derision, and scorn of godly values and faith in Christ to discourage believers from confidently persisting in prayer for a sweeping, mighty outpouring of His power and holiness. Satan accomplishes this through stirring wicked men, rulers, and ungodly popular thought to coerce believers to retreat in fear from voicing their convictions or confident profession of faith. Perhaps, they think, if we don’t ruffle any feathers and we just play nice, those who hate our values will simply forget we are here and leave us alone. However, such fear works to the enemy’s advantage; when good men are silent, evil increases and gains leverage. Like it or not, this describes our time.
That is why we need God’s intervention. As a friend of mine used to say, “The devil’s not playing whiffle ball.” We find ourselves facing the big leagues, now—ready or not. But we have a God who is ready to intervene in a big way for the asking. It’s time now to let go of distractions and any fear we may have for our own safety and reputations. It’s time seek the Lord on behalf of our nation. It’s time for a move of God.
May God help us to take our stand before Him without shrinking back.
Dorothy
[The quotes from Revival are used by permission. Winkie Pratney’s ministry can be accessed at www.winkiepratney.com]
Read MoreWhy are the nations in an uproar?
Many believers take time off during the summer months to travel to other lands for the purpose of sharing their faith in a variety of ways: through word, song, drama, medicine, hammer and nail, or fresh water and food. For the next three days, I would like to share some of my own tales of God’s grace, leading, and deliverance during three different summer mission trips—one to the former Soviet Union and two to the tiny island of Grenada.
In the summer of 1991, I found myself “between” churches, but not without fellowship. While I was waiting on God for direction, I landed for a season in a church that was planning a two-week mission trip to the Soviet Union.
I was delighted. That nation had been on my heart for over a decade, and now I had the chance to go. Along with the associate pastor and five other believers, I headed for three cities in the Soviet Union—Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and Riga, Latvia.
The walls had come down between the east and west in Europe, and the Soviet Union was in the process of succumbing to the greater freedom of Glasnost. The newer buildings in Moscow, stark and institutional-looking, however, betrayed the constraint on individual liberty that had prevailed not too long ago. The people, as well, had the appearance of sadness, isolation, and exhaustion as they looked at the floors or the sidewalk while they traveled on public transit or walked down the streets. Communism had taken its toll on them, even though its grip was in the process of weakening.
The seven of us from America were on an adventure to share Jesus in Russia, and we found that the door was wide open. A church with whom we spent a large part of our time met in an apartment in Leningrad. The only Christian literature they possessed was a single, very treasured Bible. We were privileged to provide them with enough Russian Bibles so that no one would be without—including those yet to be saved. Most shocking to us, though, was that their only access to contemporary worship music—which they treasured as a gift from God—was the album Jesus Christ Superstar. But they were hungry for truth and were glad to receive the Word and learn new worship songs which our interpreter translated into Russian. One of our primary goals was to help this sweet fellowship to increase as we daily ministered on the streets of Leningrad. Many were added to their number, and they were all baptized on Sunday afternoon in a large metal tub in the basement of a local hotel.
We sang everywhere we went (and on the train from Leningrad to Latvia, we sang Motown), and the sad faces all around peeked up at us shyly, breaking into smiles rarely revealed in public. Opportunities for evangelism abounded, and lives were changed because of that trip.
But to me the most memorable event of the trip happened soon after we arrived the first day in the USSR. Our transportation took us straight to Red Square before we checked into the hotel. As we stood there in the middle of the square, gazing at the thousands and thousands of people milling beneath the domed-spirals of St. Basil’s Cathedral on one side and the stern ramparts of the Kremlin on the other, I sensed the Spirit of God whisper a Scripture to my heart. He persisted, and it grew stronger and louder within me. I told Pastor Mike that I needed to get my Bible off of the bus. He agreed, and one of my traveling companions and I rushed to retrieve the sacred Book.
When we returned, I opened to Psalm 2 and read the passage aloud as a proclamation to both Red Square and the entire Soviet Union, just as the Holy Spirit had prompted:
Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”
Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Psalm 2.)
After I was finished, Pastor Mike led us in prayer for the people of the Soviet Union. The holiness of God was tangible; we knew our small band would experience the supernatural hand of God on this trip.
We arrived back in the U.S. on Saturday evening, August 17. On Monday morning, the 19th, still jet-lagged and sleeping in, I was awakened by an urgent phone call. One of my friends from the church was on the other end and demanded, “Get up! Turn on your TV! Something’s going on in Red Square!”
Still in a daze, I stumbled into the living room and saw the very square where I had proclaimed Psalm 2 just two weeks before and where I had stood and prayed just two days before, now filled with Soviet tanks in an attempted coup d’état. Hard-line members of the Communist party, opposed to Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms (which involved divvying up much of the central government’s power to the republics), were attempting to regain control.
Why, indeed, as Psalm 2 asked, was the nation in an uproar? Why were the peoples devising a vain thing? Those hard-line rulers were taking counsel together against the plan of God—freedom in the USSR for the spread of the gospel.
Wikipedia states of this coup d’état, “Although the coup collapsed in only two days and Gorbachev returned to government, the event destabilized the Soviet Union and is widely considered to have contributed to both the demise of the CPSU [Communist Party Soviet Union] and the dissolution of the Soviet Union” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt).
As I viewed the chaos on TV, I remembered the urgency of the Holy Spirit within me two weeks earlier to proclaim Psalm 2 as I stood in Red Square. And I bowed my head in reverence to God.
Tomorrow: Grenada, 1987.
Read MoreNeed light?
For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. Psalm 36:9
Have you ever had one of those stressful stretches of time? One that lasts over several weeks? I’ve been going through one of those myself, lately, and as pressure and stress levels seemed to be crescendoing out of earth’s orbit last night, I decided to apply a simple “talk-through” technique to my emotions as I plugged away at an impossibly long “to do” list.
Here’s what I did: With every little thing I worked on—mundane as each one was—I talked to God about how glad I was about that little part of my life. Putting away the dishes? Thank You, Lord for these dishes and the ability to clean them! Sorting clothes for laundry? Father, thank You for giving me these clothes and a great washer and dryer! Paying bills? Thanks, God, that I can do math and that there’s some money left over after paying these! It may not be much, but I’m not broke, glory to God!
And as I continued in this vein, it wasn’t long until the stress started ebbing away and peace seeped back in, quietly reigning once again.
This morning however, I remembered a scheduling detail I became aware of yesterday that played a huge contributing factor in my spiraling stress the day before. It still bothered me, and it was something that was pretty much out of my control—unless I made a great big scene and pushed several levels of people around. I started feeling the stress creep back in.
I prayed. I prayed in the Spirit. And then I verbally committed the scheduling to God—to accept it as is or let Him rearrange it if He saw fit—without my personal interference.
And do you know what He spoke to me? It was eye-opening! He said, “There’s a difference between being a prima donna and being led by My Spirit.” Burn!
How many times have you and I demanded our own way, insisting we were being led of the Spirit, when in actuality, we were being led by our flesh—our preferences, our fears, or our biases—absolutely clueless about our own motives?
As I repented and prayed in the Spirit—a gusher this time—God’s great comfort came upon me. An old praise song rose up in my heart, and as I sang it, once again it was well with my soul:
“For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. With You is the fountain of life; in Your light, we see light.” (From Psalm 36:9)
When you make Jesus the Lord of your life, then you have given Him the right to have His say-so in every aspect. And that is very good.
Dorothy
Due to my very busy schedule, I will be sporadically adding to this blog in the next few weeks—sometimes on, sometimes off. Just check back periodically to see any new entries. Blessings! 🙂
Read MorePray that they may know—a summary
Believers around the world joined with Australia in prayer and fasting for America this past week. Today, Thursday, May 7 is the National Day of Prayer. Prayer is all the more critical now than ever.
Because of that, I’ve been recycling a series of blog entries I wrote last year. Back then, God prompted me to shift my focus as I prayed for the nation. In short, I believe God showed me these four things for which to pray:
- Pray for people to know what to do.
- Pray for people to receive wisdom along with their knowledge.
- Pray for those people to receive the boldness to step out in what they know to do.
- Pray for those people to be filled with boldness to carry out their tasks to completion.
Originally posted last year (last in series):
And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14b
To know what to do. Men and women desperately need to know what to do in this hour—no one is exempt from that need. You and I are equipped to pray for those who are facing huge, impactful decisions—for secular leaders and for those who have leadership roles in the body of Christ, for the people of God, and for everyone else living in this nation and around the world. It is time to pray for men and women to know what to do.
To receive wisdom. It’s time to pray for them to receive clear wisdom to direct and uphold them as they gain knowledge concerning what to do. You are I are equipped to pray for them to receive that wisdom from God; we are also equipped to pray that they will desire truth in their innermost being, for that is where He will deposit wisdom (see Psalm 51:6).
To step out in boldness. It’s time to pray for men and women, boys and girls who have been granted knowledge and wisdom in accordance with God’s purposes to step out in boldness to do what they know to do. There is knowledge and wisdom from God ready to be deposited across the board, upon all flesh, upon His people and upon those who do not yet know Him—and each one will need the boldness of Peter to “step out of the boat” (knowing full well that as they step, the boat will rock). You and I have access to the throne of grace to request boldness for them to take appropriate steps as they receive the knowledge of what to do.
To be enveloped and empowered by boldness. It’s time to pray for boldness and great courage to envelop and empower those who do boldly step out to do what they know to do. There are many adversaries; those who have been blinded by the manipulations of the deluding spirit of this age don’t want anyone—secular or Christian—to take a stand for true justice, righteousness, truth, or freedom. Instead, the spirit of this age seeks control and to enforce conformity to its agenda—lawlessness and godlessness and ways that spit in the face of God. The spirit of this age inspires a ruthless, reckless fervor in those it saddles to intimidate anyone who acts or speaks off-script—especially when they defy or denounce the godless status quo of our age. That’s why you and I must pray for a saturation of boldness to come upon the men and women called of God to stand—both those who are visible and the ones who are behind the scenes—in arenas of power and impact. They need to know what to do, they need wisdom in it, they need the boldness to step out, and they need the all-encompassing boldness and power of God to carry them throughout their entire assignment.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “…but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition” (1 Thessalonians 2:2). Like Paul—who rocked the boat over and over again as he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ—in our day those for whom we pray will also be rocking boats and swimming against the current. And unfortunately, like Paul, those for whom we pray to know what to do will encounter suffering and mistreatment and much opposition as they boldly defy the godless, lawless, spit-in-the-face-of-God status quo. However, covered by prayer, God’s power, wisdom, and ability will envelop, protect, and lead them, and no weapon formed against them will prosper (see Isaiah 54:17). But we must pray for them for this to take place.
You and I, as well—just by praying bold prayers on the behalf of those called of God to take bold stands—are boat-rockers in defiance of the status quo of our age. Because of that, don’t be surprised, as the apostle Peter wrote, “at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you” (see 1 Peter 4:12). You see, as we engage in prayer for people to know what to do with wisdom and supernatural boldness, the devil doesn’t like it one bit. He doesn’t want his deviously-organized strategies and schemes to be hindered, restrained, or undone. He wants to be in control, and as you and I pray, we actually block and thwart his plans. So if you get attacked, mistreated, or face opposition, consider the source. It’s from the adversary, and it simply means you are making an impact in exposing, restraining, and incapacitating his agenda.
Stand your ground as you pray according to the leading of the Lord, and remember—you are on the overcoming team. Because of your prayers, people will know what to do.
Dorothy
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. James 5:16b
Read MoreEmpowered by boldness
Australian believers called for a week of worldwide fasting and prayer for the US. It began on April 30 and is wrapping up on Wednesday, May 6.
Because of that, I’ve been recycling a series of blog entries I wrote last year. At that time, God prompted me to shift my focus as I prayed for the nation. In short, I believe God showed me these four things for which to pray:
- Pray for people to know what to do.
- Pray for people to receive wisdom along with their knowledge.
- Pray for those people to receive the boldness to step out in what they know to do.
- Pray for those people to be filled with boldness to carry out their tasks to completion.
Originally posted last year (eighth in series):
…but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. 1 Thessalonians 2:2, emphasis added
Yesterday’s blog was about the need to pray for people to receive the boldness to step out into what they know to do. Today, I am going to ask you to pray for them to be enveloped and empowered by God’s boldness, as well.
Let me explain with an example from my own life. Years ago, in my twenties, I felt led to speak to a scruffy young man about Jesus. I knew what to do—to tell him about Jesus—and yet I had a choice to make. Would I value my comfort-zone and dignity more than the clear prompting of God? I needed boldness. After a quick prayer, I made the decision to obey God, and I mustered up enough boldness to step out in what I knew to do. I received boldness to take the “leap of faith”, so to speak.
I introduced myself to him and began sharing the gospel with fear and trembling. The young man stopped me after a bit and said, “Hey! You’re shaking! What are you afraid of? I want to hear what you have to say! Calm down! Relax!”
I had received boldness to step out—a good thing—but I was neither enveloped nor empowered by boldness. As a result of that experience, I recognize the need to pray for people to not only step out in boldness to do what they know to do, but also for them to be empowered in that boldness as they accomplish the good pleasure of God.
When you and I pray for people to know what to do and for the wisdom of God to attend their “knowing” and their “doing”; when we pray that God will grant them confidence, courage, and boldness to step out into the course He is leading them, we also need to recognize that they will likely face obstacles despite our prayers on their behalf—obstacles which will require a magnitude of boldness to empower them beyond their initial step. This is true for the secular folks God is using and, actually, even more imperative for all believers and godly leadership.
The Apostle Paul wrote this about the obstacles he confronted in his ministry: “…for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9). He also wrote, “…but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” (Romans 5:20b). We live in an hour in which sin is increasing by leaps and bounds; we live in an age in which there are many adversaries to true justice, righteousness, and the message of the gospel.
But take a closer look at those two verses. First Corinthians 16:9 speaks of open doors. In this dark hour, doors are open for effective service for the church and her leadership, and I believe the doors are also open in the secular world for upright and honest men and women to choose, act, speak, and/or rule wisely as they help to turn our nation around. Every one of them needs prayer.
Romans 5:20 reminds us that although darkness blankets the land, God’s grace increases and expands even more. Do we have sin on every hand here in our nation? Undeniably. That means one thing: The grace of God will increase all the more as those of us who are lights in Christ refuse to quit shining. That truth does not cease to exist just because we’re precariously close to the end of time. Absolutely not!
So there exist many doors of opportunity to further the will of God in multiple arenas, and His grace currently abounds. And there are many adversaries; and sin abounds. Boldness empowers those for whom we pray to walk through open doors of opportunity saturated with grace in realms where sin abounds.
Because of the adversaries, people need boldness. Adversaries intimidate, threaten, conjure up and spread lies; adversaries stand as bullies to scare men and women, boys and girls from doing what God is leading them to do. Adversaries can wear flesh and blood; such adversaries are merely pawns in the hand of the devil, the real adversary. Our warfare is not against those flesh and blood adversaries; in reality, when we pray, we are contending against the devil on their behalf, whether they would agree with that perspective or not.
Therefore, we must have boldness in our prayers; we must request the Lord to envelop and empower those for whom we pray with His boldness.
Be bold as you pray for people to know what to do; be bold in your prayers for them to walk in the boldness that is from God. They need your prayers; you need the results of their wise knowing and bold doing.
Dorothy
Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel… Ephesians 6:19, NIV
Read MoreThat they may step out in boldness
We are in the middle of a week of fasting and prayer for America called for by Australian believers. Because of that, I am recycling a blog series that I wrote last year. At that time, God prompted me to shift my focus as I prayed for the US. In short, He showed me these four things about which to pray:
- Pray for people to know what to do.
- Pray for people to receive wisdom along with their knowledge.
- Pray for those people to receive the boldness to step out in what they know to do.
- Pray for those people to be filled with boldness to carry out their tasks to completion.
Originally posted last year (seventh in series):
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
…and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:19-20
When I heard the Lord direct me to pray for people to know what to do, I understood that He was referring to everyone with a role to play in this hour. However, I also knew that He was speaking in particular of leaders, both in the secular world and in the church.
He let me know that vast amounts of insight, information, revelation, and truth had been made known—and would continue to be revealed—to people in all realms of the nation; but they needed to know what to do with it. They needed prayer to be able to effectively navigate the data and respond with wisdom and all discernment so that the Lord’s will could be fully accomplished.
I believe the body of Christ is equipped to engage in such a prayer task.
However, there is something else that the people for whom we pray will need as well. They will need boldness.
Think about your own experience. Have you ever been in a situation in which you knew the right thing to do, but you didn’t do it? That’s something all of us have grappled with.
It’s my opinion that when Paul wrote to the Ephesians to pray for him that he “may speak boldly, as [he] ought to speak”, he had likely experienced the difference between his “ought to” and his “do” at some point. Most of us have experienced that, and this is one reason why I believe Paul so urgently requested prayer from his friends for boldness. He knew his own human frailties.
The people for whom you and I will pray in the days, weeks, and months to come will have an ongoing need to know what to do; they will need wisdom to envelope their “knowing”; and they will need boldness in order to step out in what they are directed to do. After all, they are human, just like you and me, and some of the things God will lead them to do will require courage beyond their human capacity. And you and I get to pray for that boldness to rise up within them so they can do what they know to do.
Listen for the promptings of the Holy Spirit; those for whom you pray will need to be girded up in His knowledge and wisdom, and they will also need boldness in order to step out. And as you pray for them, you can trust God to work it all out in them and for them.
Dorothy
Only be strong and very courageous. Joshua 1:7a
Read More