Do we really believe God will work?

Dutch Sheets points out that we can pray but not really believe that God will work. In regards for praying for our loved ones who do not Jesus, he wrote:

“Well, we ARE going to believe. And we ARE going to break heaven loose over people!” (How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones, 18).

I regards to revival. Do we pray and really believe that God send it?

Bryan

I Have Been Married 25 Years Today

Who would have thought! Lois and I were married on August 28, 1982 at Salem Baptist Church in New Brighton, MN. We were children! I love her more today than I did then.
I praise God for her.

Bryan

Has revival come to your area of the world?

Good morning from Omaha. Revival has not come yet to Omaha, but hundreds are praying that it will soon transform the church in Omaha. Has revival come to your area of the world? When it does, we will know it.

R.E. Davis put it this way:

"A revival is a sovereign outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a group of Christians resulting in their spiritual reviving and quickening, and issuing in the awakening of spiritual concern in outsiders or formal church members; an immediate, or, at other times, a more long-term, effect will be efforts to extend the influence of the Kingdom of God both intensively in the society in which the Church is placed, and extensively in the spread of the gospel to more remote parts of the world" (I Will Pour Out My Spirit, p. 15).

Praying for revival!

Bryan

Revival is Getting Back to Normal

Why do we need revival? So that we can get back to normal Christianity. Though when it does occur, it will be like something we have never experienced because the church is not normal ("normal" from God's perspective).

Richard Owen Roberts wrote: "Revival is an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results...The re-entry of Christ's manifest presence"

Revival will make the church as God originally planned.

Praying for revival

Bryan

A Quote from Thomas A Kempis...

Good Morning. I recently discovered the classic and ancient book, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A Kempis. I read this last night...

"True peace of heart can be found only by resisting the passions, not yielding to them. There is no peace in the heart of the worldly man (or woman), who is entirely given to outward affairs; but only in a fervent, spiritual man" (or woman or teenager or even child)

Praying for revival!

Bryan

Revival Begins with the Church

Revival is not about "them" outside the church. It is about us in the church--at least in the beginning.

“Revivals begin with God's own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervour and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones…Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!” (Andrew A. Bonar).

Are wee seeking revival?

Bryan

The Church and the World Needs a Spiritual Revival

It is easy to live moment by moment and day by day and year after year without realizing our need for God to revive us. Even as Christ-followers, we can get sucked into a deadly mediocrity that we mistake as normal Christianity. As P.V. Jenness points out below, we need a revival.

"Revivals are supernatural demonstrations of God's power. When will we learn to let God work in His own way? When will we spend more time in seeking to know what His way is than we do in devising human plans and methods which only bring us a sense of failure and loss? We need a revival. The church needs a revival. The world - hungry, restless, sin-cursed, dying - needs a revival. God wants us to have it. Let us make every effort to meet the divine conditions and let us expect Him to answer by fire."

P.V. Jenness, quoted A.Wallis, In the Day of Thy Power

Are We Called by God to Pray for Revival?

God will raise up an army of prayer warriors who pray for revival.

"God provides the men and women needed for each generation." –Mildred Cable

Are you a member of that army?

Praying for revival!

Bryan

Unceasing Intercessions for Revival!

Prayer for revival must be constant. Charles Spurgeon said it well...

“Oh! men and brethren, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would go home and pray for a revival – men whose faith is large enough, and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here, as in the times of former generations.”

Praying for Revival

Bryan

Is the church prayer meeting a joy and a delight?

What is the attitude of the weekly prayer gathering in your church? Is it well-attended? Is it a high priority?

In his book, Revival! A People Saturated With God, Brian H. Edwards writes, "In revival, prayer becomes a prayer and a delight" (p. 128).

Revival will pack out the church for prayer, and one hour simply will not be enough because we will be soaking up the presence of God.

However, as we pray and wait for revival, why not ask God to restore to us a passion and a love for prayer.

Praying for revival!

Bryan

George Muller's example of praying

George Muller prayed for the salvation of two of his friends daily for nearly 60 years. One turned to Jesus before George passed away; and the other was converted shortly after Muller's death.

What a great example of persistent praying. Let us all pray and not give up as we long for revival.

Bryan

The Long Terms Effects of Revival

When a person experiences true revival, he or she will never be the same. In his book, Revival! A People Saturated with God, Brian H. Edwards writes...

"Speaking with those who have been involved in revival, even fifty years after the event, you cannot help but realize that something of the glory has never fully faded from their lives" (p. 174).

Praying for Revival!

Bryan

Prayer Can Shape History

According to David Barret, around 170 million followers of Jesus are praying for revival of the church and world evangelization. There are 10 million small groups who gather weekly to pray for revival and the Great Commission would be completed (Alvin VanderGriend, Love to Pray, p. 86).

Imagine all that praying going on for revival! What an awesome time it will be when God answers our prayers and revival and evangelism will occur. Our churches and world will never be the same.

Praying for revival!

Bryan

When the Mountains Flowed Down

When the Mountains Flowed Down
All Scriptures KJV


Editor's Note:
This article is adapted from a taped message delivered by Mr. Duncan Campbell approximately thirty years ago to the students of the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh, Scotland. It chronicles some of Mr. Campbell's experiences and insights related to the revival from 1949-1953 in Hebrides Islands off the northwestern coast of Scotland.

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
Isaiah 64:1-3

I never read that third verse without my mind going back to what actually happened in the parish of Barvas on the island of Lewis. At the outset, let me make it clear that I did not bring revival to the Hebrides. I had the privilege of being there and in some small way leading the movement for about three years but God moved in the parish of Barvas before I set foot on the island. Revival is still a sign which is spoken against, and you cannot believe every story you have heard about the Lewis Awakening. Down through the years things have been said which have no foundation in fact, however, facts are powerful things.

Revival Defined

First, let me tell you what I mean by revival. An evangelistic campaign or special meeting is not revival. In a successful evangelistic campaign or crusade, there will be hundreds or even thousands of people making decisions for Jesus Christ, but the community remains untouched, and the churches continue much the same as before the outreach. In revival, God moves in the district. Suddenly, the community becomes God conscious. The Spirit of God grips men and women in such a way that even work is given up as people give themselves to waiting upon God. In the midst of the Lewis Awakening, the parish minister at Barvas wrote, "The Spirit of the Lord was resting wonderfully on the different townships of the region.

His Presence was in the homes of the people, on meadow and moorland, and even on the public roads." This presence of God is the supreme characteristic of a God-sent revival. Of the hundreds who found Jesus Christ during this time fully seventy-five per cent were saved before they came near a meeting or heard a sermon by myself or any other ministers in the parish. The power of God, the Spirit of God, was moving in operation, and the fear of God gripped the souls of men - this is God-sent revival as distinct from special efforts in the field of evangelism.

A Foundation of Intercession and Vision

How did this gracious movement begin? In 1949, the local presbytery issued a proclamation to be read on a certain Sunday in all the Free Churches on the island of Lewis. This proclamation called the people to consider the "low state of vital religion . . . throughout the land . . . and the present dispensation of Divine displeasure . . . due to growing carelessness toward public worship . . . and the growing influence of the spirit of pleasure which has taken growing hold of the younger generation." They called on the churches to "take these matters to heart and to make serious inquiry what must be the end if there be no repentance. We call upon every individual as before God to examine his or her life in light of that responsibility which attends to us all and that happily in divine mercy we may be visited with a spirit of repentance and turn again to the Lord whom we have so grieved."

I am not prepared to say what effect the reading of this declaration had upon the ministers or people of the island in general, but I do know that in the parish of Barvas a number of men and women took it to heart, especially two old women. I am ashamed to think of it - two sisters, one eighty-two and one eight-four, the latter blind. These two women developed a great heart concern for God to do something in the parish and gave themselves to waiting upon God in their little cottage.

One night God gave one of the sisters a vision. Now, we have got to understand that in revival remarkable things happen. It is supernatural; you are not moving on human levels; you are moving in divine places. In the vision, she saw the churches crowded with young people and she told her sister, "I believe revival is coming to the parish." At that time, there was not a single young person attending public worship, a fact which cannot be disputed. Sending for the minister, she told him her story, and he took her message as a word from God to his heart.

Turning to her he said, "What do you think we should do?" What?" she said, "Give yourself to prayer; give yourself to waiting upon God. Get your elders and deacons together and spend at least two nights a week waiting upon God in prayer. If you will do that at your end of the parish, my sister and I will do it at our end of the parish from ten o'clock at night until two or three o'clock in the morning." So, the minister called his leaders together and for several months they waited upon God in a barn among the straw. During this time they plead one promise, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring" (Isaiah 44:3).

This went on for at least three months. Nothing happened. But one night a young deacon rose and began reading from Psalm 24, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation" (Psalm 24:3-5).

Closing his Bible, he addressed the minister and other office bearers in words that sound crude in English, but not so crude in our Gaelic language, "It seems to me so much humbug. To be waiting as we are waiting, to be praying as we are praying, when we ourselves are not rightly related to God." Then, he lifted his hands toward heaven and prayed, "O God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?" Then, he went to his knees and fell into a trance. Now, don't ask me to explain the physical manifestations of this movement because I can't, but this I do know, that something happened in the barn at that moment in that young deacon. There was a power loosed that shook the heavens and an awareness of God gripped those gathered together.

Breakthrough in Barvas

Now, I wasn't in the island at the time. I was in another area when word came asking me to come to Lewis for ten days. I had other meetings scheduled and wrote back that I would put Barvas on my calender for the following year. However, do to circumstances I won't go into, my other meetings were canceled, and I found it possible to go to the islands as requested. Arriving by boat, I was met by the minister of the church and one of his office bearers. As I stepped ashore, the office bearer came to me and said, "Mr. Campbell, may I ask you a question? Are you walking with God?" I was happy to be able to respond, "I can say this at any rate, I fear God."

They had arranged for me to address the church at a short meeting beginning at nine o'clock that night. It was a remarkable meeting. God sovereignly moved, and there was an awareness of God which was wonderful. The meeting lasted until four o'clock in the morning, and I had not witnessed anything to compare with it at any other time during my ministry. Around midnight, a group of young people left a dance and crowded into the church. There were people who couldn't go to sleep because they were so gripped by God. Although there was an awareness of God and a spirit of conviction at this initial meeting, the real breakthrough came a few days later on Sunday night in the parish church. The church was full, and the Spirit of God was moving in such a way that I couldn't preach.

I just stood still and gazed upon the wondrous moving of God. Men and women were crying out to God for mercy all over the church. There was no appeal made whatsoever. After meeting for over three hours, I pronounced the benediction and told the people to go out, but mentioned that any who wanted to continue the meeting could come back later. A young deacon came to me and said, "Mr. Campbell, God is hovering over us." About that time the clerk of the session asked me to come to the back door. There was a crowd of at least 600 people gathered in the yard outside the church... Someone gave out Psalm 102 and the crowd streamed back in to the church which could no longer hold the number of people. A young school teacher came down front crying out, "O God, is there nothing left for me?" She is a missionary in Nigeria today.

There was a bus load of people coming to the meeting from sixty miles away. The power of God came into the bus so that some could not even enter the church when the bus arrived. People were swooning all over the church, and I cannot remember one single person who was moved on by God that night who was not gloriously born again. When I went out of the church at four o'clock in the morning there were a great number of people praying alongside the road. In addition to the school teacher, several of those born again that night are in foreign mission work today.

In Church, Meadow, and Moorland

From Barvas, the move of God spread to the neighboring districts. I received a message that a nearby church was crowded at one o'clock in the morning and wanted me to come. When I arrived, the church was full and there were crowds outside. Coming out of the church two hours later, I found a group of 300 people, unable to get into the church, praying in a nearby field. One old woman complained about the noise of the meetings because she could not get to sleep. A deacon grabbed her and shook her, saying, "Woman, you have been asleep long enough!"

There was one area of the islands which wanted me to come but I didn't feel any leading to accept the invitation. The blind sister encouraged me to go and told me, "If you were living as near to God as you ought to be, He would reveal His secrets to you." I agreed to spend a morning in prayer with her in the cottage. As we prayed, the sister said, "Lord, you remember what you told me today that you were going to save seven men in this church.

I just gave your message to Mr. Campbell and please give him wisdom because he badly needs it." She told me if I would go to the village, God would provide a congregation. I agreed to go, and when I arrived at seven o'clock, there were approximately 400 people at the church. The people could not tell what it was that had brought them; it had been directed by the Spirit of God. I spoke for a few minutes on the text "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent' (Acts 17:30). One of the ministers stopped me and said, "Come see this." At one end of the meeting house, the most notorious characters in the community were on their faces crying out to God.

On a trip to a neighboring island I found the people were very cold and stiff. Calling for some men to come over and pray, I particular requested that a young man named Donald accompany them. Donald, who was seventeen years old, had been recently saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit about two weeks later on a hillside. As we were in the church that night, Donald was sitting toward the front with tears falling off his face onto the floor. I knew Donald was in touch with God in a way that I was not. So I stopped preaching and asked him to pray. Donald rose to his feet and prayed, "I seem to be gazing into an open door and see the Lamb in the midst of the throne and the keys of death and hell on his waist." Then he stopped and began to sob. After he composed himself, he lifted his eyes toward heaven, raised his hands, and said, "God, there is power there. Let it loose!"

And at that moment the power of God fell upon the congregation. On one side of the room, the people threw up their hands, put their heads back and kept them in that position for two hours. It is hard to do this for ten minutes, much less two hours. On the other side, the people were slumped over, crying out for mercy. In a village five miles away, the power of God swept through the town and there was hardly a house in that village that didn't have someone saved in it that night.

In one area of the district there was bitter opposition to the movement because I preached the baptism of the Holy Ghost as a separate and distinct occurrence following conversion. Those who opposed me were so successful in their opposition that very few people came to the meetings. One night, the session clerk came to me and said, "There is only one thing we can do to the correct the situation which now prevails. We must give ourselves to waiting upon God in prayer. I have been told there is a farmer who said we could meet in his home. He is not a Christian and his wife isn't saved, but they are God-fearing people." About thirty of us, ministers and elders from the district, met in this farmer's house.

I felt the going very, very hard. I prayed. All the ministers prayed. One felt that the very powers of hell were unleashed. About midnight I turned to one of the elders and told him I thought the time had come for him to lay hold of God. This man rose to his feet and prayed for about half and hour. (Of course, you must remember that we were in revival, and in revival time doesn't exist. Nobody was looking at the clock.) The man paused, lifted his hand toward heaven and said, "God, did You know that your honor is a stake? You gave the promise that You would pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, and You are not doing it." I wonder how many of us could approach God with words like that on our lips?

Then he said, "There are five ministers in this meeting, including Mr. Campbell, and I don't know where a one of them stands in Your Presence. But if I know anything about my own heart, I think I can say that I am thirsty for a manifestation of Your power." He paused again, then cried out in aloud voice, "God, Your honor is at stake and I now challenge You to pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground." And in that moment the stone-built house literally shook like a leaf. I immediately went to the Acts of the Apostles where it is recorded that they prayed and the place where they were assembled was shaken.

As soon as this dear man stopped praying, I pronounced the benediction a little after two o'clock in the morning and went out to find the whole village ablaze with God. I went into one house and found nine women on their knees in the kitchen crying out to God. One woman saved that night has written some of the finest Gaelic hymns in our Gaelic hymnal. On the following Sunday, the road was black with the people walking two miles to the church. The drinking house in that particular village closed that night and has never reopened since. This is God at work. A God sent revival is always a revival of holiness.

Conclusion

It takes the supernatural to break the bonds of the natural. You can make a community mission-conscous. You can make a community crusade-conscious. But only God can make a community God-conscious. Just think about what would happen if God came to any community in power. I believe that day is coming. May God prepare us all for it. Amen.

Duncan Campbell: Duncan Campbell (1898-1972) was raised in the Highlands of Scotland. He came to the Lord as a teenager and served congregations of the United Free Church (Presbyterian) and as an itinerant evangelist. In addition to his involvement in the Lewis Awakening, he was much in demand as a speaker throughout the British Isles.

Prayer, Holiness and Reaching Others...

Good morning.

The advancement of God's Kingdom through the local church depends heavily on our personal holiness and fervent praying.

Andrew T. Pierson words it this way...

“If missions languish, it is because the whole life of godliness is feeble. The command to go everywhere and preach to everybody is un-obeyed, until the will is lost by self-surrender in the will of God. There is little right giving because there is little right living, and because of the lack of sympathetic contact with God in holiness of heart, there is a lack of effectual contact with him at the Throne of Grace. Living, praying, giving and going will always be found together, and a low standard in one means a general debility in the whole spiritual being.”

Let us keep praying for revival as we seek to be like Jesus

Bryan

What is Your Church Prayer Gathering Like?

Good Morning.

When your church gathers for prayer, what is the theme of the prayers? Is it give-me, give-me, give-me?

What would happen to our churches and lives if we prayed with great faith?

"Prayer meetings are dead affairs when they are merely asking sessions; there is adventure, hope and life when they are believing sessions, and the faith is corporately, practically and deliberately affirmed."
– Norman Grubb

Praying for revival

Bryan

Intense Prayer

How intense should our prayers for revival be?

Amy Carmichael has the answer...

"Pray that we may enter into that travail of soul with Him. Nothing less is any good. Spiritual children mean travail of soul-spiritual agony."

Praying for Revival

Bryan

Praying for Prodigals

Good morning. Tonight at Harvey Oaks Baptist Church, we are praying for the prodigals in our lives. We are praying for our sons and daughters and grandchildren and others who have left the Church and Jesus. Dutch Sheets has written an excellent book on the subject called How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones. In it, he states that we can believe and persevere that God will break through in the lives of the prodigals..

“Well, we ARE going to believe. And we ARE going to break heaven loose over people!”
(18)

Amen!

Bryan

When Revival Comes....

When revival comes to a local church (after weeks or months or years of fervent praying for it) one of the first sure signs of a true revival will be sorrow and brokenness over personal sin.

Robert Owen Roberts, in his book, Revival writes...

"Pride and self-centered living will no longer be excused as necessary defenses in a wicked world, but the very essence of evil itself. Words carelessly spoken will rise from their forgotten graves to haunt and torment until such a wave of conviction is felt that it will seem impossible to stand before it.

Long forgotten sins against members of the Body of Christ will be remembered with great grief. Indeed, when revival comes, so powerful will be the conviction that persons who once thought themselves well worthy of heaven will stand in wonder and amazement that they are not already burning in the fires of hell" (p.23).

If we are thinking that revival isn't necessary in our church because the above sins don't apply, then we are in desperate need for revival.

Bryan

Prayer In Nashville

Over 50,000 people met in Nashville to pray for the nation.

55,000 Answer 'The Call'
Written by Mark Kelly

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The sins of a nation drew an estimated 55,000 believers to Nashville July 7 to convene a "solemn assembly" and pray for spiritual awakening among America's young people.

Christians from all 50 states and countries as far away as Nepal and Mongolia gathered in Nashville's riverfront LP Field for The Call -– 12 hours of worship and prayer they hoped would spark a renewal movement that would sweep the country.

The nondenominational event marked 40 years since the "Summer of Love" in San Francisco unleashed a wave of sexual promiscuity, drug abuse, abortion on demand and pornography in the country and separated a generation of Americans from God, organizers said.

Public confession and repentance was a hallmark of the day, as a series of individuals testified about the havoc those sins had wreaked in their lives and publicly prayed for forgiveness –- both individually and on behalf of the nation.

Sam Brownback, a Republican senator from Kansas and GOP presidential contender, greeted the crowd when the meeting opened at 10 a.m., affirming that he shared their convictions about the sanctity of life and the need for spiritual renewal in America. Popular musicians like Ricky Skaggs, Michael W. Smith and Jeff Deo echoed Brownback's concerns and performed for the assembly.

The Nashville event also commemorated 40 years since the youth revival called the Jesus Movement swept America -– and organizers hoped it would spark a similar movement for another generation.

"America is a sleeping nation. We have casually and nonchalantly let things slide and get worse," said Morgan Blount, a staff member of The Call from Dallas. "We are calling for young people in this country to wake up and take a stand, to pray about our world instead of just complaining about what's wrong with it. We are calling them to take action and believe that the Lord can change things."

Prayer is the key to spiritual awakening, said Adam Thomas, a staff member of The Call from Louisville, Ky.

"This weekend was about prayer, whether you are Baptist or Catholic or Church of Christ. We believe that prayer changes things," Thomas said. "Our desire is to see God come back on the scene like He did in the 1800s, when there was a great awakening that shut down entire towns with the power of God.

"I believe that a movement of prayer is going to unlock these things for America. We believe history belongs to the intercessors. Ezekiel 22:30 tells us God is looking for a company of people who will stand in the gap in prayer so the country will not have to be destroyed. We want to be like the widow in Luke 17 who kept pressing the judge until he gave her what she wanted."

As midday temperatures soared near 100 degrees, worshipers lifted their hands in prayer. The stadium floor was sectioned off for those who wanted the freedom to prostrate themselves or kneel in prayer.

Many of those in attendance had fasted for up to 40 days in preparation. Prayerwalkers left Nashville's Centennial Park at 7 a.m. and made their way in silence through downtown to the stadium.

To symbolize their desire for America to return to a covenant relationship with God, three couples simultaneously exchanged marriage vows late in the afternoon.

Organizer Lou Engle, who initiated The Call in Washington, D.C., in 2000, chose the date -– 7/7/07 -– because seven is the biblical number of covenant.

"In the Old Testament, the cult of Baal was identified with violence and death, sexual promiscuity, pornography and promiscuity," said Dutch Sheets, senior pastor of Springs Harvest Fellowship in Colorado Springs, Colo. "We are here today to confess our nation's sin and ask God to renew His covenant with us. This stadium is a courtroom today. We have filed for divorce as a nation from the spirit of Baal, and we are petitioning God for custody of our children."

The event was broadcast live over the Internet at thecall.com and Christian television networks like God TV, TBN, DayStar and Inspiration Network also carried part of the proceedings to as many as 200 countries.

The evening closed with 300 men -– the number of Gideon's biblical army -– blowing the shofar while those in the stands shouted.

"That was the highlight for me," said Julia Richardson, spokeswoman for the event. "You could feel the presence of the Lord. In the sound of the shofar, we pray our destinies are released and that the city of Nashville would see a new wave of the Lord."

Future gatherings are planned later this year for Las Vegas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Orlando, Detroit and Berkeley, Calif. An assembly is scheduled for Washington, D.C., in August 2008.

( http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0%2C1703%2CA%25253D165809%252526M%25253D200725%2C00.html?)