Listen to the Sounds of a Great Stirring

Do you hear that sound? It is the increasingly urgent cry of people who are desperate for revival! I suspect we will be hearing it more and more in the coming year. You can’t read the news (through the lens of Scripture) without recognizing we are in unprecedented times. The wake-up call is sounding, and the Lord is urging us to return to Him with repentant hearts, eager to see Him move in a powerful, global revival.

I first began writing about revival and spiritual awakening nearly 20 years ago. I knew something more was needed to embolden God’s people to pursue personal holiness and the salvation of those who don’t know Jesus as Savior. The Spirit put it in my heart to long for more, especially the need for true repentance and brokenness among Christians. To be honest, I’ve struggled to be true to that message in various circles. I’ve actually experienced rejection as people have tried to downplay the crisis that we are in as a church and nation.

But the Lord used the criticism of fellow believers to increase my desperation for Him to move in revival. Pain will do that to you. His message to me over and over again has been clear: “God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.” (Is. 64:4; Ps. 37:7)

So I have waited. And waited. And prayed. And waited and prayed a whole lot more. Many who have been praying for true revival have been waiting and wondering for long time. Will it even come — and if so, when?

But now I’m hearing the whispers of a stirring revival. It is the sound of leaders in the church rising up and saying that we must have revival or we cannot go on. It is the sound of intercessors who are increasingly calling out to the Lord day and night (Is. 62). It is also the sound of skepticism being silenced.

It is the sound of hope. Oh, God — how we need You to send a fresh Christ-awakening!

If you want your heart to be stirred with a vision for revival in our churches and a sweeping global movement of God’s manifest glory, you need the next issue of Prayer Connect magazine. I'm serious. I believe it may just be one of the most important messages I’ve ever worked on in my publishing career. Great leaders and writers who have been praying for years for revival have helped to put this issue together. It’s time.

More to come, friends. Listen closely.

http://www.prayerconnect.net/

For His Glory Alone

Evelyn's well-prayed Bible

A friend and mentor of mine passed away today. Evelyn Christenson once prayed a very bold prayer: “Lord, I want to teach the world to pray.” The Lord answered that prayer by allowing Evelyn to write best-selling books and teach men and women internationally. (I once got to carry her suitcase through the airport in Portland!)

For the last couple of years, I have sat at Evelyn’s feet (literally at times) to learn from someone who has walked with Jesus for most of her 89 years. Last summer I spent an entire evening with her before her care-giver came to put her to bed. I sat on the floor and took notes. I asked her to tell me about when she experienced revival. What was it like? What led up to it?

Many years ago she and a couple of other women began praying for revival each week. She told me It turned out to be some of the worst weeks of her life! Instead of praying for revival in the church, God convicted them of their own sin. He didn’t allow them to pray for anyone else – just for their own hearts. Week after week. For six long weeks.

As Evelyn said, “Most of the sin He convicted us of wouldn’t even be considered sin by most people. It was things such as gossip, attitudes of the heart, prayerlessness.” But they prayed on, being obedient to everything the Lord showed them.

Finally, on the sixth week, the Lord said, “Now you may pray for revival.” And that very weekend, revival broke out in their church at the end of the Sunday worship service. Hundreds came forward in brokenness and repentance. Thousands showed up at their church in the weeks to follow because the Lord was so present in His reviving work.

As Evelyn shared that story with me, she also expressed her conviction that we are once again on the threshold of another great national revival. But it will be hard. God will need to convict His Church again of sin and cleanse His people. But when He does, we may very well see the greatest revival this nation has ever known – and many will experience salvation as a result. As Evelyn said, revival without the lost being saved is pointless. That has been her heart-cry for all these years!

Two weeks Evelyn invited me to sit down on her bed while she spoke some last words to me – although I certainly didn’t know it would be our final time together. She shared some personal encouragements for me, but then she looked at me, pointed her finger, and said, “Don’t take any glory for yourself. God won’t use you then.” I assume God had her say that to me!

As heaven was opening up to Evelyn this afternoon, she looked beyond those in her room and repeated over and over again: “It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. Jesus is holding my hand.”

Actually, Evelyn has been holding Jesus’ hand for a long time. But today she gets to see His face. It's all about His glory!

Watch My Purse

Perhaps you saw it on the news. A woman, incensed that some teenagers were stealing liquor from a store, pleaded with the store clerks to stop them. When no one was willing to take the risk and chase after the thieves, the middle-aged woman decided she had to do something about it.

That’s when she told the clerk to “watch my purse.” The woman then found an adrenaline-fueled strength to run after the young men and jump on the hood of their car. (Note: this is probably not the wisest thing to do, but we all understand getting caught up in the moment.) Although she eventually fell off the car and sustained a black eye, the thieves were later caught by police.

Perhaps her words sum up how we should all respond to the injustices that are occurring around us with increasing frequency. Rather than standing around, hoping someone else will take responsibility, perhaps it’s time for us to rise up and say, “Enough.”

Watch my purse!

But There’s a Catch
I’m not suggesting that we jump on fleeing getaway cars. I’m not even suggesting that we take to the streets to protest or take drastic actions against those we believe are harming society.

But I am suggesting that we need to reach a place in our prayer lives when we say, “Watch my purse.” It’s a place of determining that we will not be complacent anymore. It is taking our rightful place by rising up and praying with great faith and belief that God wants to intervene in our families and in our nation.

But here’s the catch: To rise up means to humble ourselves, take a look at our own hearts, and pray with an attitude of repentance for our own sins and for the sins of the church. I know this is hard to accept. But if you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ, you are now responsible for the dire condition of a society where teenagers will brazenly steal liquor and heartlessly run down a bystander.

God has called His people to pray with abandonment for the sake of others. He states that the “healing of our land” depends our willingness to humble ourselves, acknowledge our desperate need for God, and seek God’s forgiveness for the way that we have lived our own lives (2 Chron. 7:14-15).

He does not call us to point accusing fingers at a band of lost and broken teenagers. Rather, He is calling us into accountability for the way that we have let society down through our own complacency. Our weak prayer lives. Our willingness to look the other way when people are acting out their need for God.

Watch my purse. I’m getting down on my knees to pray with greater hope, believing that God loves and wants to redeem and restore even a group of desperately needy teenagers. And just perhaps God will respond to our prayers with the greatest Christ-awakening our nation has ever known!

An Unconventional Redemption

He e-mailed me and introduced himself about a year ago. He said he was working on a Facebook application called Praybook, and wondered if I would partner with him in writing devotional content for the application. I guess he did a search on the Internet related to writers and prayer – and came up with me.

Well, actually, I believe that God, in His graciousness toward me, led Tim to my website. Although I did not fully understand what Tim was describing to me, I sensed I was to say yes to the opportunity. It sounded like it might be designed by God to help redeem Facebook for His Kingdom purposes. How could I resist being part of something with that kind of vision? After praying and pondering just a bit, I decided I was in!

Now, a year later, Praybook has been launched. I love the tagline: “Lifting up the world…one friend at a time.” Another way of putting it: Friends praying for friends. Praybook organizes your Facebook friend list into a manageable prayer list each day, with the encouragement to bring each of your friends before the throne of God on a regular, systematic basis. By the simple press of a button, you can send a notification that you’ve prayed for them.

What a great idea! I'm glad God and Tim thought of it - and included me in the project.

Honestly, this has breathed new life into my prayer times. I get up in the morning (way earlier than I used to), get my list of friends for the day from Praybook, and go on a “prayer walk” around my community. (Getting up early and also wanting to walk….truly, God is in this!) With the Spirit’s guidance, I find myself praying for friends who had never before entered into my prayer life (yes, an embarrassing confession).

Think about it. Seven hundred million people on Facebook. Friends of friends of friends of friends, praying for each other. Could this be the launch of a worldwide prayer movement?

I suspect it is. I praise God for His unconventional redemption of Facebook.

Praybook: www.praybook.com/page/login

Gotta Love Finney!

What a great name for my grand-nephew! Finney Charles. Of course, my first thought upon hearing his name was, "How wonderful that my nephew Brent and Kathryn named their child after one of the greatest revivalists ever in our nation!" I was certain they did that to warm my heart.

I had to scale back my enthusiasm a bit when I learned they weren't really familiar with Charles Finney. They selected Charles to honor a grandfather - and they just plain liked the sound of Finney. Any connection to the famous Charles Finney was slim, and most certainly an after-thought.

Nevertheless, I will enjoy Finney's name every time I say or write it. I will think of the heritage of Charles Finney as the man during the 1800s known as "The Father of Modern Revivalism." After all, he led our nation in a call for holiness and revival in the Second Great Awakening. And I owe him great gratitude for his innovation in allowing women to pray in public!

I will pray and think of Finney Charles as a new generation of hope for another great move of God in our nation. I will smile and think to myself, How kind of God to lead someone in my family to inadvertently name his child according to my heart-cry for revival!

I think there is a connection.

(Pictured: Joshua Stanley and Finney Charles Madison)

Even Spiderman and Elvis

I was in Hollywood last week for a series of meetings with national prayer leaders. We meet in a different warm city each January. (That was decided a few years ago when we met in Chicago; there was an uprising. "Never again," declared these godly prayer leaders.)

Wherever we meet, we include strategic prayer for that city, hoping in some way to leave a spiritual deposit of God's blessings. I've prayed through Dallas. Miami. Even Las Vegas.

But how does one pray for Hollywood? I had to confess my unbelief that God might do a work of transformation in Hollywood. Of course He can do anything, but I confessed wondering if He would. Perhaps Hollywood is too far gone. The perversion and corruption of that culture make it seem hopeless. Yet, we all believe in the power of prayer. I mean, for goodness' sake -- we've all devoted our lives to that belief and mission!

So I repented of my unbelief. And then I prayer walked throughout Hollywood. I spent time at Disney and Universal Studios. I walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard, amazed at the contrast of the "walk of stars" vs. the adult entertainment establishments lining the streets. Some of us were dispersed to other studios. Still others prayed over the city from the vantage point of the Hollywood sign on the hillside.

As I prayed, God instilled a new hope within me. We all felt it. We all sensed that God's heart is to do a mighty, reviving, transforming work in that city. You just watch. I don't know when, but you just watch and wait and pray -- expectantly.

And if you don't believe God has a heart for Hollywood, just look again at the photo I took of Nancy Wilson of Campus Crusade, sharing Christ and praying with Spiderman and Elvis. Nancy can't help but speak of Jesus to everyone she meets. I want to be like her.

So I pray for the faith to keep believing that God has His loving eye on Hollywood. It is always His heart to redeem and restore when we turn back to Him.