Spring Revival Day 11

How do you take an old story most people heard back in Vacation Bible School and make it fresh? You trust God to give you insight and you trust Him to reveal truth in the hearts of the people.

Distinguished. Serve Him continually. Trust Him fearlessly. Those were three of several points we studied out of Daniel 6. We had a good time digging in the scriptures. We laughed. We got serious. We experienced conviction. We met with the Lord. The living active God once again moved in the hearts of people.

When the invitation was given I kept smiling because I know we have met with God. I felt a deep sense of satisfaction with that. Content. He has given me release to end the meetings. I told the people that God is never done working and He will be working in the morning as they get up to seek Him. You cannot go out to eat every meal. Sometimes you have to cook at home. In the same way we cannot go to church night after night expecting all of our growing to happen here. At some point you have to begin digging in the word and meeting God at home. Much of the intensity waned over the past several days. I think people are tired and though there will always be more of God to experience I think people had peace it was time to end the meetings.

I am confident God released us from further revival services. I am also confident He will continue to work in lives. I think many are as close to God as they have ever been. I am humbled the Lord chose me to preach once again. Over the course of these eleven days the messages have come easily. God has opened His word and directed me to a message for each service. I never had to struggle and labor. God inspired them.

I want to be a man who stands when it is not easy. I want this church to keep hungering for God. I want all of us to live in a revived state long past these services. One lady testified tonight, “I will never be the same.” Another lady told me “Jesus was alive in her and she had been filled and blessed.” I could see joy, contentment, and peace on the faces of many people. Victories have been won.

We know of two people saved during the D’Now service this past Saturday but other than that nobody responded publicly to be saved. There is more work to be done. So we will get up tomorrow and serve Him continually. It is a joy to be his child.

Thank you for all who prayed. We continue to pray for rain. I trust God will send it. Please pray the people of God will stand and count the cost of serving Him. Emotions wear off but the deep and abiding work of God just goes deeper. Lord, plunge us deeper in the ocean of you until we get a clearer view of your majesty and glory, and we continue to share your story.

Spring Revival Day 10

The Lord worked tenderly calling His church to rest tonight out of [Matt 11:28-30.] We talked about being burned out and exhausted and loaded down with burdens. To such people the Lord invites to come and find rest in Him.

Funny thing how so many are serving Him and yet so few seem to know of this rest He mentioned. As I write this, a few have lingered in His presence in worship. Many people went around the sanctuary praying for others who are weary and heavy laden. Once again many tears cascaded down the cheeks of the worshippers.

The highlight of the whole evening for me was getting to go around the room praying over people. I prayed for several students, one lady, and couple who need God to bring rest to them. Tonight the ministry of the Lord was tender and nurturing. He manifests His presence in different ways each night.

We went back and took a stroll through [Acts 2:42-47] to see the simplicity of the early church and contrasted that with how complex we have made church today. In all our complexity I think we are at times guilty of hurting the very people we want to minister to by our endless activity. Jesus invited people to come to Him to find rest in salvation and rest in tranquility of their souls.

Out of the Ten Commandments, the ones that have the most emphasis are not making or worshipping graven images and setting aside the Sabbath. The word Sabbath means “intermission or to repose in peace.” Interesting how we make that one commandment more of a suggestion than a commandment. We must have rest, down time, and time to be replenished spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

What I see far too often are those who are tired, burned out, and emotionally and spiritually numb. They do the right things but those things do not produce the peace and tranquility Jesus promised in [Matt 11:28]. We have equated activity and busyness with spirituality. Many people serve God with weary heavy-laden hearts rather than out of the overflow of His continual replenishing.

Jesus actually withdrew from the crowds from time to time. He was replenished from time alone with the Father. When He slept He did so in perfect peace [Mark 4:38]. He never seemed to be in a hurry and when He worked in people’s lives He seemed to be genuinely interested in them. [Matt 8:1-3] Though Jesus was continually sought out by the throngs of people, He never seemed to resent them for it. He did not seem to resent them even when He sought solitude with His Father and the crowds found Him. [Mark 1:35-38]

Jesus says His yoke is easy and His burden is light but His people do not seem to be living in that truth. Tonight the Lord removed heavy burdens and replenished strength to scores of people who have been exhausted and overwhelmed with life and at times life in the church. I am not saying I know all the solutions. I am saying the Lord touched the hearts of many tonight. His hand was kind, caring, affectionate, warm and compassionate tonight.

I am thinking of that Dennis Jernigan song tonight, “If I Could Just Sit With You Awhile.” That is what many of God’s people continue to do as I finish this blog. That is rest needed by disciples. We must find time to allow Him to minister health, vigor, and passion back into our souls. This is revival.

Spring Revival Day 9

The crowds have thinned. The remnant continue to show up each night faithfully to worship and get into the scriptures. While I am preaching the size of the crowd does not bother me but in these moments I begin wondering if God is done. Revival is His sovereign choice.

The past couple of services have felt different. They are not bad. The worship is wonderful and people desire more words from God. Where as before the presence of God was thick last week and His working clearly evident, it all seems pretty ordinary this week.

God continues to give me fresh words. I preached from [Phil 3:12-14]. We must press on with God revival or no revival. The phrase “press on” means to follow, run swiftly after, and to pursue. Those things should be the goal of every believer to be lived out day in and day out.

Nobody moved during the invitation but then again I am not sure it was a message that really called for a response at the altar. I think it was the type of message that will require a response all the days of our lives.

I told the congregation I would commit to meeting tomorrow night and Wednesday night. After that we will have to see. I have not seen anything in the last couple of days that convinces me we are still in revival. I know our people are tired. We had well over 300 total people involved in D’Now and they kept a grueling schedule over the weekend. This revival is not about the size of the attendance. It is about the work of God in our hearts. Maybe people are either satisfied or unwilling to follow God where He is leading in repentance and full surrender.

It is not so much the attendance that is gnawing at my soul. There is something different in these past couple of days. The services have not been bad. They have been ordinarily good and that is what concerns me. In past revival services they have been anything but ordinary.

How do you know when it is over? Lots of prayer and sitting before Lord. I have peace in my heart either way. I have sought the Lord and preached what I felt Him leading me to preach. This whole revival was a step of faith God honored.

The older I get the more I have come to the place I do not have to have the crowds, the worship songs, or to even be standing in the pulpit to encounter God. I most prefer to encounter Him in my private times. Those times sustain me. That is where every believer must ultimately come to the realization we must encounter God in private times of worship as well as public worship. That is the only way to continue to live in a revived state.

I know many of you reading this would like to have a different report. I will call it like I see it and not try to make it look better than it really is. We will meet for the next two nights and then reevaluate what needs to happen after that. So for at least the next two nights revival services will continue. It is up to God and the hunger of people if true revival continues.

Spring Revival Day 8

I have a mixed report on the eighth day of the revival. Mike preached powerfully again in both morning services. All involved in D’Now were exhausted from the night before. After the lengthy Saturday night service those students then went home for small group times that lasted for some until around 3:00 a.m.

The sanctuary was packed for the second morning service. The balcony was full as well as the bottom floor. I sat in the very back in a folded chair. I am not sure if fatigue played a factor but it did not seem God moved has powerfully Sunday morning as we have seen in some of the other services. Maybe some have had their fill of revival and are pulling back as the heat keeps getting turned up.

Mike had to leave Sunday afternoon to fly to Dallas where he preached last night. I had not preached in two days and the rest was refreshing. I spent Sunday afternoon in my office studying for a message from [Is 38:1-8]. In this passage, Hezekiah the King was told by the prophet Isaiah that he is about to die. He is to set his house in order. That means Hezekiah needed to make preparations.

Hezekiah immediately begins to pray and weep bitterly. God instructs Isaiah to come back and tell Hezekiah, “I have heard your prayers and I have seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life.” I think praying with tears is taking prayer to a higher level. There is desperation with tears in prayer.

The attendance was poor. In everyway it felt just like a normal Sunday night service. Many people stayed home to recover from the grueling weekend. There is a remnant that keeps hungering for more of God. There are also others who have dug their heels in and do not intend to be moved.

I asked the people who want rain if we were really desperate for God to send it. I asked when we had last wet the carpet with our tears in prayer for rain, the lost to be saved, and revival to spread?

After calling us to a prayer time I left to go home after my prayer time ended. Increasingly I want to be shut up with God alone. Sunday did not feel like revival but we continue to press on. In fact those were the very words that greeted me this morning from some of our prayer warriors who had just finished standing in the gap for Seminole. So we press on into day nine not knowing what the Lord will do.

Spring Revival Day 7

The service on Saturday night lasted over two and a half hours. Much of that time involved over 200 students from D’Now repenting of sin, getting saved, seeking more of God in worship, and many turning their hearts back to Him again.

I witnessed God move powerfully. When Mike Satterfield extended the invitation so many people came forward we had to move them to the hallways and another wave came forward to take their place at the altar. The students coming forward seemed like a wave of humanity moving in mass toward the front of the church. There were many tears.

I personally wet the stairs with tears crying out for more of God. All up and down the steps you could see tear drops. I saw a stain the next day from Saturday night on those steps. I am sure some of it was emotionalism. I am also confident much of it was God convicting people and drawing them to Himself.

I know of two who were saved. One was a young man who moved from New York back around Christmas. God drew him to salvation. He testified, “ I have found God.” A waitress who came on Saturday trusted Jesus to save her.

Another student stood up and testified that he had turned his heart back to the Lord. He repented of his lifestyle that had not honored the Lord. He will most assuredly be in the enemy’s cross hairs this week.

We did not leave the sanctuary until after 11:00 p.m. Time will tell if what happened was real. If students got caught up in the emotions of it all those feelings will fade fast. If they are truly hungry for more of God – God has more to reveal and more work to do in each of us.

Mike Satterfield has preached with power in the Holy Spirit. He is a man of the scriptures and God used him powerfully on Saturday night. He got a call on Saturday morning from a friend back in Alabama who went through the devastating tornados. The friend told Mike, “I lost everything.” Mike sought to encourage him saying that material things can be replaced. At this point the friend interjected, “You do not understand. I lost everything. I lost my wife and my children!” Mike spent a great portion of the day ministering to this man and others.

I had the chance to pray over several students Saturday night. At one point we were singing “I Will Follow” and I saw a student who will be moving after this school year because his father got a new job. He is a popular Jr. High student with many friends. The Lord prompted me to go pray with Him about the move and challenge him to be a missionary at his new school. Another student I prayed for knelt at the altar. He is a sharp young man but his interests are not in athletics. He does not fit in with that crowd. I prayed with him to encourage him. We hugged at the end and I saw his dad in tears off to the side.

The highlight of the evening for me personally was when my oldest son came weeping telling me he needed to talk. We left the sanctuary and went to my office where he poured out his soul. The short of it is he wanted me to know that he is willing to follow God even when it hurts and stretches him. I am so proud of him. We prayed, embraced, and talked about the challenges of following God. He cried the whole time. I know God is moving deeply in his heart.

Revival continues.