From Under the Stage

Crawling on your hands and knees on a concrete floor for the length of a concert stage is admittedly a challenge—at least I think so at my age! But four times in the past year God has called me to pray from this unusual and strategic position as the gospel has been preached to thousands of university students.

I’ve been under the stage with my friends Steph and Nancy, as well as my nephew Brad, at outreach events on various university campuses. We’ve all been with our faces to the floor in pleading prayer while the bands above shook the stage—and while the gospel of Jesus Christ was shaking hearts.

My longing has been for God to stir in revival and spiritual awakening on campuses—and not only on campuses, but in churches, cities, and our nation. So crawling under a stage to pray seems like a small sacrifice when so much is at stake. We desperately need a Christ-awakening, and many people have gone before me with worn-out knees and that same prayer for God to move.

Stirrings of Awakening

And now, a year later, I can see that God is hearing those cries and He is moving! On the National Day of Prayer (NDOP) last year, Steph and I crawled under the stage at the Mariucci hockey arena at the University of Minnesota campus to pray while Bob Bakke and Nick Hall led a few thousand students and adults in prayer for this great awakening. (I guess we can be thankful for concrete instead of ice!)

Since that time, I can tell you that thousands of university students have given their lives to Jesus Christ. Nick did not know a year ago that he was to be launched on a nationwide tour that allowed him to preach the gospel message to hundreds of thousands of people in more than 50 cities. He saw the stirring of revival as more than 150,000 people stood up and surrendered their lives to Christ!

And since that time, God moved in the hearts of many prayer leaders across this nation to launch OneCry, a unified call to prayer for spiritual awakening in the U.S. Bob Bakke did not know last year that God would lead him to host and produce a radio broadcast on perhaps a thousand radio stations on the National Day of Prayer on May 3 of this year. He will be calling our nation to urgent and fervent prayer exactly a year after our NDOP gathering.

And as an added bonus, my nephew Brad did not know at the time he was praying with me under a couple of stages that God would launch him as a student ministries pastor. His heart for prayer will no doubt have an impact on the students in his church and beyond.

Under Your Own Stage

Crawling under a stage to pray has a component of “hiddenness” in intercession. No one but God knows that you are under there, and no one but the Lord can hear your prayers over the sound of the band, students cheering, and the preaching of God’s truths. But I believe His ears are attuned to those who earnestly seek Him with sincere hearts and not a lot of fanfare. I agree with the Psalmist (116:2): “Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” If that means crawling under a stage, I’m there! If it means on my face in the quiet of the night, I trust He is bending down and listening to my cries.

What stage has God called you to crawl under to pray—for the sake of His fame and glory? Is He calling you to slip out of bed, go to your knees, and pray for the salvation of a loved one? Does He want to you to pray fervently in the early morning on behalf of your pastors and the leadership of your church?

Praying together in corporate prayer and larger groups is absolutely essential. But don’t forget the powerful times of prayer that come from behind closed doors or under stages. Consider how the Lord might be calling you to seek Him in the hidden places. The Lord is waiting to bend down to listen to you—and move heaven and earth in answer to your prayers.

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!