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Dear Brothers; I feel truly compelled by God to write you this letter. Ever since last year, God had been telling me that He was going to do something major in September of this year. He hasn’t said what that will be, but only that it was something major in the Spirit. I’m quite sure that it won’t be the rapture. We, the church, aren’t ready for Jesus to come back and get us. What I think (not what God’s told me) is that the outpouring we’ve been praying for will start in September. We have been to the Brownsville revival twice, to experience what God is doing. We have also been at, and ministered at a revival in Kansas, that they are calling the end time move of God. In addition, we have ministered in a church where God has broken forth in the beginning of revival. God wants to move! We’re seeing that wherever we go! God has called us (Maranatha Life) to spread revival. There are several churches that God has spoken to me about where we will be part of the starting of revival. That doesn’t mean we’ll stay and preach the whole revival. We are to start the fire, get it established, then move on to start another fire in another place. If we want to see God move, we must be prepared. Revival always starts through prayer, prayer, and more prayer. God won’t warn you that it’s about to come, He’ll just move. So, pray and expect God to move. Then wait to see His glory! In Jesus’ Precious Name, Rev. Rich Murphy REVIVAL IN THE LAND God is desiring to sweep across our land in revival. More than just revival though, the last outpouring of the end time move of God. The time is short, and the bride is not yet ready. We must be made into the bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish (Eph 5:27). That is the purpose of this last outpouring...preparing the bride. The revival that God is bringing is different than any other in church history. This will be a mightier work, with greater signs and wonders than ever before. It will span the globe, where other revivals have been limited to a country, or even just a region of a country. The people who God uses will be different also. Past revivals have been preached by evangelists. This revival will be preached by prophets and apostles. Why? Because God needs to work through those ministry gifts in order to accomplish the work He is preparing to do. We must decide if we are going to become part of this last outpouring. Or, are we just going to sit by and watch? Are we willing to pay the price to allow God to do whatever it is that He sovereignly desires?
WHAT IS REVIVAL? First of all, revival isn’t getting an evangelist to come in, and do a series of meetings to stir the people up. We have developed an understanding in the church today of “holding a revival.” You know what I mean, it’s usually one week of special meetings a church has in the summer. You can’t hold a revival. All you can do is participate in one that God is throwing. For it to be true revival, it must be a sovereign work of God. That means we can’t schedule it in advance. Only God can accomplish it, and that in His timing, and in His way. The prefix “re” in the English language means “to do again.” The root word “vive” is from the Latin for “life.” So, “revival” means “to bring to life again.” You can’t bring those to life again who have never been alive before. To be revived, you must have been alive once before. Revival really isn’t for the lost, but for the saved. We tend to think of revival as getting the lost into the church. But, that’s not what it’s all about. When revival is happening, the lost will come into the church. However, the reason they will come is because of the changed hearts of God’s people. That will draw them. That will show them their need for salvation. Once the Holy Spirit cleans up the Body of Christ, then He will start drawing the unsaved in. But, that can’t be the start of it. If we start off trying to get the unsaved coming into our churches, they’ll just see how messed up we are. That won’t draw them to Jesus.
HOW DOES REVIVAL BEGIN? Revival is always birthed through prayer. Not your typical church prayer meeting either, but true crying out to God in intercession. An hour long prayer meeting where 45 minutes is spent sharing prayer requests and 15 minutes of giving God our shopping list isn’t what God’s looking for. He will only be free to move when we start crying out to Him with a true hunger for His Spirit to pour out upon us. We must bathe our churches in prayer. There must be so much prayer that it becomes a tangible force that you can feel when you walk into the sanctuary. When revival comes, it will come suddenly. Every time that God moves in the Bible, He does it suddenly. People will be praying, waiting, watering the seed, and it will look like nothing is happening. Then suddenly, revival will break forth. The Brownsville revival in Pensacola, Florida came suddenly. If you look on their web site, there is an article called “Caught by Surprise.” Although they had been praying for revival, they were surprised when on Father’s day 1995, it actually broke forth. God didn’t warn them, He just moved! That’s how it will happen every time. Don’t try and figure out when God will start revival in your church, just try and get ready for it. Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, and pray some more! Cry out to God for His outpouring, and watch...when the time is right, He will move. God will probably use another vessel than the pastor. What we are seeing the revivals that are currently happening is that God has brought someone else in to light the fire. That doesn’t mean that the pastor isn’t important, he’s the one who has to prepare the fire. As the revival progresses, God will use a team of the pastor, the worship leader, and the prophet or apostle to accomplish His plan. Revival by its very nature requires drastic change. You can’t have revival, and have church as normal at the same time. You might have regular church services, but they will be drastically different from what you’ve known before. You can’t just have your normal church schedule either. The work that God is going to do will require more of your time, and your members time than anything you’ve experienced before. God will require us to change our schedules, change our plans, change our worship, change our administration of the church...in fact it will require us to change just about everything that we are doing.
HOW DOES REVIVAL END? Revival always ends because God’s ministers cause it to end. Not God’s people, just God’s ministers. How do they do that? By not allowing the Holy Spirit the freedom to move in any way He so chooses. God doesn’t work in a box, and whenever we try and put Him in one, we stop whatever work it is that He is doing. How do we put Him in a box? By the structure we try and place upon His move. Structure through scheduling, developing denominations, trying to make Him move in one place the same way He is in another. All of these are man imposed, not God imposed. Ministry imposed restrictions can prevent God from moving freely in our midst. Why do ministers put these restrictions upon God? Because they are uncomfortable with the true freedom that revival brings. They want some sort of structure so that they can “keep in control.” A revival can end just as fast as it starts. In fact, it can end on the same day it starts. We must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to do whatever, whenever, however, through whoever He so chooses. Otherwise, we stand the risk of stopping the outpouring He desires to bring. If you aren’t comfortable with that, repent now, and let God prepare your heart for true revival.
WHAT DOES GOD DO IN REVIVAL? True revival centers around the altar. It isn’t about great preaching. In fact, God will be moving so greatly that there may be very little preaching in a revival service. It isn’t about church growth. It isn’t about wonderful praise and worship. Revival is a work in the heart, and that only happens at the altar. Intercessory prayer is essential to revival, but so is altar time. The
prayer will prepare the ground for God to move. The altar is where God will
do the moving. These two cornerstones will be the framework that God will
use to accomplish His work.
It is at the altar that God will accomplish these four works. Don’t despise the time at the altar! It is essential! That is the place where God will do the surgery upon our hearts. We must be ready and watchful for all that God desires to do. |
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Copyright © 1998 by Richard A. Murphy, Maranatha Life All rights reserved.
25 July 1998 (11:35 pm)
