Tag: evangelism

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God’s Visitation, by Dick Eastman

by Geoff 20 July 2011 1 Comment

God’s Visitation

by Dick Eastman

Dick & Dee Eastman

 

Dick Eastman is international president of the global movement, Every Home for Christ.  This article was published in Charisma as ‘The Days of God’s Visitation’.

Renewal Journal 9: Mission – PDF

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 _______________________________________

Nothing in the history of world evangelization

compares with what is happening today

                                                        _______________________________________

Also, see Blog:

lwgcoverLOOK WHAT GOD IS DOING!
by Dick Eastman

Ch 3: People of the Trees
Pygmy tribe of 6,000 saved in 3 years

Ebola area miracles

______________________________________

I ’ve made 11 trips around the world in the last 15 months, and I’ve witnessed God’s hand at work.  Nothing in the history of world evangelism compares with what is happening today.

When our three-man team arrived at an encampment called Boteka, located on the Momboyo River in the heart of Zaire’s equatorial rain forest, it seemed to me that we stood on the edge of nowhere.  In less than 24 hours, though, I knew we would be right in the middle of it.

My colleague Wes Wilson and I had joined with Dia Mbwangi, the French African director of Every Home for Christ (EHC), for this unique journey to see with our own eyes the miraculous harvest of souls being reported among the Pygmies.  Five years ago, there had been almost no believers deep in that part of the rain forest.  Now we understood the number of Christians had surpassed 300,000.  Could this be possible?

If it was true, this was one more indication of the amazing work of the Holy Spirit being reported around the world in recent months.

We almost never made it to the rain forest.  While trying to obtain our visas back in the United States, the ever-smiling clerk at our local visa office begged Wes and me not to go into the region.  She explained that the State Department had issued serious warnings about that area, primarily because of instances in which outsiders had been kidnapped and murdered.  And besides, she said, the worst diseases in the world came from that region.

We soon discovered she was right.  In fact, a few days later I would learn the deadly Ebola virus had resurfaced just south of our destination.  The Momboyo River, along which we planned to journey, was a stone’s throw from the famed Ebola River from which this dreaded virus acquired its name.  The AIDS virus too is thought to have come from a nearby region.

Apparently we were heading straight into a ‘hot zone,’ a medical term for an area in which a deadly virus is active and transmittable.  More importantly, we were heading into a spiritual hot zone where satanic activity has ravaged humanity by the spiritual virus of sin for centuries.  Yet, as we would soon discover, the cure – Christ Himself – was setting multitudes free in one of the most remote locations on earth.

Every tree for Christ

When our workers first went into the Pygmy regions of the equatorial rain forest in 1992, the trip required an 11-day, motorized canoe trip up the mighty Zaire River (formerly the Congo River), and an additional journey of several days down any number of smaller rivers, such as the Momboyo.  Then workers had to travel by canoes up tiny tributaries and creeks until they reached the remote areas where the Pygmy peoples live.

Fortunately, when Wes and I arrived in Kinshasa, Zaire, and linked up with Brother Dia, we were able to enlist a pilot to fly us deep into the forest, dropping us off at a small, grass landing strip near an encampment called Boteka.  There we were able to obtain a 40-foot canoe with two outboard motors from a Belgian Catholic mission.  This made it possible for us to journey even further up the Momboyo River to another encampment called Imbonga.

From Imbonga, we traveled 20 miles directly into the forest until we arrived at our ultimate destination, a Christian village called Bosuka, made up of hundreds of Pygmy converts.

And what an arrival it was!  Hundreds of Pygmies lined the footpath as we neared Bosuka, joyously dancing and waving palm branches while singing in their dialect a song they had written themselves: ‘Jesus is Lord, and He’s coming back soon!’

The fact that these Pygmies were a part of an actual village was something of an anomaly.  Pygmies are generally nomadic peoples who traditionally do not live in permanent villages.  This was clearly a Christian phenomenon, the result of a transformation in the hearts of thousands of Pygmies who were turning to Jesus en masse after an EHC evangelistic campaign.

We had learned that these people actually lived in the trees.  In the initial progress reports that came back to us from Brother Dia in the forest, he explained that he was unable to say specifically how many ‘homes’ were being reached because Pygmies are ‘tree people’.

With his customary humor, Dia wrote on one report that he had now launched an ‘Every Tree Crusade,’ a modification of EHC’s standard ‘Every Home Crusade’ strategy.  Instead of pursuing our long-standing ministry goal of reaching ‘the last home on earth with the gospel,’ Dia wrote: ‘We will not stop until we reach the last tree on earth!’

The settlement of a Pygmy village – established around a church – was something unique and unusual in the forest. Yet it had happened in only about 14 months.  In fact, out of a tribe of 6,000 Pygmies in the region, 4,000 had come to a knowledge of Jesus, including the Pygmy chief of the area and his entire clan of some 40 relatives.

While in the forest, we heard other amazing reports.  In one neighbouring area where 32 Pygmy fellowships had been planted 36 months earlier, a remarkable 300 additional fellowships had been established even deeper in the forest, the result of Brother Dia challenging the leaders of those fellowships to each plant at least one new church by the year 2000.  To our amazement, they exceeded the goal by almost tenfold – and they did it four years early!

The Healing Stone

One month after our trip into Africa’s equatorial rain forest, I travelled to the other side of the world to witness a similar miracle in a mountainous region of the Solomon Islands chain.  In a rain forest deep in the interior of the island of Malaita, 11 Christian villages had emerged in just three years.

Our workers in one area had tried several times, unsuccessfully, to witness about Jesus.  A huge stone – called ‘the healing stone’ by the people of the region – seemed to be a visible stronghold keeping the people of the area held in some kind of demonic grasp.  Almost daily, chiefs from several villages brought their sacrifices of chickens and pigs to the huge stone.

A two-man mission team decided to camp out on an adjacent mountain overlooking the stone to fast and pray for seven days.  Early on the seventh day, clouds began gathering above the area.

A Kwaio priest from a nearby village made his way to the giant stone to offer a sacrifice.  Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked out of the ominous black clouds and struck the stone with such force that it split in two.  Half the stone rolled down the steep mountain.  Panic-stricken, the priest dropped his sacrifice and ran for his life.

Several village priests, who earlier had rejected the gospel message, now were filled with fear.  One of them invited our evangelists to return and tell them again about Jesus.

Soon, many villagers, with their chiefs, had received Christ.  On their own they burned their huts to the ground as an act of repentance and moved to a nearby Christian village that had been established only 36 months earlier.

A Season Called ‘Afterward’

My journeys into the rain forests of Africa and the Solomon Islands were part of some eight trips I made around the world in a 12-month period, mostly in preparation for writing my latest book, Beyond Imagination, which documents some of the amazing miracles occurring in world evangelization today.

These global journeys a year ago, followed by three additional trips around the world in a 60-day period while preparing this article, convinced me of several significant trends that indicate the church of Jesus Christ may have entered God’s ‘afterward’ season.

That expression is found in Joel’s ancient prophecy: ‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions’ (Joel 2:28, NIV).  The prophet adds, ‘And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’ (v. 32).

Of course, the initial fulfillment of this prophecy was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the early church.  However, there is also a strong biblical sense that this promise likewise foretells a great end-time harvest and awakening in the very last days.

I believe the church may be on the threshold of this exciting ‘afterward’ time.  Certainly the body of Christ is closer to the fulfillment of Jesus’ Great Commission than many believers are aware.

Nothing in the history of world evangelization compares with what’s happening today.  Recently, missions researcher David Barrett told me that he is preparing for publication an updated version of his highly regarded, 1,000-page World Christian Encyclopedia, published by Oxford University Press in 1982.  So vast has been the progress of world evangelization since the first publication, Barrett says the revision will require three volumes, each as lengthy as the original.

Every Home for Christ has a strategic vision to systematically take a clear, printed gospel message (or recorded message for illiterates) to every family in a nation.  EHC can testify that the recent acceleration of the harvest has been dramatic.

In the 36-month period from 1989 to 1991, an encouraging 1.3 million decision cards were received in our offices.  But as exciting as that number was, in a similar 36-month period from 1993 to 1995, the ‘decision for Jesus’ responses jumped to 3.7 million.

Specific evangelistic advances in some previously restricted nations illustrate this dramatic acceleration.  For example, only a decade ago, in the once ‘closed’ nation of Nepal, anyone caught witnessing to or responsible for converting a Hindu to Christ could be put in prison for several years.  In fact, in the early to mid-1980s, as many as 200 Christians were incarcerated at one time in Nepal for this reason.

Then, a miracle involving democratic reforms came to this Hindu nation, not unlike what transpired in the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s.  Suddenly there were opportunities to communicate the gospel much more openly.

Until that time, our evangelists in Nepal had been conducting home-to-home visits in a cautious way;  now workers were able to witness freely.  Within a few short years our Kathmandu office had received more than 200,000 written decision cards, each requesting a four-part Bible-correspondence course.

Especially exciting has been the formation of hundreds of small church-fellowships called Christ Groups in Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist villages as the result of these house-to-house campaigns.  At the time of this writing, a remarkable 4,730 Christ Groups have been formed in villages and towns in Nepal, and some have grown into sizable congregations.  In addition, the original goal of reaching every home in every village of this Hindu land by 31 December, 2000, is expected to be completed four years early – as this is published.

Campus Crusade for Christ has seen a remarkable harvest in response to the showing of the Jesus film, which is now in 342 languages.  Campus Crusade staff estimate that more than 732 million people have seen the film in 16 years, and the acceleration has been especially dramatic in recent months.

The Christian Broadcasting Network also reports amazing results.  Network founder Pat Robertson notes that it took CBN almost 20 years to see 1 million people pray to receive Christ; in the last five years, however, that number increased close to 50 times, to some 50 million responses.

Even preeminent evangelist Billy Graham is seeing an increase.  In the spring of 1996, his organization presented a one-hour global television broadcast with an estimated potential audience of 2.5 billion people in more than 200 countries.  Of the 450 million pieces of follow-up literature prepared, most were used up almost immediately after the program.

Other isolated examples of church planting activities clearly indicate dramatic increases.  Varanasi, India, for example, has been a known Hindu stronghold for generations.  As recently as five years ago there were no churches in that city of 1.5 million people.  Today there are at least 230 churches with an estimated 5,000 worshipers.

In Cambodia, where almost all religious expression was wiped out during the notorious ‘killing fields’ of the Khmer Rouge two decades ago, an average of one new church is being established every week – just among the churches related to the Khmer Evangelical Church.  This group alone has a goal of 300 new churches by the year 2000.

In the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, a church in Tashkent that began with just a handful of believers nine years ago has grown to more than 3,000 believers.  They’ve also planted 46 additional churches across Uzbekistan.  The main congregation in Tashkent is said to be growing by as many as 100 new baptized believers every month.

The Force of United Prayer

No doubt a major reason for this incredible acceleration of global harvest is the amplified and intensified increase of united prayer sweeping the globe today.  David Barrett says there may be as many as 170 million Christians worldwide involved in praying every day for spiritual awakening and world evangelization.

Of this number, Barrett says there may be up to 20 million believers who see intercession as their primary ministry.  Barrett further believes there may be as many as 10 million prayer groups meeting regularly with a primary purpose of praying for global spiritual awakening.

Showing the possible sweep of this movement, Barrett suggests there are approximately 1,300 separate prayer-mobilization networks organizing believers to pray for God’s work globally.  Highly focused prayer that strategically targets satanic strongholds–which some, such as professor C. Peter Wagner, define as ‘warfare prayer’- has also dramatically intensified in recent years and even more so in the last 36 months.

The global Praying Through the Window events in 1993 and again in 1995 targeted prayer to the under-evangelized and least-reached peoples of the so-called 10/40 Window, a geographic region between 10 degrees and 40 degrees latitude north of the equator, stretching from West Africa across the Middle East to East Asia.  More than 20 million Christians participated in the first campaign in October 1993, and 249 teams made prayer journeys to the region.  Two years later, an astounding 35.3 million intercessors participated, representing 143,447 churches, and 407 prayer teams journeyed into the 10/40 Window.

I immediately saw fruit from this highly focused prayer effort.  Before the first 10/40 Window focus in 1993, our EHC campaigns were being conducted in 70 countries.  In the next 24 months the number grew dramatically to 108.

In the past, it was considered a miracle for EHC to begin four or five new national initiatives in a single year.  But to average more than one new national work per month for two years was unheard of! And many of these were begun in nations within or bordering the 10/40 Window.

The strategic prayer also impacted our church-planting efforts.  In India, for example, over the 36-month period before the first Praying Through the Window campaign, EHC saw the formation of three Christ Groups every day, an average of 90 per month.  Though this number was encouraging at the time, in the six months after the 10/40 Window focus, that number increased beyond 500 percent to more than 15 per day.

I recently heard another confirming testimony from a Middle Eastern worker with Operation Mobilization, based in Atlanta.  In the two years before the 1993 prayer campaign, this man had carefully visited hundreds of families, witnessing to them and offering evangelistic literature.  Yet not one person showed interest in knowing more about Jesus.  However, in the 24 months after Praying Through the Window, a remarkable change occurred.

In the very same region where the man’s previous efforts had been unsuccessful, more than 2,000 Muslims prayed to receive Christ! He’s convinced that targeted, warfare prayer made the difference.

Signs and Wonders

Perhaps as significant as any factor associated with the current global work of the Holy Spirit is the obvious amplified and intensified increase of miracles throughout the world.  What God did in establishing the New Testament church 20 centuries ago is clearly taking place today in increasing ways.

For example, Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ recently wrote his ministry partners about the ‘astounding phenomenon of dreams and visions confirming the reality of Christ, particularly among Muslims.’  According to Bright, thousands of letters from Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East responding to a radio program aired throughout the region, described dreams in which Jesus appeared to them saying, ‘I am the way.’ When these Muslims heard the radio broadcast, they suddenly understood what they had experienced in their dreams and requested more information about Jesus.

I have received similar testimonies from our home-to-home evangelism outreaches in Muslim areas.  In North Africa, an EHC worker in a city of 1 million people tried to give a Muslim man a booklet about Jesus.  The man tore it up and threw it in the evangelist’s face, threatening to kill him.

The following morning at sunrise, the worker was startled by a knock at the door of his tiny apartment.  To his amazement, the same young Muslim stood before him asking for another booklet.

‘Where did you get my address?’ the worker asked.

‘Oh, the voice in the night told me your address,’ the Muslim responded.  He then described a remarkable encounter in which ‘a voice with no body’ explained that he had torn up ‘the truth’ earlier that day when he ripped apart the booklet.  The voice then told the young man where the EHC worker lived and explained that if he got another booklet and believed its message, he would have eternal life.

The next morning the young man obeyed the voice and joyously received Christ.  Recently he finished a six-month Bible training course and is now a full-time missionary.

Signs and wonders are occurring among other peoples, too.  Recently, on a journey to India, I talked with Jacob George, an EHC worker also serving Wycliffe Bible Translators.  Jacob and his wife, Susan, had gone to evangelize the Konda Dora tribe in southeast India in 1979. Yet not a single member of this tribe had responded to the gospel in 10 years.

A breakthrough occurred when Jacob’s assistant, a believer named Devadas, visited the Konda Dora village of Sopha.  This village was steeped in witchcraft, and Devadas soon learned that sickness had prevailed throughout the population for two years.  No amount of sacrifices to their Hindu gods brought relief.

Devadas told them Jesus Christ could heal them, but the Hindus were skeptical.  On a subsequent visit, however, the village leader declared,  ‘You’ve been telling us about this person called Jesus.  What must we do to believe in Him?’

Devadas instructed them to remove all their Hindu charms from around their waists, arms and necks, and place them in a pile in the middle of the village.  He also told them to bring all their objects of Hindu worship from their homes and place them in the pile.

All the fetishes were burned that day in a huge bonfire.  Within several days every sick person in the village was healed, and 50 villagers gave their lives to Christ.

Soon, the impact spread to four neighbouring villages, and a church was established at Sarsu Podar, the largest of the four.  Eighty people now attend this growing congregation.  In addition, hundreds of Konda Dora people have turned to Jesus, and 11 villages have embraced Christianity.

Recently, a Buddhist monk high in the mountains of Myanmar (formerly Burma) was worshiping a statue of the Buddha when he heard a voice plainly declare, ‘Go find Jesus!’ So clear was the voice that the monk went immediately to his superior and told him: ‘I must leave today.  The Buddha has told me to go find Jesus!’

‘Who is this person called Jesus?’ the superior asked.

‘I’m not sure,’ the monk replied, ‘but the Buddha has said I must find him!’

As the monk entered a neighboring town, he was amazed to see a poster on a wall that said simply, ‘Come see Jesus!’ It was an invitation from Campus Crusade for Christ to a showing of the Jesus film that very evening.

By nightfall the monk had ‘found’ the Saviour.  And today he knows it wasn’t the Buddha who spoke to him but God Himself.

These are indeed amazing days.  God is moving by His Spirit, creating hunger for genuine spiritual awakening in the hearts of His children everywhere, and setting in motion the greatest global ingathering of souls in the history of the church.  Truly, the work of the Holy Spirit today -touching even the uttermost parts of the earth – is beyond imagination.

Examples

* The feared Wa people of northern Myanmar rejected Buddhist statues sent as a peace offering by the government and requested 100 Bibles and Christian missionaries instead.  The chief of the tribe of 3 million, a headhunter, recently became a Christian and was baptized – asking to be immersed 100 times, once for each head he had hunted.

Source: Discipling a Whole Nation

* Fugong County, in China’s Yunnan Province, has so many believers that it is known as ‘Christ County,’ with about 90 percent of its 70,000 people professing faith in Christ.  Impressed with the falling crime rate and other social benefits, local government authorities are actually encouraging people to believe.

Source: World Pulse, April 1996

* In 1900, South Korea was considered ‘impossible to penetrate’; the country did not have a single evangelical church.  By 1986, the country was 20 percent Christian; by 1992, 40 percent.  The church doubled to 12.5 million members in only six years, from 1986 to 1992.  In 1986, South Korea had 25,000 churches.  By 1992, the number had swelled to 37,200.  There are 7,000 churches in Seoul, including nine of the 21 largest congregations in the world.

Source: Youth With a Mission

* Hoping to derail an October 1996 crusade in an unreached area of India, a local Hindu faction cut off the town’s electrical supply.  But evangelist Sadhu Chellappa brought along a generator to power the lights and 32 loudspeakers, and in the absence of any competing noise, his voice was heard throughout the town of 6,000 people.  More than 150 people now attend a newly planted church there.

Source: Discipling a Whole Nation

* Ten house churches have been started among Khmer refugees in eastern Thailand along the border with Laos and Cambodia in the last year.  A Khmer believer, Sunthon Rawang, is training the 250 believers to start churches among their people on the other side of the border.  Christians have been praying for God to multiply the number of Khmer believers and for the success of Sunthon Rawang.

Source: Advance

* Before 1990, there were very few Christians in Saudi Arabia.  Since Desert Storm, more than 3,000 Saudi Muslims have come to Christ.

Source: Youth With a Mission

© 1996 Strang Communications.  Used with permission.

From Every Home for Christ website – ehc.org

What we have done

Every day our workers visit more than 200,000 homes. We have reached over 1.4 BILLION homes in the last 64 years, and seen over 101 million people respond to the gospel! Just last year alone we reached over 77 million homes! We continue to hear amazing stories and testimonies of this work and have exciting pictures and videos from the field.

How we do it

Every Home for Christ has created a strategy for reaching every home on earth with the gospel. We use local indigenous workers with face-to-face evangelism whenever possible, and when it’s not, substantial gospel literature for both adults and children in the local language and dialect are left at the home. Each response is followed up, and many times results in individuals – and even entire families, giving their hearts to Jesus. Every Home for Christ disciples new believers, and channels them into local churches. If there is no local church, we establish Christ Groups — small fellowships of believers that are then nurtured and discipled in their spiritual walk.

Also, see Blog:

EastmanLook What God is Doing:
Chapter 2: Mountains of Mystery
Solomon Islands:
Hostile tribe’s chief died and met Jesus

by Dick Eastman
Ch 2: Mountains of Mystery
*
 

lwgcoverLOOK WHAT GOD IS DOING!
Ch 3: People of the Trees
Pygmy tribe of 6,000 saved in 3 years

by Dick Eastman
Ebola area miracles

Look what God is doing – and rejoice!

See Dick Eastman interviewed about this book

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© Renewal Journal 9: Mission, 1997, 2nd edition 2011
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright included.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

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Contents: 9 Mission

Renewal Journal 9: MissionThe River of God, by David Hogan

The New Song, by C. Peter Wagner

God’s Visitation, by Dick Eastman

Revival in China, by Dennis Balcombe

Mission in India, by Paul Pilai

Harvest Now, by Robert McQuillan

Pensacola Revival, by Michael Brown

Reviews: Building a Better World  by Dave Andrews,  Surprised by the Power of the Spirit & Surprised by the Voice of God both by Jack Deere, Secrets of the Argentine Revival, by R Edward Miller

Renewal Journal 9: Mission – PDF

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1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6  Worship,   7  Blessing,   8  Awakening,   9  Mission,   10  Evangelism,
11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

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Speaking God’s Word by David Yonggi Cho

by Geoff 18 July 2011 4 Comments

Speaking God’s Word, by David Yonggi Cho

An article in Renewal Journal 8: Awakening

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Speaking God’s Word, by David Yonggi Cho
An article in Renewal Journal 8: Awakening
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PDF Revival Books on the Main Page

Dr David Yonggi Cho wrote as the senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea.  This article is reproduced from his message “Speaking God’s Word for Church Growth” published in the Church Growth Manual, No. 7.

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*

 __________________________

Even though you may have

no ability in yourself, say

“I can do all things in Jesus.”

__________________________

 One day the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart, “God sent his word, and he healed the people.  Why don’t you give the word boldly to the people?”

This must have been the idea of the Holy Spirit.  “Speak the healing.  God sends his word through your mouth.  God asked Ezekiel to speak to the air:  You life, go into that body.  So, why don’t you speak?”

At first I was scared, but then I was determined to speak.  After I saw those impressions, then I began to boldly speak that such and such a person was healed, and such and such a disease is disappearing.

Miracle after miracle began to occur.  The person who was healed came to me saying, “When you spoke that word, it shook me hard.  Suddenly I felt the healing power flow, and I was healed.”

Through my own experience, I found the wonderful secret that through our mouth confession God’s creative power is working.  In the book of Genesis, God spoke and the light appeared; God spoke and the firmament appeared; God spoke and the earth appeared.  Jesus spoke and the people were forgiven.  Jesus spoke and the sick people were healed.  Jesus spoke and the devil left them.  Jesus spoke and the turbulent sea became calm.

When you read the Bible, sick people were not healed just through prayer in the New Testament.  They were healed by ‘speaking’.  Peter said to Aeneas, “Rise up” (Acts 9:34).  To Paul Jesus said, “Stand on your feet.”

They always spoke healing to the people.  From that time until now, I would always just speak the word, and God created tremendous miracles.

Eastern Russia

In 1992 I went to the eastern part of Russia.  It was very dangerous there.  Russia was in a great turbulence, especially in eastern Russia.  It is so far away from Moscow that the discipline was very loose.  It was very difficult there.  I went to a stadium filled with about 35,000 people.  The Russian Orthodox Church was out there to attack me.  The Communists were scaring me.  On the second day I was ready to leave my hotel and was being carefully watched by the KGB.  However, I could not leave my hotel because they were trying to assassinate me.  They constantly intimidated me so I was incarcerated in the hotel.  I was sitting in the hotel the whole day, and in the evening I would go out.

That evening when I took up my Bible and was ready to leave the hotel; I heard a voice.  It was a very clear voice.  It was almost audible.  It was ringing in my soul: “You are leaving as a living man, but you will return as a dead man tonight.  You will be assassinated.  You came as a living person to our city, but you will return home in a casket.  So don’t go to the meeting or you will return home in a casket.”

Every day people in Russia were being killed by shooting.  So, I was preaching behind bullet‑proof glass that the Russian government had given to me.  If I would be killed, it would become a diplomatic problem, so the Russian government commanded me to stand behind bullet‑proof glass.  They could shoot me from the back.  So while I was preaching, I was very conscious of the people behind me.  It was a terrible feeling.

When I heard that voice in my hotel room, I had to decide if that was from the Holy Spirit or from the Devil.  If you don’t clearly discern this right away, then you will be in trouble.  At that time I began to see the predicament of Paul.  When Paul was returning to Jerusalem, the government and prophets said that Paul would be arrested and bound and put in jail.  These things would be waiting for him, so he was admonished not to go up there.  But Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem, knowing that he would be arrested.

Before my experience in Russia, I always thought that Paul made a great mistake.  He should have listened to the voice of those people.  Still Paul went because he discerned the right voice of the Holy Spirit.

Almost instantly, I said to myself.  “I should not go to the service tonight.  I do not want to die.  I want to see my wife and children.”

I prayed, “God, what shall I do?”

I began to hear another voice, a still, small voice in my heart with great assurance.  Then I heard two distinctive voices.  That was some experience.  The first voice was coming strong and loud in my soul, “You are a dead person.  Tonight you will be shot at.  They will carry your dead body to the hotel.  Don’t go.”

Then the Spirit said to my heart when I prayed, “Go to the meeting tonight.  You will have great miracles in the service tonight.”

So I said, “You Devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, get out of me.  To live is Christ.  To die is gain.  So if tonight I go to heaven, it is okay.  I am ready to accept that.”

I went out of the hotel trembling.  I was really afraid.  The people were packed in the stadium and as I sat on the platform, I was constantly looking behind me.

Just before I stood up to preach, an ambulance was coming to the stadium.  Usually an ambulance would not be permitted to get close to the stadium.  As the ambulance came closer, I could hear the siren and thought, “Oh, they must have heard that I was going to be shot at and they have come to take me away.”  I froze in my chair.

The back door of the ambulance was opened, and they carried a man out.  He looked like a rich man and one who was in high authority.  They put him into a wheelchair and pushed him out among the crowd.  The Communist young people came and began to argue.  They said, “Why do you come to this kind of meeting?  He is preaching false doctrine.  There is no living God.  You cannot be healed.  You are bringing shame on us.  We are Communists.  We do not believe in God.  He is telling a lie.  Go back into the ambulance.”

At that moment, many Christian people came and said, “No, Christ is living.”

These two groups of people were surrounding this man in the wheelchair and arguing back and forth.  I got inspired and said, “Oh God, if you don’t heal this man in the wheelchair now, I will be in great trouble.  I will be shot at for sure then.”

35,000 saved

I stood up and preached under the unction of the Holy Spirit.  When I asked for those who wanted to be saved, all 35,000 people stood to their feet.

I said, “Everyone sit down.  You misunderstood me.”  So I said, “All those who want to be saved for the first time, please stand up.”

The 35,000 people stood up again.  I asked my interpreter, “Did you say my words correctly?”

He said, “Yes.”

I asked, “Then why do they all stand up?”

He looked at me and said, “Pastor, these people have never heard the Gospel before in their lives.  For 70 years we have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They are all newcomers.  You are from the Western country.  You don’t know our situation.  They all heard the Gospel for the first time this evening, and they all want to be saved.  So, just accept them.  Don’t question them.”

So I had them stand up and led them to Jesus Christ.  Then I began to pray the healing prayer.  Usually, I have great success in divine healing in Russia because the people are so humble and so easily believe.  However, that night I was concerned about the Communists’ gang.  Though I preached strongly, and prayed the healing prayer strongly, I was afraid to announce the healings that took place.

Healing Miracles

God had clearly put in my mind that a miracle was going to take place, but I was afraid.  So I just said, “This man with a deaf ear was healed.  This man with arthritis was healed.  This man who has stomach trouble is healed.”

Actually, I could not say that the man in the wheelchair was healed, but my interpreter said, “Yes, everyone knows this person.  He is a great man.  He was in an accident and has a broken backbone.  He has been in a wheelchair for seven years.  They tried every way, but he could not be healed.”

I have been trained medically, so when I heard that I thought, “That is impossible.”  It is impossible for that man with a broken backbone and broken nerve chord to be healed.

The people began to stand up and testify of their healings.  This strengthened my faith, so I said, “My brother, who is sitting in that wheelchair, you are healed.”  That was not an easy job at all. That man started to rise up.  He sat down again but struggled to rise up a second time.  He sat down and a third time struggled to get up.  Very wobbly he started to walk a few steps, then he began to run, then rushed onto the platform.

He hugged me with a typical Russian bear hug.  I was being choked.  He hugged and cried saying, “I am healed.  I was sitting in that wheelchair for seven years and now I am healed.”

Then I began to hear a roaring sound as the Christian young people chased the Communist young people.  The Communists were running from the stadium, and the Christians were running following after them.

This man who was healed was so excited that he jumped off the high platform.  I was scared then.  Then he went to where his wheelchair was and hoisted it into the air and began to walk.  The entire stadium was in an uproar at this time.

The Communists had completely failed that night.  What a success for the Christians!  Before I left my hotel, the Devil scared me.  And, if I had not heard the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart, I would not have come to the stadium.  Since I prayed and heard the Holy Spirit.  I could come.

A positive announcement is very, very important.  If you speak negatively, you will stop the current of the Holy Spirit.  But when you speak positively, you release the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, when people begin to talk negatively among your cell leaders – “”I have no power.  I have no strength.  I have no confidence.” – they can do nothing.  They are already defeated.  So I tell them not to say negative words.  Always say, “In Jesus Christ I can teach.  I can win.  I can preach.  I can do all things in Jesus.”

Even though you may have no ability in yourself, say “I can do all things in Jesus.”

Your attitude is very important.  If you don’t teach your cell leaders to have the right kind of attitude, after two or three tries in their cell meetings they will give up.  The number of casualties is too heavy.

Give your cell leaders strong teaching on having visions, and living in the vision.  Then make their attitude to be positive, let them see Jesus.  Don’t let them look at the wilderness.  Don’t let them look at themselves.  Make them look to Jesus.  Then make them confess an affirmative confession.  This is very important for church growth.

(c) Church Growth Manual No. 7 published by Church Growth International, Yoido P.O. Box 7, Seoul 150‑600, Korea. Used by permission.

Some books by David Yonggi Cho

    Successful Living (1977)

    The Fourth Dimension (1979)

    Prayer, Key to Revival (1987)

    Praying with Jesus (1988)

    Successful Home Cell Groups (1988)

    The Holy Spirit, my Senior Partner (1996)

    More than Numbers (1997)

    How to Pray (1997)

    Prayer that Brings Revival (1998)

    Unleashing the Power of Faith (2006)

© Renewal Journal 8: Awakening, 1997, 2nd edition 2011
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Contents: 8 Awakening

8 Awakening

Speaking God’s Word, by David Yonggi Cho

The Power to Heal the Past, by C Peter Wagner

Worldwide Awakening, by Richard Riss

The “No Name” Revival, by Brian Medway

Review: Fire from Heaven, by Harvey Cox

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11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
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Renewal Blessings  Reflections from England  by Sandy Millar & Eleanor Mumford

by Geoff 23 May 2011 1 Comment

Reflections from England

Rev. Sandy Millar and Mrs Eleanor Mumford of London comment on refreshing from the Lord experienced in England.


Reminiscent of Revivals


Rev. Sandy Millar (Now Bishop), then Vicar of the prestigious inner-city Anglican church, Holy Trinity Brompton, comments on renewal and refreshing which commenced in May 1994 in their church.

 

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————————————————————

The manifestations themselves are not as

significant as the working of the Spirit of God

in the individual and the church

———————————————————–

This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel! (Acts 2:16) Or, as the old version puts it: ‘This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.’

This … is … that!

The immediate responses to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost included amazement and amusement. Some, Luke tells us, made fun of them and said, ‘They’ve had too much wine’ (v. 13). Why would anyone who wanted to be taken seriously suggest they’d drunk too much? Presumably because they looked drunk, sounded drunk and generally behaved as though they were drunk!

It is interesting that St Paul too in his letter to the Christians at Ephesus links and contrasts the effects on the body of alcohol (‘Do not get drunk with wine which leads to debauchery…’) with the effects of being immersed with the Spirit of God (‘… but be filled with the Spirit’) which leads to ‘speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 5:18-20).

Paul wasn’t at Pentecost but many times he’d seen people genuinely filled with the Spirit. Indeed he seems to have been able to tell pretty quickly whether disciples were or were not filled with the Spirit!

He may have been thinking of his visit to Ephesus described in Acts 19 when he asked what we would think of as a rather direct question: ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ To which he got back an equally direct and honest answer, ‘No we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And, as we all know, ‘on hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus and, when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied’. Luke adds that there were about twelve men in all.

Astonishing outpouring

Since about Tuesday of two weeks ago, we have begun to see an astonishing outpouring of the Spirit of God upon our own church and congregation. It seems to be a spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit and there are certainly some very surprising manifestations of the Spirit very excitingly reminiscent of accounts of early revivals and movements of God’s Spirit.

Some of the manifestations include prolonged laughter, totally unselfconscious for the most part, and an inexpressible and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8). For some it is prolonged weeping and crying with a sense of conviction and desire for forgiveness, purity and peace with God. For others it seems to be a silent reception of the Spirit of God sometimes leading to falling down and sometimes standing up, sometimes kneeling, sometimes sitting.

There are great varieties of the manifestations of the Spirit. They are breaking out both during services and outside them in homes and offices. At times they are easy to explain and handle, and other times they are much harder and more complicated!

We had been hearing for several days of the movement of God’s Spirit in the Vineyard Church in Toronto, Canada, and a number of people have come to us from there telling us about what was going on and of what they thought it all meant.

For that reason Jeremy Jennings and I decided to go to Toronto at the beginning of this month just for two and a half days to see what we could learn and what conclusions, if any, at this stage it was possible to draw. The manifestations are quite extraordinary and would undoubtedly be alarming if we hadn’t read about them previously in history.

That’s really why I started where I started in this article. You don’t get accused of being drunk just because you speak in tongues. And many of the manifestations of this modern movement of the Spirit of God carry with them many of the symptoms of drunkenness. Laughter, swaying about, slurred speech, movements which are difficult to control … all sometimes continuing for long periods of time.

The manifestations themselves of course are not as significant as the working of the Spirit of God in the individual and the church. The manifestations are the symptom and therefore of course it is to the fruit that we look rather than the signs.

Times of refreshing

The church in Toronto first experienced these symptoms on January 20th (1994) and since then they have been ministering to an increasing number of outside people: ministers and church members from all over America, Canada, now Europe and even further afield.

Meetings go on night after night (every night except Monday) and include a pastors’ meeting on a Wednesday from 12 to roughly half-past three in the afternoon. Their understanding is that God seems to be pouring out his Spirit, refreshing his people and drawing them closer to himself, revealing his love to them and a deep sense of preciousness in away that kindles their own sense of the love of God, their love for Scripture, and their desire to be involved in the activities of the Spirit of God today.

So this is primarily a movement toward God’s people. Naturally we expect it to flow out and over into a movement that will affect the rest of the world but for the moment it’s God’s deep desire to minister to his church – to refresh, empower, and prepare them fora wider work of his Spirit that will affect the world to which the church is sent.

Charles Finney (1792-1875) – one of history’s greatest evangelists – records his experience of the Holy Spirit immediately following his conversion:

The Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me body and soul. I could feel the impression like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love… And no words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after another until I recollect I cried out ‘I shall die if these effects continue to pass over me’.

During the ministry of Jonathan Edwards in the 1735 revival in New Hampshire, he described some of the effects of the spontaneous work of the Spirit of God. ‘The town seemed to be full of the presence of God,’ he wrote. ‘It was never so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then.’

He describes something which happened during one of his sermons in New Jersey on March 1st 1746: ‘Toward the close of my talk, divine truths made considerable impressions upon the audience, and produced tears and sobs in some under concern and more especially a sweet and humble melting in sundry that, I have reason to hope, were truly gracious.’

During the Cambusland revival in Scotland in 1742, Doctor Alexander Webster described some of the effects of the preaching there: ‘There were two kinds – the outcrying and trembling among the unconverted and the ecstatic joy among believers… indeed such joy was more a part of this work than the sorrow over sin. It appears that many believers found themselves so moved by a sense of the Saviour’s love to them and, in turn, by their new love to him, as to be lifted almost into a state of rapture.’

I could go on and on – and probably you could add your own accounts that you’ve read about in history. There are more than one in the Acts of the Apostles.

I think it’s important that we should stay close to the Lord and be grateful for every sign of his grace upon us. Don’t let’s get too caught up with the symptoms of his Spirit, but more with him and his love for us.

Let’s encourage those who think they have experienced nothing (it may or may not be true) – and let’s above all continue to pray that through this outpouring of God’s Spirit he will build a church worthy of him: holy, equipped, and full of love and grace towards him and the outside world.

Meanwhile let’s pray that it may continue. And continue to pray for one another.

__________

The current move of the Spirit

Mrs Eleanor Mumford , wife of the pastor of the South West London Vineyard church, comments on her visit to Toronto in this edited version of her message at Holy Trinity Brompton on Sunday morning 29 May 1994.

—————————————–

This whole move of the Lord

is all about Jesus

—————————————-

I have just been to a church in Toronto in Canada. I heard that there were things going on. I wanted to go and get into the middle. I went because I knew I was bankrupt and that I was longing. And I went with a spirit of tremendous expectancy.

So the first night I went forward and this delightful pastor said to me, ‘Do tell me who you are and what you’ve come for.’

I said, ‘I’ve come for all that you’ve got. I have two days and I’ve come from London.’

So he looked at me with a glint in his eye and then proceeded to pray for me on and off for the next two days.

At the same time there was a young Chinese pastor who arrived at Toronto from Vancouver where he was pastoring and he came fasting. The darling man looked as if he’s spent his whole life fasting and he was the most wonderful and godly man. As he arrived at the church the Lord spoke to him clearly and said, ‘You can forget about your fasting. This is a time for celebration.’

Indeed it was.

An ordinary little church

The Airport Vineyard church in Toronto is a funny little place. It’s just a very ordinary little church set in an office block on the end of the runway of the airport. Even that in itself, I thought, was gracious of the Lord because so many of us can get there so easily. It takes 10 minutes from the check-out to the church!

It was a very ordinary place. I was reminded when I went in there of how the people in the crowd said at Pentecost: ‘Are not these Galileans? Are these not just terribly ordinary people?’

I went in and I thought, ‘Well, God bless them, these are just ordinary people like me.’

It’s just to do with Jesus, and yet the attitude and the sense of expectancy was enormous. As the worship leader strummed his rather tuneless guitar, he stood up and said, ‘What have you come for?’

We all said, ‘We’ve come for the Lord. We’ve come for more of God.’

And he said, ‘Well, if you’ve come for God you’ll not be disappointed.’

From that moment on that was the truth.

There was just a beauty on those who were ministering there – the leaders and the pastors and the worship leaders – the sort of beauty that I guess the people saw in Acts when they looked at the disciples and they said, ‘These people have been with Jesus.’

These Canadians were just men and women who had spent 130 days in the company of Jesus who was pouring out his Spirit on them. They shone with faces like Stephen. It was beautiful to see.

I saw the power of God poured out in incredible measure and it was all accompanied by phenomena.

Great Awakening

Jonathan Edwards, a great man of God during the eighteenth century who was part of the Great Awakening in America, wrote this in his journal of a similar outpouring of the Spirit of God at that time: ‘The apostolic times seem to have returned upon us, such a display has there been of the power and grace of the Spirit.’

He wrote of fear, sorrow, desire, love, joy, tears, and trembling, of ‘groans and cries, agonies of the body and the failing of bodily strength.’

So I thought, ‘Well, none of this is new. It may be unusual but none of it is new.’

Edwards also wrote, ‘We are all ready to own that no man can see God and live. If we see even a small part of the love and the glory of Christ, a foretaste of heaven, is it any wonder that our bodily strength is diminished.’

That is indeed what happened to many of us despite ourselves.

The truth is that this whole move of the Lord is all about Jesus. I was there for only 48 hours. I never heard anybody talk about the devil. I never heard anybody talk about spiritual warfare. I never heard a principality or a power mentioned. We were so preoccupied with the person of Jesus that there was really no time. There was no space for talk of the opposition because there was just a growing passion for the name of Jesus and for the beauty of his presence among his people.

So I went scurrying back to the Scriptures and scurrying back to church history and it’s all happened before. It’s all in the book and there’s nothing that I saw – however strange or unusual – that I haven’t since been able to read about in the Bible.

Jonathan Edwards’ wife had an intimate acquaintance with her carpet for 17 days during the time of the Great Awakening. For 17 days she was unable to make their meals or take care of the family or look after the visitors.

She said after 17 days that she had a delightful sense of the immediate presence of God – of ‘his nearness to me and of my dearness to him.’

I thought to myself when I came home, that’s what this is about. It’s about his nearness to me and my dearness to him.’ Wonderful, wonderful things are going on.

Pastors renewed

During the time I was there I saw all sorts of people coming and going. There were many very weary pastors who turned up with their even more weary wives, and they were so anointed by the Lord.

There was one very sensible middle-aged man who’d been in pastoral ministry for years and when he spoke to us after having been there for several days he was just behaving like an old drunk. It was funny. Once he stood up and talked about the intimacy that he’d gained with Jesus. Then the leading pastor said to him, ‘Well thank you, Wayne, for telling us about this. May we pray for you?’

He said, ‘I’d be glad for you to pray for me.’

They prayed for him and down he went and he rolled on the floor for the next two hours and no-one took any notice. He just continued to commune with his God.

I saw another young pastor who talked at the pastors’ seminar that I went to. He was a very all-together young man – quite serious minded and godly and thrilled with everything but very much in control and very anxious when he came and not at all sure of what he’d come to.

For a day or two he just watched and he just basked in the presence of the Lord. After a day or two he started to twitch and he was a little embarrassed. Then he started to shake and he was very embarrassed. Then after a while of shaking and laughing in the presence of the Lord he decided, ‘Who gives a rip? Who cares what people say?’

A verse in Psalms says, ‘gladness and joy shall overtake me.’ This young man had been overtaken by the gladness of the Lord. But he had a sense of responsibility and felt, ‘I’ve got to keep my church on the road.’

So he decided that the obvious thing to do was to go into the office and to type out the church bulletin, the news sheet.

‘Someone’s got to keep a grip round here,’ he said to himself.

So he went to type out the bulletin and as he got to announcing the seminar. The title of it was ‘Come Holy Spirit’.

He typed, ‘Come Holy Spirit’ and fell under the power of God.

There was another young man who was a youth worker who arrived and he was worn down with ministry. His wife had said to him, ‘Why don’t you go to Toronto?’ She thought he was getting far too straight and serious.

So he came to Toronto and arrived the night that I did. That night he fell on the ground and he laughed and laughed. I thought he would have died. The next day he spoke about what God had done for him and the refreshment that had come to his soul. Then they said to him, ‘Would you like us to pray for you again?’

He said, ‘I think so.’

So we prayed and down he went and just laughed his way through hour after hour of the pastors’ seminar.

And you think to yourself, ‘What is this?’

But this is just the refreshing of the Spirit of God. It talks in the book of Acts about times of refreshing from the Spirit of the Lord, and that’s what God is doing.

He’s pouring his Spirit out upon us. He’s sending his joy and he’s refreshing our spirits just because he loves us.

I’m not even sure that he’s equipping us. I’m not even sure it’s all about being better this, better that, better ministers. It think it’s just his love for us. It’s about his nearness to me and my dearness to him.

Joy and refreshing

I could tell you heaps of stories. There are stories about people who are ringing one another up and getting led to Christ over the phone.

There was a story about a young woman who’d lain on the floor and laughed for two hours. Then she got up and decided she was peckish and went off to a little fast food restaurant. She sat down. Opposite, she saw a whole family sitting at a table and, completely out of character, she went to them and said, ‘Would you like to be saved?’ And they all said yes! The whole family was led to Christ.

I went to the Dolphin school [a Christian school in Clapham] the other day and talked to them about what the Lord had been doing and I prayed for them. The Lord fell on those children aged five years old and they were laughing and weeping for the lost and crying out to the Lord. The teachers were affected and the parent were rolling around.

I thought, ‘God, this is a glorious thing you’re doing. This is fantastic.’

Jesus is breaking down the barriers of his church because he’s coming for a bride, and he wants his bride to be one.

We’ve been meeting with Baptist pastors this week. We’ve been meeting with New Frontiers pastors. We’ve been meeting with the Anglicans. And God is pouring his Spirit out on us all and it’s a glorious thing.

I was reminded of that verse in the Psalms (133:1,3), ‘How blessed it is when brothers dwell together in unity … for there the Lord commands the blessing.’

He doesn’t just invite it, or suggest it. He commands a blessing on us when we dwell together in unity – when we love one another and we love one another’s churches and we bless one another’s people.

So God is moving, not just on this funny little church at the end of the runway. He’s moving across the denominations. He’s moving across the land. He’s moving across London and England in a fantastic way. And he’s moving across the world.

Greater love for Jesus

What are the perceived results so far?

For myself, there is a greater love for Jesus than I’ve ever known, a grater excitement about the Kingdom than I ever thought possible, a greater sense that these are glorious, glorious days in which to be alive. I’m thrilled about the Scriptures and I’m going back to the Word and finding that it’s all been there from the very beginning.

I’m excited about church history. I have a heightened sense of what’s been going on up to this point.

I have an ever stronger sense of the whole church than ever before. The Lord said to them in Toronto right at the beginning, ‘This is not about the Vineyard; this is about the Kingdom.’ This is not about any one church. This is about the Kingdom, and about the Bride of Christ. Right across the church Jesus’ passion for his Bride is beginning to be understood.

I’ve also discovered that I’m desperate to give this away. I haven’t had this appetite for ministry for years. I mean, I’ve always been enthusiastic but I’ve not had this passion before. I’ve just found that there’s a greater recklessness in me than there’s ever been before because God is coming upon us, and the joy of the Lord is coming on the church and Jesus is restoring his joy. And his laughter is like medicine to the soul.

In our church the people are getting freed and the people are getting healed. We’ve got people who have gone down on the floor and got up healed. Nobody ever knew they were sick and they got better without us even naming the words.

The Lord is coming with mercy and kindness.

The prodigal son went to look for parties but he discovered that the best party was in his father’s house. Isn’t that the truth?

__________________________________________________________

(c) HTB in Focus, 12 June 1994, the monthly paper of Holy Trinity Brompton Anglican Church in London. Renewal Journal #5 (1995:1), pp. 24-31.

 

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evangelism, Geoff Waugh, revival, transformation ,

Renewal Ministry  by Geoff Waugh

by Geoff 23 May 2011 1 Comment

Renewal Ministry

by Geoff Waugh

 

 

Geoff Waugh is the founding editor of the Renewal Journal.

 

 

Renewal Journal 7: Blessing – PDF

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An Article in Renewal Journal 7: Blessing

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_________________________________

Blessings abound where e’er he reigns;

The prisoners leap to lose their chains

_________________________________

I’ve been praying for people in meetings for over twenty years, but recently it’s been different. Many now slump to the floor, or shake, or laugh, or sob, or feel heat in their hands or on their head, or have other surprises.

We were worshipping at the Renewal Fellowship recently when I prayed (with my eyes shut) for the Holy Spirit to come upon us. A person in the front row fell over and crashed into me. I quickly opened my eyes, guiding that person to the floor.

Those manifestations are not new. They have been there over the years at various times. Now, however, they happen more often and with greater intensity. I believe this is a time of refreshing and blessing in the mid-nineties.

I remember the early seventies when a wave of renewal swept the earth. Thousands were baptised in the Spirit, spoke in tongues, discovered spiritual gifts, and began to see more answers to prayer for healing or deliverance. That wave gave birth in Brisbane to movements such as Christian Life Centre, Christian Outreach Centre, Bardon Catholic Charismatic meetings, Emmanuel Covenant Community, and some denominational charismatic congregations.

These strong manifestations now in the nineties are more varied and sometimes more surprising than I ve known before. I believe it is part of a worldwide move of God s Spirit, and as always, it is mixed with our human reactions.

A fresh wave

This fresh wave started for us at the Renewal Fellowship during 1994. It seems to be part of our on-going journey.

We have been learning to respond to the Spirit, as best we know. Our ‘order of service had long given way to the immediate leadings of the Spirit. We still followed our usual pattern, however, of worship for over and hour (with great variety such as in prophetic music, free singing, Scriptures read and prophetic words or visions shared), Bible teaching, and ministry with prayer for one another in clusters, with further prayer for those who could remain later.

Sometimes in praying for people some were overwhelmed and rested on the floor, or slumped in their seats. No problem! We had seen that before from time to time. It just seemed to be more frequent from 1994.

The Christian Outreach Centres had experienced a strong move of the Spirit in 1993, beginning in Brisbane and spreading through their churches. We were blessed in Brisbane through a range of ministries including visits from John Wimber, Rodney Howard-Browne, leaders involved in the ‘Toronto Blessing’ now touching thousands of people and churches all over Canada, America, England, and across the world. We read reports of similar happenings in Australia among some churches touched by this blessing.

As in the seventies, the expressions of this blessing varied from group to group, from ministry to ministry. The essence, however, seemed to be similar everywhere – strong impacts from the Spirit, people being overwhelmed, new and deep love for Jesus, personal refreshing and blessing, catching the fire of a fresh zeal for the Lord, ministering more effectively to others.

As we kept praying for people the manifestations increased, especially with people being overwhelmed and resting in the Spirit.

To pray or not to pray

Problem! Do we actively encourage this? Do we avoid it – such as not praying so much? Do we stop praying for individuals? Do we wait till the end of the meeting, even though some people were being touched strongly as we worshipped? Do we copy methods from the Vineyard conferences, such as praying for people all over the place at the end of the meeting? Do we follow the Toronto example and make plenty of carpet space available? Do we ask people to stand and then ask the Holy Spirit to come, or do we just expect he will move upon us anyway?

In our prayer times before every meeting we declared the Lordship of Jesus, asked him to take over, and claimed his authority. The more we prayed, the more it kept happening!

We don t have all the answers yet – and maybe never will! Who can direct the wind? The whirlwind is even more unpredictable.

Where do we draw the line? Whose line? God’s? Ours? Our traditions?

We all draw a line somewhere. Responsible leadership and pastoral care require some guidelines., even though these maybe quite flexible.

What is regarded as ‘decent’ and ‘in order’ varies widely from church to church, group to group, culture to culture, revival to revival. We need to be spiritually sensitive, theologically insightful and culturally appropriate (as Jesus and Paul were) without quenching the Spirit.

The root and the fruit

Where the root of various experiences is Jesus himself in the power of his Spirit, and the fruit is clearly the fruit of his Spirit, we’re glad.

Remember that Jesus’ presence and ministry produced amazing effects in Scripture. Demons were expelled. People were set free and made whole. Lives were changed.

What are the results of these current blessings for us in the Renewal Fellowship?

Worship is richer, fuller and longer than ever. People comment on the blessing of a stronger, closer relationship with God, both in the meetings and beyond them in daily life. Many people tell about blessings in their service to others, in prayer for the sick and in home groups.

People report a deeper awareness of the reality of the Lord, closer fellowship with Jesus, stronger leadings by the Holy Spirit, increased anointing in their various giftings, and greater love for God. For many people it is already flowing over into sacrificial ministry to others with greater assurance, compassion, and willingness to be involved as they obey the promptings of the Spirit.

One person lay on the floor, overwhelmed, and began praying in tongues with a new love for the Lord and release of his gifts. Some report physical healings received while overwhelmed. Someone with Multiple Personality Disorder caused by childhood trauma had a vision of Jesus while resting on the floor; Jesus brought deep healing and integration, resulting in profound improvement. Many people have found a new zeal in serving the Lord and praying with and for others.

We need pastoral wisdom to avoid the extremes of foolish excesses on one hand or resisting and quenching the Spirit on the other. We need discernment between the true and the false, and that s not easy. We need grace to welcome the refreshing of the Lord even though it comes in different ways to different people. As with conversion, or being filled with the Spirit, or discovering spiritual gifts, some people have dramatic encounters with God while others experience deep and quiet peace.

Let everything be grounded in Scripture, illumined by the Spirit who inspired it. It is more radical than any of us really understand. A few biblical happenings would certainly enliven any church!

Jesus offended many people, such as in worship and teaching meetings. He welcomed outcasts, sinners, the poor and despised. He healed lepers. He banished demons. He sent the disciples off to preach, heal the sick and cast out demons. He told them to teach the rest of us to do the same (Matthew 28:20; Mark 16:17-18; Luke 24:49; John 14:12; 20:21-22; Acts 1:8 and so on).

People in the early church saw the power of God at work. They appeared drunk on the day of Pentecost. They clashed with traditions, as Jesus did. They prayed and witnessed amid the turbulence of light overcoming darkness, truth confronting error, and the kingdom of God invading the kingdoms of this world.

Expect the Spirit to move upon us all even more fully. Welcome his blessings, and pray that revival will yet sweep our nation. Perhaps a spark is being lit for revival in our land.

Praying for People

We found the following guidelines helpful in praying for people. They are adapted from material provided in Toronto. We prefer to pray in pairs if possible so that if someone is overwhelmed they can be gently helped to rest in the Spirit.

1. When praying for individuals, watch closely what the Spirit is doing (John 5:19). Never make a person feel that they are unable to receive or are resisting the Holy Spirit just because they are not openly manifesting something. We are called to encourage and love, not speak words that will bring rejection or discouragement.

2. Do not force ministry! Trust the Lord, knowing that he is doing something personal within an individual, so don’t interrupt that special ‘conversation’.

3. When you are praying for someone a strong anointing may rest on you also. Keep praying for the person without distracting them.

4. You may be able to help some people receive more in the following ways:

(a) Help them deal with a tendency to rationalise; or calm their fears of loss of control.

(b) Let them know what to expect; that even when the Holy Spirit is blessing them they will have a clear mind and can usually stop the process at any point if they want to.

(c) The Holy Spirit often moves in ‘waves’ similar to the blowing wind.

(d) Encourage them to be still and know that God is God (Ps. 46:10), and to stay focused on he Lord. He loves them intensely and longs for them to know him intimately.

5. Generally, it is helpful to have people stand to receive ministry. The Holy Spirit often rests upon people as they wait in his presence. Some people may fear falling, especially if they have back problems or are pregnant or elderly. If they are overwhelmed help them to sit down, kneel, or fall carefully.

6. When people fall or rest in the Spirit, encourage them to soak in the presence of the Lord. It seems that everyone wants to get up far too quickly.

7. It can help to pray and bless the person resting in the Spirit. Many feel very vulnerable while in that position and appreciate the loving care given. They also need to guarded from others bumping into them and/or making comments around them.

8. Never push people over. Watch over-enthusiasm and a tendency to want to ‘help God out’ especially when you are sensing a strong anointing within you.

9. If you get ‘words of knowledge’, pray biblical prayers related to those words. Let prophetic encouragement flow from prayer ministry, and always for edification, exhortation or comfort. Remember, no ‘direction, correction, dates or mates’.

10. You will seldom err if you pray biblical prayers such as:

(a) ‘Come Holy Spirit.’

(b) ‘Your kingdom come, Lord, Your will be done.’

(c) For a deeper revelation of the Father’s love in Christ.

(d) For anointing for service.

(e) For release of gifts and callings.

(f) To bring light and expel darkness.

(g) To open their understanding so they will know the magnitude of their salvation.

(h) For peace, ruling and reigning in their hearts.

(i) ‘More Lord’ – How much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

11. Don’t project what God has been doing with you onto the person you are praying with. Bless what God is doing for them.

12. If your hand or body is shaking pray with your hand slightly away from the person so as not to distract them. If a stronger manifestation begins to happen within you then withdraw from ministry for a while and let the Lord bless you.

13. Laying on of hands may be appropriate, not ‘leaning on of hands’. Give a light touch only, generally on forehead, top of head, shoulder, or hands. No inappropriate touching.

14. Some people pray aloud while they are being ministered to. Encourage them to be quiet and just receive. It is difficult to drink in and pour out at the same time.

15. The person you are praying for needs to be assured that he or she is the most important one for that moment. Avoid the tendency to let your mind and eyes wander to other things or other people or other situations in the room. Don’t become distracted with other issues.

16. Your own personal hygiene is important – clean hands, hair and clothes, deodorant, breath mints may help.

17. Don’t step over anyone, or hold discussions near people resting in the Spirit.

18. Be led by common sense and by the Spirit. It helps to have men pray with men, women with women, married couples with married couples.

19. People who pray for others also need to be prayed for themselves, to receive ministry, to be refreshed and anointed anew.

20. Encourage people being prayed for to:

(a) Come humble and hungry. Forget preconceived ideas and what has happened to others.

(b) Experience ministry before trying to analyse it. The Holy Spirit will speak, teach, comfort and reveal Jesus personally. We need to know the Lord experientially as well as theologically.

(c) Face fears such as fear of deception, of being hurt again, of not receiving, of losing control.

(d) Focus on the Lord, not on falling. Give the Holy Spirit permission to do with you what he wants to do.

Above all, we need to seek the Lord. ‘Your kingdom come.’
_______________________________________

© Renewal Journal 7: Blessing, 1996, 2nd edition 2011
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright included.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 7: Blessing
Renewal Journal 7: Blessing – PDF

Renewal  Journal 7: Blessing – Editorial

What on earth is God doing? by Owen Salter

Times of Refreshing, by Greg Beech

Renewal Blessing, by Ron French

Catch the Fire, by Dennis Plant

Reflections, by Alan Small

A Fresh Wave, by Andrew Evans

Waves of Glory, by David Cartledge

Balance, by Charles Taylor

Discernment, by John Court

Renewal Ministry, by Geoff Waugh

Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)

Renewal Journals Vol 2, Nos 6-10

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1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6  Worship,   7  Blessing,   8  Awakening,   9  Mission,   10  Evangelism,
11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

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GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

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BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

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Renewal Blessing  by Ron French

by Geoff 23 May 2011 2 Comments

Renewal Blessing

by Ron French

Ron, Janie & Tim French

 

The Rev Ron French, a Uniting Church minister, wrote when editor of Living Water, the Journal of the Uniting Church Queensland Synod Committee for Renewal Ministries.

 

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____________________________________

There’s a world of difference between

a commitment to the Lord

and a relationship with the Lord.

____________________________________

It was a warm night in March, 1995, as around 2,000 people crowded into the worship centre and overflowing areas of Northside Christian Family in Brisbane.  The organisers had been expecting 400-500 but 800 had registered for the day event and many more had gathered for the Wednesday night meeting once it was known it was open for general attendance.

The reason?  To find out what this ‘Toronto blessing’ was all about.  To find out if God indeed was blessing people with an outpouring of his Spirit, and, if that was so, to get some for themselves, for the people who had gathered were hungry.

Pastor John Lewis introduced us to Baptist pastor Guy (pronounced Gee) Chevrau, and some of what Gee shared with us over the next three days is summarised here.

What cannot be fully expressed is what happened after the message.

I’ve seen people slain in the Spirit before as the man out the front shouts for the power of God to come down and with hand on forehead down they go.  But this was different.  There was no hand on forehead, nor was there shouts from those in charge.  Instead a gentle voice invited to you to close your eyes and fix your vision on Jesus, and, in many cases, legs out from underneath you and gentle down you went.

This was also followed by laughing or sobbing or twitching or moving or jerking or some or all of the above.  Some explanation of the phenomena follows in this article.

Guy shared with us that it ought not surprise us that God should want to initiate a blessing upon his people at particular times and in particular places.  He said in the UK you can now travel 30 miles in any direction and find an outpouring of God in this way.  His comment:

This new move of God is taking us out to where we cannot return.

God is calling us to a radical theological humility.

There’s a world of difference between a commitment to the Lord and a relationship with the Lord.

God desires not just the former but also the latter.

Is this from God?

Guy cautioned us on judging the phenomena.  He called on us to wait six months and then look at the kind of fruit we have.

Do we have a renewed desire for worship?

Have the dividing walls come down?

Are we feeding the poor?

Are we praying for the sick?

Is there a renewed love for God’s word?

Is it a privilege to pray?

Has fear and insecurity been lifted off?.

Where did this come from?

Randy Clark is the founding pastor of the Vineyard Fellowship in St.  Louis.  After years of seeing little fruit and power in his ministry he became desperately hungry for God.  Hearing of unusual manifestations of God’s presence through the ministry of South African evangelist, Rodney Howard-Brown, Randy attended one of Rodney’s meetings at Tulsa, OK.  Randy was powerfully touched and, in going home, began to see a similar outbreak of the Spirit among his people.

In January 1994 John Arnott, pastor of the Toronto Airport Vineyard invited Randy to come to Toronto to speak and minister.  Two days of meetings in Toronto turned into what, to date, have been 90 days of almost continuous in numerous locations in Ontario and in the United States.

The meetings have been dubbed renewal rather than a revival by psychiatrist and author John White and by John Wimber, international leader of the Association of Vineyard Churches.

Randy and those who have been associated with him say that this move of God is more associated with refreshing the church and calling home the prodigals than salvation for the lost.  People are coming to Christ but not in the numbers one typically sees in times of revival.

The Toronto Airport Vineyard now has meetings of refreshment every night of the week except Monday and people from all over the world have attended and gone home blessed.

The ministers and leaders of Northside Christian Family and Garden City Christian Church have been across and the ‘Catch the Fire’ meetings at Everton Park occurred in response to these people meeting with this new wave of God’s presence.

Now various Uniting Churches are experiencing this blessing.

The small group which meets at Rosewood Uniting Church on a Sunday night began experiencing some of these manifestations of the Spirit after the April John Wimber conference last year.

This particularly related to the shaking and laughing but in late January /early February this year the falling and resting in the Spirit was added to the agenda.  We didn’t understand what was happening at first, except we realised God was doing something.  Attending the meetings at Everton Park clarified a number of issues for us.  Since then the manifestations have only increased.

Those who have been hungry and desperate for an outpouring of God in their lives and in ministry have come forward for a blessing and have rested in the Spirit as he has gently blessed them.  The other manifestations have occurred as well.

To explain this further, the following comments are adapted from Guy Chevrau’s teaching.

What does the Bible and the church say?

There are basic doctrinal approaches in the Bible.  These include:

a.  Christian theology (what Christians are to be believe),

b.  Christian ethics (how Christians ought to behave),

c.  Christian experience or practice (what Christians do).

When dealing with supernatural phenomena, we are dealing with the area of Christian practice.  While there is primary text dealing with prophetic revelation, there are no primary texts that clearly state that Christians are to fall down, shake or look drunk during seasons of divine visitation.

There are, however, a number of secondary (remember, secondary does not mean invalid or unimportant) texts that illustrate that these were some of the responses people had during the moments of divine visitation.

There are also numerous examples of similar phenomena in church history, especially in seasons of revival.  The purpose in putting this information together is to develop a biblical apologetic for what we see happening among us.  Much of what we are seeing is strange to the natural mind.  The following are some of the phenomena that we have seen in our meetings: falling, shaking, drunkenness, crying, laughter, and prophetic revelation.

Are these manifestations biblical?

First it needs to be said that it is perfectly normal and even necessary to inquire into the biblical nature of Christian experience.  It is also OK to admit that much of this looks ‘weird’ as long as we don’t prematurely judge it.  When Paul first went to the Greek city of Berea, the book of Acts says that the Bereans were more noble than the other Jews Paul had encountered in Greece because they ‘searched the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true.’ (17 v 11)

When we ask.  ‘Is it biblical?’ we are probably asking for what is commonly called proof text.  A proof text is a portion of Scripture that, when taken in context, validates a particular position we are taking.  In order to ascertain whether these phenomena are biblical, we need to lay down some ground rules for solid interpretation.

Falling

The most common phenomena we have seen in our meetings is people falling down.  Often they remain conscious but engaged with the Lord.  They feel weak and find it difficult to do anything but rest with God.  We have seen that as they lay with the Lord they have had significant changes in their lives.

Genesis 15:12  –  This literally reads ‘A deep sleep fell on Abram’.  This is the same word that is used when God put Adam to sleep when he made Eve (Genesis 2:21).

1 Samuel 19   –  This text shows that for something close to a 24 hour period Saul lay in a prone position with God speaking through him.

Ezekiel 3: 23;  Daniel 8:17; 10:9  –  being overwhelmed

Matthew 17: 6,7; John 18: 6  –  As Judas and the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, they had an interesting encounter.  ‘When Jesus said.  ‘I am he,’ they turned back and fell to the ground.’ Here we see an immediate falling back in response to the presence of Jesus.  They were apparently able to get up shortly thereafter because they went on to arrest Jesus.

Acts 9:3  –  When Paul was apprehended on the road to Damascus by a light from heaven, he says, ‘I fell to the ground and heard a voice.’ Again we see that falling was a normal response to a divine visitation.

Revelation 1:17  –   Here we see an experience similar to Adam’s and Abram’s where the person not only falls but is also unconscious for an extended period of time.

Jonathan Edwards, the main instrument and theologian of the Great Awakening in America (1725 – 1760), says in his Account of the Revival of Religion in Northampton 1740 – 1742:

Many have had their religious affections raised far beyond what they had ever been before, and there were some instances of persons laying in a sort of trance.  Remaining perhaps for a whole twenty-four hours motionless, and with their senses locked up, but in the mean time under strong imaginations, as though they went to heaven and had there a vision of glorious and delightful objects.

It was a very frequent thing to see outcries, faintings, convulsions and such like, both with distress, and also admiration and joy.

It was no the manner here to hold meetings all night, nor was it common to continue them till very late in the night; but it was pretty often so, that there were some so affected, and their bodies so overcome, that they could not go home, but were obligated to stay all night where they were.

Charles Finney (1792-1875) was one of the most powerful revivalists since the reformation:

At a country place named Sodom, in the state of New York, Finney gave one address in which he described the condition of Sodom before God destroyed it.  ‘I had not spoken in this strain more than a quarter of an hour.’ says he ‘when an awful solemnity seemed to settle upon them, the congregation began to fall from their seats in every direction, and cried for mercy.  If I had had a sword in each hand, I could not have cut them down as fast as they fell.  Nearly the whole congregation were either on their knees or prostrate.  I should think in less than two minutes from the shock that fell upon them.  Everyone prayed who was able to speak at all.’ Similar scenes were witnessed in many other places.

A remarkable power seemed to accompany the preaching of George Fox where ever he went, whether in Britain or America, Germany, Holland or the West Indies.  He usually went about the country on foot, dressed in his famous suit of leather clothes, said to have been made by himself, and often sleeping out of doors or in some haystack.  He was ridiculed and persecuted, beaten and stoned, arrested and imprisoned, more frequently perhaps than any other man, and yet the Lord seemed to greatly bless and own his labours.

Describing his meetings at Ticknell, England, he says ‘The priest scoffed at us and called us “Quakers”.  But the Lord’s power was so over them, and the word of life was declared in such authority and dread to them, that the priest began trembling himself, and one of the people said “Look how the priest trembles and shakes, he is turned Quaker also”.’

Conclusion: There is a biblical precedent for shaking in God’s presence.  In the verses where the cause of shaking is mentioned, it has to do with holy fear.  The shaking we are experiencing seems to be related more to prophetic ministry and impartation of spiritual fights of which parallels can be seen in Fox’s ministry.

Drunkenness

Jeremiah 23:9 – as drunk

Acts 2:13 ff  –  ‘Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’

Compare Acts 10:44-46   where apparently the same kinds of phenomena occurred with the Gentiles.  That the 120 newly filled believers were acting in a ‘drunken’ manner is what is known as an argument from silence.  The text never says that they were but it is obviously inferred.  They would not be accused of being drunk because they were speaking in different languages.  They would have been accused of such because they were acting like drunks.  ie.laughing, falling, slurred speech by some, boldness through lack of restraint, etc..  The analogy of the gift of the Spirit being ‘new wine’ would lend itself to the connection.

Eph 5:8ff:   In a passage dealing with the Ephesians putting off their old carousing lifestyle, Paul exhorts them ‘Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery, instead be filled (Greek present tense ‘keep on being filled’) with the Holy Spirit’.  Paul is contrasting carnal drunkenness with spiritual filling.  Given the tense of the Greek verb, he appears to also be making an analogy as well as a contrast.  Being filled with God’s Spirit is similar to being drunk on wine.  The difference is that the former is holy while the other is sinful.

Shaking

Shaking is also common in our meetings and is one of the hardest phenomena to understand.  The kinds of shaking vary greatly.  Sometimes the shaking is accompanied by all sorts of bodily contortions, sometimes mild, sometimes almost violent.  What, if any, biblical precedent is there?

Daniel 10:7;  Psalm 99:1;  114:7; Jeremiah 5: 22  –  trembling

Jeremiah 23:9  –   This is a significant verse because Jeremiah is relating that what happened to him on at least one occasion involved a trembling/shaking of his bones.  His wording seems to imply that he shook from the inside out.  It would take a powerful force to cause his bones to quiver inside his body.  The analogy to being overcome could also be a reference to being entranced by the coming of the prophetic word.  This text is an answer to God’s plea in Jeremiah 5: 22.

Hab.  3:16;  Acts 4:31;  James 2:19:

George Fox (1624 – 1691) founder of the Quakers:

After a life changing experience with the Holy Spirit.  Fox had some remarkable experiences.

After passing through the experience described above, Fox was mightily used of God, and great conviction of sin fell upon the people to whom he preached.  ‘The Lord’s power began to shake them’ says he,, ‘and great meetings we began to have, and a mighty power and work of God there was amongst people, to the astonishment of both people and priests.’ Later, he says, ‘After this I went to Mansfield, where there was a great meeting of professors and people; here I was moved to pray, and the Lord’s power was so great, that the house seemed to be shaken.’

Crying

Neh 8:9; 2 Chron 34:27; Lk 19: 41; Heb.  5:7.

Acts 2:37  –  This text doesn’t say they wept but it’s hard to imaging ‘being cut to the heart’ as not evoking that emotional response.

John Wesley (1703-1791):

On April 17, 1739,, there was another remarkable case of conviction of sin, in Bristol, Wesley had just expounded Acts 4 on the power of the Holy Spirit, ‘We then called upon God to confirm his Word’ says he.  ‘Immediately one that stood by (to our no small surprised) cried out aloud, with the utmost vehemence, even as the agonies of death.  But we continued in prayer till ‘a new song was put in her mouth, a thanksgiving unto our God’ Soon after, two other persons (well known in this place, as labouring to live in all good conscience towards all men) were seized with strong pain, and constrained to roar the disquietness of their heart.  These also found peace ‘Many other wonderful cases of conviction of sin attended Wesley’s preaching.  It was a frequent occurrence for people to cry aloud or fall down as if dead in the meetings, so great was their anguish of heart caused, no doubt, by the holy Spirit convicting them of sin.’

Laughter

Job 8:21;  Psalm 126:2;  Ecc 3:4.

John 17:13; If there is any prayer in the Bible that will be answered, it is the high priestly prayer in John 17.  Certainly the full measure of joy with the Trinity includes laughter

Johnathan Edwards wrote:

It was very wonderful to see how person’s affections were sometimes moved when God did as it were suddenly open their eyes, and let into their minds a sense of greatness of his grace, the fullness of Christ and his readiness to save.  Their joyful surprises has caused their hearts as it were to leap, so that they have been ready to break forth into laughter, tears often as the same time issuing like a flood, and intermingling a loud weeping.  Sometimes they have not been able to forebear crying out with a loud voice, expressing their great admiration.  The manner of God’s work on the soul, sometimes especially, is very mysterious.

Conclusion: Again, laughter lifts within the general flow of Scripture.  Christians can be so filled with the joy of the Lord that they are given over to fits of laughter.

Prophetic revelation

One of the things we are seeing is that people are having visions, dreams and prophetic words while under the power of the Spirit.  All throughout the Bible, prophetic revelation occurs during periods of divine visitation.

There is no way we can cover this subject in this context so a few key passages will have to suffice.

Num12:29; This is a very significant passage.  It shows that prophecy can be a response to the Spirits coming.  The phrase, ‘when the spirit rested on them’ (v25) is also reminiscent of the Spirit alighting on Jesus like a dove at this baptism.

Num 11:6; 1 Sam 10:10; Acts 2:17-18; 1 Cor14.

George Fox: And a report went abroad of me, that I was a young man that had a discerning spirit; whereupon many came to me from far and near, professors, priest, and people; and the Lord’s power brake forth; and I had great openings and prophecies, and spake unto them of the things of God and they heard with attention and silence, and went away and spread the fame thereof.’

What are the phenomena for?

Signs of the Lord’s presence.

In Exodus 33 v 14 in response to Moses, it says, ‘The Lord replied.  ‘My Presence will go with you.’ The promise of God’s Presence is the distinguishing mark of God’s people.  Moses says to God ‘What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth.’ (v16)

The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is in each Christian and since Acts 2 has been continually active in the Church.  Jesus speaking of the Spirit, says to the disciples, He is with you and will be in you.’ (John 14 v 17) There are times, however, when God allows us to see his presence to build our faith and show us where he is working.  2 Kings 6:17.

Is God shaking us to wake us up?

Eph 5:14 This command precedes the exhortation to be filled continually with the Holy Spirit.  We are to wake up and seek to be continually filled with the wine of God’s Spirit.

If we haven’t heeded God’s previous wake up calls, perhaps He is now shaking us to arouse us and get our attention.

To humble us

When Randy Clark asked God why he was bringing all the phenomena to Toronto, God replied that he was looking for people who were willing to look publicly foolish for the honour of his name.

Paul Cain said ‘God offends the mind to reveal the heart.’

The bottom line issue is one of control.  God wants to know who among his people will be willing to play the fool for his glory.

To anoint us

The filling of the Holy Spirit is a repeatable experience and one we are commanded to continually experience.  (Eph 5:18)

God will sovereignly move on us to impart supernatural ability to do certain things.  2 Tim 1:6.

Charles Finney:

The Holy Ghost descended on me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul.  I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me.  Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way.  It seemed like the very breath of God.  I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings.

No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart.  I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart.  The waves came over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recoiled I cried out ‘ I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.’ I said ‘Lord I cannot bear any more’ yet I had no fear of death.

Finney continued for some time under this remarkable manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s power.  Wave after wave of spiritual power rolled over him and through him thrilling every fibre of his being.

Increased fruit

Galatians 5:22: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Simply put, if the long term fruit is Gal.  5:22, it’s of God.  The character of Jesus is the destiny of the Church (Romans 8:29).

Concerning the fruit of this, we can ask:

1.  Are the people being prayed for asking for God? They will get God.

2.  Are the people praying asking for God and exalting Jesus? The Holy Spirit will come in answer to their prayers.

3.  Are those praying asking for the gift of discernment? It is given.

4.  Are the leaders humble and exalting Jesus? Is the atmosphere peaceful, even though perhaps noisy? If yes, then these are signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

5.  Is the fruit good? Then it’s God.

What about the emotion?

Our presupposition: If it were God, there would be very little or no emotion in it.  Again, the Bible says something else

There is a full range of emotions seen in the scriptures.

a.  David danced, wept, fought

b.  Jesus wept, was joyful, angry

c.  Peter wept, rejoiced, felt convicted

d.  God has emotion, as we do.  We have been created in his image.

Historically, emotions have been seen in the movements of God.

Jonathan Edwards saw no distinction between the head and the heart.  ‘Nothing of religious significance ever took place in the human heart if it wasn’t deeply effected by such Godly emotions.’

John White says ‘The lack of emotion is just as sick as being controlled by emotion.’

Emotion comes from seeing reality (truth) clearly.  When the Spirit of truth comes, we see things as they really are which opens up our emotional being.

What is happening?

We ask the question, ‘What in the world is happening to us?’  It is clear from what we are seeing and hearing from all over the United States, Canada, England and other places that we are in a sovereign move of the Holy Spirit.  Peter told early onlookers to the Spirit’s activity to repent that times of refreshment would come from the Lord’s presence (Acts 3 v 19) What should be our response to such a season of diving visitation? The clearest passage in the New Testament on the subject of a local church’s response to the coming of the Holy Spirit is 1 Cor 12-14.

1.  Paul’s purpose in writing 1 Corinthians was to answer a set of questions delivered to him in the form of a letter from the church (see 7 v 1; 16 vv 17).  He had also received some information from ‘Chloe’s people’ (1 v 11).  When Paul proceeds to answer their questions about spiritual gifts, he does so in a sermon where he is dealing with questions related to when they gather together for church (11:27).

2.  In Chapter 12, Paul encourages the activity of spiritual gifts when they gather together also, he also said that the church was Christ’s body which was to be built up as spiritual gifts are exercised.

3.  His admonition in chapter 13 is that they exercise disagreement in love.  Herein lies the most important point of all as we press into the season that is upon us: without love it profits us nothing.

In chapter 3 Paul had already established that whoever co-labours to build on Paul’s apostolic foundation will have his/her works weighted on the day of the Lord.  One works will be labelled ‘gold, silver and precious stones.’ Others will be labelled ‘wood, hay and stubble.’ It is the quality of each person’s work that will make the difference.  How do we know that our work is the kind of quality that will pass the fire test on that day? I believe the answer is in the motive.  In Chapter 13 Paul says that the motive must be love.

In Matthew 7:15-23, in a passage dealing with false prophets who would be known for their fruit, Jesus said ‘Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly.  “I never knew you.  Away from me you evil doers.”‘ This passage allows for a category of person in the church that amazingly are able to move in spiritual gifts but at judgement day will be counted among those that do not know Jesus.  The difference is that they are not doing the will of the Father.  Their motive is not one of love for God or people, but is self serving.  Jesus is clear; self serving activity, no matter how powerful, doesn’t count.

4.  Paul finishes his response to the Corinthian question of spiritual gifts in Chapter 14 where he says that the sign of a loving exercise of gifts is the building up of Christ’s body.  If the exercising of gifts does not, in the end, build up the church, it has been counter productive.  Whether because of ill motive or because the leaders have not been facilitating the operation of the gifts in the meeting ‘decently and in order’ (14 v 40) the fact of the matter is that the gifts have not been allowed to work to build up the church for the common good.

5.  The final word then, about the season that is upon us, belongs to the apostle Paul.  He calls us to embrace the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our midst.  He exhorts us to exercise the gifts with a loving heart posture in such a manner that the church is edified.  The leaders need to see that this is done in an orderly way.  What counts in the end is not whether someone fell or shook or even was healed.  No, what counts ultimately is whether they are loved and built up.  What happens as a result of the Spirit’s sovereign intervention is us to God.  This is his work, not ours.  Our job is to love and pray for the kingdom to come, watching as we do, for what the Father is doing so we can bless it.

Conclusions

So what has Father been doing during this season that has been upon us? As we conclude, we need to ask whether we are seeing any long term fruit.  This is the ultimate test in determining if it is God.  In Acts 3:19 Peter called his onlookers to repentance so their sins could be wiped out.  The result in their lives was that times of refreshing would come to them from the presence of the Lord.

Refreshing

One of those seasons of refreshment is upon us now.  John Arnott, the pastor of the Airport Vineyard in Toronto, reports that the overriding theme has been joy.  This is thoroughly consonant with the New Testament which sees joy as a sign of the presence of the Spirit in the believer’s life (there are over 60 references to joy in the NT).  God’s people are simply having fun in him.  In the early days of the apostles, as they were searching for a word that would communicate to the Gentiles the ecstasy of having their sins forgiven and being in right relationship with God through the atoning blood of Christ Jesus, they choose the word euangelion which we now translate ‘gospel’ or ‘good news’.  It was a completely secular word that was used in reference to the emperor’s birthday.  It was a holiday, a day of good news.  The apostles travelled throughout the ancient world preaching the day of God’s party had come.

Joy

We are learning to party in God again because the Spirit of the Lord has come among us to teach us grace, mediate forgiveness and reveal the Father’s love in Christ.  The second characteristic of this renewal, then, is a return to our first love, Jesus.  Reports are coming from every corner about people falling in love with Jesus in a whole new way, about a new love for the Bible, about being taken up into heaven in the form of visions and dreams.  In the arms of Jesus is fullness of joy.

Healing

The third characteristic of the renewal is healing.  Reports too numerous to count tell of physical healings, deliverance from demonic influences and deep emotional wounds being touches.  It seems that as people spend ‘floor time’ with God, he meets them where they are, the point of need.  He is removing barriers that have kept us from moving forward with God.

Empowering

Much of the shaking has to do with empowerment for service.  Spiritual gifts are being imparted through the laying on of hands.  We have impartations for intercession, evangelism, healing, prophecy and pastoral care.

Re-commitments

There has been a significant return of prodigals to the church.  God is healing old wounds and drawing lost ones back into fellowship with himself and with the church.

Salvation

Numerous people have been saved but not enough to characterize this as a genuine revival.  Revivals are characterized by masses coming to Christ.  Those that have been on the vanguard of the move of the Spirit believe that its purpose is to refresh the church and to prepare it for the mighty and genuine revival that is on the horizon.

May God give us wisdom, faith and obedience in this time of his visitation.

________________________________________________________

(c) Ron French, Living Water. Used with permission.

© Renewal Journal 7: Blessing, 1996, 2nd edition 2011
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Geoff Waugh, renewal, worship ,

Revival Worship  by Geoff Waugh

by Geoff 20 May 2011 1 Comment

Revival Worship

 

Geoff Waugh is the founding editor of the Renewal Journal

 

 

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Sometimes stillness reigns in holy awe and silence.

Sometimes worship swells in a crescendo of exultation.

Sometimes tears blend with wondering joy and repentance.

_________________________________________________________

Worship in revival is awe-inspiring. The Holy Spirit moves powerfully upon us. The worship is Spirit-led. Spontaneous. Unpredictable.

Its local forms vary. The essence of revival worship, however, is the same everywhere. It involves a growing awareness of and response to the glory and sovereignty of God. The Lord moves upon his people, touching lives deeply.

Revival worship always brings repentance. Often in tears. Sometimes with joy. We grow more sensitive and responsive to the Lord’s leading. We stay longer in his presence. Prayer abounds in song, word and silence. Musicians may play inspired music as David did, and darkness flees. Songs blend and flow in creative harmonies, no longer tied to books or overheads. Sung melodies lead into solos, singing in the Spirit, prophetic songs and words, Scriptures sung and said.

Sometimes stillness reigns in holy awe and silence. Sometimes worship swells in a crescendo of exultation. Sometimes tears blend with wondering joy and repentance. Sometimes a wave of spontaneous clapping expresses worship in wordless adoration, acknowledging the great glory of our God.

Some people may be standing, some sitting, some kneeling, some lying prostrate on the floor, some dancing. Many raise their arms in adoration. Many open their hands in submission. Many have their eyes closed as they focus on the Lord in love, adoration, gratitude, surrender.

How can we enter this dimension of worship more fully?

We don’t need to wait until we are perfect. We’ll be in heaven then!

We come in our weakness. As we become more aware of God’s glory and presence we also become more aware of our sin and utter dependence on God for cleansing and forgiveness. So did Isaiah in his worship in the Temple (Isaiah 6).

We repent. There’s no end to that one! Mostly we repent before God as his Spirit convicts us. We repent of so much. Hard hearts. Unbelief. Pride. Envy. Jealousy and competition. Status seeking. Unloving thoughts, words and deeds. Self-interest. Blindness to others’ needs. Materialism. Individualism. Disobedience. Fear, especially fear of people’s opinions.

We pray. And pray. And pray. Especially personally, and also together. We seek the Lord. We wait on God. We listen for his word, his leading. We open our hearts to intimacy with our loving, holy Lord. We meditate on Scripture, communing with its author as we do so. The quality of our worship is related to the quality of our time alone with God, waiting on him, seeking his face, loving him. That may include hours communing with the Lord in the stillness of the night..

We begin to respond to the Spirit more fully, more freely. We find that prepared ‘orders of service’ rarely fit revival worship (unless charismatically given by the Spirit). We need to be flexible and responsive to the leading of the Spirit. Those called and anointed by God for leading in worship need to be especially sensitive to his gentle direction. They, in turn, release and encourage others to respond to the Spirit in worship.

We usually begin learning this kind of worship in small home groups. The same principles apply in large gatherings. There, the worship leaders’ anointing and gifting facilitate worship among all the others.

We sing and pray less about God and more to God. Worship is intimate. People may spontaneously change words of well-known songs to make them personal and prayerful – You are Lord; you are risen from the dead and you are Lord … You are exalted, our King you’re exalted on high … Your name is wonderful, Jesus my Lord …

We need musicians who harmonize with the worship. That often involves playing harmonies to accompany free singing or singing in the Spirit. It does not require only those who can play by ear, although that can help. Those who read the music need to know where to find it – quickly. Songs used frequently can be arranged alphabetically, for example. Anointed musicians will often play prophetically – just music, as the Spirit leads. Musicians may ‘hear’ it in the Spirit and express it (though somewhat reduced!) on their instruments.

We respond to God in many ways as we worship. The variety of response is endless! It varies from meeting to meeting. When did God decree a 20-minute sermon after half an hour of singing? His word may come in the first 10 or 15 minutes of worship and the rest of the meeting may be a response to that word. When did God decree that prayer for repentance would come at the end of the meeting? It may come early in the worship as the Spirit leads, followed by cleansed, powerful worship.

We find the Spirit leads us in harmony, but many people may be doing many different things at the same time – eyes open, and closed; standing, sitting, kneeling, dancing, and lying prostrate; weeping, and joyful; some may have visions while others intercede and others minister in love and others adore the Lord and others bring prophetic insights.

We preach differently – more like Jesus. Speaking often mingles with testimonies and shares stories of God’s mighty acts – last week or last month. Prepared outlines are often blown away in the strong wind of the Spirit. We learn to ride the wind more often.

We worship more in quantity and quality than before. An hour grows to two; two to three; three to four or more. It’s like praying. Our time with God grows in quantity and quality.

Immediately we think of obstacles. There are many.

If your congregation is not yet ready for this, begin with those who want to. Be led by the Lord. That may be in a home group. It may be a weeknight meeting. It may be Sunday night. Our Renewal Fellowship was all of those. It began as a home group. It grew into an open meeting on Friday nights. It then included Sunday nights.

As the worship time deepened and extended we began saying, ‘If you need to go, slip away anytime.’ Few did. Most wanted to stay, and the meetings gradually became half nights of prayer and worship. Many stayed after supper, or during supper, for prayer, for waiting on God, and for ministry to one another.

We began to realise the Lord was leading us to worship more fully, wait on him more fully, respond to him more fully. Our charismatic or renewal traditions are being transformed into something like revival worship.

The outward forms vary. They express the growing inner worship which involves loving God more fully, yielding more fully, repenting more fully, believing more fully, obeying more fully.

The contrast between our usual charismatic worship and revival worship is a little like the difference between the old-time church prayer meetings and renewal home prayer groups. The church prayer meetings I attended as a teenager had some hymns, a Bible study talk, and then individuals stood to pray in King James English. Not wrong. Just limited. In home groups we learned to worship more spontaneously, share ‘words’ from the Lord, discuss and respond to the Bible study, pray specifically for one another, including asking and believing to be filled with the Spirit and learning to use the gifts of the Spirit.

Now, as the same Spirit moves ever more powerfully in the earth, as revival fires are blown from scattered flickers to conflagrations, and as we learn to respond more fully to the Lord in the power of his Spirit, revival worship spreads across the land.

It is not new. It has all happened before. Often.

Revival Worship in the Great Awakening

Awesome worship is common in revivals. As God’s Spirit moves on growing numbers of people their worship grows stronger, and longer. Many people have continued for hours, late into the night, or throughout the day, worshipping and responding to God.

Some revivals, at their height, saw people come and go continually as worship, conviction, repentance, confession, and testimony blended with singing, praying, weeping, exalting, and honouring God in lives transformed by his grace and glory.

Sometimes people are overwhelmed by the presence and glory of God. Many fall to the ground.

Here are examples from the first Great Awakening.

Moravians. Among the Moravian refugee colony on the estates of Count Nicholas Zinzendorf in Germany during 1727, the community of about 300 adults put aside their theological differences and prayed together in repentance, humility and unity. Revival flamed in August.

At about noon on Sunday August 10th, 1727, the preacher at the morning service felt himself overwhelmed by a wonderful and irresistible power of the Lord. He sank down in the dust before God, and the whole congregation joined him ‘in an ecstasy of feeling’. They continued until midnight engaged in prayer, singing, weeping and supplication.

On Wednesday, August 13th, the church came together for a specially called communion service. They were all dissatisfied with themselves. ‘They had quit judging each other because they had become convinced, each one, of his lack of worth in the sight of God and each felt himself at this communion to be in view of the Saviour.’

They left that communion at noon, hardly knowing whether they belonged to earth or had already gone to heaven. It was a day of outpouring of the Holy Spirit. ‘We saw the hand of God and were all baptized with his Holy Spirit … The Holy Ghost came upon us and in those days great signs and wonders took place in our midst. Scarcely a day passed from then on when they did not witness God’s almighty workings among them. A great hunger for God’s word took hold of them. They started meeting three times daily at 5 am, 7.30 am, and 9 pm. Selflove and selfwill and all disobedience disappeared, as everyone sought to let the Holy Spirit have full control.

Two weeks later, they entered into the twenty-four-hour prayer covenant which was to become such a feature of their life for over 100 years… ‘The spirit of prayer and supplication at that time poured out upon the children was so powerful and efficacious that it is impossible to give an adequate description of it.’

Supernatural knowledge and power was given to them. Previously timid people became flaming evangelists (Mills 1990:2045).

That revival produced 100 German missionaries within 25 years, some of whom had a strong impact on John and Charles Wesley, resulting in their conversion.

Methodists. 1739 saw astonishing expansion of revival in England. On 1st January the Wesleys and Whitefield along with 60 others including Moravians, met at Fetter Lane in London for prayer and a love feast. The Spirit of God moved powerfully on them all. Many fell to the ground, overwhelmed. The meeting went all night.

‘About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer,’ John Wesley recorded in his Journal, ‘the power of God came mightily upon us insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of His majesty, we broke out with one voice, ‘We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.’ This Pentecost on New Year’s Day confirmed that the Awakening had come and launched the campaign of extensive evangelization which sprang from it (Wood 1990:449).

American Colonies. Jonathan Edwards described the characteristics of the Great Awakening in the American colonies as, first, an extraordinary sense of the awful majesty, greatness and holiness of God, and second, a great longing for humility before God and adoration of God. He published books still being studied today to help us understand revival.

All these revivals stirred up excesses as well. Wise and firm leadership helped to keep the focus biblical and responsive to the Spirit.

Revival Worship this century

The twentieth century has seen countless local revivals with similar phenomena. They now increase worldwide.

Welsh Revival. The century began with worldwide revivals. Best known is the Welsh Revival of 1904-5. Oswald Smith described it this way:

It was 1904. All Wales was aflame. The nation had drifted far from God. The spiritual conditions were low indeed. Church attendance was poor and sin abounded on every side.

Suddenly, like an unexpected tornado, the Spirit of God swept over the land. The churches were crowded so that multitudes were unable to get in. Meetings lasted from ten in the morning until twelve at night. Three definite services were held each day. Evan Roberts was the human instrument, but there was very little preaching. Singing, testimony and prayer were the chief features. There were no hymn books, they had learned the hymns in childhood; no choir, for everybody sang; no collection, and no advertising.

Nothing had ever come over Wales with such farreaching results. Infidels were converted; drunkards, thieves and gamblers saved; and thousands reclaimed to respectability. Confessions of awful sins were heard on every side. Old debts were paid. The theatre had to leave for want of patronage. Mules in coal mines refused to work, being unused to kindness! In five weeks, twenty thousand people joined the churches (Olford 1968:67).

Azusa Street Revival. William Seymour began The Apostolic Faith Mission located at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles on Easter Saturday, 14 April 1906 with about 100 attending. Blacks and whites, poor and rich met together in this radical company which grew out of a cottage prayer meeting.

At Azusa, services were long, and on the whole they were spontaneous. In its early days music was a cappella, although one or two instruments were included at times. There were songs, testimonies given by visitors or read from those who wrote in, prayer, altar calls for salvation or sanctification or for baptism in the Holy Spirit. And there was preaching. Sermons were generally not prepared in advance but were typically spontaneous.

W. J. Seymour was clearly in charge, but much freedom was given to visiting preachers. There was also prayer for the sick. Many shouted. Others were ‘slain in the Spirit’ or fell under the power. There were periods of extended silence and of singing in tongues. No offerings were collected, but there was a receptacle near the door for gifts …

Growth was quick and substantial. Most sources indicate the presence of about 300350 worshippers inside the forty-by-sixty-foot whitewashed wood-frame structure, with others mingling outside… At times it may have been double that… The significance of Azusa was centrifugal as those who were touched by it took their experiences elsewhere and touched the lives of others. Coupled with the theological threads of personal salvation, holiness, divine healing, baptism in the Spirit with power for ministry, and an anticipation of the imminent return of Jesus Christ, ample motivation was provided to assure the revival a longterm impact (Burgess & McGee 1988:3136).

Hebrides Revival. Duncan Campbell, ministered in revival in the Hebrides Islands of the northwest coast of Scotland in 1949. At the close of his first meeting in the Presbyterian church in Barvas the travel weary preacher was invited to join an all-night prayer meeting! Thirty people gathered for prayer in a nearby cottage. Duncan Campbell described it:

God was beginning to move, the heavens were opening, we were there on our faces before God. Three o’clock in the morning came, and GOD SWEPT IN. About a dozen men and women lay prostrate on the floor, speechless. Something had happened; we knew that the forces of darkness were going to be driven back, and men were going to be delivered. We left the cottage at 3 a.m. to discover men and women seeking God. I walked along a country road, and found three men on their faces, crying to God for mercy. There was a light in every home, no one seemed to think of sleep (Whittaker 1984:159).

When Duncan and his friends arrived at the church that morning it was already crowded. People had gathered from all over the island, some coming in buses and vans. No one discovered who told them to come. God led them. Large numbers were converted as God’s Spirit convicted multitudes of sin, many lying prostrate, many weeping. After that amazing day in the church, Duncan pronounced the benediction, but then a young man began to pray aloud. He prayed for 45 minutes. Again the church filled with people repenting and the service continued till 4 a.m. the next morning before Duncan could pronounce the benediction again.

Even then he was unable to go home to bed. As he was leaving the church a messenger told him, ‘Mr. Campbell, people are gathered at the police station, from the other end of the parish; they are in great spiritual distress. Can anyone here come along and pray with them?’ Campbell went and what a sight met him. Under the still starlit sky he found men and women on the road, others by the side of a cottage, and some behind a peat stack all crying to God for mercy. The revival had come.

That went on for five weeks with services from early morning until late at night or into the early hours of the morning. Then it spread to the neighbouring parishes. What had happened in Barvas was repeated over and over again. Duncan Campbell said that a feature of the revival was the overwhelming sense of the presence of God. His sacred presence was everywhere (Whittaker 1984:160).

The seventies. We saw touches of renewal and revival in the early seventies when the charismatic renewal had spread into many churches including Catholic prayer groups and communities. A wave of independent charismatic fellowships emerged then also. Revival spread in Canada. The ‘Jesus people’ in America captured media attention. Repentance and touches of revival spread through many colleges, especially Asbury College, and students went out in powerful mission.

The nineties. Now new thrusts of the Spirit disturb us again. For over two years many people worldwide have seen increasingly powerful moves of the Spirit. These include massive crowds with Reinhard Bonnke and others in Africa, huge crusades with healing and miracles in Latin America, miraculous visitations across China, refreshing associated with many ministries which the secular media has lumped together and called the ‘Toronto Blessing’. Reports tell of over 7,000 churches in Great Britain touched by this outpouring of the Spirit. Once again, colleges and schools have experienced sweeping times of public repentance, restitution and reconciliation through 1995, especially in America. Some of it began at Howard Payne University in Brownwood in Texas and spread nationally, including all night prayer and testimony meetings such as at Wheaton College. Students and staff have witnessed publicly in churches, camps and conferences.

Blessing and Refreshing. During the last few years, reports continue to grow of God’s blessing and the refreshing of thousands of churches in North America, England, Europe, and around the world. Some ministers are seeing more conversions than in all their previous ministry.

The worship often has touches of revival. Spontaneous moves of God’s Spirit result in extended times of singing, praying, testifying, repenting, and being anointed for service and ministry. Many are overwhelmed, resting on the floor. Some experience unusual phenomena, including spontaneous laughter and joy. Some tremble. Healings increase.

Australians continue to tell of fresh moves of the Spirit now.

Jeff Beacham (1995:32) reported on a touch of revival worship at the annual conference of the Assemblies of God in Australia attended by crowds of many thousands this year:

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced meetings so powerful as the ones that we enjoyed at our national conference. … The manifest presence of the Spirit of God in the meetings was so strong that many people could hardly stand.

In one of the morning meetings Rodney Howard-Browne exhorted the church to soar to greater heights of inspiration and to pursue the purposes of God in these end times. So strong was this exhortation that it lead into a 45 minute period of glorious praise and worship such as I’d never been in before.

Barry Chant (1995:5), described worship at the annual conference of the full Gospel Churches of Australia this year:

The gatherings were full of joy. There were positive testimonies of salvation and blessing; people often danced for joy; the fellowship was sweet. One thing that particularly impressed us was the frequent use of prophecy, tongues and interpretation. To be honest, one rarely hears these gifts being used these days in local churches. It was refreshing to see them given the attention they deserve.

Prophecies were often in song, with several people picking up the theme and continuing it, so that one prophetic message might include input from four or five people. Often the whole gathering would join in at the end with singing in the Spirit.

All around Australia – and around the world – there are signs of revival. Many good things are happening. It is exciting to be part of the Kingdom of God at such a time as this.

Sue Armstrong describes the touch of God at Nowra, N.S.W., in August 1995:

Every meeting saw people touched and changed by the power of God. However, the final night was different! From the outset there was electrical excitement in the place; the praise and worship took off and by the time it came to the message it was impossible to bring it as the church was so filled with joy we knew the Holy Spirit was doing the work and we gave up!

Dan and Sue Armstrong then visited North America. There they attended a combined churches meeting in Toronto, Canada. Sue reports,

We were blessed to be there for a special event. On the Sunday evening there was a rally called ‘Waves of Power’ in the Metro in downtown Toronto. This was a first. Around 200 churches in the Toronto area came together for this event (around 6,000 people). The praise and worship went for over an hour and it was awesome! Phil Driscoll, an anointed trumpeter, ministered powerfully, and the speaker, Pastor Bud Williams, brought a challenge to take the city of Toronto for God. Over 2,000 people responded to this challenge.

Increasingly churches are willing to come together in repentance and unity to pray, worship and minister. Often this is accompanied by powerful moves of God’s Spirit. Some ‘hot spots’ where these outpourings of the Spirit are most intense include the Airport Vineyard at Toronto in Canada, Pasadena in California, Melbourne in Florida, and Sunderland in England. All these places have churches co-operating together to worship and minister in unity.

All this drives us back to God’s Word to see what he has to say – just as the charismatic renewal drove us to rediscover similar events in the Acts and teaching in the epistles on the body of Christ and spiritual gifts as in Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12-14.

Now we are rediscovering the passages about the awe-inspiring majesty of God, the overwhelming authority of Jesus the risen Lord, and the invincible impact of God’s Spirit in the earth. This drives us to our knees, or we fall prostrate before our God. Unity in the Spirit is longer a nice theological discussion point, but a humbling, sacrificial reality increasingly required and blessed by God.

We need to take God’s word on revival very seriously in this day of his visitation. ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land’ (2 Chronicles 7:14).

References

Beacham, J (1995) ‘And the Heat Turns Up’, in the Australian Evangel, August.

Burgess, S M & McGee, G B eds. (1988) Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Chant, B (1995) ‘Personally Speaking’, in New Day, November.

Mills, B (1990) Preparing for Revival. Eastbourne: Kingsway.

Olford, S F (1968) Heartcry for Revival. Westwood: Revell

Pratney, W (1984, 1994) Revival. Springdale: Whitaker House.

Whittaker, C (1984) Great Revivals. Basingstoke: Marshalls.

Wood, A S (1990) in The History of Christianity. London: Lion.

______________________________________________________

© Renewal Journal 6: Worship, 1995, 2nd edition 2011
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright included.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 6: Worship

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Renewal Journal 6: Worship – Editorial

Worship: Intimacy with God, by John & Carol Wimber

Beyond Self-Centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock

Worship: to Soothe or Disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

Worship: Touching Body and Soul, by Robert Tann

Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman

Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and

Renewal in the Church, by Stan Everitt

Worship God in Dance, by Lucinda Coleman

Revival Worship, by Geoff Waugh

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11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

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Bible Study, Christian leadership, discipleship, evangelism, prayer, revivals, signs and wonders , ,

How to Minister Like Jesus  by Bart Doornweerd

by Geoff 19 May 2011 5 Comments


How to Minister like Jesus


Bart Doornweerd wrote as a Dutch missionary with Youth With A Mission, working in Holland.

—————————————————

openness to the promptings of the Spirit

led to some powerful times of ministry

—————————————————-

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Jesus the Model for Short Term Supernatural Mission:
Biblical Ministry and Mission

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*

In the summer of 1985 I was leading a four week Youth With A Mission (YWAM) training school for some fifty students in Holland. I had quit my job as a civil engineer and joined YWAM in 1977. A friend, and former YWAMer, Paul Piller from the Philippines, contacted me and offered to speak for a few days when he visited Holland.

I consented, although I wasn’t thrilled about his subject: healing. I knew one had to watch out for people who only wanted to talk about healing, faith, miracles, and demons.

I trusted Paul, but you never know what can happen to someone who has spent five years in the U.S. Paul had brought some others along: young fellows in T-shirts, blue jeans, and sneakers. I wondered why they had come. Were they going to sing or perform a drama?

As Paul began speaking, I relaxed. No screaming, no emotionalism. After the lecture, he and the young fellows moved around the group praying without saying much. One word stood out: ‘more’.

‘More of you Lord!’ They seemed unperturbed as certain things I was unfamiliar with started happening. Someone started weeping, others collapsed on their chairs, someone else stood shaking. After three days the place was turned upside down. People were filled with joy, received healing, delivered from demons, released from grief. I had hundreds of questions! I had tasted the new wine and I wanted more.

Paul suggested I go to a conference in Sheffield, England, led by a man named John Wimber. Off we went, with a number of YWAMers. I was ready for anything. My ‘holy frustration’ had reached a point where I was willing to let God do whatever he wanted.

I had been warned to get ready for change. God had spoken to me through the story in the second chapter of John’s Gospel – the wedding in Cana – where Jesus performed his first miracle of changing water into wine. Interestingly, the servants at the wedding were allowed to participate, because they filled the jars and took the newly transformed wine to the leader of the feast. Somewhere between the jar and the lips of that man, the water changed into wine.

The application for me of that story is that God is looking for people who want to co-operate with him in bringing this about. I had run out of wine, and now I wanted to see the Lord bring out his best vintage. I wanted God to restore my joy, and fill me with the Holy Spirit.

The conference was life-changing, even though I didn’t have any spine-tingling personal experiences or visions of ecstasy. Nevertheless God gave me a deep inner peace and an affirmation that the teaching I heard, and the ministry I was observing was from his hand.

Giving the Holy Spirit room

My wife and I and others returned home with a clear sense of purpose. Like the servants at the wedding in Cana, our part was to obediently draw out the water and faithfully carry it to others. God would change it into wine.

During the following months, I discovered how exciting life becomes when we give more room to the Holy Spirit! I tried to cultivate a greater sensitivity to God’s voice. My goal was to listen better to what he was saying, and act upon that in faith.

As John Wimber likes to point out, another way to spell faith is R-I-S-K. This new openness to the promptings of the Spirit led to some powerful times of ministry. My emphasis during individual counselling changed to less talk and more prayer. We also learned that demons are for real, but we have been given authority to drive them out (Matthew 10:8).

Though this new realm of ministry was exhilarating, we needed people from outside to help, advise, and direct us further. We invited people like Barry Kissel from the Anglican church in Chorleywood, England. He imparted to us much in the way of ministry skills.

At a certain stage in this new development I sensed the Lord said: ‘It’s time for you to begin modelling the ministry, like I did.’ After much hesitation, I announced we were going to start a training class with worship, teaching, and practical application. For the first lecture I had John Wimber on video. I led the practicum. The Holy Spirit ministered in a lovely way to a great many of the sixty who showed up. Some received comfort; others were healed. We decided to have a whole Saturday every month with those ingredients: worship, teaching, and ministry.

By word of mouth alone the group grew to about 350 after eight months. The team working with me had grown to about 30 persons. After each training day we evaluated, prayed, and discussed. I had learned the importance of multiplication. Your team can’t be big enough!

Passage to India

For the first two years of our marriage, my wife Marianne and I had worked with YWAM in Nepal, a country located between China and India, astride the Himalaya Mountains. For some time we had felt God was leading us back to that part of the world. In early 1989 we left for India with our three children. We ended up living in Bombay for almost four years. From the start I knew I was to invest myself in people. I constantly asked myself, ‘How can I give away what God has given me?’

I itinerated as a teacher in the discipleship training schools (DTS) which YWAM runs in different parts of the country. The theme that developed in my teaching was: ‘How to minister like Jesus.’ The teaching was simple, with lots of examples of how we should pray. After the lecture phase of the DTS, the students would go out for three months of outreach, usually involving evangelism and church planting. They came back with some amazing stories. For example:

The students were sent … to five different villages. At the end of two months they had established three fellowships in three different villages. Half the village where they stayed is ready to follow Jesus as Lord. Within the next three weeks 68 believers will be baptised. Despite all religious strongholds, barriers, Hindu militants and oppositions, God showed his mighty power through healings, and signs and wonders. Some people saw visions of Jesus hanging on the cross and showing them how much he loves them.

In that area the crops suffered from a disease. The farmers came and asked the team to pray to Jesus. The very next morning the people went to the field and discovered the disease had been totally wiped out. They came with great joy to confess their belief in Jesus since he had heard their prayers.

Once, while I was leading a small seminar, a local pastor named Garry walked in while I was praying for someone in front of the class. He left thinking, ‘I can do that.’

The first person he prayed for when he got home was his Hindu brother-in-law. For many years severe back pain had cost him many sleepless nights. The next day the brother-in-law returned, declaring the Lord Jesus had healed his back. He had slept through the night without waking up once.

Garry, who later became a good friend, had been having discussions with a strong Muslim about the Bible and the Koran. The argument always stopped where one would say ‘The Bible is the word of God’ and the other ‘The Koran is the word of God’. This time Garry took a different approach.

‘Can I pray for you?’ he asked, when he met the man again. Because Indians are among the most religious people on earth, this man, like almost everyone in India, was glad to receive prayer. As Garry put his hand on the man’s head and started praying the Muslim fell down and stayed on the floor for quite a while. Garry was puzzled! What next?

When the man got back on his feet, he shared what happened. While he was lying on the floor, he clearly heard a voice saying, ‘The Bible is the word of God!’ He went home with a Bible in his pocket.

Garry was on a roll. Wherever he went he prayed for people: in church, in the home groups, and especially in the streets while evangelising. In the time we worked together, several churches took root in the slums. People came mainly because they saw Jesus was more powerful than their own gods. Now Garry is going around equipping others to ‘minister like Jesus’.

‘Will this work?’

More and more I began to see the power of multiplication: invest yourself in a few people next to you and then let them go and do the same thing to others. You may never know the result until heaven, but it could be more powerful than the biggest healing crusade!

After a three week course, 25 YWAMers went back to their bases in different parts of the country. God had meet with us in special ways during those weeks, as we met together or as we went out to visit people and pray for them.

As two brothers went back to Varanasi, the holy city of the Hindus, they wondered, ‘Will this work back home?’ The first time they went into a Hindu village after their return, they started to worship Jesus. They intended to start a church there. Immediately the Holy Spirit started to come on people; demons manifested and were driven out. People saw the power of God and wanted to know more, providing an excellent opening to preach the Word of God.

While walking along the bank of the Ganges River, one of the brothers began talking to a Hindu priest. After a while, the Brahman complained about his headaches. Again, being highly religious, he was willing to receive prayer, even if it was offered in the name of Jesus. Under the power of God he fell down and after he got back up, his headache was completely gone. He sure wanted to know more about this powerful God!

Respect for God

India is more a continent than a country, with almost 900 million people who speak 1,600 different languages. Patrick Johnstone, in Operation World, estimates evangelical Christians comprise one per cent of the population, but the number is growing. Two thousand people groups have not been reached with the gospel yet. India must be reached by the spiritually equipped Indian church, but for a while non-Indian partners can help train and support Indian workers.

In YWAM, we have mixed teams of Indians and foreigners who plant churches, evangelise, and minister to the poor in various ways. Hindus and Muslims have great respect for God. The Hindus have millions of gods. Most Indians, especially the poor, are open to spiritual reality, and exercise great faith, upon hearing about a loving God who sent his Son to this world. In evangelism, miracles happen quickly and open many doors to preach the gospel.

I first experienced this in Bhopal, a city where some eight years ago a gas leak at the chemical plant killed at least 2,000 people. Today many still suffer the effects: eye problems, mouth sores and breathing difficulties. With a small team we visited the site where the calamity took place.

As some people gathered, one of us shared briefly who we were and our purpose for coming. One person was prayed for and got healed. More people came who wanted prayer. Some invited us to enter their huts to see those too sick to come out. We were busy for the next two hours to bless, comfort, and encourage. Many people received physical healing, saw visions of Jesus, were blessed with peace. We left many friends in this mainly Muslim community.

Of course, the nature of kingdom warfare is ‘attack – counter-attack’. The gospel does meet with opposition. Militant Hinduism is experiencing a revival. The north of India is hostile toward the gospel and to Western influence. To make one convert there is like making a hundred in the south.

An Indian friend of mine desired to work in Bihar, a state in the north, also known as ‘the graveyard of missionaries’. He had worked with me for sometime and learned more about how to minister in power evangelism. In Bihar, near the border of Nepal, he rented a home where he invited people. He shared with them, prayed for them and taught them how to pray for others. Many were blessed, healed, delivered, and came to salvation. A small church was established.

Across the border in Nepal, the spiritual atmosphere was different. Tremendous openings existed. Within a year almost a hundred people attended the newly started church! Approximately 50 churches have been planted in India by YWAM-trained workers through power evangelism.

More than eight years have passed since the visit of Paul Piller and since the conference with John Wimber in Sheffield. I have seen thousands of people who ran out of wine partake of ‘the best wine’ as I willingly brought them what I have: just plain water.

________________________________________________________________

(c) Equipping the Saints, First Quarter 1994, pages 11-14. Used with permission.

© Renewal Journal #5: Signs and Wonders, 1995, 2nd edition 2011
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright intact with the text.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 5: Signs and Wonders – with more links
Renewal Journal 5: Signs & Wonders

Renewal Journal 5: Signs and Wonders – PDF

Renewal Journal 5: Signs & Wonders – Editorial

Words, Signs and Deeds, by Brian Hathaway

Uproar in the Church, by Derek Prince

A Season of New Beginnings, by John Wimber

Preparing for Revival Fire, by Jerry Steingard

How to Minister Like Jesus, by Bart Doornweerd

Renewal Blessings, Reflections from England 

Renewal Blessings, Reflections from Australia

The Legacy of Hau Lian Kham, by Chin Khua Khai

Renewal Journal 5: Signs and Wonders – PDF

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11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

See also:
YouTube Video – Viva Cristo Rey – prayer, healings, evangelism, food multiplied

Revival Blogs Links:

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See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

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Christian renewal, renewal, revival , ,

Preparing for Revival Fire  by Jerry Steingard

by Geoff 19 May 2011 1 Comment


Preparing for Revival Fire


Jerry Steingard wrote as pastor of the Jubilee Vineyard in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.  In January 1995, he wrote these revised reflections on the ‘Toronto Blessing’.

 

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—————————————————-

God’s presence intensified (fullness)

God’s purposes accelerated (fulfilment)

—————————————————-

We have been enjoying a ‘season of refreshment’ from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19) in Ontario during the past twelve months. We are calling it renewal, a precursor to revival. It began when John Arnott, pastor of the Toronto Airport Vineyard invited Randy Clark, Pastor of a Vineyard church in St. Louis, to come and conduct four nights of meetings in Toronto, commencing on 20 January, 1994. (Randy Clark had been prayed for by Rodney Howard-Browne several months previously.) The Lord surprised everyone by coming in power! Toronto Airport continues to run nightly meetings, except Mondays.

Conservative estimates are that at least 75,000 different people have attended from around the world, of which 10,000 are pastors. Many of these leaders have been significantly touched, refreshed and are consequently seeing their churches renewed.

Randy Clark and John and Carol Arnott came to our church, Jubilee Vineyard Christian Fellowship, the first weekend in February, 1994, to lead meetings with us. Many of us had already been touched by the services in Toronto, but the presence and power of the Holy Spirit were dramatically manifested in our midst on this weekend. As pastor of this church of about 275 people, it was overwhelming for me to see the auditorium floor strewn with bodies like the slain upon a battlefield!

All the strange phenomena that have often accompanied revivals of the past were happening right before my eyes with adults, teens, and children alike – falling, shaking, jerking, visions, prophecies, healings, laughter and tears! On the one hand I was thrilled; I knew this was of God. Yet I was stressed out because a pastor likes to have a good handle on what is happening with those in his flock. I personally have been refreshed and touched by the Spirit of God time and time again in this fresh move of God and in ways never experienced before. The same goes for my wife and three children. In fact my kids often beg to go to the meetings! They love to see God move.

In February we ran nightly meetings for three weeks, then went to only Thursday nights. Christians from many other churches in the area have come and been touched and now good things are happening in their churches.

I am thrilled to see much good fruit in our people in all this. We have observed that God is presently refreshing his people as well as empowering them for service. For example, the shaking is often an impartation of prophetic and/or intercessory gifts. In the first few weeks we saw about a dozen converts, a couple of dozen prodigals return to the Lord, an increase in hunger for the reading of God’s word, worship and passion for Jesus, more prayer activity, physical and emotional healings, demonic bondages broken, repentance, and reconciliation in relationships.

We are seeing God raising up an army of intercessors, worshippers, prophetic people and teams to go out and minister elsewhere. We are finding the principle true: ‘freely receive, freely give’. We get to keep what we are willing to give away!

This move is not about us, not about the Vineyard. It is about God and his grace and sovereignty. And we are believing God for more waves of his Spirit to come – not just to refresh and renew the church but to powerfully touch our neighbourhoods, our cities, and the nations with full blown revival.

Let us continue to embrace the cross, submit to Scripture, and also ‘keep in step with the Spirit’. ‘The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power’ (1 Corinthians 4:20).

‘Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Preparing for revival

Winkie Pratney (1994:8,9) suggests we try this little survey with Christians:

How many of you know we need a revival?

How many of you want a revival?

How many of you know what a revival is?

How many of you have ever experienced a true revival?

Most would raise their hands to the first two questions. In fact, according to George Gallup, Jr., in the eighties, 80% of U.S.A. wanted a revival – including the lost! But very few would have an idea as to what a genuine revival really is, let alone ever experienced one.

It is imperative at this time in history that we get a better handle on this thing called revival. Hopefully this paper (used as seminar notes on the subject) can be of some help in this need for understanding by responding to the following six questions:

1. What is revival?

2. Why is revival needed?

3. When has revival occurred before?

4. Should we expect to see revival again soon?

5. What hinders revival?

6. How can we promote revival?

1. What is revival?

The term revival is not technically found in the Bible. Neither is Trinity for that matter, yet both concepts are found throughout the Bible.

Various forms of the verb revive are frequently used as well as such words as restore, renew, awaken, and refresh, for example:

Psalm 85:6 – ‘Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you’ (prayer request).

Isaiah 57:15 – ‘I revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite’ (promise of God).

The theme of revival is described at times in such terms as an outpouring of the Spirit (like rain or fire falling or wind blowing), the renewing of God’s mighty deeds (Habakkuk 3:2), the glory of the Lord returning to his temple (Malachi 3:1), God healing the land (2 Chronicles 7:14) and the time of God’s visitation with his manifest presence (Micah 7:4; Luke 19:44).

(a) Definitions and descriptions of revival

* To revive is ‘to live again’ (1 Kings 17:22; 2 Kings 13:21).

* ‘When God comes down [Isaiah 64:1,2], God’s Word comes home [Nehemiah 8-9; Acts 2:37], God’s purity comes through, God’s people come alive [Acts 2, overflow of joy and vitality], and outsiders come in’ [Acts 2:41, 47; 1 Corinthians 14:25 ‘God is really among you’] (Packer 1984:244-245; Scriptures added).

* ‘The inrush of the Spirit into a body that threatens to become a corpse’ (D. M. Panton, cited in Wallis 1956:46).

* ‘Revival 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’ (Wallis 1956:20).

* ‘Revival is divine military strategy; first to counteract spiritual decline, and then to create spiritual momentum’ (Wallis 1956:45).

* ‘Revival is like a rocket ship that gets us back up into the orbit of New Testament Christianity’ (Charles Simpson, sermon 27 May 1994).

* God’s presence intensified (fullness), God’s purposes accelerated (fulfilment); (based on Bryant 1984:72-91, 169).

(b) Characteristics of revival

Revival is usually comprised of two stages: internal revival or ‘renewal’ (the church is set on fire and prodigals begin to come home) followed by external revival (conversion of those outside on a mass scale).

‘True revival is marked by widespread repentance both within the church and among unbelievers’ (Wimber 1994:4).

This repentance is the result of God coming in power, revealing his holiness and our sinfulness. One comes into the agonising grip of a holy God and is brought under awesome conviction. This manifested presence of God creates a divine ‘radiation zone’.

Here are two examples:

During the 1859 revival, no town in Ulster was more deeply stirred than Coleraine. A schoolboy in class became so troubled about his soul that the schoolmaster sent him home. An older boy, a Christian, went with him and before they had gone far, led him to Christ. Returning at once to school, this new convert testified to his teacher: ‘Oh, I am so happy! I have the Lord Jesus in my heart.’ These artless words had an astonishing effect; boy after boy rose and silently left the room. Going outside the teacher found these boys all on their knees, ranged along the wall of the playground. Very soon their silent prayer became a bitter cry; it was heard by another class inside and pierced their hearts. They fell on their knees, and their cry for mercy was heard in turn by a girls’ class above. In a few moments, the whole school was on their knees! Neighbours and passers-by came flocking in and all as they crossed the threshold came under the same convicting power. ‘Every room was filled with men, women, and children seeking God’ …

During the same 1859 revival in America, ships entered a definite zone of heavenly influence as they drew near port. Ship after ship arrived with the same talk of sudden conviction and conversion. A captain and an entire crew of thirty men found Christ at sea and arrived at port rejoicing. This overwhelming sense of God bringing deep conviction of sin is perhaps the outstanding feature of true revival. Its manifestation is not always the same; to cleansed hearts it is heaven; to convicted hearts it is hell (Pratney 1994:24-25).

2. Why is revival needed?

Throughout biblical history and church history the hearts of God’s people perpetually cool off and harden towards him, creating the need for revival. Nehemiah 9:25-28 describes this cycle or pattern of spiritual decline and renewal which involves six stages (Lovelace 1979:62-80):

1. God’s people are alive and in love with him.

2. Spiritual decline – hearts are subtly cooling off.

3. Hearts of stone.

4. The Lord disciplines those he loves (for example, Israelites were taken into exile).

5. Cry for mercy – intercession and repentance.

6. God pours out his Spirit and revives his people.

Where in this cycle is the church in this country today?

3. When has revival occurred before?

The Bible records at least a dozen revivals within its history (Kaiser 1986:12-13) and many movements of renewal and revival took place prior to and including the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century and the Puritan and Pietist movements of the 17th century. Here I will focus upon the major revivals of Europe and North America of the last 250 years.

Note that the intensity of a revival may last only a few years, but the effects are felt in the church and society for decades to come.

The First Awakening (1727-80)

1727-80 (approximate dates) in Germany: Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians, with unity, prayer (their 24 hour prayer vigil lasted over 100 years!), and missions. Their motto was ‘To win for the Lamb that was slain the reward of his suffering.’

1734-60 in North America’s 13 colonies: Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, with prayer and preaching.

1740-80 in Great Britain: John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield with outdoor preaching and class meetings (home cells).

Revival brought many social reforms including the abolition of slavery in Great Britain. Some historians believe this revival saved England from a bloody revolution like the one in France.

Then came a gradual spiritual slide. By 1794 moral conditions had reached their worst. For example, John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, a concerned believer, wrote his assessment to Methodist Bishop Madison of Virginia stating, ‘The church is too far gone to ever be redeemed’. The famous agnostic Voltaire declared, ‘Christianity will be forgotten in 30 years’. Later Voltaire’s home became the headquarters for the Geneva Bible Society (Relfe 1988:26).

The Second Awakening (1792-1842)

1792 in England: William Carey, ‘Father of the modern missionary movement’ took as his motto, ‘Expect great things from God, attempt great thing for God.’

By about 1800 revival fires were burning once again in the U. S. A. In the East, Timothy Dwight was used in the college setting. On the Western frontier, James McGready, Barton Stone and Peter Cartwright gave leadership.

In 1821 Charles Finney, a lawyer, was converted and became an evangelist and social reformer. This revival was characterised by evangelistic camp meetings, social reforms and missions. Finney’s ministry overlapped the second and third awakenings.

The Third Awakening (1857-59)

1857 in North America: Called ‘the Prayer Revival’ it began when Dr Walter and Phoebe Palmer from New York City went to Hamilton, Ontario in early October. Revival broke out, then went south of the border.

Jeremiah Lanphier, a business man, began noon prayer meetings in New York City in September 1857. Within 6 months, up to 10,000 business men were praying daily for revival.

J. Edwin Orr states that ‘revival went up the Hudson and down the Mohawk. The Baptists had so many people to baptise they could not get them in the churches. They went down to the river, cut a square hole in the ice and baptised them. When Baptists do that, they really are on fire!’ (Relfe 1988:48). The revival spread from New York to Philadelphia and throughout the country. The emphasis was on prayer.

Revival spread to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well.

The fruit of this revival was 2 million converts (1 million within the church, 1 million from without) and in the following years slavery was abolished, and there were reforms in prisons, labour, education, and medical care.

Fourth Awakening (1904-7)

1904-5 in Wales: Youth and children featured in the Welsh revival. The key leader was Evan Roberts, aged 26 (and his brother Dan, aged 20, and his sister Mary, aged 16). Leaders came from around the world and were humbled to see how God used teens and children. Evan and others were not eloquent preachers but good followers of the Holy Spirit.

Their motto was ‘Bend the church and save the world’. Evan Roberts’ vision of seeing 100,000 converted in Wales was fulfilled in less than one year. People got converted just reading about the revival in the newspapers!

Crime dropped off to the point where many courtrooms and jails were empty and judges and police had very little to do. Horses in the coal mines were accustomed to obeying commands that involved yelling and cursing. Since the vast majority of miners were converted, the horses were confused with commands that were humane and wholesome, so the horses needed retraining!

Prior to the revival Wales was in a frenzy over their favourite sport, soccer. With the revival, the stadiums stood empty. No-one preached against soccer. The players and fans had simply become so captivated with the Lord that they were no longer interested in the game (Joyner 1993:51).

The fire spread throughout Great Britain, Scandinavia, Europe, Africa, India, Korea, as well as the U.S.A. The pastors of Atlantic City, New Jersey, reported only 50 adults not converted in a population of 50,000! The First Baptist Church in Paducoh, Kentucky, had 1,000 converts in two months and the elderly pastor, Dr J. J. Cheek, died of exhaustion (Krupp 1988:22).

In California, Bartleman, Seymore, and Smale were impacted by the reports and booklets on the revival in Wales in 1905 as well as from letters of encouragement from Evan Roberts. Shortly thereafter the Azusa Street Revival erupted into the great Pentecostal Revival that saw 5 million converts from 1905-7 and continues to impact millions of lives to this day.

Twentieth century

The twentieth century has been called by some ‘The Century of the Holy Spirit’. Although we have not witnessed a major revival since the turn of the century, since 1947 God has been bringing smaller scaled revivals and renewal movements such as:

1947-53 – the Latter Rain movement in western Canada and the U.S.A.

1949 – Hebrides Islands, Scotland.

Here is a wonderful example of how a revival causes a geographical area to become a divine ‘radiation zone’ of conviction and repentance.

Duncan Campbell, en evangelist, came to the Island of Lewis in the Hebrides Islands. On the first night of his arrival, he preached in a church building. When he left the building at 11 p.m. he found 600 gathered outside, 100 from the nearby dance hall, the other 500 who had been awakened, got out of bed, and felt compelled to walk to this place. Campbell preached the gospel to them till 4 a.m., at which time he was requested to come to the police station where 400 people were gathered, baffled as to why they were there. On his way to the station he came across other people along the road who were crying out to God for mercy! Revival continued for 3 years with 75% of the converts coming to Jesus outside of church buildings (Krupp 1988:26-7).

The 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of the charismatic renewal movement, including the Jesus Movement of the early 1970s.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the ‘Third Wave’ movement’ or the ‘signs and wonders’ movement and the ‘prophetic’ movement. Peter Wagner describes three waves of the Holy Spirit in this century, each continuing to be used by God: the Pentecostal movement, the charismatic movement (largely in the Catholic Church and mainline Protestant churches), and the ‘Third Wave’ movement which is primarily impacting the evangelical churches.

4. Should we expect to see revival again soon?

YES!

Many ‘third world’ countries in Africa, and Central and South America, as well as China and Korea, have been experiencing revival fires for a number of years.

Why should we expect to see revival again soon?

a. Biblical texts that create such expectation include:

Habakkuk 2:14 – ‘for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.’ (Reinhard Bonnke, evangelist in Africa, says, ‘not one spot stays dry at the bottom of the sea.’)

Joel 2:23 – ‘He sends you abundant showers, both autumn (early) and spring (latter) rains.’ Early rains soften the ground, making it suitable for ploughing and sowing. With the approach of harvest, heavy rain (latter) returns to swell and mature grain and fruit in preparation for the time of reaping. Pentecost marked the beginning of former rains. After the Reformation, outpourings became more distinct and significant. Latter rain is in preparation for the day of harvest.

Joel 2:28, 31 – ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people … before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’

Acts 2 – Pentecost, a partial fulfilment of Joel.

Acts 3:19,20 – ‘repent, turn to God, …..

John 14:12 – ‘will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these’ (miracles). Not fulfilled yet!

John 17 – In his priestly prayer, Jesus prays for Christian unity. This prayer has not been fulfilled yet. Of all the prayers the Father answers, would not his Son’s be answered? Rick Joyner says, ‘ Jesus is coming back for a bride, not a harem.’

Ephesians 5:26,27 – Jesus is preparing the bride to be presented to himself as pure, holy and radiant.

b. Based on previous patterns, revival usually occurs in a day of deep moral and spiritual bankruptcy. ‘Before a great awakening, there must come a rude awakening’ (Murillo 1985:11). The worst of times, in other words, precipitates the best of times. Who could deny the desperate need for a mighty revival in our day? Famine, poverty, pollution, war, crime, abortion, drug abuse, massive economic instability, and such like, stare us in the face. Nate Krupp (1988:34) argues that ‘we are at a point in history where it is either world revival or world destruction.’

c. Church historians, theologians and church leaders are predicting it. Many leaders have discerned that God is up to something big! He’s preparing new wineskins for the new wine, a fireplace for the fire, and barns for the harvest. Many even say that previous revivals are but a rehearsal for the big ones to come. ‘Our study of awakening movements only turns up what appear to be rehearsals for some final revelation of the full splendour of God’s kingdom… It is hard to believe that God will not grant the church some greater experience of wholeness and vitality than has yet appeared in the stumbling record of her history’ (Lovelace 1979:425).

d. Many prophets of our day in unison are expecting it in the 1990s and beyond. These include Mike Bickle, Paul Cain, Rick Joyner, and John Paul Jackson.

e. The growing emphasis on prayer. Prayer mobilisation today is unprecedented in history. Examples include men’s prayer movements, women’s intercessory groups, youth in schools, Marches for Jesus, ’10-40 Window’ prayer project, city wide pastors’ prayer fellowships, and so on. History demonstrates that revival is always preceded by a groundswell of prayer.

f. It’s God’s heart to bring revival. He longs to renew, restore, awaken us, and redeem humanity much more than we want him to. God is committed to renew his people and see the nations come to himself. ‘Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance’ (Psalm 2:8).

5. What hinders revival?

Don’t be a ‘fire-fighter’ or a ‘wet blanket’.

From a safe distance of several hundred years or several thousand miles, revival clearly looks invigorating. What could be more glamorous than a mighty work of God in our midst, renewing thousands and converting tens of thousands. … But if we find ourselves in the midst of revival, rather than being invigorated, we may be filled with scepticism, disgust, anger, or even fear…

The irony of revivals is that they are so longed for in times of barrenness, but they are commonly opposed and feared when they arrive. … The hostility in never to the idea of revival, which is ardently prayed for, but to God’s answer to our prayers and the unexpected form it may take (White 1988:34, 39).

Why does revival produce all this opposition?

‘We grow angry when we are scared. We fear what we cannot understand’ (White 1988:41).

a. Fear of change and losing control

We are creatures of habit (as in nostalgia, traditionalism); changes unsettle us. We fear the unknown, the unfamiliar, and the unpredictable.

b. Fear of emotions

We should be scared of emotionalism, the artificial manipulation of emotion, but emotion itself comes from seeing, from understanding. When the Holy Spirit awakens people, he seems to cause them to perceive truth more vividly … people see their sin as stinking cancer that will kill them and see the mercy of the Saviour with the eyes of those who have been snatched from a horrible death (White 1988:51).

Jonathan Edwards called emotions ‘holy affections’ and said they are essential for spiritual life. A hear heart (heart of stone) is an unaffected heart, a heart not moved by divine truth and revelation.

c. Fear of bizarre behaviour

Examples of unusual behaviour in revivals include shaking, jerking, falling, weeping, screaming, laughing, prophesying and being ‘drunk in the spirit’.

Three questions must be asked about this:

i. Has it happened among the people of God before (the biblical and historical precedence)?

ii. What is the fruit of it?

iii. How do we explain these phenomena?

i. Has it happened before?

Yes, these phenomena of bizarre behaviour have happened among God’s people during heightened spiritual activity. Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out that

it comes nearer to being the rule in revival that phenomena begin to manifest themselves – phenomena such as these … people are in agony of soul and groaning … sometimes people are so convicted and feel the power of the Spirit to such an extent that they faint and fall to the ground. Sometimes there are even convulsions, physical convulsions. And sometimes people seem to fall into a state of unconsciousness, into a kind of trance, and many remain like that for hours (1987:110-111).

There are also certain mental phenomena… You will find this phenomena of prophecy, this ability to foretell the future, frequently present (1987:135).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones goes onto say that ‘these phenomena are not essential to revival … yet it is true to say that, on the whole, they do tend to be present when there is a revival (1987:134). John White’s research has brought him to the same conclusion.

Note these biblical examples:

1. 1 Samuel 10:11 – Saul was in a trance, prophesying when the Spirit came upon him (also 1 Samuel 19:23-24).

2. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 – The glory of the Lord filled the temple so the priests were unable to stand to minister.

3. Ezekiel 1:28; 3:23; 43:4; 44:4 – Ezekiel fell face down before the glory of the Lord.

4. Daniel 8:17-18 – Daniel collapsed and sank into a deep sleep during a vision and an angelic visitation (also Daniel 10:7-11 – no strength left; on the ground trembling).

5. Matthew 17:6; Luke 9:32 – On the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples fell face down to the ground, but also became heavy with sleep.

6. John 18:6 – When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus they fell to the ground when Jesus said, “I am he”.

7. Matthew 28:4 – On the morning of Jesus’ resurrection the guards at the tomb ‘shook and became like dead men’.

8. Acts 2 – At the Day of Pentecost the place shook, they spoke in strange tongues, and they behaved like being drunk. Peter responded (Acts 2:15) that ‘they are not drunk as you suppose’. Paul makes a comparison between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

9. Acts 9 – Saul on the road to Damascus fell to the ground, blinded by the glory. Later, in a trance-like condition he had a vision (2 Corinthians 12).

10. Revelation 1:17 – The apostle John said, ‘When I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead.’

Not only in Scripture do we find that frail human bodies are affected by the manifest presence of God, but most revivals in history have had physical and emotional manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Some examples:

1. Jonathan Edwards, the great leader of the First Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s in New England wrote to a friend saying, ‘many of the young people and children appeared to be overcome with a sense of the greatness and glory of divine things … and many others at the same time were overcome with distress about their sinful and miserable state and condition; so that the whole room was full of nothing but outcries, faintings and such like. … many were overpowered and continued there for some hours (Stacy 1842:546 in DeArteaga 1992:39-40).

2. John Wesley and George Whitefield spoke of the strange physical phenomena that took place in their meetings in England as well. Wesley describes in his Journal:

Monday, Jan. 1, 1739 – Mr Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitfield, Lane, with about sixty of our brethren. About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his Majesty, we broke out with one voice, ‘We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord’ (MacNutt 1990:98).

Following the two events of John Wesley’s Aldersgate experience, May 24, 1738, and this January 1, 1739 encounter, the supernatural element in his ministry became more pronounced. For fourteen years it was hardly there; for the next fifty it was (MacNutt 1990:98).

3. MacNutt (1990: 104) tells us that early in George Whitefield’s career,

when he was working with Wesley in England and people started to fall, Whitefield decided to register a protest by letter: ‘I cannot think it right in you to give so much encouragement to these convulsions which people have been thrown into in your ministry.’ Ironically enough, when Whitefield came to confront Wesley in person he found himself reprimanded by reality, for when he, Whitefield, was preaching the next day, ‘four persons sunk down close to him, almost in the same moment. One of them lay without sense or motion. A second trembled exceedingly. The third has strong convulsions all over his body, but made no noise, unless by groans. The fourth, equally convulsed, called upon God, with strong cries and tears. From this time,’ Wesley writes, ‘I trust we shall all suffer God to carry on his own work in the way that pleaseth him.’

‘By the time he journeyed to America, Whitefield’s preaching was ordinarily accompanied by people toppling over:

Some were struck pale as death, others were wringing their hands, others lying on the ground, other sinking into the arms of their friends’ (Dallimore 1980:392-3, cited in MacNutt 1990:104).

4. Bishop Francis Ashbury, appointed by Wesley in 1771 as a missionary to the colonies, was a very disciplined man who insisted on meetings being conducted in a proper fashion, yet his meetings were characterised by shouting, falling, crying, and the ‘jerks’ (MacNutt 1990:107).

5. At the Cane Ridge camp meetings of 1801, which featured mostly Presbyterian preachers, one observer reported that

The vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated as if by a storm… Some of the people were singing, others praying, some crying for mercy in the most piteous accents… While witnessing these scenes, a peculiarly-strange sensation, such as I had never felt before, came over me. My heart beat tumultuously, my knees trembled, my lip quivered, and I felt as though I must fall to the ground… Soon after, I left and went into the woods, and there I strove to rally and man up my courage…

After some time I returned… At one time I saw at least five hundred, swept down in a moment as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened upon them, and then immediately followed shrieks and shouts that rent the very heavens (Johnson 1955:64-5; MacNutt 1990:109).

6. Peter Cartwright, one of the prominent camp meeting evangelists in the Kentucky area, spoke of the phenomena of the ‘jerks’: ‘… no matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken under a warm song or sermon and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, which they could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they resisted the more they jerked… The first jerk or so, you would see their fine bonnets, caps and combs fly; and so sudden would be the jerking of the head that their loose hair would crack almost as loud as a wagoner’s whip’ (Cartwright 1956:17-18).

7. Charles Finney, at the village schoolhouse near Antwerp, New York, describes the phenomena of falling under the awesome power of God’s presence and conviction: ‘An awful solemnity seemed to settle upon the people; the congregation began to fall from their seats in every direction and cry for mercy. If I had a sword in each hand, I could not have cut them down as fast as they fell. I was obliged to stop preaching’ (cited in Pratney 1994:24).

8. Note how the Quakers and Shakers got their nicknames!

Yes, cases of physical phenomena have been observed throughout the ages whenever there has been heightened spiritual activity.

ii. What is the fruit of all this?

Jonathan Edwards wrote a treatise in 1741 called The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. Edwards asked his readers to assess the awakening by looking past the enthusiastic behaviour and seeing the ultimate spiritual fruit. He argued that the authenticity of God’s hand in the revival was demonstrated by five ‘sure, distinguishing, Scripture evidences’. It

1. raises the esteem of Jesus in the community;

2. works against the kingdom of Satan;

3. stimulates a greater regard for the Holy Scriptures;

4. is marked by a spirit of truth;

5. manifests a renewed love for God and people (Edwards 1971, 1984:109-115).

In his concluding section, Edwards exhorted his readers not to oppose the Spirit of God in the revival for this is to commit the unpardonable sin of Matthew 12:22-32. Edwards’ warning went unheeded by and large. By 1742 a majority of the New England clergy had come to the conclusion that the Great Awakening was merely an epidemic of emotionalism and what was needed was a return to sound theology. Rev. Charles Chauncey of Boston became the brilliant champion against the revival. He effectively articulated all the doubts, fears and criticisms of the revival. His books became best sellers and ensured the defeat of the Awakening. ‘When Whitefield arrived in 1744 practically all the pulpits were closed to him, and the wind had gone out of the Awakening’ (DeArteaga 1992:52).

It’s worth noting the fruit at the end of the lives of these two prominent figures, Edwards and Chauncey. In 1757, Edwards became president of Princeton, but when he arrived in the area there was a threat of a smallpox outbreak. To set an example, he was quick to volunteer to take the experimental vaccine. He became ill and died. Chauncey became one of the founding theologians of Unitarianism which discarded the Trinity and advocated universal salvation. Chauncey is no longer considered a hero who saved the people from emotionalism. He is now ‘seen as a religious bureaucrat who defended the status quo without comprehending the deeper issues of revival’ (DeArteaga 1992:54).

iii. How do we explain these phenomena?

We must recognise the element of mystery in God’s dealings with us. We should hold explanations tentatively and humbly.

Some explain it as the work of Satan. However, Martyn Lloyd-Jones questions, ‘Why should the Devil suddenly start dong this kind of thing? Here is the Church in a period of dryness, and of drought, so why should the Devil suddenly do something which calls attention to religion and the Lord Jesus Christ? The very results of revival, I would have thought, completely exclude the possibility of this being the action of the Devil… [see Luke 11:14-18]. If this is the work of the Devil, well then the Devil is an unutterable fool. He is dividing his own kingdom; he is increasing the Kingdom of God… There is nothing which is so ridiculous as this suggestion that this is the work of the Devil’ (Lloyd-Jones 1987:141-2).

What is the true explanation?

When God sovereignly visits an individual or group of human beings, his manifest presence and power often affects their bodies in some way. John White (1988:23) states, ‘God is, of course, present everywhere. But there seems to be times when he is, as it were, more present – or shall we say more intensely present. He seems to draw aside one or two layers of a curtain that protects us from Him, exposing our fragility to the awesome energies of his being.’

Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1987:145-6) tells us that ‘we must never forget that the Holy Spirit affects the whole person… You see, man is body, soul, and spirit, and you cannot divide these… Man reacts as a whole. And it is just folly to expect that he can react in the realm of the spiritual without anything at all happening to the rest of him, to the soul, and to the body… these phenomena are indications of the fact that some very powerful stimulus is in operation. Something is happening which is so powerful that the very physical frame is involved.’

Lloyd-Jones also argues that such strange phenomena are a means that God uses to get our attention (1987:145). God is shaking us to wake us up (Ephesians 5:14).

God is also humbling us! Paul Cain says, ‘God often offends the mind to reveal the heart.’

Both John White and Martyn Lloyd-Jones conclude that although a small portion of such strange behaviour would be of the flesh (the person’s own need for acceptance and attention) or a demonic manifestation, the bulk of such activity in revival originates from the power and glory of God.

We should not be fixated on the manifestations, but on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ!

d. Fear of disorder

Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher, declared that ‘revival is a season of glorious disorder’ (Relfe 1988:8).

Martyn Lloyd Jones (1987:103) points out that ‘always in a revival there is what somebody once called a divine disorder. Some are groaning and agonising under conviction, others praising God for the great salvation. And all this leads to crowded and prolonged meetings. Time seems to be forgotten. People seem to have entered into eternity. A meeting may start at six-thirty in the evening, and it may not end until daybreak the next morning with nobody aware of the passing of the hours.’

We don’t like it when meetings get messy and unpredictable. It is embarrassing and offensive to most of us. But John White (1988:35) reminds us that ‘revival is war, and war is never tidy. It is an intensifying of the age-old conflict between Christ and the powers of darkness.’

John Wimber (1985:31) offers this analogy: ‘When warm and cold fronts collide, violence ensues: thunder and lightning, rain or snow – even tornadoes or hurricanes. There is conflict, and a resulting release of power. It is disorderly, messy – difficult to control.’

Understandably we prefer peace, decency, and order. We say, ‘God is a God of order’ but we must realise that to bring in order is sometimes a disorderly process… Chaos and darkness flee but they create a ruckus as they leave (White 1988:44).

Edwards was so convinced of this disorderly process as part of the work of God’s Spirit that he cried, ‘Would to God that all the public assemblies in the land were broken off from their public exercises with such confusion as this next Sabbath day (1741, 1984:127).

Again, John White (1988:45) argues that ‘if we insist that revival must be “decent and orderly” (as we define those terms) we automatically blind ourselves to most revivals. Like the dwarfs in C. S. Lewis’ children’s story The Last Battle, we may spit out heavenly food, for to us it looks like, smells like, tastes like dung and straw.’

Question: Am I missing the burning bush for trying to keep the lawn cut?

e. Fear of controversy

We all shy away from controversy. However, the fact remains, ‘renewal has always been controversial and will always be controversial. We must be ready for it (Mallone 1985:42).

Jonathan Edwards said, ‘a work of God without stumbling blocks is never to be expected’ (Works 2:273).

John Wesley prayed, ‘Lord send us revival without its defects but if this is not possible, send revival, defects and all (Bartleman 1980:45).

If we find a revival that is not spoken against, we had better look again to ensure that it is a revival… No one would pretend to claim that every revival burns with a smokeless flame (Wallis 1956:26).

Remember, wherever Jesus or the apostle Paul went there was confrontation. Riots and controversy occurred. Luther, Wesley, Whitefield and Edwards were extremely controversial characters in their day – some kicked out of their churches! But once the dust settled centuries later, they have come to be highly revered and seen as fighters for orthodox Christianity.

———-

Further objections and concerns that many may find themselves struggling with are included here. I am indebted to Bill Jackson of Champaign, Illinois Vineyard for his unpublished paper of April, 1994, called ‘What in the world is happening to us?’ for the following section extracted from this paper with his permission.

1. It’s hard to understand

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, I would understand it. …

B. All through the Bible, God revealed himself in ways that were hard to understand.

1. God’s chosen people for the most part misunderstood Jesus. Pharisees said he was in league with Beelzebub, which was a term for the devil.

2. The disciples didn’t understand the mission of Jesus until the Holy Spirit came (Acts 2).

3. The Jews as a whole never understood that God’s heart was for all the nations. Even the disciples were shocked that God would offer the gospel to the Gentiles, law free. They muse in amazement in Acts 11:18, ‘So then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life!’

4. Historically, God has moved in ways that are hard to understand. The classic example of this is martyrdom. Martyrdom has always been an explosive key to church growth. One of the early church fathers, Tertullian, said, ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church’.

2. It makes me afraid

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, I wouldn’t be afraid.

B. Visitations produce fear throughout the Bible.

1. Lightning, thunder, and smoke on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19).

2. Daniel in Chapter 10 had a great vision: ‘I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale, and I was helpless.’ The angel, Gabriel, had to say, ‘Don’t be afraid,’ because he was terrified.

3. Great fear seized the whole church in Acts 5 when Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead through a prophetic word when they lied to the Holy Spirit.

C. Note: This fear is not the same fear as that which comes from Satan. 2 Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear. The devil’s fear robs us of faith and hope and renders us incapable of love. There is, however, a godly fear that the Bible says is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). It is this kind of fear that is produced by divine visitations. It results in a more godly life.

D. How could a visitation of a holy God on sinful people not produce fear?

1. How could our finite minds expect to understand the infinite ways of God? He is completely beyond us and holy.

2. Fear is caused by:

a) the holiness of God coming in contact with our sinfulness.

b) our anti-supernatural world view. Since we have no supernatural category in our western world view, when we encounter the supernatural we encounter the fear of the unknown. It causes the psychological state known as cognitive dissonance. We receive data that does not fit and it causes feelings of insecurity.

3. It causes division

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, there would be no division.

B. There are two kinds of division:

1. When the kingdom of light clashes with the kingdom of darkness, it causes godly division. Jesus said he had not come to bring peace but a sword. ‘A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household’ (Matthew 10:36).

2. Backbiting, slander, and rebellion are ungodly because they cause the kingdom to be divided against itself.

C. Godly division is thoroughly biblical:

1. Korah was judged for his rebellion against Moses (Numbers 11).

2. Jesus caused division wherever he went.

3. The inclusion of Gentiles in the church caused division (Acts 15).

D. Godly division is thoroughly historical:

1. The Great Awakening broke out in New Jersey in 1725 and was violently opposed by more traditional churches.

2. G. Campbell Morgan called the Pentecostal Movement ‘the last vomit of Satan’.

3. Leaders in the previous move of God often persecute the present one.

4. God over-rides my faculties

A. Our presupposition: God is always a gentleman and would never force anything upon us.

B. The Bible seems to say something else:

1. God is God and he does what he wants. In Isaiah, God says, ‘I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please” (46:11).

2. God over-rode Balaam in Numbers 23 and caused Balaam to prophesy against his will.

3. God over-rode Saul and his men in 1 Samuel 19, and caused them to prophecy instead of killing David.

4. Jesus blinded Paul on the road to Damascus against his will.

5. God’s killing of Ananias and Sapphira is the ultimate over-ride.

6. Far from treating us gently, God has promised his people persecution.

5. It causes me to be the centre of attention

A. Our presupposition: If it were God, he would not do it publicly.

B. Quite to the contrary, God often uses the person to be the message:

1. In Ezekiel 4-5, Ezekiel is told by God to lie on his side, naked, to shave his head and beard. God made him the centre of attention because he, himself, was the message.

2. Jeremiah was told to smash a jar in Jeremiah 18-19 to draw attention to his message.

3. Hosea was told to marry a prostitute as a message to the nation of Israel.

4. Ananias and Sapphira can be used as yet another example because their dead bodies were the message.

5. Stephen was ‘glowing’ when he was killed.

6. It doesn’t happen to me

A. Our presupposition: When God moves, the same things happen to everyone.

B. Biblical perspective:

1. It’s simply not true that some people seem to be ‘favoured’ while others are not. God’s love is for the whole world. Under his sovereignty he treats everyone in a way that is beneficial for them. God ultimately determines what is best for us.

2. Jesus healed only one man at the pool of Bethesda despite the fact that there were many sick present (John 5). This in no way meant that God loved the man who was healed more than the ones who weren’t. Jesus said that he only did what he saw the Father doing and the father was somehow loving all those at the pool that day.

7. A final caution

A. It’s okay to have questions about what is happening but we must try to be honest about the motive behind our questions. What causes the questions?

1. If it’s because of your personality, that’s okay. But let’s not let our personalities keep us from being touched by God during this season of divine visitation.

2. If it’s because you are a ‘noble Berean’ (Acts 17:10-11), that’s to be commended.

a) Search for the truth diligently.

b) When you find it, press in.

3. If it’s because you are afraid:

a) Ask God why.

b) Don’t run. If this is God, then you would be turning your back on him.

B. After the crucifixion, the disciples had questions too. The Jesus who walked with two of them on the road to Emmaus and opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures is the same Jesus who walks in our midst by the person of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:13-35). He will open our minds as well (Jackson 1994).

———-

My conclusion to this section:

Today we need the fire of God. Some are afraid of wildfire but there are always enough ‘wet blankets’ around to dampen it.

On the Day of Pentecost, the crowd responded to the supernatural manifestations of the spirit in three ways: some were amazed, some perplexed, and others mocked. Each generation has been no different.

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. (1986:25) urges us to study past revivals because ‘once we know how the Lord has acted in the past, we should be better prepared to accept the special working of God when it arrives… Every one of our preconceptions and built-in limitations concerning what God can or cannot do or what he is likely or not likely to do in exact detail must be jettisoned.’

In other words, don’t put God in a box. Let God be God! He is the Great I Am, not the Great I Was! His thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55). We should expect to have difficulty understanding and agreeing with the way God does things at times!

We are wise to take the advice of Martyn Lloyd-Jones: ‘we must be careful in these matters… What do we know of the Spirit falling on people? What do we know about these great manifestations of the Holy Spirit? We need to be very careful lest we be found fighting against God, lest we be guilty of quenching the Spirit of God’ (White 1988:13).

6. How can we promote revival?

Taking a survey on the street, a reporter asked a hurried pedestrian, ‘Sir, do you know the two greatest problems in the world today?’ The man responded, ‘I don’t know and I don’t care.’ Without missing a beat, the reporter declared, ‘You got them both!’ (ignorance and apathy).

We can overcome ignorance and apathy concerning revival. How can we promote revival?

1. We need to care

We need to care that God works in our nation. Note that Nehemiah had a cushy job as a cupbearer to the king but left to rebuild the walls.

2. We need to get informed

We need to get the big picture!

Read the Bible. Read biographies of leaders of past revivals. Go where the fire is, such as conferences and places where God is moving powerfully, and get first-hand exposure and experience. It is irresponsible to criticise that which you know nothing about. Slander is sin.

3. Cultivate daily intimacy with the Lord

This is what John Wimber calls ‘developing a personal history with God’. Develop personal disciplines that cultivate a passion for Jesus such as prayer, fasting, Bible study, worship and obedience in the small things.

Jack Deere (1993:201) urges us to pray the following prayer on a daily basis: ‘Father, grant me power from the Holy Spirit to love the Son of God like You love him (John 17:26).

Don’t despise the day of small beginnings. Learn to hear God’s voice and catch his heart. Get spiritually prepared so that when God’s zero hour strikes, you’re fit for action.

4. Intercessory prayer

Note these Scriptures and quotes, and many like them:

2 Chronicles 7:14 – ‘If my people… will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.’

Isaiah 62:6-7 – ‘You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till…’

Isaiah 64:1 – ‘Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.’

‘God does nothing but in answer to prayer’ (Wesley).

‘Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of his highest willingness’ (Luther).

‘Prayer is rebellion against the status quo’ (David Wells).

‘Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as worthy’ (John Piper).

‘Give me Scotland or I die’ (John Knox).

‘There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer’ (A. T. Pierson in Bryant 1984:40).

‘When God has something very great to accomplish for his Church, it is his will that there should precede it, the extraordinary prayers of his people’ (Edwards, Works 1:426).

Some argue that revival is sovereign and you can’t do anything to make it happen, while others say you can pray and bring it about. I believe God initiates the prayer that precedes a revival; and in this hour he is stirring the church to be united, aggressive, and persistent in prayer for God to act and move again.

5. Be willing to pay the price

Are you willing to receive a divine ‘baptism of desperation’, a ‘holy dissatisfaction’ that puts your reputation, dignity and personal peace at risk?

We need to have the courage to be honest with God and say with Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost for His Highest, ‘If what I have is all the Christianity there is, then the things is a fraud’ (Brown 1991:28).

We must force a crisis in our lives… when our very being aches with desire for his visitation, when we are consumed with hunger for his reality, when we radically cut back on other activities in order to seek his face, then we are ripe for transformation (Brown 1991:29).

We need to surrender our puny agendas, our need for security, safety and comfort zones. As Hebrews 11 tells us, we are not to shrink back and displease the Lord but to become risk-takers in this adventure of participating in the Kingdom of God.

Christians ought to be old friends with risk and when a church or an individual Christian builds a wall of safety, something very basic to the Christian faith has been violated… Christians ought to be the most gutsy people on the face of the earth (Brown 1983:113-114).

We must have more confidence in God’s ability to lead us than in Satan’s ability to deceive us (Deere 1993:215; see also Luke 11:11-13).

Arthur Wallis (1956:10) says, ‘If you would make the greatest success of your life, try to discover what God is doing in your time and fling yourself into the accomplishment of his purpose and will.’

We, like Peter in the boat during a storm, need to hear Jesus’ words, ‘Do not be afraid,’ and his invitation to ‘come’ and walk on water with him.

God’s gracious disposition is always toward revival and he only looks to see if there is a people, a generation who dares enough and cares enough to pay the price. ‘Now is the time to sanctify ourselves for tomorrow God will do wonders among us’ (Joshua 3:5).

References

Scripture quotations from the New International Version of the Bible (1973, 1978, 1984).

Bartleman, Frank (1980) Azusa Street. Logos.

Brown, Michael (1991) Whatever Happened to the Power of God? Destiny Image.

Brown, Stephen (1983) If God is in Charge. Nelson.

Bryant, David (1984) With Concerts of Prayer. Regal.

Cartwright, Peter (1956) Autobiography of Peter Cartwright. Abingdon.

DeArteaga, William (1992) Quenching the Spirit. Creation House.

Deere, Jack (1993) Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. Zondervan.

Dallimore, Arnold (1980) George Whitefield. Vol. 2. Crossway.

Edwards, Jonathan (1974, 1992 reprinted) Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vols 1 & 2.

Banner of Truth.

Edwards, Jonathan (1741, 1984) The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God.

Banner of Truth.

Jackson, Bill (1994) ‘What in the World is Happening to Us?’ Unpublished paper.

Johnson, Charles (1955) The Frontier Camp Meeting. Methodist University Press.

Joyner, Rick (1993) The World Aflame. Morningstar.

Kaiser Jr., Walter C. (1986) Quest for Renewal (Revival in the Old Testament). Moody.

Krupp, Nate (1984, 1988) The Triumphant Church. Destiny Image.

Lloyd-Jones, Martyn (1987) Revival. Crossway.

Lovelace, Richard (1979) Dynamics of Spiritual Life. InterVarsity.

MacNutt, Francis (1990) Overcome by the Spirit. Chosen.

Mallone, George (1985) Canadian Revival: It’s Our Turn. Welch.

Murillo, Mario (1985) Critical Mass. Anthony Douglas.

Packer, J. I. (1984) Keep in Step with the Spirit. Revell.

Pratney, Winkie (1994) Revival. Huntingdon House.

Relfe, Mary Stewart (1988) Cure of All Ills. League of Prayer.

Wallis, Arthur (1956) In the Day of Thy Power. Cityhill.

Wallis, Arthur (1979) Rain from Heaven. Hodder & Stoughton.

White, John (1988) When the Spirit Comes with Power. InterVarsity.

Wimber, John (1985) Power Evangelism. Hodder & Stoughton.

Wimber, John (1994) Equipping the Saints, Fall Quarter.

__________________________________________________________

(c) Jerry Steingard, 707 Downie Street, Stratford, Ontario N5A, Canada.

Used with permission.

 

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A Season of New Beginnings  by John Wimber

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John Wimber
John Wimber


A Season of New Beginnings


Pastor John Wimber, founding leader of the Vineyard Christian Fellowships, wrote this leadership letter in May 1994 about current moves of the Spirit of God in the Vineyard and in other churches around the world including Australia.

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———————————————————-

What many people in our churches

are experiencing is NOT revival.

But it is the only thing that becomes revival

———————————————————-

In recent months the Holy Spirit has been falling in meetings throughout the Vineyard. This season of visitation began about the same time in Toronto, Canada at the Airport Vineyard and in Anaheim, California, then rippled out across America, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and to other parts of the world by now.

As the leader of the Vineyard, I am often asked, ‘What is this?’ and ‘Is this revival?’

My answer is, in my opinion, not yet. But it is the only thing that becomes revival. We’re seeing the early stages of an outpouring of the Spirit of God. Some have estimated that as many as 80,000 individuals have been significantly touched and revived to date [200,000 by February 1995]. It has not yet evolved into what most church historians define as revival: an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the church and then in the aftermath, through the church into the community resulting in the conversion of thousands.

What is revival? I like John White’s definition: ‘an action of God whereby he pours out his Holy Spirit, initially upon the church, and it comes as an alternative to his judgment which is about to fall on the church and on the secular world’ (John White, ‘Prayer and Renewal’ course, Canadian Theological Seminary, 1 July 1991).

True revival is marked by widespread repentance both within the church, and among unbelievers. Although as many as four thousand have been converted to date (in various Vineyard churches by May 1994) we’ve not yet seen the dynamic of thousands and thousands of people coming to Christ rapidly. Of course, that is our prayer and I thought that it would be helpful to review some basic things concerning revival to get us focused.

Vineyard history

During the last approximately 17 years God has poured out his Spirit, beginning in what is now called the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Anaheim and extending through us to churches all over the United States, Canada and Europe, as well as to other places in the world.

Beginning some time in September of ’76, Bob Fulton, Carol Wimber, Carl Tuttle, along with others, began assembling at the home of Carl Tuttle’s sister. The agenda was simple: praying, worshipping and seeking the Lord. By the time I came several months later, the Spirit of God was already moving powerfully. There was a great brokenness and responsiveness in the hearts of many. This evolved into what became our church on Mother’s Day in 1977.

Soon God began dealing with me about the work of the Spirit related to healing. I began teaching in this area. Over the next year and a half, God began visiting in various and sundry ways. There were words of knowledge, healing, casting out of demons, and conversions.

Later we saw an intensification of this when Lonnie Frisbee came and ministered. Lonnie had been a Calvary Chapel pastor and evangelist, being used mightily in the Jesus People Movement. After our Sunday morning service on Mother’s Day 1979, I was walking out the door behind Lonnie, and the Lord told me, ‘Ask that young man to give his testimony tonight.’ I hadn’t even met him, though I knew who he was and how the Lord had used him in the past. That night, after he gave his testimony, Lonnie asked the Holy Spirit to come and the repercussions were incredible. The Spirit of God literally knocked people to the floor and shook them silly. Many people spoke in tongues, prophesied or had visions.

Then over the next few months, hundreds and hundreds of people came to Christ as the result of the witness of the individuals who were touched that night, and in the aftermath. The church saw approximately 1,700 converted to Christ in a period of about three months.

This evolved into a series of opportunities, beginning in 1980, to minister around the world. Thus the Vineyard renewal ministry and the Vineyard movement were birthed.

Ebbs and flows

By July of 1993, VCF (Vineyard Christian Fellowship) Anaheim had an ongoing interaction with the Holy Spirit in which we’d had ebbs and flows. There were times when we had a great sense of nearness and times in which there seemed to be a withdrawal to some degree. But there was never a time in which God was not willing to bless, heal, deliver and touch people. It just wasn’t with the same intensity that we’d had early on. Sometimes your family may have fillet mignon for dinner, and sometimes you have leftovers. But you still eat, and you’re thankful for whatever it is you have to eat.

Most of you know about the discovery of my cancer in April of 1993 and the ensuing treatment. In July of 1993, right before the International Vineyard Pastor’s Conference began, the Holy Spirit spoke to Carol, my wife. He told her I was to go to the nations. We understood then it meant going to the church in the nations, as over against going to evangelise the lost of the world. This in my mind meant a ministry of renewal and revival.

Carol responded, ‘Lord, my husband is sleeping 20-22 hours a day. He has no voice. Tomorrow pastors from all over the world are going to be here and he won’t even be able to participate. If this is indeed your will, touch him tonight. Please give him his voice back so that he may minister.’

That’s exactly what he did the next morning. I woke up able to speak and with just barely enough energy to go and participate in the conference. It was a very blessed event for me as well as for those that love me in the Vineyard.

By October of 1993 God had spoken 27 times confirming that I should go to the nations. Seventeen times he spoke in the same context and said that this would be a ‘season of new beginnings’. The Lord was saying, ‘I’m going to start it all over again. I’m going to pour out my Spirit in your midst like I did in the beginning…

I felt like Abraham might have felt when he was waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promises. The New Testament credits Abraham with not wavering in his faith. He had faith that God was going to do it, but I’m sure Abraham and Sarah had a few moments when they wondered how it was going to come together. (That’s how Ishmael came about.) Anyway, I was looking at my age – 59, going on 90. I was coming through an incredibly tough year with the cancer. The church had endured the season of adversity coming through it with a new sturdiness and strength. I saw a new strength in our movement. I knew God was moving.

But I looked at myself, and thought, I’m out of energy. In my spirit I was just murmuring, ‘Oh God, oh God’. And at that point (mid January) the Lord gave me a word. I heard myself say: Shall I have this pleasure in my old age? The very words that Sarah laughingly said to herself when she overheard the Lord say she was going to have a son from her 90-year-old womb by her 100-year-old husband (Gen. 18:10). This was a word of life from the Lord, and it touched me deeply.

I had brought this message of new beginnings to our AVC (Association of Vineyard Churches) National Board and Council meeting in November of 1993 at Palm Springs. Then the Lord confirmed this word in the hearts and minds of our national leadership. They laid hands on Bob Fulton and me and they blessed us to go, and stir up the church.

At the same meeting John Arnott (from Ontario, Canada) learned how the Holy Spirit had recently powerfully renewed and refreshed Randy Clark (VCF St. Louis) in a meeting conducted by Rodney Howard-Browne in Tulsa, Oklahoma. How the Lord got Randy to Tulsa for a meeting conducted by a South African Pentecostal is a story in itself. Nevertheless, Randy began seeing similar outpourings of the Spirit in his home church and elsewhere as he had occasion to minister. It was as if the ‘times of refreshing’ had begun.

So John Arnott, knowing that a season of new beginnings in the Vineyard was near at hand, and hearing about Randy Clark’s transformed ministry, invited Randy to come to Toronto to minister in his church, as well as to those folks from the surrounding area that would like to attend.

This occurred on 20 January, 1994. Four days of meetings turned into five months [now over a year] of almost nightly meetings in numerous locations in Ontario. It has since poured out through those who have visited there into similar renewal meetings all over the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and even Europe.

Anaheim

Meanwhile at the Anaheim Vineyard beginning on Sunday, 5 December, 1993, the Holy Spirit told me to stir up the gifts of the Spirit that our people may have a greater hunger for the Giver, Jesus. Throughout the month of December and early January, we set aside nights for that with an ever increasing sense of the Lord’s presence and willingness to bless.

On the afternoon of Sunday, 16 January, 1994, the Holy Spirit gave me the word ‘Pentecost’. I spent the rest of the afternoon asking the Lord what he meant by it. No answer. At that evening’s church service, the Lord gave me a vision of young people in a certain set and order. During the ministry time, from the pulpit I asked the young people to come forward. They did and the Lord came, consuming them in a beautiful and powerful way. It began a significant increase of the outflowing of power at Anaheim that has continued until this writing.

In interaction with leaders and workers across both the United States and Canada, I have encouraged the Arnotts, as well as Randy Clark and others that have been touched by the Spirit and are being used to share with others, to refer to this present visitation of the Spirit in our churches as a ‘refreshing’ or ‘renewal’ rather than a revival. I have no problem with the notion that people are being revived. I just have a problem with our using a term that most evangelicals at least reserve for that phase of revival that is an outpouring, not only on the church but through the church and into the community. The result is the salvation of thousands.

What about the phenomena?

Nearly everything we’ve seen (falling, weeping, laughing, shaking) has been seen before, not only in our own memory, but in revivals all over the world. One of my colleagues on the AVC staff, Steve Holt, has compiled an extremely helpful summary of Jonathan Edwards’ thoughts on the place of physical manifestations and phenomena in the midst of revival.

During the first Great Awakening in America, Edwards was right in the middle of it all. Not only was he a thoughtful participant, and observer, but he applied his keen theological mind to the ‘problem’ of religious enthusiasms, which were the object of much scorn and criticism among the religious establishment. Edwards’ perspective on revival can be very helpful to us as we evaluate some of the manifestations of the Spirit that we see in our meetings. Edwards saw them too, and he developed a very wise counsel regarding it.

Edwards attempted to answer the question, ‘How do we judge whether these phenomena are from God or the Devil? Edwards’ logic is lucid and spiritual, but after 250 years, some of his language is a challenge. The following are his main points in outline from. For further details on the writings of Jonathan Edwards, I refer you to his Complete Works.

1. We do not judge by a part: the way it began, the instruments emphasised, the means used, the methods that have been taken. We judge by the effects upon the people (Isa. 40:13, 14; Jn. 3:8; Isa. 2:17). Edwards reminds us that God often uses the most foolish things to confound the wise.

2. We should judge by the whole of Scripture, not our own personal rules and measures, nor some portion of Scripture. Furthermore, Edwards enjoins us not to judge phenomena negatively just because we have not personally had such an experience.

3. We should distinguish the good from the bad, and not judge the whole by the parts. Summation: We can become so paranoid of extremism that we actually sin by grieving the Holy Spirit and stopping his work. To accomplish his work, God seems more willing at times to tolerate extreme behaviour (that is not clearly sinful) than we are.

4. We should judge by the fruit of the work in general. Edwards could justify in his own mind the extravagance of some in the revival because of the revival’s impact in New England. The Bible was more greatly esteemed; multitudes had been brought to conviction of truth and certainty of the gospel; and the Indians were more open to the gospel than ever before.

5. We should judge by the fruit of the work in particular instances. Edwards wrote of many examples of people who had been transported into the glories of the heavenlies for hours at a time. Great rejoicing, transports (visions and dreams), and trembling have produced an increase in humility, holiness, and purity. Answered prayers became the norm.

6. We should judge by the glory of the work. Edwards passionately called for the church to be seized by the rapture, glory, and enthusiasm of God. In his view, the Great Awakening (with all its various manifestations) was exceedingly glorious in the extraordinary degrees of light, love, and spiritual joy that God had bestowed on great multitudes.

Restoration and Revival

There’s a time of restoration coming. There’s a time of revival coming. There’s an outpouring of the Spirit that’s preparing the hearts and lives of men and women across our country, and around the world. We saw it recently in New Zealand, and in Australia. The Lord poured out his Spirit mightily. We’ve seen it in the Anaheim Vineyard. We’ve seen it across the country. It’s happening wherever there’s receptivity.

Remember, as long as people keep hearing about this, and as long as people keep coming, the Spirit will be poured out. The laughter will bubble forth. So don’t be afraid of it. It indicates the ongoing truth of God’s word. It’s another verification that God is among us. It’s another standard if you will, being lifted up and exalted unto the Lord. It’s his work. It’s not craziness. It’s not people acting weird (Not that they don’t look crazy and seem strange). But it’s appropriate. The Lord is being exalted by his own means. Remember, the Lord says, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways’ (Isa. 55:8). And God just goes about doing things differently than you or I would.

What do the phenomena mean?

Our theology and experience of revival must be tempered by our understanding of sanctification. Sanctification is the necessary counterpart to justification, or the forgiveness of sins.

I view sanctification as that work of the Holy Spirit that takes place both as ‘a one-time act, valid for all time, imputing and imparting holiness, and as an ongoing, progressive work’ (New Dictionary of Theology, p. 615). In the sense that it’s ongoing, we co-operate with the Holy Spirit.

All Christians need to be cleansed, and dedicated to the service of God (Rom. 12:1-2) and thereby make practical our prayer, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth (and in my life) as it is in heaven.’

Let us not allow ourselves to equate the experience of various manifestations of the Spirit with sanctification. Such experiences may accompany, accent, or provide a milestone on the journey of sanctification, but they are not necessarily the agents of sanctification.

Summary

In summary, I believe that this could readily become the revival we’ve all longed for and prayed for. I do not believe that it has reached its full stature yet, but I believe it may be around the corner. People have asked me what I think the next step may be. I’ve said that I know that at some point in time we must give a call to full-scale repentance undergirded by deep and heartfelt contrition. Changed lives and the fruit of true repentance will result.

___________________________________________________

(c) Vineyard Reflections, May/June 1994. Used with permission.

© Renewal Journal #5: Signs and Wonders, 1995, 2nd edition 2011
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Renewal Journal 5: Signs & Wonders – Editorial

Words, Signs and Deeds, by Brian Hathaway

Uproar in the Church, by Derek Prince

A Season of New Beginnings, by John Wimber

Preparing for Revival Fire, by Jerry Steingard

How to Minister Like Jesus, by Bart Doornweerd

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Missionary Translator and Doctor by David Lithgow

by Geoff 15 May 2011 No Comments
Bible Translation

Missionary Translator & Doctor

Dr David Lithgow and his wife Daphne were Bible translators and medical missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators for over 30 years, mainly in the Milne Bay Islands of Papua New Guinea. These edited selections from newsletters tell a little of their work for the Lord.

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In one place it seemed that everyone turned to the Lord and was baptized in the sea.

The same happened on two more islands.

Rev. David Kuwab burnt lots of magic paraphenalia which was brought to him.

________________________________________________________________

* Seven sick people were prayed for in Jesus’ name, and all were healed. Other people kept their sick relatives hidden inside their houses, preferring to trust their own magic and spirit cures. No one among these people was healed. This has been a demonstration of the power of Jesus.

* A woman who had been crippled for years got up and walked immediately, and was doing normal garden work in a week. The people here were convinced that Jesus is the Strong One, and this report spread through the whole area.

* The Lord has worked some surprising miracles, like multiplying the one remaining antibiotic capsule for treating an infection to become twelve – enough to complete the cure.

* After the studies and worship services many of the people came for prayer for the Lord’s cleansing from sin, and to receive the Holy Spirit. At Wabunun they came in a continuous stream, many weeping, for one and a half hours.

* The Lord moved powerfully through healing miracles and casting out evil spirits, demonstrating that his power is greater than that of local spirits and magic.

The Word and Work of the Lord

David and Daphne summarise their life together including work in the Muyuw, Dobu and Bunama languages of the Milne Bay Islands:

We had been leaders in the Evangelical Union of the University of Queensland since 1950, Daphne studying Science and David doing Medicine. In 1954 Daphne left for Ubuya Leprosy Treatment Centre near Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea. There she learnt the Dobu language and trained Papuan staff in laboratory work. When Daphne returned, David had graduated and was a Resident Doctor at Townsville General Hospital. We married in August 1957.

In February 1958 we left for Fiji where David was a doctor for the Methodist Mission Hospital serving Indian people. This entailed learning the Hindustani language. Our first two children, a daughter and son, were born there.

David, as the only doctor continuously on call, worked hard meeting physical needs of the people, but had little time to get to understand their spiritual needs. He felt helpless when faced with demon possessed Hindu patients, and could only prescribe sedation.

The work of Wycliffe Bible Translators and Summer Institute of Linguistics (W.B.T. and S.I.L.) was just beginning in Australia. Here we felt was a way of meeting people’s deepest needs – living with them as they live, learning their language and customs, and bringing God’s Word to them right where they are.

In 1960 we returned to Australia, and David found work at the Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital. In the next two years we welcomed two more sons. We became members of Wycliffe Bible Translators and in May 1963 we flew to Ukarumpa, the Summer Institute of Linguistics Headquarters in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

In the first few years while getting started in language work David was also the group doctor. In 1963 an allocation site was found at Wabunun village on a long sandy beach on the south-east coast of Woodlark Island off Milne Bay. Wabunun was home for the children from 1964 to 1972 in their house built of bush materils – split black palm floor, platted bamboo walls, and sago leaf roof. Daphne taught them correspondence lessons until they were 7 or 8 years old, after which they were in Children’s Homes for schooling at the Ukarumpa base.

From 1970 onwards the children all stayed at Ukarumpa for schooling, and we were able to travel around the language area, 150 miles by 70 miles, mostly on the big Muyuw outrigger sailing canoes.

The churches throughout this area had selected young men who came to Wabunun where we trained them as teachers of Muyuw, and sent them back with reading primers and duplicated portions of translated Scriptures. They all achieved some degree of success. Two of these teachers who were barely literate themselves had taught all the young adults to read as well as some of the older folk. They had established the church which worshipped together every Sunday morning – or when they thought it was Sunday, because they had no calendar.

In 1972 the Muyuw New Testament translation was virtually complete, so we moved to Dobu Island to help in the Bible Society project to retranslate the Dobu New Testament into modern Dobu. There the house had a sawn timber floor, bush materil walls and an iron roof.

From 1978 to 1982 we were settling our teen-age children into life in Australia while we worked as the Wycliffe Bible Translators representatives in Queensland. Every year David returned to Dobu to keep the literacy and translation program moving.

In 1978 our doctor advised against David returning to Papua New Guinea because of incipient cancer. It seemed David could expect about another two years of normal health. Our plans were examined closely but there seemed no need to change any of them. We also sought healing through prayer in Jesus’ name. Since then David has had better health then he had before. After such a sentence of death, every day is valued as a special gift from the Lord, and it gives an added sense of urgency to the task.

From 1982 we were at Dobu or Diwala Translation Centre, helping with the translations and doing literacy work. In 1985 the Muyuw New Testament was revised and reprinted. We travelled in S.I.L.’s new 24 foot boat with the minister, Rev. David Kuwab, who had been the main translation helper. We visited every island and village selling Scriptures and hymn books, and re-establishing literacy work where it was needed. Near the beginning of this trip the Lord moved powerfully through healing miracles and casting out evil spirits.

The new Dobu New Testament was dedicated in 1986. It is now used widely alongside the old Dobu Bible. Over 10,000 copies have been sold. As the Lord worked in Muyuw, he has also worked strongly in the Dobu speaking area, leading individuals and groups to renounce traditional magic and to trust in Jesus’ name for salvation and healing.

In 1991 the Bunama New Testament was printed and dedicated. It was distributed by three groups of three Bunama speakers who gave Bible studies from the new Scripture in twenty different villages. In almost every village there were people who sought the Lord’s salvation – older folk, young men, girls, school children. We were amazed at the many different ways in which the Holy Spirit spoke to people’s needs.

Preach the Good News, Heal the Sick, Cast out Demons

David describes a few events on mission patrols:

Muyuw Patrol, 1985

The 600 Muyuw New Testaments, first printed and sold in 1977, are worn from heavy use, tattered and discoloured. Some have lost their cover. People were eager to buy new ones for themselves and their children. Those who had no money traded canoe paddles, shells, ebony carvings, turtle-shell ear-rings, or baskets of food.

The main Muyuw translator Rev. David Kuwab, who is now Superintendent Minister, with his wife Dasel came with us on the seven week’s patrol by boat to all the inhabited islands and villages where this language is spoken. On one island Rev. Kuwab baptised ninety people and married five young Christian couples.

At another island an old man asked if he could take his wife with us on the boat to the next island where they wanted to get strong Papuan magic. Hospital staff had told his wife that the basis of this sickness was witchcraft, so they could do nothing and said she should go home and get Papuan treatment. All Papuan treatments had failed and they wanted to try stronger traditional magic. Rev. Kuwab and I went to her house and prayed for her. We asked if she believed Jesus could heal her, and she said ‘Yes’. So we helped her to her feet and started her walking. Soon she walked unaided doing heavy work in the food garden.

At the Government Administration Centre the wife of the Provincial Member for Health had been bed-ridden for three years. They believed this was from witchcraft. He had employed all the local methods to appease the witches and cure the sickness but she only got worse. He asked us to pray for his wife and we did so. When Kuwab asked if she believed Jesus could heal her he got a lethargic response. Daphne visited this woman to pray with her daily. She was improving, so the Provincial member asked Kuwab and me to pray for her again. After prayer this time, she got up and walked. We noted that she was quite anaemic and gave her iron tablets and advice on diet and encouraged continuing prayer and trust in Jesus. Rev. Kuwab warned them strongly against reverting to Papuan magic.

On our last day at Woodlark a man brought his mentally disturbed wife. Rev. Kuwab had told them to stop doing anti-witchcraft magic and to pray in Jesus’ name. The previous night they had done that and she told us she was now all right. They agreed to another prayer but as soon as Jesus’ name was uttered she screamed and stiffened and talked of bad things put in her abdomen by a witch. I rebuked the evil spirit in Jesus’ name and we prayed strongly. When Kuwab asked if she believed in Jesus she gave a definite ‘No’. I felt led to pray in the Spirit. Kuwab asked her again and she now said that she believed Jesus could save her. She seemed normal, though lethargic, when we left. She did recover.

One day was free to visit another village so the deacon took me there by canoe. We were not able to tell the people that I was coming, so the deacon and I prayed for the Lord to prepare the people. Normally they would have been scattered in the bush, in their food gardens, or at creeks and beaches getting fish and shell-fish; but we found almost all the people sitting in the church. One Tuesday each month they have a devotional meeting. This was that meeting.

They had just finished their devotions so they invited me to speak about the New Testament, hymn book and other Muyuw books. They bought them eagerly. Then the youth leader showed me their study paper on the Holy Spirit from a youth convention and asked me if I could help them understand it. So after a lunch break we went into the church again. I read and explained the Muyuw Scriptures about the Holy Spirit and they responded very positively. Many asked for prayer for the filling and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

There was much sickness in another village, especially children. They have no medical help. I had few medicines suitable for children. We gave them what medicines we had and prayed for all the sick. As in all places, they bought New testaments eagerly. Many people came under conviction of sin, coming forward for prayer for Jesus to cleanse and forgive them.

At the Sunday service at Wabunun, where we as a family had lived and worked for eight years, after Scripture had been expounded Rev. Kuwab invited people to come for prayer for sickness, or cleansing from sin, or for the Holy Spirit. People came forward in a solid stream, some weeping. Kuwab’s own son, now a grown man and getting into bad ways, came forward with bowed head and his father prayed for him. Kuwab had never before prayed for people under such conviction of sin and desiring salvation.

After a Bible study for preachers and leaders the next day more people came forward for prayers. It took half an hour to pray for them all. On the third and final day, after a straight Bible study no appeal was made but during the final hymn people began to come forward for prayer, mostly sick folk who had been brought from more distant places.

West Woodlark Patrol, 1989

We visited the islands of west of Woodlark in October. After two days of rough weather we limped in with a broken rudder attachment. The Lord provided an ex-plumber on the island who had some tools in his village house and was able to fix it.

We really admire the teachers of the English Curriculum Government Schools. Through their work many children become literate in English and Muyuw, but as not all children go to school there are many illiterate teenagers and adults who now want to learn to read. To try to meet this need we trained 26 new village literacy teachers.

Four places with a total of over 1200 people were still without any medical service despite government efforts to get Aid Post Orderlies to work there. We heard that people of one island were saying, ‘You don’t recover if you pray but you will recover if you use magic.’ When we arrived at that island 80 people were sick with malaria, some desperately ill. All recovered with prayer and chloroquine treatment. The people of one island complain more about having no minister than they do about having no medical help. For most, the value of Christian leadership is rated very high.

As well as Muyuw New Testaments and hymn books we took Kiriwina and Dobu New Testaments for sale. We found that the Holy Spirit’s blessings are not restricted to one way of ministry or to one language. People from a number of languages live at the commercial centre for Woodlark Island. The new United Church minister does not know Muyuw but has a powerful and effective ministry through the Dobu language.

The dialect on one island was a mixture of two main languages. There we found the strongest church on all of these islands. However, a matter of concern is a prophetess who is visited by a spirit from time to time and gives confusing teaching, but she has a large following.

After we returned from the Woodlark area Daphne stayed in our house at Dobu catching up with household matters and weeding our yam garden while I did a survey of another area with Peter from Holland. He and his doctor wife are looking for a language in which to begin translation work. Family in-fighting which is worsening, destruction of villages, and criminal activities among some of those people are causing widespread concern. The police recently made a large number of arrests. There are, however, faithful Christians there in the United, Catholic, and Seventh Day Adventist Churches.

On the patrol we had hard hiking in rain and flooded rivers, then sea travel to return. I had been having intermittent malaria and some other problems, but improved during the patrol and returned feeling strong and fit.

Bunama Patrol, 1991

The Bunama New Testament is now with the people, and the Lord blessed the distribution patrol. Of the 600 printed only 40 were left unsold.

I went with the nine Bunama speakers in the distribution team. We spent two days in preparation, praying and studying 1 Timothy, the book we were to use for village Bible studies. Then we set off in groups of three, each group to a different village.

The emphasis was on teaching, and at some stage in most places at the end of a session the team leader or the local pastor would invite people wanting help from the Lord to remain behind. The manifold working of the Holy Spirit was amazing to all of us. Together with the local pastors we prayed in pairs for the people who requested help. Several times the boat captain was teamed with me. Two years before he was illiterate but Daphne taught him from a Dobu primer. Now he reads the Dobu Bible and his prayers were spiritually sensitive and powerful.

Even among the most distant of the dialect groups they understood the Bunama Scripture and teaching quite well and many of them responded to the Lord. They all had individual and different needs, and the Holy Spirit worked in their hearts.

In another place a team leader was hesitant about making an invitation and did so rather tentatively. Later he felt rebuked for his reluctance because many responded. He discovered the agony of soul of one woman who needed the Lord’s help, as well as seeing two boys of 10-12 years who had waited back in the distance but were strongly convicted of their need for forgiveness.

There were failures too. — After church one Sunday a number of people went back inside the church and sat quietly. Too late, the members of that team realised they were probably wanting help. — Often after uplifting experiences, team members and local people would sing all night. This was good for the local people but I felt it left team members unable to give of their best the next day. — Some pastors felt that hospitality required them to give betel nut and tobacco to team members, and most felt that good manners required them to use it. Three of the team members were smokers and most used betel nut to some degree. I feel that this drug can dull a person’s spiritual sensitivity. — When under pressure near the end of the trip I hurt someone by an outburst of anger, and my apology may not heal all of that hurt.

Half of the team members and some of the village pastors are people the Lord had touched in Dobu Bible studies as we have visited these areas in previous years. It is wonderful to see the Lord’s work being multiplied.

All team members spoke clearly against the use of traditional magic and spirit practices. This is a break-through and a key to the Lord’s blessing on their ministry. Ten years ago it was considered wrong to mention these things in church.

In the second week the engine of our boat was getting harder to start, taking up to an hour with the crank handle. So before trying one day we prayed and it started first crank. Next morning a team member prayed for the engine. It started by battery power just with the starter button. It has kept starting that way ever since.

The language used at another village was not Bunama and I was undecided about calling there, but called in anyway. There were lots of people about, and they wanted a Bunama Bible study. A team member led it and made an invitation at the end. I could see six young men hanging back in the shadows and listening from a distance. They responded, each with a strong desire to leave his old ways and be a true Christian. The pastor was away, but his wife was delighted. She told us that those young men had been a heavy burden on their hearts.

Our trip finished on the island where it began. They wanted a Bible study from Bunama New Testament and afterwards several of them bought it. The response for prayer was mainly from men aged 25-30. Some were so moved by God’s Spirit that they could hardly speak.

Woodlark and Marshall Bennett Patrol, 1994

This trip took three months. Revival is now spreading through these islands.

We arrived soon after a mission led by a United Church minister. During the mission at the main population centres hundreds sought salvation through Christ and were baptised in the sea, surrendering their equipment for magic and sorcery. One witch admitted having killed over twenty people, and she collapsed physically as the power of the Lord came on her.

Two local ministers travelled with us on the S.I.L. boat, continuing this ministry to the more remote places. Rev. Bili Wilson went with us to the Lachlan Islands and the eastern end of Woodlark. Rev. David Kuwab, co-translator of the Muyuw New Testament, was with us in visiting the rest of Woodlark and the Marshall Bennett Islands.

The people gave Rev. Bili Wilson and us their full attention for five days so we gave them the Good News and sold lots of Scriptures. They responded in an amazing way. On Friday I gave the main study in the church and invited people during the last hymn to come into the fenced section near the pulpit for prayer. That area was soon full and most of the rest of the congregation were crowding forward. Rev. Bili and the Pastor worked as one team; Daphne and I as a second team.

On Sunday people were invited to give up their equipment for doing magic, so after church the older men brought wood, gum, ginger, stones, and bones and eagerly released it to be burnt. Rev. Bili, using a metaphor, said, ‘If you have any death in your house bring it here and burn it.’ On Sunday afternoon Rev. Bili baptised 18 young adults in the sea.

There was widespread response to the Lord. Hundreds more were baptised in most places, and lots of equipment for magic and sorcery was burnt. Hundreds also sought prayer for special needs. One woman came to Rev. Bili Wilson and said, ‘This is my heaviness – I am a witch.’ Then she collapsed, and two other women held her on her feet while we asked the Lord to take away this evil spirit and give her the Holy Spirit.

We went to another island where the enthusiasm was the greatest yet. Older folk there, as well as the young folk, are very keen for the Lord. There was another baptism of many people in that area. Two leaders prayed for each candidate before their baptism. Afterwards the newly baptised Christians stood in a line and all who wished to do so shook each by the hand and gave words of encouragement or prophecy as the Spirit led. The biggest prayer need of the young people was to learn to read so as to read the Bible and hymn book. We prayed for them, gave them primers, and instruction for those who can read to help them daily in their homes. I also told them that betel nut gums up their brains.

There is a strong Pentecostal church in one island we visited. They had just finished a mission. They all speak Holy Spirit tongues and have no tobacco, betel nut, traditional mortuary feasts or kula trading. Whether they are right or not on these issues, it frees them to worship the Lord with such joy that I have never seen before. Their faces shine with a happy peaceful radiance. When you meet them along the road they talk enthusiastically about the Lord and his return.

They baptised 42 people on Sunday, many of them being United Church followers who will continue in the United Church. The United Church there follows the Pentecostal worship pattern in most ways. I preached at the United Church mid-day service. The singing praise session at the start turned into a congregational prayer meeting, all praying together. It seemed they would never stop!

We were delayed a day leaving there by a cyclone. Everything got wet. At least it was cool when the cyclone was around. After it cleared it was terribly hot. On almost every trip we caught fish including some big ones. One pulled my attaching knot undone and got away with the whole line. If you have any weakness in your tackle you lose all those big ones, and your tackle.

At the next island it seemed as though everyone turned to the Lord and was baptised in the sea. It was the same in two more islands.

Frightening gossip preceded us in some places. People were told that if they are baptised in the sea and then commit sin again they will die. Some people wanted to stay with the ways of worship and life practices to which they were accustomed. These people saw the revival movement as a new and different religion.

However, in each of the opposition strongholds ten to twenty people sought baptism and new life in Christ. One was a healing magician who found that after practising his art he had terrible dreams, so he wanted to be rid of his magic. Another man testified in church that he was finished with his various sorcery practices.

Rev. David Kuwab’s youth was spent in the midst of sorcery and magic. He dramatically explained the use of items for magic and sorcery and physical poisons as he threw them into the fire, shouting, ‘These are Satan’s things.’ The people showed no sign of embarrassment; just relief and joy. The young people sang praises to the Lord during the long baptism procedures. Mature Christians prayed for each person before they were taken down into the water, and another Christian prayed for them when they came back to the shore.

When the Gospel of Christ was proclaimed in one place a famous spirit healer was one of the first to respond. He was quite willing to give up his healing and killing practice. He told Rev. Kuwab, ‘I have only used sorcery to kill bad people, never good people.’

Spiritual hunger generated a great demand for Muyuw Scriptures. We had to get fresh supplies, and we still ran out of New Testaments at the last island. The new large print New Testament was very popular with people of all ages. In a population of some 4,000 people we sold 700 New testaments, 150 hymn books, and 300 booklets on Spiritual Warfare which Rev. Kuwab had translated.

The Marshall Bennett Islands at the end of a three months trip were exhausting. That is where we ran into opposition. There is no medical worker for over 2,000 people. The three main islands are flat-topped craggy limestone, 500-600 feet in elevation with no water supply where the people live on the tops of the islands, except what falls from the sky. There are few good anchorages.

With no medical services the people have depended heavily on healing magicians. On one island there was hostility between members of the church, and many were suffering from malaria, coughs and scabies. The plight of some small children was pathetic. We were carrying medicine for malaria and pneumonia but nothing for scabies. Rev. Kuwab worked hard to help the church leaders overcome their differences through the power of Christ.

Although people were resistant there, at one smaller preaching place 60 were baptised. At another place 20 were baptised and gave up their magic.

We had planned and prayed for the Woodlark trip for a long time. Since 1963 we have been praying that God’s Word would bear fruit among the Muyuw people. What is now happening exceeds our greatest expectations. To our Lord Jesus be the glory.

 

© Renewal Journal 4: Healing (1994, 2011)
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright included.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)
Renewal Journal 4: Healing – with more links to healing blogs   

Renewal Journal 4: Healing – PDF

RJ 04 Healing 1

Renewal Journal 4: Healing – Editorial

Missionary Translator and Doctor, by David Lithgow

My Learning Curve on Healing, by Jim Holbeck

Spiritual Healing, by John Blacker

Deliverance and Freedom, by Colin Warren

Christian Wholeness Counselling, by John Warlow

A Healing Community, by Spencer Colliver

Divine Healing & Church Growth, by Donald McGavran

Sounds of Revival, by Sue Armstrong

Revival Fire at Wuddina, by Trevor Faggotter

Contents of all Renewal Journals

Amazon – Renewal Journal 4: Healing

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RJ Vol 1 (1-5) 1Also in Renewal Journals, Bound Volume 1 (Issues 1-5)

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Amazon and Kindle and The Book Depository

 

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6  Worship,   7  Blessing,   8  Awakening,   9  Mission,   10  Evangelism,
11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

See also:
YouTube Video – Viva Cristo Rey – prayer, healings, evangelism, food multiplied

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

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Missionary Translator & Doctor, David Lithgow:
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Article in Renewal Journal 4: Healing – more links to healing there
Renewal Journal 4: Healing – PDF

Also in  Renewal Journals bound volume 1 (Issues 1-5)
Renewal Journal Vol 1 (1-5) – PDF

RJ 04 Healing 1