"When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against Him" Isaiah 59:19In the morning I will drive from Norcal back down to Los Angeles. I have one resolve.
Pray & Fast till the will of God is established on the campuses of Los Angeles. I'll start at UCLA and see where God takes it from there. I'm talking about spiritual violence. I'm talking about humbling myself before His face to let Him know that I am nothing. Without Him I can do nothing. And without His voice speaking I will do nothing. I can only pray, this is my resolve, this is my calling...To seek the Father's will and to only do what I see Him doing. I have no plan, I have no strategy, all I have is a desperate heart that says ABBA! Only You Father can save UCLA, only You can save the students on every campus of Los Angeles, only You can bring REVIVAL.
I've made some big mistakes in ministry decisions this last year & the enemy is trying to get me down. The Devil wants me to give up on myself, on others and on the Church in my generation, but I have only one response...SHUT THE HELL UP! The Devil is a LIAR and I will not tolerate His voice. Only the voice and the will of my Father will I listen to. I am His sheep and I
know my Shepherds voice. Only He shall I want, nothing else.
I'm 25 this year and I have one resolve. Revival. I don't care for anything else but to Love God, Love those He has given me and to love my generation till death do us part. I will die for revival, I will die for God's glory to be revealed and established all over the earth. God can take my life away at any moment, for me to give up would be blasphemy. Never give up because you failed. Never give up because you made some mistakes. Never give up because it seems like hell all around you. You only have one life to live and one moment each day to make a difference and it has nothing to do with how perfect you are. It has everything to do with the purpose that God created you for and this purpose cannot be forfeited. I refuse to hold back destiny because of mistakes, failures and let downs. God works all things together for the good of those who love Him &
love Him I do. I am His and He is mine. He lived for love and I live to love Him back. I live to give His love to those who have not experienced it. My God is a jealous God. He wants humanity to KNOW love. God is love. What am I living for? This is a question I have asked myself again and again. God, hear my cry, may I live this life in truth, honor, integrity and love for You and not for self. Death to self, death to my flesh and death to my ways. For Your ways are above my ways and Your thoughts are above my thoughts. Only You can save the situation and turn it around Lord, only You can turn what the Devil intends for evil and turn it to good.
I have hope in my Lord. Even when things before me right now are not clear. Eventhough things in ministry are going out of wack. Even if I have made some major mistakes in my leadership and the enemy is telling me to throw in the towel. I have one thing to say to myself.
Never Surrender.
Hope in God. For I will hope in my God, I will wait upon Him for deliverance. I will seek His face until glory falls. This is my posture as I come back down to Los Angeles...
prayerThat is my posture. This is all that I know to do. This is all that I know to do. Father if I must pray from morning till night, if I must pray till my knees grow weak and my hands lifted high grow tired, if I must pray till You speak, if I must pray till all hell is bound in my life and all heaven is loosed over my life, then so be it. I am dead to my ideas, my strategies, my desires, my wants and my ways. Only One Way, only One Will and only One Desire, give me One Thing Jesus.
Yourself.
I will not give in and I will not give up. What is before me looks bleak, but what is on the other side is heaven on earth. Goodness in the land of the living. I exhort you brothers and sisters in Christ, when you don't know what else to do, when all that You have tried has failed, when you have given up and think there is no hope, pray to Your Father and do not stop praying, do not stop asking, do not stop seeking until Father speaks, until His glory unfolds, until thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
God here I am. Once again, broken before You with an empty slate. With nothing but a heart that is desperate, hungry and willing to do anything You tell me. Abide in the Vine or else I can do nothing for the One I love.
Los Angeles, you will see revival, I prophesy, the GREATEST AWAKENING IS COMING to southern California that will be a tidal wave of glory like never seen or never heard. The oceans waves are crashing in, I can hear it in my spirit. The word is MAGNITUDE for the prayers of the saints of old and the saints of new are synergizing together from the ages before and the ages come for a great POWER will be released, for a great ARMY is being raised up, one that the world has never seen, never in America has one seen the eyes of an army like this, their eyes show no fear, their hearts beat with passion, they are ready to die, they are ready because the Spirit of the Lord has prepared them in the womb, the life is in their tongue and no harm shall befall them because the Knight is riding before them. Their hands are clamped like fists for they pray with spiritual violence and they heal with supernatural authority. Do not relent oh generation, do not stop in your contending, Isaiah 62 is the hour, knock on heavens door, give Him no rest, till He establishes Jerusalem upon the earth. The kings of the air are fighting, the battle will be fierce, but the Cross will prevail, the blood of Jesus is being pleaded and nothing can stop that which the Lord has purposed to do. I don't care what the enemy says, I don't care what the enemy has thrown against you, get back up soldier, get back up oh generation for the Lord is Your shield and He is Your heavenly Father, He will not forsake you oh generation, He has come to save, deliver and EMPOWER at this moment in time, in this hour, a great army will arise from southern california like no other, even hell trembles and it is doing what it can to stop it, but it can't, it cannot stop it, it is ordained, it is for but a moment of persecution and then comes the OUTPOURING of the HOLY SPIRIT. Give it all up and throw it all in for revival for God is coming in all His fullness and nothing can stop it, but only pray, do not relent, do not give up, do not be disheartened. Smile! For the victory is at hand it is just around the corner. Troops are being gathered a remnant has been established and prayer will go forth from Los Angeles up to heaven and back down to earth in signs, wonders and miracles. Night and day, day and night, the fire on the altar will burn and the glory of God will be revealed for the end is coming and the glory is to be made manifest. Watch and see and do not be afraid of the terror that will come and the warnings that will be displayed on television screens for in this world you will have persecution, trials, tribulations but fear not for Christ has overcome the world. Build the House of Prayer, build the House of the Lord with holy prayers & living stones & the households will be filled with the glory all over the land. It is shaking, religion is shaking, the walls are shaking, the prayers are shaking all that is to be shaken for the tidal wave of God's Spirit will wipe out, wash clean, renew and restore the ancient foundations and make new a generation prepared for glory. New glory, Yes new glory. Let it be so Lord. Let it be so. I am a walking dead man. Dying to self and living in Christ.
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
check out this cool article. A 1000 member traditional church got rid of their building and full time staff, decentralized and became a house church network of 60-80 home churches. Now that they don't have to use their tithes for financing the building and paying salaries they are able to use the tithes/offerings to give
millions to God's kingdom work all over the world! check out the following link ....
http://www.house2house.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=162
Pastor, feed me!
If you weren't convinced yet that the church needs a reformation: this cartoon says it all. With permission from Churchlaughs.com.
link from...
http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2005/08/pastor_feed_me.html
"DUTCH SHEETS: The Shift for 2006--Ministries will Restructure, as will Churches, Businesses, Individuals, and Families"
-- Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets Ministries
www.dutchsheets.org
Ministries will restructure, churches will restructure, businesses will restructure, individuals will restructure, and families will restructure.
This will be a year of the greatest change the Church has experienced in our generation. While preparing to minister in Dallas on January 5, I heard the Holy Spirit very clearly say, "Tell them. . . " I quickly grabbed a pen and wrote the following as it was given to me:
1. "The greatest shift into the Apostolic Age comes this year. For this year, they will begin to see the abundance of fruit come forth." "Everything up to this point in time has been primarily the restoration of the apostolic and the prophetic--a preparation for what I am about to do." The fruit of God establishing the fullness of His ministry giftings and His government in the earth is going to allow Him to release unprecedented power, authority, favor, revelation, judgments, and righteousness.
2. "Opposition to the apostolic and prophetic will also be the greatest this year."He is going to expose wineskins (new or old) and religious spirits, taking off the masks of those who oppose His move. Those who refuse to move in current truth will begin to openly criticize leaders in the Body of Christ that are moving in the flow of the apostolic and the prophetic. Some have been doing so in a very subtle way, but this year, it will become obvious. When they do, God is going to begin to judge them.
3. "I must bring further changing of paradigms, not just to those who have not been moving in the flow of My Spirit, but even to those who are in the flow of My Spirit." I heard Him say, "Restructure, Restructure, Restructure." Ministries will restructure, churches will restructure, businesses will restructure, individuals will restructure (the way they do things, their time, the way they think, and the way they operate), and families will restructure.
Teaching on the kingdom of God will bring about great changes of paradigms, taking us back to the original mandate of Genesis. You will hear it taught over and over again this year. Kingdom theology is going to be at the forefront.
4. "I am waiting for those who will fulfill My mission statement."
(Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61)
Preach the gospel to the poor
Proclaim release to the captives
Recovery of sight to the blind
Set free the downtrodden
Proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
I heard Him say, "If those in My Church will begin to make this their mission statement, I will give them the fulfillment of every one of them." He went on to say, "There is a radical anointing of deliverance that is about to come to the Church. It will actually be violent at times, and people will be radically delivered in a moment."
The favorable year of the Lord refers to Jubilee. Captives go free, and inheritances are restored.
5. "This is a year of favor--and disfavor." What you have prayed for, plowed for, sown into, longed for, cried out for, what you have seen but not been able to taste, what you have fasted for, and wept over--this is the year of favor. His favor will be seen on your family, business, finances, and body.
This is a year that He will no longer allow people to ride the fence. He will draw a line in the sand and make them decide who they are and what they stand for. The political games in the Church will be judged. For those who refuse to flow with current revelation and resist it, you will see them come into disfavor. Some ministries and churches will lose their favor this year. Others will be raised up and given more influence. It is a year of dismantling that which is built that is not bringing Him glory and a year of great building for others.
The landscape of the Church will change this year.
6. "I am looking this year for those who will be more heavenly minded than earthly minded."He is looking for those who will set affections on things above, on His kingdom, and what He wants. For those who will do this, He will give them insights from heaven. This will allow them to bring heaven to earth, instead of simply praying, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He will give them authority and understanding on how to bring heaven to earth.
Also, for those who do this, He will cause them to see things from a heavenly perspective. Problems, challenges, vision, difficulties in their families, financial needs--all of these will begin to be seen from His perspective.
7. "I am looking for those who will believe in My power. Miracles are there for the taking." Chuck Pierce prophesied that we will see a move of God this year in which signs and wonders will break out on university campuses. Yale and the University of Texas were mentioned specifically, but the word was not limited to them. The power of God is about to invade the universities of America.
8. "Tell My leaders to pray more and work less." The sense I had was that if they will pray more, they can work less.
9. "This is the most important year yet for right alignment." This year, if we are not in proper alignment with leaders, properly connected to those we need to be walking with, and properly covered by those in positions of authority, it will begin to cost us fruitfulness and health, resulting in destruction in other ways, loss of revelation, and destiny. The setbacks will begin for those who are not properly aligned.
10. "This is the most important year yet for the right timing."Opportunities will come and go quickly.
The timing of endeavors will be critical.
Being at the right place at the right time will be essential.
11. "The great transfer of wealth begins this year." 12. "The river of God is coming but not as they have known it before."It will not be just refreshing and renewal.
It will be deeper and will bring about great power and great harvest.
13. "This is a year of unique assignments."14. "This is a year in which I will release an abundance of creativity."Business
Technology
Inventions
Songs, ideas, and strategies
I heard Him say, "The secrets of heaven are coming to earth." Some of it will be so revelatory that even creative ideas on how to transform whole regions of the world will be released.
15. "I am going to wreak havoc in some of the U.S. government."Corruption will be exposed.
The wrong motives will be exposed.
Judgment is coming to this nation with great intensity and God is going to show who is on His side.
16. "This is the year that the lid comes off of the youth movement." The Lord made that statement as I saw a picture of a giant pressure cooker, shaking and ready to explode. Suddenly, the lid blew off, and the contents flew everywhere.
The shift this year will be monumental. Shift with Him, and see your greatest year ever.
"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert." --Isaiah 43:18-19
Let's shift with Him!By Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets Ministries
www.dutchsheets.org
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This prophecy is in alignment with what I have been getting. Interesting, what Dutch wrote about "restructuring" and the persecution of the true "apostolic & prophetic"...friends, what is coming, no eye has ever seen. Truly we are in the brink of a complete re-FORMING of the church as we know it....
------------------------------------------------
Dear Church,
Two interesting recent developments:
1. On the positive side from Jim Rutz: "It is a sign of the revolutionary times that a recognized university has asked house church people to give a course for credit. The exciting new course will be entitled, "Taking Your Place in the New Christianity: Global Megashifts, Miracles, and the House Church Movement" (PMIS 585B)," and it will be team-taught by James Rutz and Jeffrey Burns in February at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. (To register, contact Mr. Christopher Gammill chrigam@regent.edu , Coordinator, Regent University Center for Missions, School of Divinity.)"
2. On the not so positive side from Lee Grady, editor of Charisma Magazine. Here are a few quotes from his editorial/book review in the January edition of the magazine.
"Fire In My Bones: George Barna’s Dangerous Proposal"
"But what Barna wants to do is reinvent the church without its biblical structure and New Testament order—and without the necessary people who are anointed and appointed by God to lead it. To follow this defective thesis to its logical conclusion would require us to fire all pastors, close all seminaries and Bible colleges, padlock our sanctuaries and send everybody home to be discipled by somebody on the Internet or at a “spontaneous” worship concert. (After all, who needs buildings? Megachurches are so ‘90s.)
Barna is also surprisingly absorbed with American culture and seems out of touch with global spiritual trends. As a result his book has relatively no application in developing nations where churches today are growing faster than ever. I can’t imagine telling an Indian, Nigerian or Chinese church planter these principles. The vibrant new churches in those countries, in fact, are much better biblical models of what God wants to do in the United States than anything Barna has suggested here.
The message of Revolution is not for Christians in the Third World, and it is not for us. With all respect to Barna, who has helped us in the past with his facts and observations, this flawed proposal needs to be recalled before it causes some serious damage."
To read the whole article go to http://forums.strang.com/viewtopic.php?t=7564&sid=9863834cc195e52c55e4fc367f667939 Also, scroll down on the same page and read the very interesting responses to the article.
My comments: It's hard to believe that Grady read the same book ("Revolution") that I read. However, Grady's review reminded me that lots of people will feel threatened and angry by the "revolution" that is already underway and by the house church movement. How will we respond when they focus their criticism on us? Felicity Dale's (House2House) challenge recently was that when attacked by other believers we would "bleed Jesus". May it be so.
John White
House Church Coach
Denver, CO.
Website: http://www.dawnministries.org/globalministries/north%20america.htm
Blog: http://housechurchchronicles.com
Praying Luke 10:2b
Every believer a church planter.
Every home a church.
Every church building a training center.
This historical article is too INSPIRING not to share. Please read and be FUELED with
God's Passion for REVIVAL in our generation through UNITED PRAYER....DO IT AGAIN LORD!!!!
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"PRAYER brought REVIVAL"by J. Edwin Orr.
[J. Edwin Orr was one of the foremost authorities on Revival in the
last century. This article, based on one of his messages, is adapted
from articles reproduced in the National Fellowship for Revival
newsletters in New Zealand and Australia].
-------------------------------------
Dr A. T. Pierson once said, 'There has never been a spiritual awakening
in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.' Let me
recount what God has done through concerted, united, sustained prayer.
Not many people realize that in the wake of the American Revolution
(following 1776-1781) there was a moral slump.
Drunkenness became epidemic. Out of a population of five million,
300,000 were confirmed drunkards; they were burying fifteen thousand of
them each year. Profanity was of the most shocking kind. For the first
time in the history of the American settlement, women were afraid to go
out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily
occurrence.
What about the churches? The Methodists were losing more members than
they were gaining. The Baptists said that they had their most wintry
season. The Presbyterians in general assembly deplored the nation's
ungodliness. In a typical Congregational church, the Rev. Samuel
Shepherd of Lennos, Massachusetts, in sixteen years had not taken one
young person into fellowship.
The Lutherans were so languishing that they discussed uniting with
Episcopalians who were even worse off. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop
of New York, Bishop Samuel Provost, quit functioning; he had confirmed
no one for so long that he decided he was out of work, so he took up
other employment.
The Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, wrote to the
Bishop of Virginia, James Madison, that the Church 'was too far gone
ever to be redeemed.' Voltaire averred and Tom Paine echoed,
'Christianity will be forgotten in thirty years.
Take the liberal arts colleges at that time. A poll taken at Harvard
had discovered not one believer in the whole student body. They took a
poll at Princeton, a much more evangelical place, where they discovered
only two believers in the student body, and only five that did not
belong to the filthy speech movement of that day. Students rioted.
They held a mock communion at Williams College, and
they put on antiChristian plays at Dartmouth. They burned down the
Nassau Hall at Princeton. They forced the resignation of the president
of Harvard. They took a Bible out of a local Presbyterian church in New
Jersey, and they burnt it in a public bonfire. Christians were so few
on campus in the 1790's that they met in secret, like a communist cell,
and kept their minutes in code so that no one would know.
How did the situation change? It came through a concert of prayer.
There was a Scottish Presbyterian minister in Edinburgh named John
Erskine, who published a Memorial (as he called it) pleading with the
people of Scotland and elsewhere to unite in prayer for the revival of
religion. He sent one copy of this little book to Jonathan Edwards in
New England. The great theologian was so moved he wrote a response
which grew longer than a letter, so that finally he published it is a
book entitled 'A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and
Visible Union of all God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the
Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth,
pursuant to Scripture Promises and Prophecies...'
Is not this what is missing so much from all our evangelistic efforts:
explicit agreement, visible unity, unusual prayer?
1792 - 1800This movement had started in Britain through William Carey, Andrew
Fuller and John Sutcliffe and other leaders who began what the British
called the Union of Prayer. Hence, the year after John Wesley died (he
died in 1791), the second great awakening began and swept Great
Britain.
In New England, there was a man of prayer named Isaac Backus, a Baptist
pastor, who in 1794, when conditions were at their worst, addressed an
urgent plea for prayer for revival to pastors of every Christian
denomination in the United States.
Churches knew that their backs were to the wall. All the churches
adopted the plan until America, like Britain was interlaced with a
network of prayer meetings, which set aside the first Monday of each
month to pray. It was not long before revival came.
When the revival reached the frontier in Kentucky, it encountered a
people really wild and irreligious. Congress had discovered that in
Kentucky there had not been more than one court of justice held in five
years. Peter Cartwright, Methodist evangelist, wrote that when his
father had settled in Logan County, it was known as Rogue's Harbour.
The decent people in Kentucky formed regiments of vigilantes to fight
for law and order, then fought a pitched battle with outlaws and lost.
There was a ScotchIrish Presbyterian minister named James McGready
whose chief claim to fame was that he was so ugly that he attracted
attention. McGready settled in Logan County, pastor of three little
churches. He wrote in his diary that the winter of 1799 for the most part
was 'weeping and mourning with the people of God.' Lawlessness prevailed everywhere.
McGready was such a man of prayer that not only did he promote the
concert of prayer every first Monday of the month, but he got his
people to pray for him at sunset on Saturday evening and sunrise Sunday
morning. Then in the summer of 1800 come the great Kentucky revival.
Eleven thousand people came to a communion service. McGready hollered
for help, regardless of denomination.
Out of that second great awakening, came the whole modern missionary
movement and its societies. Out of it came the abolition of slavery,
popular education, Bible Societies, Sunday Schools, and many social
benefits accompanying the evangelistic drive.
1858 - 1860Following the second great awakening, which began in 1792 just after
the death of John Wesley and continued into the turn of the century,
conditions again deteriorated. This is illustrated from the United
States.
The country was seriously divided over the issue of slavery, and
second, people were making money lavishly.
In September 1857, a man of prayer, Jeremiah Lanphier, started a
businessmen's prayer meeting in the upper room of the Dutch Reformed
Church Consistory Building in Manhattan. In response to his
advertisement, only six people out of a population of a million showed
up. But the following week there were fourteen, and then twenty-three
when it was decided to meet everyday for prayer. By late winter they
were filling the Dutch Reformed Church, then the Methodist Church on
John Street, then Trinity Episcopal Church on Broadway at Wall Street.
In February and March of 1858, every church and public hall in down
town New York was filled.
Horace Greeley, the famous editor, sent a reporter with horse and buggy
racing round the prayer meetings to see how many men were praying. In
one hour he could get to only twelve meetings, but he counted 6,100 men
attending.
Then a landslide of prayer began, which overflowed to the churches in
the evenings. People began to be converted, ten thousand a week in New
York City alone. The movement spread throughout New England, the church
bells bringing people to prayer at eight in the morning, twelve noon,
and six in the evening. The revival raced up the Hudson and down the
Mohawk, where the Baptists, for example, had so many people to baptise
that they went down to the river, cut a big hole in the ice, and
baptised them in the cold water. When Baptists do that they are really
on fire!
More than a million people were converted to God in one year out of a
population of thirty million. Then that same revival jumped the
Atlantic, appeared in Ulster, Scotland and Wales, then England, parts
of Europe, South Africa and South India anywhere there was an
evangelical cause. It sent mission pioneers to many countries. Effects
were felt for forty years. Having begun in a movement of prayer, it was
sustained by a movement of prayer.
1904 - 1905That movement lasted for a generation, but at the turn of the century
there was need of awakening again. A general movement of prayer began,
with special prayer meetings at Moody Bible Institute, at Keswick
Conventions in England, and places as far apart as Melbourne, Wonsan in
Korea, and the Nilgiri Hills of India.
So all around the world believers were praying that there might be
another great awakening in the twentieth century.
* * *
In the revival of 1905, I read of a young man who became a famous
professor, Kenneth Scott Latourette. He reported that, at Yale in 1905,
25% of the student body were enrolled in prayer meetings and in Bible
study.
As far as churches were concerned, the ministers of Atlantic City
reported that of a population of fifty thousand there were only fifty
adults left unconverted.
Take Portland in Oregon: two hundred and forty major stores closed from
11 to 2 each day to enable people to attend prayer meetings, signing an
agreement so that no one would cheat and stay open.
Take First Baptist Church of Paducah in Kentucky: the pastor, an old
man, Dr J. J. Cheek, took a thousand members in two months and died of
overwork, the Southern Baptists saying, 'a glorious ending to a devoted
ministry.'
That is what was happening in the United States in 1905. But how did it
begin?
* * *
Most people have heard of the Welsh Revival which started in 1904.
It began as a movement of prayer.
Seth Joshua, the Presbyterian evangelist, came to Newcastle Emlyn
College where a former coal miner, Evan Roberts aged 26, was studying
for the ministry. The students were so moved that they asked if they
could attend Joshua's next campaign nearby.
So they cancelled classes to go to Blaenanerch where Seth Joshua prayed
publicly, 'O God, bend us.'
Evan Roberts went forward where he prayed with great agony, 'O God,
bend me.'
Upon his return he could not concentrate on his studies. He went to the
principal of his college and explained, 'I keep hearing a voice that
tells me I must go home and speak to our young people in my home
church. Principal Phillips, is that the voice of the devil or the voice
of the Spirit?'
Principal Phillips answered wisely, 'The devil never gives orders like
that. You can have a week off.'
So he went back home to Loughor and announced to the pastor, 'I've come
to preach.'
The pastor was not at all convinced, but asked, 'How about speaking at
the prayer meeting on Monday?'
He did not even let him speak to the prayer meeting, but told the
praying people, 'Our young brother, Evan Roberts, feels he has a
message for you if you care to wait.'
Seventeen people waited behind, and were impressed with the directness
of the young man's words.
Evan Roberts told his fellow members, 'I have a message for you from
God.
* You must confess any known sin to God and put any wrong done to
others right.
* Second, you must put away any doubtful habit.
* Third, you must obey the Spirit promptly.
* Finally, you must confess your faith in Christ publicly.'By ten o'clock all seventeen had responded. The pastor was so pleased
that he asked, 'How about your speaking at the mission service tomorrow
night? Midweek service Wednesday night?'
He preached all week, and was asked to stay another week. Then the
break came.
Suddenly the dull ecclesiastical columns in the Welsh papers changed:
'Great crowds of people drawn to Loughor.'
The main road between Llanelly and Swansea on which the church was
situated was packed with people trying to get into the church.
Shopkeepers closed early to find a place in the big church.
Now the news was out. A reporter was sent down and he described vividly
what he saw: a strange meeting which closed at 4.25 in the morning, and even then
people did not seem willing to go home. There was a very British summary: 'I felt
that this was no ordinary gathering.'
Next day, every grocery shop in that industrial valley was emptied of
groceries by people attending the meetings, and on Sunday every church
was filled.
The movement went like a tidal wave over Wales, in five months there
being a hundred thousand people converted throughout the country. Five
years later, Dr J. V. Morgan wrote a book to debunk the revival, his
main criticism being that, of a hundred thousand joining the churches
in five months of excitement, after five years only seventy-five
thousand still stood in the membership of those churches!
The social impact was astounding. For example, judges were presented
with white gloves, not a case to try; no robberies, no burglaries, no
rapes, no murders, and no embezzlements, nothing.
District councils held emergency meetings to discuss what to do with
the police now that they were unemployed. In one place the sergeant of police was
sent for and asked, 'What do you do with your time?'
He replied, 'Before the revival, we had two main jobs, to prevent crime
and to control crowds, as at football games. Since the revival started
there is practically no crime. So we just go with the crowds.'
A councillor asked, 'What does that mean?'
The sergeant replied, 'You know where the crowds are. They are packing
out the churches.'
'But how does that affect the police?'
He was told, 'We have seventeen police in our station, but we have
three quartets, and if any church wants a quartet to sing, they simply
call the police station.'
As the revival swept Wales, drunkenness was cut in half. There was a
wave of bankruptcies, but nearly all taverns. There was even a slowdown
in the mines, for so many Welsh coal miners were converted and stopped
using bad language that the horses that dragged the coal trucks in the
mines could not understand what was being said to them.
That revival also affected sexual moral standards. I had discovered
through the figures given by British government experts that in
Radnorshire and Merionethshire the illegitimate birth rate had dropped
44% within a year of the beginning of the revival.
The revival swept Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, North America,
Australasia, Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Chile.
As always, it began through a movement of prayer.
What do we mean by extraordinary prayer? We share ordinary prayer in
regular worship services, before meals, and the like. But when people
are found getting up at six in the morning to pray, or having a half
night of prayer until midnight, or giving up their lunch time to pray
at noonday prayer meetings, that is extraordinary prayer. It must be
united and concerted.
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(c) Renewal Journal #1 (93:1), Brisbane, Australia, pp. 1318.
http://www.renewaljournal.com/
fyi...
yes, after these trainings in Feb I'll be taking a good long awaited break from traveling ministry for the most of 2006 and focusing ministry in LA. At the same time, those of you who are in the Norcal and Socal areas these are some good campus ministry and simple church trainings I will be equipping at...
www.youthmove.net (Feb 3-4)
http://www.epicconference.com/guest.htm (Feb 10-13)
http://wcfellowship.org/wcc/2006/workshop.html (Feb 17-19)
also...there are some good messages on waiting upon the Lord, supernatural ministry and REVIVALL at..
www.passionchurchla.org & new mp3 messages at www.campuschurch.net (click on "tools" & "mp3 messages") rite on brethren! word to God.
40 Days of Prayer on College Campuses for Revival In AmericaHey CCN Associates,
Thanks for joining the CCN Conference Call. Below is a description and explanation of the vision to mobilize 40 campuses in 2006 for 40 days of 24/7 prayer to bring revival to America. We also had a good time of sharing about "contending for the power of God" on our college campuses. (If you want the notes to the teaching I gave email me jaeson@campuschurch.net)
For those of you who want your campus to adopt 1 out of the 40 days to have your campus pray 24/7 please email
becky@theburningheartcontract.com
coach@campuschurch.net
or sign up at our new website!
www.campustransformation.com
Read the 40 day vision details in below and the daily journals from Becky to inspire you to see REVIVAL FIRE break out on your campus and every college campus in America in 2006!!!!
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40 Days of Prayer on College Campuses for Revival in America
Who? Students, faculty and administration who desire to pray for revival in America along with up to 40 other institutions.
In advance of the opening of your prayer room, 24 prayer room hosts should be assigned to one hour. They can cover the hour in prayer or be available to pray with others. Normally, about 5 students enter the prayer room each hour. A “livejournal.com” update will be posted for all 40 days for any students who have been in their prayer room to record their experience with God. One faculty and/or student should be the coordinator with whom all/any can contact for information on the room.
When? 24 hour shifts (or more, if requested) for each institution between January 20, 2006 and February 28, 2006. Choose your date as soon as possible—and contact Becky Tirabassi at Burning Hearts, Inc. to post on the Burning Hearts website.
These are the proposed dates at this time; there are open dates between January 26 and Feb 13 at this time…other dates may open up or more than one institution is able to pray on the same date.)
Where? A well-located, safe room with an entry door (class room, study room, church chapel) on your campus that is transformed into a prayer room for 24 hours.
How? Invite prayer groups, club leaders, sports team captains, or any other student body campus leaders to come together for this all-campus effort.
First, pray.
Second, choose a date for your campus and contact www.campustransformation.com
Third, secure the prayer room.
Four, assign 24 prayer room hosts and prayer room team.
Five, invite students to sign up for your date/hours through all forms of media: print, e-mail, chapel announcements, flyers.
Six, determine prayer room team to creates/build the prayer room.
Week in advance: remind students daily; have a daily prayer mtg.
Day before: Build and consecrate prayer room
Day of: Watch God work!
What: A Prayer room should be big enough for at least 5 to 10 students to fit comfortably. These are a few ideas of what a prayer can consist of:
(1) comfortable, movable furniture (couch or ottomans, throw pillows, bean bag chairs, carpet/rugs, floor lamps, etc.),
(2) journals, water, pens, and crayons
(3) walls covered with butcher paper for posting names or nations for whom students are praying
(4) continuous, low-playing worship music
(5) confession and communion stations
(6) a place for shoes to be removed before entering the room
*Contact Becky Tirabassi at becky@theburningheartcontract.com or call 800-444-6189 x 11 to sign up or for answers to questions.
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This morning I was so encouraged by A. W. Tozer’s comments found in The Pursuit of God about chasing after God, loving Him with our emotions, wanting to know Him better and more than anyone else! Quote after quote encouraged me, including his call to become “justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.”
My heart burns, and I know yours does to…to connect people with the God who loves Him. In our zeal for revival, I am reminded that our truest, purest passion must be first and foremost for God alone. As you spend time with Him daily, allow Him to light the fire within you!
W. Tozer, “For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience thy are not the better for having heard the truth.”
The 24 hour prayer rooms will offer a unique, powerful experience with God for anyone who enters. Oh, how thrilling to be a part of inviting many to experience God in His power and presence and passion and purity! Wow!
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I feel overwhelmed, almost breathless, every morning that I wake up…the only way I can explain it is with these words:
I feel the weight of all 40 days on my heart—I felt this way with a 4 day revival and with the 24 Hour Prayer room we hosted… (God began early on to prepare my heart and mind to be clean and right before God, consecrated, dedicated, full of His Holy Spirit, very careful about what I watched, said and did! I wanted to be ready to speak, lead, open, pray…)
40 Days of Prayer seems like 10 x’s the weight …knowing that I need 40 prayer room coordinators who will indeed take the responsibility to “prepare a place for Him.” They will be my contact, but they will connect each person who enters their room to the living, loving God.
The preparation, dedication, consecration of each room—and signing up all 24 hours in advance of the room is quite a responsibility, but so far I have found men and women (all but about 7 days) who will carry that responsibility for their campus. I ask you prayer for each of them…and to pray that we find/add the last 7 very soon.
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16
As I make plans to attend each room (see list attached) I grow more and more aware that I will experience/sense/see/feel the presence of the Lord in each room! I anticipate a feeling—just as I felt in our “classroom, turned prayer room” this past summer…but for all 24 hours He was there. He was! And I get the impression that He will visit each prayer room for all 24 hours in each city—and it will be life changing for everyone who enters. Those who are assigned to pray—and those who are drawn to enter in—will find Him to be their all-in-all and they will never forget their experience with God.
Thus it is important to pray for each city—especially those immediately before and after your rooms…
It is most important to locate and dedicate your room, to visit it often as a small team of pray-ers, to gather a prayer team to create the room who will commit to covering every hour of the 24 hours, knowing that hundreds will add to your small numbers as the momentum gathers.
I also have a sense that the holiness of God—a power many have not felt before—will be in each room. All that I have read of Wesley, Edwards, Owen, and Murray is that those of us who are a part of revival should expect His presence, power, and holiness to be in and all over us. Let us begin to pray together for each other and our own room—and know that I am in prayer for you as individuals—your own consecration before God over these next 25 days.
I am about to book the first week of flights…For all involved (or joining in prayer support), please begin to spend time daily in the Word and pray over the next 25 days as we head into the 40 Days and then with each day…we are team brought together by God, most of us have never met in person, but He is our leaderJ! Great reads include: Religious Affections by John Edwards, Christ in the School of Prayer by A Murray, and Finney’s Lectures on Revival by Finney, The Calvary Road by Roy Hession, and if you want to join me in reading the daily devotional by Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, I know that we will be encouraged.
I will continue to send updates; I am also at your service. Until we meet in person…I love this opportunity to partner with you!!!!!!!!!
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A wonderfully “on fire” student mailed a book to me this summer titled, Fireseeds of Spiritual Awakening. It is filled with quotes by and stories of those who have been in the midst of revival on college campuses.
The ninth chapter is titled: Results of Spiritual Awakening on Campus. It opens with a quote from Edwin Orr’s book, Campus Aflame. He quotes Frederick Rudolph, who said, “The really effective agency of religion in the life of the college was the revival…which brought many into church and ministry. Most college presidents and college faculties of this era felt that they…had failed a collegiate generation, if once during its four years there did not occur a rousing revival.” The author of Fireseeds, Dan Hayes (a CCC staff) goes on to write…
“Only God brings awakening. He has outlined our part in preparing a way. But when we do our part, a spiritual awakening should produce some predictable results.
The outworking of revival seems to fall into four areas:
1. Holiness of life for believers
2. Obedience to God and His word
3. Increased power from God
4. A massive movement of God’s Spirit in evangelism.”
Dan Hayes, a campus minister had been a part of the revival that swept campuses in 1995 and thus the book. In support of his finding, Charles Finney—over a century ago—was convinced that if you want to see revival, you must pray for revival. This list of four signs of revival is a very concise way for us to pray for the 40 days of Prayer in a semester long effort. (Hayes even breaks it down into HOPE: Holiness, Obedience, Power and Evangelism.)
One final note…a very dear woman, Ev Christenson (a friend of Edwin Orr) who has seen and written much about world-wide revival and prayer recently met to challenge me with her findings on revival—she was adamant that its end result should be true awakening…new life in Christ for those who witness the revival of Christians. She felt so strong that not only should the church be revived, but the greatest result of a revival should be that the lost, those dead in Christ, should be born again in great numbers.
This is much to consider…I believe if we pray, as Finney suggests, for revival and the result it will have on each campus and throughout our country, we will receive exactly what we pray for…believing that this—revival and awakening—is passionately pounding in the very heart of God.
Be encouraged,
Becky
949-300-1490
becky@theburningheartcontract.com
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As I continue rereading Tozer’s Pursuit of God, I continue to see that what the 24 hour prayer room offers each of us is an experience with God to enter the “holy of holies!” Tozer addresses how many of us hold back from entering this place. In modern America, I suspect that the 24 hour prayer room will be a traveling temple!
Many “priests” in each city will prepare the room—and their hearts will be prepared in advance through prayer and worship and confession and time alone with God. Many sojourners in each city will enter the prayer room and for the first time in their lives have a breath-taking experience with God. We all will come face to face first with ourselves and then with the Holy God!
Ps 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Tozer describes how the holy fire of God purifies our hearts and how pure hearts burn with fire for Him. This sounds like Pentecost, eh?
Pray today that you, who are children and priests of the living, loving God, will examine your hearts before Him, be purified by His holy fire, then prepare each prayer room with that experience in mind. He, the Holy God will be traveling from room to room…and those who enter will indeed experience Him, they will be changed by His presence, power, love and mercy. I trust they every individual will see, taste, and experience the living, loving God. He is drawing them even now.
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Wesley Duewel, a former president of OMS International and missionary to India for 26 years, author of Revival Fire, as well as author of 2 other great books, Ablaze for God and Touch the World Through Prayer says that REVIVAL is preceded by prayer, fasting and obedience.
He lists, from his world-wide experiences, what revival looks and feels like:
unanswered prayer is gloriously and immediately answered
atmosphere is filled with God’s presence
awareness of sin is real, unsolicited, and deep
some preaching, some evangelism, much confession
some people tremble
unsolicited prayer meetings erupt
miraculous, instant healings occur
joyful song breaks out
lasting conversions
tears flow easily
hours of prayer
NIGHTLY, DAILY PRAYER MEETINGS
Charles Finney, in his book, Finney’s Lectures on Revival described prayer that reflects revival leads to…
overwhelming conviction of sin
sudden and powerful conversions to Christ
earnestness in prayer for others
profound moral changes
wrestling in prayer for others; angst
desire for the Word of God
bold evangelism
sobriety
deep love (emotion) for God
the Word of God is ablaze/alive
confession and restitution PROOF OF REPENTANCE
SPECIAL DAYS OF FASTING AND PRAYER
Prolonged, prevailing prayer
Hearts that burn for cleansing
First awe, then tears
Little to no backsliding
Facial transformation
Tears released uncontrollably
Sounds of Rushing winds and thunder filled the rooms
People didn’t want to leave
REPENTANCE, RESTITUTION, RECONCILIATION
PERSONAL TESTIMONIES
ANXIOUS SEAT (this is cool…you can read more about this in Finney’s Lectures on Revival)
Finney believed that prayer meetings were the primary means of the revival!
I get fired up when I read these lists—because I’m seeing these very things happen on college campuses. Whether few or many are present, the revival fire of God has a look and feel to it…generation after generation. Now is the time for this generation to prepare themselves for His coming revival—yes?
The 40 Days of Prayer is still looking to fill 8 more days—maybe Southern California schools are missingJ from our list! From 6pm to 6pm PST on Jan. 29-30, 30-31, 31-1, Feb 2-3, Feb 8-9, Feb 9-10, Feb 10-11, Feb 11-12 are still pending, but open. Please contact me directly for details.
Be encouraged,
Becky Tirabassi
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Happy New Year’s Eve!
As we watch the New Year turn—as I just did…in Hong Kong!!—I am reminded that in each city over the 40 Days of Prayer, some of us will be preparing and hosting a prayer room, others of us will be waiting for our room to begin. No matter where we are on the schedule—we are one! As students and campus ministers, we have the privilege to pray for each other…knowing the concerns we have for our own campus, we can pray for each other with true power and insight.
While meeting with the student leader of Berkeley’s prayer room this week (down in LA), I felt it would be very exciting for each of the room coordinators to invite the Chancellor or president, as well as any faculty members of each school to visit the prayer room. Perhaps this will be easier to facilitate on the Christian college campuses for many reasons. But I would ask you to make these invitations a matter of prayer! God wants to bring revival and awakening on your campus—perhaps just the simple invitation to a “prayer room” might indeed revive a dim heart or awaken a dead heart!
Ephesians 3:20…He does immeasurably, more than all we can ask or imagine!!!
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Happy New Year!
Wherever (and whenever) this e-mail finds you…be encouraged by the words in Psalm 46…”Be still and know that I am God.”
Hannah Whithall Smith, author of A Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life (around 100 years ago) spoke of her greatest struggle—unbelief! She committed to mortifying it—rather than letting it steal her faith, joy, and love for God.
Tozer said God’s voice is always waiting for us. Listen today…be still. In your alone time, He will speak above all noises—all doubt, fear, unbelief, and anxiety—and make Himself known to you!
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There is a great power added to your life when you live with expectation. To live barraged, hindered, or overwhelmed with doubt and unbelief—or even without expectation that God is working, and moving, and indeed speaking to us all day long—steals our faith!
If you’ve been reading the CYL Daily Bible (or any version of the One Year Bible), today’s reading in Genesis…is a very simple illustration that both the enemy (Satan) and God speak to men and women. They must choose to believe—in faith—that to believe God means to step out, to expect Him to do what He says He will do. At the very same time, the enemy whispers lies and half truths to deceive us, twist God’s words, or create doubt and unbelief. We get paralyzed, or worse…we ignore God and either do nothing or sin.
Today’s NT reading in Matthew is about John the Baptist—the preacher who “preached repentance,” preparing the way for the Lord.
In the scheme of things, over the next 2 months…it is critical that we listen to God, ignore the lies of the devil, and believe with expectation that we—each prayer room—is “preparing the way” for the revival that is on His heart.
Pray for each other.
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Once again today’s One Year or CYL Daily Bible brought a concept to light—40 days! In Noah’s time, God purified the land in 40 of rain and floods! (Did you hear the definition of Katrina means “purify?”) In the New Testament reading of Matthew, Jesus is baptized and then sent into the wilderness for 40 days of temptation. Oh my—the expectation that 40 Days of Prayer on college campuses can/will/must both purify and prepare us is exhilarating! Let us stay in the word—as Tozer says—“the Bible is the infallible declaration of His mind for us put into our familiar human words!”
I’m attaching a “view of the 24 hour prayer room” from a Berkeley student. This might encourage you in fresh ways to prepare the 24 hour prayer room on your campus.
40 Days of Prayer for Revival on College campuses begins in 17 days—woo hoo!
Prayer Room Idea Blurb
Berkeley has had a few 24 hour prayer rooms and I have visited a couple others at different events. There are a few essentials and then of course some optional ideas for building a prayer room. First and foremost, when you enter there is an area to leave shoes, cell phones, bags, distractions, etc. with instructions on the room and any other important information on the room. Next there is a separate area for repentance, which is super important to have in order to come clean before God before entering the corporate prayer area. Next is the corporate prayer area. This are should be the largest of the areas to fit all the people. It is a great idea to have blankets, pillows, and bibles available to everyone. As well as rugs for the floor if needed/if possible. Other nice things to have are candles, CD player with worship music, a guitar, a book of worship music. In one of the prayer rooms there was a tub of water with rocks around the repentance area, and that was really nice. Some of the rooms had areas separated by hanging sheets and that was really nice as well. A clock somewhere can be helpful so people don’t need to bring their cell phones. It is important to have phone numbers and contacts so that people don’t walk home by themselves during the late night shifts. One of the most used areas in the prayer rooms I have been in is the art area. Having card to right prayer requests on and paperclips and fishing line to hang it up on, lots of markers, crayons, pens, collage supplies, etc. is good. Also large sheets of butcher paper with different themes written across the top to be written on are good. If you have a prayer room where many denominations will be visiting incorporating the Stations of the Cross and other art work can be nice. Also, it is nice to have different stations or hanging posters that have ideas of what to pray for, for example, specific request for the school, community, prayer room, city, country, world, etc. A corporate journal, either using a laptop or an actual notebook is great as well as a posted sign up sheet of who is going to come when and perhaps a contact phone number for them is beneficial as well. A few of the rooms had little corners with coffee, water, & snacks which can be great for the shifts that are late night or people that are coming during a rushed time. The main idea is to make the room welcoming, comfortable, and above all a holy place. It should be a place that has reminders and outlets for worship and interaction with God.
And silent room for all…
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January 4th!! I got a call last night from two students—the “prayer leaders” from Days 1 & 2 (APU and CSU)—they called to tell me they were meeting with 12 others to PRAY FOR EVERY SCHOOL AND then wanted to know more about each of you!! They FIRED ME UP!
I’m beginning to hear the stories of how “the room for prayer” is being revealed to some of the “state school” students who are in charge of “preparing the room” on each campus, how the “burden of the Lord” is pressing in on individuals to live “set apart lives” when they return to campus after break, and the excitement that grows when they pray for the 40 days—all leading to blazing hearts afire! Yes, “COME ON!” the student yelled into the phone! That always fires me up!
Can you feel the fire? Can you feel and hear the wind? These students are sensing that God is going to come and bring more of Himself to each campus than we could ever imagine!! And they are specifically praying for the last 8 days to fill…by this Friday! Will you join us in this prayer request?
Oh, I was so encouraged by their courage and fire and enthusiasm and heart for prayer. In fact, I needed a bit of encouragement yesterday—and as if on cue, they called me (Darren was actually yelling my name into the phone when I picked up—he was so fired up!)
Now to businessJ…Charles Finney especially talked about the importance of prayer to prepare for revival. In one of the meetings we held in Feb 2005, we prayed at noon for 7 days prior to the meetings—in the room where the meetings would be held. It was unbelievably powerful to SEE the answer to specific prayers days later…in that very room! (In KC, a gal said she couldn’t stop crying when her friends, for whom she had prayed 6 months, came forward for prayer). I encourage you to set aside time to pray in your “campus prayer room”, if possible, even for 30 minutes daily for one week prior to your room. Finney, in his book, Lectures on Revival wrote about (p. 86) the “Spirit of prayer.” He wrote, “The Holy Spirit gives Christians spiritual discernment of God’s ordering of events, a discernment of movements of providence. Their sight seems prophetic.”
I want to encourage you to ask God for the spirit of prayer for your campus, your prayer room, those who will enter the room, how He will prevail on your campus and throughout the country during the 40 Days of prayer. God will begin to give you thoughts, ideas, and “marching orders”—what to include in the room, who to call even today to be on the prayer team. I know many schools are having a pre-prayer room meeting—some are meeting during the opening few hours of prayer…to worship and consecrate themselves, to petition and praise together while the prayer room is providing the quiet place of God’s personal presence for each person who removes their shoes and enters in…(I know one particular school that is building a shoe-cubby at the entrance of the room!)
Oh yes, the students who called last night could not contain their fire, their expectation!! God had answered my prayers from the morning through them last night!!! Let us continue to pray for each other, the rooms, the 40 days, of the revival to come.
Be encouraged,
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Another fabulous book that a student encouraged me to read and is called The Calvary Road by Roy Hession. He got my attention when he said he had read 3 times…it’s a quick read and has become one of Matt’s handbooks for “life with Christ;” it has also become one of mine and just yesterday a prayer leader whom I sent it to months ago said, “I’m on my second time through it now.” Hmmm…Roy Hession was a youth worker and a part of revival in England—he wrote the book in 1950! In speaking about revival—he wrote, “The outwards forms of revival differ considerably but the inward and permanent content of them all is always the same—a new experience of conviction of sin; a new vision of the Cross of Jesus and of redemption; a new willingness for brokenness, repentance, confession, and restitution; a joyful experience of the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse fully from sin and restore and heal all that sin has lost and broken; a new entering into the fullness of the Holy Spirit and of His own work through His own people; and a new to gathering in of the lost to Jesus. (and that is just he intro…)
He opens with, “We want to be very simple in this matter of revival. To be broken is the beginning of revival!” Roy takes the first few chapters and asks each reader to examine their lives and get rid of self—the big “I” and make it a little “i” as found in Christ!! He doesn’t stop with a one time examination for those heading into revival or extensive seasons of ministry. He calls leaders, students, followers of Christ to examine their lives daily—to be “clean cups”…to “clean your cup” daily. In fact, most of the book (50 pages) is about “how to keep the cup clean.” He is adamant that the “clean cup” is the way to keep revival in your life—and never lose it! He says, “Jesus wants you to begin walking in the light with Him in a new way today. Join with one another—drop the mask. God has no doubt convicted you of one or more things you have to be honest about. Start there. Be a team of two to work for revival amongst your friends. As others are broken at the Cross they will be added to your fellowship.”
I’ve seen this “clean cup” concept of revival working among college students—I know those who are staying accountable and prayerful are powerful. One student called yesterday to tell me that he is returning to his campus with a new level of consecration to God—though much is acceptable, even allowable, he is returning to campus to lead a prayer revival—and he wants to be a clean vessel—II Timothy 2:21.
One final thought—I’ve been present in many meetings when Bill Bright asked the same—daily self-examination and cleansing from anything that hinders--of those who were going to partake in a fast. (In fact, he felt a day of self-examination (honest, transparent conversation with God, any amends, restitution, apologies, willingness to change any area that God asks of you) was critical to seeing breakthrough as a result of our fasting.
So here, I believe, is our mandate…to understand that revival is first (and always) a place of humility and brokenness before God. The willingness to be more for Him, more like Him, more usable by Him will/does look different for each of us, but it will require a daily brokenness before God—a daily clean cup. (And if we are honest, it takes a concerted effort to keep one’s heart and mind and mouth and body clean before the King for 24 hours!) So, let’s walk in the light together! Let’s come before God today and come clean—and stay clean. For the power of a holy God is about to enter each prayer room, each heart, each campus, each community!! In other words, if you and I have known broken relationships, if we have hidden sin, if we have hatred or angst in our hearts, if we struggle with unbelief and risk bringing others “down” to our level of unbelief, if we make excuses for sins of jealousy or pride, if we have division or unforgiveness between fellowships or persons…dear friend, ask God to help you today.
And let us pray for each other, let us extend forgiveness to each other—and as we find reconciliation, as Hession says, others will find Christ—they are looking for love and will find true love if His disciples are known by their love!!! Yes, yes, yes!
Dear Lord…we pray together today…clean our cups…make us one…heal our hearts…heal our relationships…bring revival. Come Lord Jesus, come…
Be encouraged,
Becky Tirabassi
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For those of you who are unfamiliar with The Burning Heart Contract, or why I call people to have “Burning Hearts”, I thought I’d give you a bit of the history! (This is an excerpt from The Burning Heart Contract, Chapter 20…)
“In 1947, Henrietta Mears went overseas and began to sense a move of God in her life as never before. On Tuesday night, June 24, 1947, while meeting with hundreds of young Christian leaders, she spoke with more urgency than ever before, rousing the crowd to become “expendable” for God, compelling them to ask God what they could do for Him.
She called them all to be difference makers, disciple-makers, and to love prayer and the study of the Word of God.
Following the message, Richard Halverson (former Chaplain of the Senate), Bill Bright (later to become the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), and youth pastor Louis Evans had been powerfully moved by her message. They asked if they could meet with her for prayer in her cabin. They prayed for long hours, weeping and confessing sin, and “asking God for guidance and seeking the reality and power of the Holy Spirit. Then the fire from heaven fell, for God answered their prayers with a real vision.” (P. 281 Dream Big)
At the conclusion of their meeting, they determined to share their vision of taking the good news to college campuses throughout the world with leaders across America. And with an extra measure of power, within the next 24 hours, they brainstormed, prayed and planned a conference that would be held only two months later.
BURNING HEART VISION
The purpose was not to start an organization, but to spark a movement of the Holy Spirit.
Then the men and Henrietta Mears drew up a pledge called the Fellowship of the Burning Heart (A Commitment to (1) not less than one hour in prayer and bible reading daily, (2) and (3) to offer themselves in sobriety and complete chastity/fidelity, and (4) to lead at least one person to Christ each year).
And as teams went out to invite people to the conference, they were invited to join the Fellowship.
The eight-day conference would be help upon returning from the conference where the Fellowship of the Burning Heart was birthed….
Upon once again imparting her vision, the entire college department (at Hollywood Presbyterian Church) set themselves in motion to publicize the event and spread the word, sending invitations across America.
They began circulating literature… “God has spoken. The revival has started… the Holy Spirit spoke to a small group as they knelt in prayer… He gave them a vision with a plan for worldwide evangelism, filling them with the power of the Spirit in a manner not unlike the experience of the disciples at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has continued to lead…
There is continued evidence that this revival is the work of the Hoy Spirit and not something conjured up in the minds of men. This has been demonstrated by the fact that this experience was followed by personal confession of sins by individuals in great numbers and complete consecration of life on the part of many heretofore lukewarm Christians. Such action must necessarily precede any great religious movement, thereby providing “cleansed vessels” through which the Holy Spirit may work.” (P. 286 Dream Big)
Not knowing how many would come, when over 600 showed up at the conference center that held 500, expectation was in the air.
The event was unscheduled. There were speakers invited but not time frames were planned in advance as the commitment was made from the on-set that “the hour-by-hour program would be led by the Spirit of God, and no leader was to speak who had not been singled out by the Spirit working through the entire faculty, chaired by Henrietta Mears.” (P. 292 Dream Big)
The first day began with the group congregating in an open air meeting place called, VICTORY circle.
The entire first day was filled with just testimonies of how they had been invited, even compelled to come to this event.
Then, Henrietta slipped away to pray. Realizing that so many lives were so ready to make a difference in their world, but unprepared to do so, she spoke to them about sin, confession and forgiveness and the power of the Holy Spirit to perform such an internal-outer cleansing… if they would just be truly honest with God and give Him their lives… their hearts—the center of their desires and passions and personality.
87 colleges and universities had been represented and what was called the College Briefing Conference. And all attendees left with a sense of mission to “win their schools to faith.” (P. 295 Dream Big)
Henrietta Mears “encouraged every possible effort to win young men and women on campus to Christ.”
Present in every meeting from 1947-49 were public confessions of sin and great calls and commitments to surrender their hearts to the Holy Spirit, whatever direction that might take them.”
