revival

Ben Lim: “The Suddenlies of God are Upon Us…Because of Years of Preparation”

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This is  a powerful message of how God’s “suddenlies” are preceded by faithful prayer and humble worship

From The Elijah List, Ben Lim writes:

Ben Lim: “The Suddenlies of God are Upon Us…Because of Years of Preparation”

The spirit of suddenlies is a spirit of power and promotion. However, it doesn’t just happen suddenly. It happens at a cost. It happens at a time of being connected with the Savior. Suddenlies happen, not because it’s a spontaneous happening. They happen rather because there’s been a divine preparation in the heavens and in the natural for this phenomenon. Though it may seem sudden, it actually isn’t. Though many be surprised at how sudden your promotion is, the Lord isn’t. Most of the time, the person who is experiencing the spirit of suddenlies does so because he/she has been pressing and tarrying into the very subject and matters for years.

What wisdom! Don’t be surprised when you see God’s people suddenly promoted as if it just happened overnight…oftentimes they’ve been toiling and sowing for years, hidden, humble and paying a great cost. BUT then suddenly…God promotes them!

There is a spirit of suddenlies that is overtaking the Earth. The whole Earth is being swept up in outrageous, fascinating and overwhelming creativity. The whole world is being taken away into new dimensions of God’s glory. Not only is this a spirit of acceleration, but this is the spirit of God’s suddenlies. This is the doing of the Lord.

The spirit of suddenlies is a spirit of power and promotion. However, it doesn’t just happen suddenly. It happens at a cost. It happens at a time of being connected with the Savior. Suddenlies happen, not because it’s a spontaneous happening. They happen rather because there’s been a divine preparation in the heavens and in the natural for this phenomenon. Though it may seem sudden, it actually isn’t. Though many be surprised at how sudden your promotion is, the Lord isn’t. Most of the time, the person who is experiencing the spirit of suddenlies does so because he/she has been pressing and tarrying into the very subject and matters for years.

“We must put a high value on our prayer life, otherwise, we will not step into suddenly moments of miraculous manifestations.“

Sometimes we step into a suddenly moment, not because we’ve pressed in, but because of the sacrifice that was paid by our fathers and mothers. It’s almost like stepping into a vacuum and being shifted up into glory. All you have to do is show up and things happen. All you have to do is open up your mouth and things shift. Because there’s a sound, movement and frequency inside of you, all you have to do is release it and in Jesus’ name things seem to suddenly happen!

The Evangelist

How many times does the world-famous evangelist come into town and sweep up scores of souls? However, most people will know that it wasn’t just the coming of the evangelist, but it was also the preparation of the intercessors that ploughed through. It wasn’t just the hard work of the evangelist who preached the Gospel of salvation, but it was also the prayer warriors who prayed blood, sweat, and tears that tilled the hard ground for glory!

You cannot have the spirit of suddenlies unless you’ve laid yourself down in the spirit of intercession. Your intercession leads you to your inheritance. Your intercession aligns you with your destiny. Your prayer life connects you to your suddenly moments!

Most people will only see the seasons of fruit and flowers blooming and blossoming. But most will rarely see and know the cold winter nights of toil and pain. Most will see the sparks of revival and testimonies, while not even recognizing the many years of rejection, pain, hatred and agonizing prayer that one had to go through.

There is so much more than what meets the eye. Things don’t just happen on the Earth because God wills it. Things happen because His Church and prophets decree it and declare it. Things are established not by accidents nor by coincidences, but because of divine actions that are aligned with Heaven. When you are aligned with the heart of Heaven, you will experience its manifestation here on Earth. Most people will call this a sudden explosion, when in reality, there’s been a shaft ready to ignite…that’s been kept shut for years!

Prayer Activates Miracles and Glory!

There was a great revivalist, who was known as Charles Finney. He was noted to be the father of Modern Revivalism. He is also known as the leading minister and voice of the Second Great Awakening in United States. He would see masses of conversions and altars being thronged with crowds crying out in repentance. His ministry was mainly based around the areas of New York state. (Photo via Unsplash)

This man and his ministry would hardly be nothing, if it wasn’t for the humble and hidden intercessor, known as Father Nash. It is quoted: [1] “While Finney was preaching to the masses and seeing remarkable conversions, a humble man was prostrate in a house nearby, in intensive prayer for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The story of the almost unknown Daniel Nash is the story of a very powerful prayer ministry. So important was Nash to Finney, that, a few weeks after Nash’s death, Finney went back to an ordinary pastoral ministry.”

This is a very familiar story that is recounted many times: [1] “Finney recounts one episode; “When I came to a town to start revival, a lady contacted me. She said, ‘Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been staying with me for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten anything. I heard them groaning, so I looked in and saw them prostrate. They have been lying like that for three days. I thought something terrible must have happened, but I was afraid to go in and didn’t know what to do. Could you please come and see if they are all right?’ No, that’s unnecessary, I said. They are only travailing in prayer.”

[1]”Nash didn’t just pray before Finney came. While Finney was preaching, Nash and other intercessors were in a separate room, praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the preacher.”

Where are the prayer warriors who will toil with agony in the Garden of Gethsemane? Where are the intercessors that will cry sweats of blood with Jesus in declaring, “Father not My will, but Yours?”

Third Great Awakening

Everybody is talking about the Great Awakening, but where are the Father Nashes? Where are the humble and hidden prayer warriors who will give the last seven years of their lives, to praying for the man of God and his ministry? We must put a high value on our prayer life, otherwise, we will not step into suddenly moments of miraculous manifestations. Don’t neglect the tumultuous Father Nashes who prepared the way for Charles Finney. Don’t neglect the John the Baptists in the wilderness preparing the way! You cannot have one without the other.

Suddenlies Change Everything!

“You cannot have the spirit of suddenlies unless you’ve laid yourself down in the spirit of intercession.“

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4 NKJV)

Right before this passage, we see that the apostles and disciples were gathered in the Upper Room for a period of ten days. This outpouring of the Holy Ghost didn’t just happen out of nowhere but it happened after days of tarrying. It happened after the air and the atmosphere was ripe with an open Heaven! It is said that the Believers were gathered in one accord for a period of ten days! Ten days they were stuck in the Upper Room, praying and tarrying.

In order to step into the spirit of suddenlies, here are three pointers that will keep you in the place of readiness and preparation for the Spirit’s sweeping:

1. Prayer

Your suddenly moments are always defined by a period and process of prayer. Your prayer life will always produce an atmosphere for suddenlies. Your obedience will always align your heart for sudden moments of glory.

2. Pay the Price

It was during this ten day period, that the Believers in the Upper Room lessened from 500 to 120! There were many who left because they could not take the heat. Many wanted the blessing but not many were willing to wait. Don’t give up your sudden moments because you’re tired of waiting. Keep waiting, keep pressing in, and continue to count the cost. Don’t give up your moments of miracles for a measly bowl of soup. Continue to prepare yourself for the more of the Lord. (Photo via Pixabay)

3. Heart Posture

The Bible says in Acts 1:1, that they were all in one accord. This is total oneness and, rather, total union. There was not a thing divided in their minds and in their hearts. Your heart posture will position you for greater glory. Your heart posture will position you for your suddenly moments. Once your heart becomes one with God, all of Heaven will be poured out. There must be a spirit of unity within you and within your organization before the blessings flow. Unity and oneness and alignment with Heaven releases suddenly moments in the Lord.

I pray that the spirit of suddenlies will overtake you in this coming season. I pray that you will step into moments of suddenlies that will transform you and your being like never before. Suddenly there came a rushing wind and tongues of fire upon the people…suddenly! Get ready for your suddenlies in Jesus’ name! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

[1] (Quotes taken from Daniel Nash – God’s Secret Weapon on Jesus.org.uk)

Ben Lim, Senior Pastor
His Way Life Church
Email: benjaminlim6@gmail.com
Website: www.B100lim.org

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