Scripture focus…
(2) “O Lord, I have heard the report of You and was afraid. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make [Yourself] known! In wrath [earnestly] remember love, pity, and mercy.
(3) God [approaching from Sinai] came from Teman [which represents Edom] and the Holy One from Mount Paran [in the Sinai region]. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise.” Habakkuk 3:2-3 (Amp)
The following excerpt was taken from Herald of His Coming by Richard Owen Roberts
Revival Is an Extraordinary Move of the Holy Spirit
Occasionally … God Himself has taken ordinary men and through their ordinary efforts He has moved in an extraordinary fashion to produce truly extraordinary results. Pentecost was one of these occasions. Those who gathered in the Upper Room were people like us. They prayed as we pray. They waited on God as many of today’s Christians have waited on God. But, God met them in a marvelous fashion, changing their feeble efforts into a mighty movement which turned the world upside down. The marvel of Pentecost is not the extraordinary nature of the men or their methods but the Holy Spirit and the results He produced.
The great sixteenth-century Reformation is another of those extraordinary seasons. There is no human way to account for the splendid success of the Gospel under the preaching of such men as Luther, Calvin, Knox and a host of others, except to acknowledge that they labored in mighty days of revival
America has seen revival also. The powerful effects of the preaching of George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, the Tennents, and a body of like-minded Christians can only be adequately described as the extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit in revival.
Such was the case in 1857 when Jeremiah Lanphier, a simple man of faith and prayer, gathered a few businessmen for a noontime prayer meeting at the Old Dutch Church on Fulton Street in New York City. A handful of supplicants became a vast army of prayer warriors. A single prayer meeting turned into a nationwide prayer wave. Tens of thousands were converted, churches were transformed, society was benefited and the kingdom of God moved forward at a splendid rate. Why? Because great men were involved? Because new methods were utilized? No! No, indeed! It was God’s doing. By an extraordinary move of His Holy Spirit, He created an extraordinary movement which produced extraordinary results.
If we persist in describing/human efforts as revival and continue to think in terms of “annual revival meetings,” believing that the work we are doing for God is revival, then we must content ourselves with far less than God is willing and able to give. If, on the other hand, we can realize that revival is truly God at work in a most unusual fashion, then our entire being can be stirred with longings and supplications to see just such an outpouring of God’s mighty power in our own day!
The term revive suggests a return to consciousness or life. That which is revived becomes active or flourishing again. If consciousness and life are fully present—if everything is flourishing—revival is not needed and cannot be expected. Revival should be looked for during times of spiritual declension, during seasons of moral and spiritual bankruptcy and at those periods in the history of the church when a “form of godliness” is present but the “power thereof” is denied.
… Can you imagine the entire Body of Christ moving throughout the earth with unified purpose and Holy Spirit power? If that concept is too vast for your mind, think in terms of your own community. Consider every church in your community with every church member marching together in perfect harmony—every individual sharing precisely with every other individual the heartbeat of Jesus Christ. Imagine not one sleeping Christian left, not one backslidden believer remaining, but all alike devout and intent on seeing the will of Jesus Christ accomplished. To this startling picture add the same power of the Holy Spirit that transformed bumbling Peter into a Pentecost preacher. Unleash all this transforming power against the forces of sin and evil in your community. That is what revival is like!
Pastor Ray shared…
Once a month we have a pastors meeting. We usually do pray in those meetings but they are not always set up as prayer meetings. But this particular one was for some teaching on prayer and to pray. I am reminded just now as I was reading this that even just as you take however many pastors we have on staff, over twenty pastors, if just the pastors are in a place of unity, in a greater position of unity, supporting one another, not “this is my deal and this is your deal” like that but when the pastors are all gathered together and there was a real good anointing in that time of prayer. We were just there for an hour but there was an awesome presence that was in the room so we really connected together. Some of us had our arms locked and we just yielded to the power of the Holy Spirit and prayed out.
One of the pastors said he had seen us and had seen the church as in these times pressing on no matter what, no matter what we see, no matter what we hear, no matter what we think but pressing ahead into what God has called us and calling us to. There is more. That’s the good news for these days. There is more of His power and more of His presence when there is a greater anointing. We as members of the body, as His children yield to a greater degree to Him to the power of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah.
So we just get a small group praying in unity, we get more people praying in unity, we get the whole church praying in one accord and in unity, we continually lift up and pray for those that are sleeping, you know what I am saying, sliding back a little, maybe sitting down, maybe status quo and just keep pressing ahead like Brother Hagin prophesied more than once just to keep moving ahead, doing what you know to do, keep being led by the power of the Holy Spirit and lift up and declare the things that we must declare in these hours.
I believe that before that Pentecost time in the upper room they were desperate. Jesus was put on the Cross, put in the grave, many, many horrendous things were happening, it was a dark, dark time. These have been dark times. Dark times for our own nation, dark times on the face of the earth, different things happening that have never happened before but as members of the Church, children of the King of Kings and Lord of lords we should be bright lights, bright lights shining wherever there is darkness even where it looks like shining even more brightly because of the power and the glory and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Annie led us sing “Send the Fire, Wind and Rain”
Prayed…
Thank You, Father, that Your mercies are new today
For the overcoming power in each one of Your children
We overcome because You overcame!
The way has already been prepared because of the blood
By faith, we can see things the world cannot see
No weapon fashioned against us shall prosper because of the blood
Moving into the new!
Calling those things that are not as though they were
We receive that rain, fire, oil, and sense the blowing of Your Spirit
Bringing great revelation concerning You
Entering in – in a greater way
It’s wonderful, it’s glorious!
We declare that to come to pass
Praying over the roadways to be straightened out in Jesus’ name
Preparing the ways ahead
Calling things to change—openings in Jesus’ name
Crossing over and into greater days
Preparing the laborers, preparing words
An awakening—waking the sleeping ones
Lifting up the dates and times—praying over the seasons
Cares go! Fear, leave in Jesus’ name!
We decode some things
Pleading the blood over the Church
So the wind can blow, so the rain can come, so the fire can burn, so the oil of the Spirit can move forth in Jesus’ name
Orders, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding over the steps
Declaring open ears and eyes over the Church
New assignments for the Church!
Pastor Ray shared…
They are new assignments or new steps. They have been stepped on before but the fullness has not been experienced. So we back up. There have been some assignments for the Church that have been missed. We back up and pick them up as representatives of the Church, Individual and corporate assignments for churches and ministries yet to be fulfilled. We lift them. We lift them. It’s like we pick them up and we put them in a basket and we bring them before You.
Continued praying…
Divine orchestrated patterns and illumination
It’s line upon line precept upon precept so it will be the fullness
Every detail of the plan, every destination that was missed we pick up today
Back up and pick it up and go forward!
It’s today, it’s time, yielding to it!
The standard is higher than it ever was before as we gather every detail
In every assignment for the Church today
It’s new!
We raise the bar—it is raised and strengthened
Thank You, Lord, Thank You, Lord
We stand in awe of You, Lord
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious!
We enter in! We enter in!
Living waters
There is a fire that brings about a great desire
Burning and yearning for the fire
Great is the fire! great is the desire!
For the Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever and ever!
Your mercies are new right now
Going forth in joy as we bring up those places
Staying in the flow and letting the Spirit of the Living God direct every step
This is a new day!
We are healthy and prosperous in every way
Thanking You for it in Jesus’ name
