“Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
[James 5:16]
Pastor Ronnie Floyd was led to go on a forty-day fast. Toward the end of the fast he sensed the Lord had revealed several things for him to share with the church. Floyd enlisted a group of people to pray for him and for God’s outpouring. The date was set for July 4, 1995. This proved to be a day no one in that church would soon forget.
FBC Springdale had a 9:30 a.m. service and an 11:00 a.m. service. God would show up in a powerful way in the first service, so much so that Sunday School was canceled and the early service overflowed to the second. Floyd states about the beginning of that first service, “When we were in the beginning of worship, the Holy Spirit ushered Himself into the room and sat among the people. Unless you have been a part of something like that, you would tend to think my words to be mystical and extreme. The glory of the Lord was there.”[1]
He knew God was up to something. He felt the glory of the Lord falling on the people while he preached. As God moved, Floyd felt he must preach all God had put on his heart and could not be bound by time with the start of the Sunday School hour approaching. The altar was flooded during the invitation with people backed up in the aisles. Floyd describes the scene for us. “Even before the public invitation was given, hundreds of people flooded the aisles. There was extreme brokenness over sin. There was outward weeping and wailing. There was silence. It was profound and holy. God was there. It was noon and God’s people had been in holy awe for two and a half hours. No one wanted to leave.”[2]
When they finally ended the service nobody knew what to expect that evening. Over seventy percent of the church returned for the evening service. People began lining up to confess their sin publicly while others would gather around and pray for those whom had spoken. That service lasted for four hours with people leaving around 10:00 p.m. Floyd says of that time, “It seemed it all had just begun. Yet it was after 10:00 p.m., and we had been there at least four hours. No one wanted to leave.”[3]
Have you ever been a part of anything like that? I have and those times are holy to the Lord and awe inspiring. As we near the end of our journey to prepare for the Shake the City Revival I wonder if you are getting a heart for God to send revival. I have intentionally included revival stories in these last days of this devotion to whet your appetite for what God can do. Many Christians do not want to be a part of anything like that. When God chooses to send revival we can only submit to His leadership and get out of the way.
As I have been praying for revival I want to be willing to follow God’s leadership. I want more of God. He can manifest His presence anyway He wants. I hunger for more of Him. Will you keep asking God to send a real revival to us once again?
Steps to Revival
1. When God sends revival it upsets the normal routine? Are you open to whatever God wants to do in your life and the life of the church?
2. Do you long for the glory of the Lord to fall on His church? The word “glory” can also be translated the weightiness of God.
3. Pray that you will be willing to obey the Spirit of God promptly.
4. Continue to ask God for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment