Revival – Rest and Tears

Night thirteen of the revival went differently than any of us planned. All day long I sensed the Lord leading me to preach a message on holiness. I was excited and felt the message burning in my heart. The crowd for the second straight night was small. It crushed my heart but I chose to press on and believe God. This was offset by the celebration of two more baptisms. Hallelujah!

I sang from my heart and yearned for more of God. I stood in awe of Him. Sherman talked about a revival he experienced back in 2002 that lasted for twenty-eight days during the month of March. He talked about the people getting weary and how the Lord refreshed them. It costs those people to hunger and thirst after God.

At that point he began the song “If I Could Just Sit With You Awhile.” The Spirit of the Lord descended. A lady named Marci came forward to the altar and began to weep. God moved in my heart and I knelt with my face pressed to my Bible on the ground and began to weep. I could not get it together. God’s burden for this revival pressed heavier and heavier on me. I have carried this burden since May when the Lord called us to hold the Shake the City Revival. In that moment the whole direction of the service changed. I thank God Marci was obedient.

I could not tell you how long the two of us remained before the Lord unloading our burdens or if anyone else responded by joining us. The tears flowed freely. Sherman continued to sing, while all of us were unsure what the Lord was up to. When I got up and sat back down the Lord impressed two scriptures on my heart. [Matt 11:28-30] and [Is 38:1-5]. I had not studied for either of them. The simple message included Jesus touching those who were tired and praying for Seminole with a burden that included tears in the vein of Hezekiah. An invitation was given.

My soul unloaded on that altar. I cried and cried for more of God and His power. I don’t mean a few tears. I mean the kind of crying where your nose gets stopped up and fluids began flowing from there too. Many came to pray for me but my burden remained for Seminole and for God to fulfill the prophesy for this revival. Puddles began to form on the steps as we all cried out to God.

Lost souls were lifted up. We pleaded for more of God’s power. We begged God for more. That was it. The service lasted a little over an hour and a half. Most of that time included people at the altar praying. We are dead earnest on seeing God accomplish His will through these meetings. Whatever He wants is fine with me.

The church has cleared out by now. There are a few lingering in the fellowship hall. In the quiet of this moment I am reminded of something the Lord impressed on my heart while crying out to Him tonight. He said, “The revival will come. Everything is right on schedule. I had to break you publicly so the church could be broken.” I press on into day fourteen.