Tag Archives: revival

Declaration & Praise: Day 6

“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:26
“Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” – John 11:40

Today I will believe You for what looks impossible to me.

I believe You for relational restoration.

I believe You for the renewal of minds.

I believe You for hope.

I believe You for flames to be fanned, for eyes to open, for hearts to turn.

I believe You for the healing of every wound.

I believe You for the revival of dry bones.

I believe You for the breaking of strongholds.

I believe that Your Truth will overtake and demolish every lie.

I believe You for unity in Your Church and in my home.

I believe You for holiness in Your Church, and in my heart.

I believe You for justice and revival to sweep across our land.

I believe that You can awaken us, bring us to our feet with a fresh breath of Your Spirit, and set fire to lukewarm hearts. That You can bring forth an army from a valley of dry bones.

Today, I believe You for impossible things, because You are the God of the impossible.

Today, I believe You, and I will see Your glory.

Forty Days of Praying the Word of God: Day 21

“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

Acts 4:31

Father, we are in need of a filling – a place shaking filling of Your Holy Spirit. Fill us up, I pray, and send us out to speak Your word, to be light in the dark. I pray that in every corner of the earth, Your Church will begin to fill up with Holy Spirit power!

I pray that You will pour out Your Spirit, stirring dreams and visions and prophecies in Your people. I pray that we will be led by Your Spirit, that we will walk in Your Spirit, and that Your Church will be visible fruit-bearers of Your Spirit, walking in greater and greater measures of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

I pray that our homes, our marriages, our families, our workplaces – in every place and in every relationship – we will bear evidence of Your Spirit within us.

I pray for a fresh move of Your Spirit, a fresh outpouring, to bring both power and conviction to the Body of Christ. May Your Spirit not be quenched in Your people, Lord, but may we instead match the very rhythm of our steps to the steps of the Spirit of God. I pray that we will once again walk in the healing, delivering, power of Your Spirit – healing the sick, breaking off oppression, lifting the downcast, setting captives free. Rid us of our programs designed to entertain. Strip us of our need for the attention and approval of men. Reduce us again to be lovers and followers of Jesus who pray for the boldness to do what You call us to do. May we be emptied of wise and persuasive words, and filled with the power of Your Spirit.

Father, I pray that You will begin to move through our congregations with the power of Your Spirit, cleansing us of what makes us lethargic and lukewarm, and breathing on the flame within us so that a passion for Your truth and Your ways will burn in us again. May we abandon all that is not of You, everything we have invented to make us feel religious, everything that pacifies our flesh while quenching Your Spirit. Come like fire, and burn the hay and stubble of fruitless works, works done by us and for us. Wake us from our slumber, Lord, by the shaking of Your Holy Spirit.

Empty us of us, and fill us with You, Lord God.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17; John 6:63; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Acts 13:52; Galatians 5:22-23; Galatians 5:25; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:4

Revive Us

They went into Capernaum, and right away He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. They were astonished at His teaching because He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes.– Mark 1:21-22

He preached, and something began to stir.

Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out, “What do You have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit threw him into convulsions, shouted with a loud voice, and came out of him.

They were all amazed, and so they began to ask each other, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once the news about Him spread throughout the entire vicinity of Galilee. – Mark 1:23-28

He set a man free and amazement was awakened.

When evening came, after the sun had set, they brought to Him all those who were sick and demon-possessed. The whole town was assembled at the door, and He healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons.  – Mark 1:32-34

And now an entire town came seeking the healing, delivering man from Galilee.

Maybe that’s what revival looks like.

A people not really expecting anything new, astonished at the teaching and authority of Jesus. Amazement at His power over darkness. The broken, sick, and tormented carried to Him on fresh hope. Crowds pressing in – not because they’re expecting a great show that will make them feel something for an hour, but because they need His power to set them free.

“…a man with leprosy came to Him and, on his knees and begged Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40)

“So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and He was speaking the word to them.” (Mark 2:2)

“While He was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and His disciples, for there were many who were following Him. When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mark 2:15-16)

Those desperate to be made clean on their knees begging for His willingness * People crowding His presence because they are convinced He heals * His presence among sinners and the offense it brings to the pharisee in us

Maybe revival looks just like that.
Maybe revival is less about a fresh fire from heaven and more about a fresh amazement from earth.

I mean, it’s possible that His Word will begin to burn in our hearts when we begin to burn for His Word, right? When we’re willing to push past what’s in our way so that we can get to Him, maybe that’s the sign that something that had died is finally breathing again. What if revival comes when we realize that He is our only hope to be made clean again, and we’re willing to drop to our knees and ask for His willingness?

What if we are revived when we need His presence to free us, not entertain us?

Covid, Revival, and the gaze of the church

It was Wednesday morning, August 19th, and I woke up with a headache and feeling like I had a chest cold. By the next day, it felt like full-on flu, but unlike any flu I had ever had. On Friday I got tested and on Sunday that test came back positive for Covid-19.

The next week was the sickest I’ve ever been. It was the flu on steroids. My joints felt like they were full of broken glass. I had horrible night sweats, a constant headache, a cough that would not quit, and less than zero energy. I couldn’t even think straight. I had more than one serious thought that I might die from this virus.

On day 10 the turn around came. Not a huge turn, more like a slight curve, but enough to give me hope. My joints stopped aching so bad, and I was able to come out of my room for a bit and walk through the house. One walk-through and then I had to go back to bed, but it was something. With each passing day it has gotten better, and today, my only symptoms are some shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, and a narly brain fog that sometimes makes it hard to focus, hard to communicate well, and hard to remember things. The cough is rare, if ever, now. No body pain. Some occasional congestion. I’ve read that it could be months yet before I feel back to normal. That’s ok. I honestly feel lucky to have survived it at all. I am very fortunate to have a husband who took such good care of me, even though he too tested positive. His symptoms lasted a day and then were gone and he was back to normal, except for the fatigue.

I also have a lifegroup of women who cared for us both for the first two weeks, by dropping off a meal every day. I usually find it very difficult to accept help like that, but there were days that I don’t think we would have eaten if not for that meal. I could barely stand up for more than a couple of minutes, and both of us were too fatigued to move much at all at times. I am so grateful for a community of women who jumped in to do what they could, dropping off food at our doorstep every day. Oh, another symptom that is still with me – I cannot taste or smell things. Actually, the taste seems to be improving. If something is tart, tangy, or salty, I can taste that. Otherwise, I’m just eating because I need to eat. I also struggle with bouts of nausea and stomach pain. This thing is a circus full of fun.

But, I had (have) a lot of people praying for me, including my family, and I believe with all my heart that those prayers moved heaven on my behalf. So thankful.

Ok, that’s my Covid ordeal. I survived and I am recovering. But lemme tell you the good stuff.

Before day 10, I couldn’t do much more than mutter “Jesus, help me” numerous times a day. But once symptoms began to subside, the tide turned. Covid often made it hard for me to sleep at night, so I began having lots of late-night worship sessions. Those sessions turned into prayer times, as I climbed back up on the wall to take my post as an intercessor, albeit a weakened, sometimes nauseous one. And then, my appetite returned with a ferocity I hadn’t seen in a while. Not an appetite for food, but for the Word of God, as I began a renewed search for the heart of my Father. I found my gaze had turned from being consumed with Covid, off of what’s been happening in the political arena and in the streets of our nation, and back to Jesus.

All of this had actually begun before Covid threw me against the rocks. Now, it’s rising up like flames that just hit the kitchen curtains. Spreading, growing. Because God used Covid to fan into life an ember that had only begun to burn. While my body was surviving, my soul began to thrive and that means God had His way and the enemy did not. Any way you turn it, it’s good.

I did not start the flame. I did not will myself to want more of Jesus or to seek more of His heart or to re-engage in intercession. It was not by my own strength or persistence that I came out of the worst part of Covid with a revival going on in my soul.

God is on the move.

And oh my gosh haven’t we all just been waiting for it? As chaos increases and lawlessness is more brazen than ever. As the deception grows thick and rage is running the streets, we’ve waited for God to pull back the curtain and reveal the truth and put everything right. But what if we’ve been looking in the wrong place for the move of God? What if He wants to do it in us, instead of out there? Perhaps the shaking starts with us, those who are called holy and righteous and belonging to Him. What if we’re the ones with the curtain and the need for truth in our innermost parts?

What if Jesus is turning the gaze of the Church away from what’s happening in the darkness and fixing it on Him who dwells in unapproachable light?

There is not one thing going on in the world right now that is outside of the sovereignty of God. Not one thing is thwarting His plans or altering His purposes in the earth. He is who He says He is. He will do what He said He will do. He has built His Church on the truth of the Gospel, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Nothing is hidden from His sight. He will neither slumber nor sleep. He is making ready His Bride, to present her to His Father.

Turning her gaze back to Him. Making a way in her wilderness and streams in her desert. Allowing the sifting and praying for her, that her faith will not fail. Calling her to return to her first Love, to choose the better thing, to love Him with all her heart, soul, mind and strength.

We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!

Hebrews 12:2 – The Passion Translation
What is God doing in you right now, in the middle of what you’re going through?
How is He attempting to turn your gaze to Him?

something is changing and we need to hear about it

Sit for a minute. I want to share what God is doing in me, because I bet He’s doing something in you too and we need the stories of what He’s doing, don’t you think? Because there is stuff going down all over the place and we’ve chased that storm long enough and now it’s time. Time to fix our eyes on Jesus and see what’s shifting on the inside.

For me, it’s become late night worship sessions that leave me face down with a desire for more. For closer. For deeper and wider and just more. As much as I can get. Remembering that His presence is better than anything else and I am made for this presence.

It’s remembering the cry of my own heart for over 25 years – “Where are You going and what are You doing and can I come with You?” What happened to that cry? Where did my desire to be with Him go? I wonder if responsibility took it. Or weariness. Could have been self-sufficiency. I don’t know, but what I do know is God has been shifting things in my heart and I feel shaking happening and I think whatever took my overwhelming desire for His presence has been forced to give it back. I’m becoming consumed again and it’s so good, so painfully good.

There’s a fresh urgency to prayer. To stand on the wall and in the gap and to stay awake and pray. To declare His Word and hear His voice and sense His presence in the place of prayer for those around me. It’s the pressing of the Holy Spirit to prioritize prayer. Stop putting it at the end and put it at the start. The throne room is holy and grace and mercy are flowing from it. The One who sits on that throne has all power and all authority and He inclines His ear to hear us speak. He’s telling me to pray like that’s true again.

Things are changing and shaking and shifting and I am waking up from a sleep I didn’t know I had fallen into. Shaking off what has distracted and distressed and detained me. Laying down lesser pursuits and running back to my first love. There aren’t enough hallelujahs. Not nearly enough.

I don’t know what God has been doing in your heart lately, but I can tell you what He hasn’t been doing – He hasn’t been making it fearful. Or anxious. Or hopeless. He has not made your heart believe that evil is winning.

Unbelief is doing that.

Stop chasing the storm and just sit with Him in His perfect peace. Let Him reveal what He’s doing in you. Let Him call you back from the chaos and stoke the flame in your heart for Him again. Let Him remind you that you are not in danger, you are fiercely loved by the God of heaven and earth and you belong in the consuming fire of His presence. Let Him give you back your voice, not so you can shout at the world, but so you can declare His truth and His praises and so you can prophesy to dry bones so they will live. Let Him shake you awake.

And then tell us about it, because we need to hear it.

…It’s not meant to be a secret.