revival

A Deadly Culture

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I was shocked and distressed to hear on the news last night that a 4 year old child is beginning to transition gender. It is disturbing that “adults” involved in the care of the child considers this to be a good idea.

 

Really at 4 years of age children are still trying to work out how their body works and have only the vaguest of awareness that boys and girls are different. Some boys play better with girls than boys but that doesn’t make them girls. Some girls would rather play with cars than dolls, but as the feminists remind us constantly, that does not make them boys.

 

How does any 4 year old get the idea that they should be the opposite sex, without the encouragement of “adults”?

 

We live in an age that has abandoned all sense of reality. We are taking the concept of “you can be anything you want to be”, which was always a lie, to absurd levels. When feelings are the basis of important life decisions, stupidity will prevail in the long run.

 

What we are experiencing right now is a rapid unravelling of western culture. It started with the sexual liberation movement of the 1960’s, the destruction of families through easy divorce and acceptance of de facto relationships in the 1970’s and 80’s, the rejection of christian ethics as relevant to culture on the 1990’s. You could add to that post-modernist rejection of truth as a category and the rise of post-normal science (the results you want are more important than actual data).

 

Now we are faced with massive challenges from radical Islam, political tyrants who will do anything to implement their own ideas, increasing dependence of individuals on government largess and a host of other social and economic problems. We lack the courage and the resources to tackle them because we are too engaged in pandering to feeling good about ourselves.

 

The hope that I hold onto is that eventually as a nation we will turn back to Jesus and embrace the values of the gospel. I hope and pray often for a revival of faith that can only come from a supernatural encounter with the Spirit of God.

Love For God And One Another

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This morning I was studying John 17:20-26 and I was struck by an interesting chain of logic in this section of Jesus’ prayer.

The logic runs like this:

  1. Jesus and the Father are one- one heart, one mind, one purpose
  2. His desire is that His followers will be one with Him in that same way
  3. Then they will be one with each other- one heart, one mind, one purpose
  4. Then the world will know Jesus and the Father

A similar thread runs around the word glory. In John’s gospel it is on the cross that Jesus is glorified, and this is happening right before the crucifixion.

  1. The Father gave His glory to Jesus
  2. Jesus has passed this glory to His followers
  3. The result is that they will be one
  4. Jesus then prays that they will see His glory

When christians argue and refuse to love one another it is a sign that they don’t love God enough and have not seen His glory. If you do a search on almost any well-known Christian leader you will quickly find a thousand or more pages about why that person is a heretic or not even saved.

Those pages betray a problem with their authors- they don’t love God enough.

The positive side of this is that if we pursue God with pure passion, then He will give us a greater love for His people. I have seen that in my own life. Each morning as I pray for the people in my church, the Lord gives me a deeper appreciation and love for each one. Lately He has directed me to pray for the other pastors in the town and I am finding the same process at work. I actually like these men and women!

If we want to see our town and our nation turn to Christ we first must learn to love one another more. But to do that we must love God more. The starting place has to be worship, both personal and corporate, reading the Scriptures and praying for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. As we do these things, He will show us people to pray for and give us the love to serve them.

In the midst of all these things, if I read John 17 correctly, we will start to see the glory of God released and flowing out from us to the world.

That is how revival starts.

Insanity or Grace

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einstein

It was at Hillsong Conference in the 1990’s that I was first introduced to the quotation allegedly by Einstein: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

It sounds very wise, and it’s a great motivator to check whether the things that you do produce the results you want.

While this is a sensible proposition in all kinds of fields from science to human relationships, it falls apart when we bring God into the picture.

The grace of God is a disruptive force that overwhelms every human endeavour and renders predictions totally impossible.

About the middle of this year, I heard God very clearly say to me, “Do not be afraid to pray for a doubling of the congregation by the end of the year.” Since that time I have prayed nearly every day for just that, and we are close to seeing that prayer answered.

We have not substantially changed anything we do, but during the second half of this year our church has grown from about 30 to over 50. A few more people and the church will have doubled- with no effort on our part and no change in our services or in the cell groups.

There have been long periods in the past when I have prayed for God to grow our church, and there have been times when I felt that a doubling would take place. But always increase has been slow and steady, incremental not rapid.

If you look at all of the instances of revival that have happened around the world, it is often difficult to pin point a change or a new factor that took the church in a nation from praying for revival to bringing in a harvest of souls.

What makes the difference? Grace- the supernatural power of God which is released in God’s time (kairos). Suddenly prayers are answered. Suddenly people who were resistant to the gospel are open. Suddenly people who seemed to be confirmed in their sinful ways repent and turn to the Lord.

At a human level nothing has changed, yet the results are wildly different.

Insanity is ignoring the direction of the Holy Spirit and hoping for success anyway.

All christians need to be listening to the Lord, constantly asking “Is this still your plan for me? Do I persevere or change direction?”

You never know when the next stroke of the hammer is the one that brings the breakthrough.

 

Revival in the Middle East

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The news broadcasts seem to show an invincible Islamic advance throughout the Middle East, but in fact many Muslims around the world are converting to Christ in big numbers.

From World Revival Network:

The Underground Revival In The Middle-East That Might Just Take Down Islam

The churning, tempestuous world looks remarkably different than many imagine. This is undoubtedly true if you’re an average American. 

In the darkest corners of the Middle-East there’s a revival beginning that’s unprecedented in the history of world missions. I’ve previously reflected on it hereand here, but I wanted to take this amazing story further than before.

I hope that you’ll journey with me as I explore unbelievable developments in the expansion of Christianity in the Middle-East.

Reliable reports suggest more Muslims have become followers of Jesus over the last two decades than in Islam’s combined 1,500 year history. Based on the accounts of several missiologists, it has been surmised that “more Muslims have committed to follow Christ in the last 10 years than in the last 15 centuries of Islam.”[1] In spite of great difficulty and turmoil, Christianity is unquestionably expanding throughout Islamic world. God is up to something amazing in a region that many have thought was unreachable.
 
Rosenberg’s Insights Into The Middle-Eastern Revival 

Joel Rosenberg, an Evangelical researcher, author, and resident of Israel has documented the recent upsurge of Christianity in the Middle-East. Through first-hand reconnaissance, coupled with reports from Arabic nationals, Rosenberg demonstrates that Christianity is rising rapidly in the world of Islam. 

Admittedly some of the following statistics have shifted in the aftermath of the Isis and other violent demonstrations against Christians. Those who follow Jesus have been slaughtered and have experienced severe persecution in this region. Nevertheless, Joel Rosenberg’s observations provide a window into many amazing developments.

Some of the particulars can certainly be debated, but in many of the Mediterranean nations, Christianity is making extraordinary inroads. Though the subsequent conversion figures are impossible to confirm, even in their imprecision, they provide a snapshot of what’s transpiring in the Middle East.

Full article here

Victoria Boyson: “I Saw An Army of Women!”

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“Can I have One Billion Souls, Lord?”

“Kings and armies flee in haste; the women at home divide the plunder”Psalm 68:12 NIV

After I’d been praying, prophesying and believing God for revival for years, the Father asked me one day, “What kind of revival do you want?”

Knowing full-well His questions are usually leading questions, I asked Him, “Well, what kind of revival should I want, Father?”

He answered back, “Do you want a revival of souls or of miracles?”

I thought for a bit and answered, “I want a revival of souls…with a lot of miracles!”

“How many souls do you want?” He continued.

Digging deep for an answer, I remembered Evan Roberts from the historical Welsh revival asked God for 100,000 souls and he got them. So, I hesitantly answered, “Could I have 100,000 souls, Lord?”

He was silent.

I knew I had answered timidly, so I tried again. Reaching for more faith, I answered, “500,000 souls, Lord?”

Again, I heard nothing.

I knew I was not believing for enough from Him and tried again. “1,000,000 souls, Lord?” I asked sheepishly.

Again, nothing. I tried again, “5,000,000?”

Nothing.

Wow! I really thought I was led by faith with that last guess, so I just threw caution to the wind and declared loudly, “One-billion souls, Lord!!!”

“Now you are talking, daughter,” He answered.

Later, I questioned Him, “Lord, how could I win a billion souls?”

 

Read the full article here

Prophetic Word: There’s a Flood Coming

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Tonight as we were praying, the Lord gave me this word for Narrabri:

A Flood of the Spirit

There is a flood coming, but not of water. The Holy Spirit is coming in a gentle flood in which many will be saved.

Many in the church will be unprepared because they have failed to heed the flood warnings. People will come looking for salvation or healing or forgiveness of sins and the churches will not know what to do.

The flood is coming. Be ready.

Some churches are so tightly tied to their moorings that as the flood levels rise they will not be able to rise with the water and they will sink.

Be flexible and trust me.

While I was looking for Isaiah 60:22 which God gave me in the past as a promise for our church I came across Isaiah 59:10-20

“From the west, men will fear the name of the Lord,

And from the rising of the sun they will revere His glory

For He will come like a pent-up flood

That the breath of the Lord drives along.

The Redeemer will come to Zion

to those in Jacob who repent of their sins” declares the Lord.

Revival in Iran

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From International Christian Concern:

Revival in Iran: ‘I Want to Be a Christian’

ICC Note: With violence following Christians throughout the Middle East and governments brutally repressing the church, it can be hard to look past the persecution. However, a closer look at the church in Iran brings an encouraging note to the recent wave of arrests. A revival is taking place in Iran, bringing many to Jesus Christ, though at great costs as many are forced to leave the country or risk arrest. Local house churches have celebrated baptisms, salvation, and a renewed faith. This comes as an encouragement that through the tribulation and persecution, the church is not dead in Iran but continues to grow among its believers.

Read the rest here