American Church History 101
Like all major revivals and awakenings, the stirrings of the Spirit began with prayer in a tense situation in 1857.
Gold, banks, railroads, and industrial plants had hearkened the golden age of American prosperity.
"The great panic which broke out in Wall Street, October 12, 1857, was the handwriting on the wall. . . . Banks failed, business houses closed, railroads went into bankruptcy, and all business was at a standstill."
Out of this carious situation, the Lord was about to move powerfully on America again.
His move was a spontaneous, ecumenical, lay-led prayer meeting movement led by an unknown inner city missionary in New York.
Daily prayer meetings swept over New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and New England.
Then the prayer fever swept into the South and west to Texas.
Prayer for the nation, its leaders, and personal concerns were the rage and immediately reaped a harvest of souls in the North, continuing to win people to Christ later in the South.
An old book about it.
A Story about it.
Video's about this 1859 revival and how it happened and can happen again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3yTwygwWWU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpKcKW5sNgI
Men of God
John Wesley Redfield was a man who awakened both the sleeping sinner and careless Christian.
When Mr. Redfield prayed or preached men and women were touched by Jesus and went home different than when they came.
Under the influence of Mr. Redfield's ministry, the slaves of sin were brought to repentance and totally set free.
Wherever he preached, church after church seemed to be effected in the same way.
On one occasion Mr. Redfield entered the pulpit with an especially intense and heavy burden pressing upon his heart.
Without hesitation he began his message by clearly describing all those who had lived in the church for years without true saving grace; who had sat under the most searching gospel ministry; who had seen the truth lived out before them and yet rejected it all.
With passion he warned all those who had shunned the narrow path of repentance and the cross of Christ.
As Mr. Redfield spoke the Holy Spirit brought a shaking conviction of sin upon the entire congregation.
Some cried out, some fell prostrate before they could get to the altar, and others fell at the altar.
The slain lay in some places totally helpless, one upon another until the aisles were closed for hours.
At this exact same time, people miles away also fell under the power of God in the seclusion of their own homes.
The key to John Wesley Redfield's success was his total and unrelenting dependence upon Jesus Christ.
Through many trials he had learned that he could truly do nothing apart from Jesus. Is it not true, that much of our failure to bring forth lasting change lies at the feet of our own self-dependence and pride?
We must recover our simplicity and joy of devotion to Jesus. We must repent and put away our methods and programs of self-reliance and once again embrace the "better part" of sitting at the feet of Jesus in humility and prayer. (Luke 10:38-42)
Fire kindles more fire.
In 1904 one of the most significant revivals of the modern Church age swept through Wales.
News of the Welsh revival quickly encircled the globe, bringing with it sparks of hope and expectation. Soon revival fires were burning in India, China, Korea and America.
Instrumental in the revival in India was a young woman by the name of Pandita Ramabai.
G. H. Lang after spending some time at Mukti observing the revival wrote, "little girls were lost for hours in the transport of loving Jesus and praising Him.
Young Christians were counting it a rare privilege to spend many successive hours in intercessory prayer for strangers never seen or known . . .
In one meeting we were seventeen hours together; the following day more than fifteen hours passed before the meeting broke up with great joy."
"Dr. Nicol MacNicol, the scholarly biographer of Pandita Ramabai reported that these who seemed to have such emotional blessings at the time of the revival were still living steadfast, godly lives twenty years later."
E. M. Bounds in his classic little book "Power Through Prayer", wrote, "What the Church needs today is not more or better machinery, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer."
John Oxtoby, affectionately known as "Praying Johnny".
Praying Johnny was not known for his culture or great intellect, he possessed neither.
What he possessed was the faith that moves mountains.
His speech and words were not considered eloquent to the ears of men, yet they were always sweet to the Father's ear.
"Six hours each day he usually spent on his knees, pleading with God, in behalf of himself, the Church and sinners."
"When travailing in anguish for a revival in the neighborhood in which he was laboring and when
Praying Johnny not only exercised the power of prayer in the closet, but also in the public assembly.
Often in answer to his public prayers whole assemblies were slain by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Strong men struck with conviction fell to their knees and cried for mercy.
"And I sought for a MAN among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. - Ezek. 22:30.
It was Seth Joshua who once wrote "All prayer is hidden.
It is behind a closed door.
The best spade diggers go down into deep ditches out of sight.
There are numbers of surface workers, but few who in self-obliteration toil alone with God."
J. Pengwern Jones recalls the prayer life of John Hyde.
"He was always on his knees when I went to bed, and on his knees long before I was up in the morning, though I was up with the dawn.
He would also light the lamp several times in the night, and feast on some passages of the Word, and then have a little talk with the Master.
He sometimes remained on his knees the whole day.
The Spirit made him an object-lesson to us, that we might have a better idea of Christ's prayer life."
"What is the secret of the anointing of the Holy Spirit?
Does God endue men in a sort of haphazard way?
Has He favorites?
Certainly not!
God's difficulty is to find men who are willing to pay the price."
Mordecai Ham was a man who was willing to pay the price and as a result was powerfully anointed by the Holy Spirit.
Mr. Hams thoughts on the hindrances of true revival.
We are not willing to give up our opinions as to how things should be done.
We want a revival to come just in our way.
You never saw two revivals come just alike.
We must let them come in God's way.
People are ashamed to admit they need a revival.
If you are not willing to take the shame on yourself, you then let it remain on Jesus Christ.
You must bear the reproach of your sinful state of indifference, or the cause of our Master must bear it."
"Above all George Fox excelled in prayer."
It was his habit to wait in silence for the movement of the Holy Spirit and then begin to pray, causing whole congregations to be shaken and humbled under the hand of God Almighty.
"As he prayed the power of God came down in such a marvelous manner the very building seemed to rock."
Through the ministry of George Fox, a glimmer of Apostolic power was revealed to seventeenth century England.
He was a man of the Spirit in an age that emphasized theological and scriptural accuracy at the expense of the power of the Holy Ghost.
He always stressed the importance of a Spirit filled life and refused to let dead orthodoxy be a veil for the works of the flesh.
"Chareles Finney seemed so anointed with the Holy Spirit that people were often brought under conviction of sin just by looking at him.
When holding meetings at Utica, New York, he visited a large factory.
"At the sight of him one of the workers, and then another, and then another broke down and wept under a sense of their sins, and finally so many were sobbing and weeping that the machinery had to be stopped while Finney pointed them to Christ."
Revivals are seasons of intense and rapid spiritual growth, and such growth always involves change.
Growing children demand new and larger garments, just as growing trees need room for their expanding roots.
The sincere seekers of lasting revival must be willing to change and yield to the Spirit's control.
The wind, water, and fire of the Holy Ghost are ever moving elements that require plenty of room to
We must beware of quenching and smothering the influence of the Holy Spirit by our predetermined preferences and stiff religious traditions.
True revival will not come through our fleshly might or organizational power, but ONLY by God's Spirit!
Have we given the Holy Spirit permission to change US?
It became increasingly apparent that E. M. Bounds was gifted in building and reviving the Church.
This prophet of prayer often made preachers uncomfortable with his call for holiness and his attacks on lusting for money, prestige and power.
"His constant call for revival annoyed those who believed that the Church was essentially sound . . ."
God gave him a great prayer commission, requiring daily intercession.
He labored in prayer for the sanctification of preachers, revival of the Church in North America and the spread of holiness among professing Christians.
He spent a minimum of three to four hours a day in fervent prayer.
"Sometimes the venerable mystic would lie flat on his back and talk to God; but many hours were spent on his knees or lying face down where he could be heard weeping . . .
Andrew Bonar was a man who was intimately acquainted with Jesus Christ.
As a result he saw what Jesus saw and therefore cared, wept and prayed like Jesus.
Far too often our own eyes are dry because our eyes are blind to the needs around us.
Many of us have become blinded by the temporal, till we can no longer see the eternal reality of the holiness of heaven and horrors of hell.
Lord draw us back to the prayer closet where blind eyes see and hardened hearts are broken. Lord, have mercy and bring us to brokenness!
http://www.revival-library.org/catalogues/1857ff/harding.html
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/when-revival-ran-epidemic-11630508.html
https://archive.org/details/yearofgracehisto0a0gibs
Revival By Pastor Brant Baker
The world wants and must see something so spectacular and so beyond all comprehension for it to believe, or it won't believe at all.
The world must see Jesus Christ, "The same yesterday, today, and forever, "You must pray with everything you have, for God has made a requirement of you and He still has yet to be inquired of for this revival.
A thousand people could rock the face of the earth in one day; and just as on Pentecost, there would be one of the greatest explosions of the Glory of God. "So shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men." (Ezekiel 37:38)
The churches are empty buildings with empty people and with pulpits devoid of the Word of God and of the truth of Spirit and worship.
Chuck Smith, Pastor of Calvary Chapel, and his wife Kay, would spend hours in prayer before the Lord, begging for the revival of souls and for those (later to become known as Jesus People) who would be coming to their church.
It didn't just happen! They sought the Lord with everything within them. Before this mass of people came into this Foursquare Church, the church members shephered by Pastor Adams prayed before the Lord that He would do something in this church.
If you never have another thing to come before His throne about- you have a need concerning souls. God said He would be inquired of for this one thing, and as long as there is one sinner that does not have salvation and yet will receive it from Almighty God, God will yet be inquired of.
Now, let's find those so we may inquire of Him for their salvation.
"And they shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel) The world today laughs at a dead and superficial Church.
Many ministers are scared tp preach the Word of God. Spurgeon, the great commentator on the Word of God, would have burned our ears right off our heads.
Finney would have humbled us to the place where we would slide from our chairs and beg the mercy of God Almighty for our hatred of ourselves and of others that would not seek Him in prayer.
Moody and Aimee Semple McPherson would be saddened to see what has happened today.
They knew and saw the utter desolation of souls.
At the beginning of their ministries they shared and preached the basic truths only to their families.
The result has been resounding throughout eternity to this day.
I pray that God will wake us up, too.
Revive us again, Oh Lord!
Fill the empty cities with the flocks of the Lord and those empty churches with the praises of men.
Fill what is left to be filled, with Christ, and come and take us.
Jesus, have mercy on us and we thank You for Your grace- that You have not erased us for our slothfulness.
But Lord, You have borne with us which proves to us that You love us and will never leave us or forsake us, even when we are being so ineffective because of our selfish, cold hearts and our lack of faith and love.
This first appeared in the Shekinah Fellowship magazine Vol. 1, No. 2, Summer 1975, page 21
According to the statistics, the average revival movement lasts about 35 years, with lowering attention spans it is more like 10 years today. During the time of revival the people come into certain truths in the Lord; all of a sudden a ceiling seems to be put upon them, and they cannot go any further.
Why?
This is not saying anything against tongues and interpretation, but we must see that when they do have and what they are moving in suddenly seems to be devoid of fresh revelation and spiritual perception.
So they just float around, saying, "Praise the Lord. The Lord is here. The Lord is blessing us." They exhort one another to go on in God, but there is no fresh revelation, no fresh perception coming to the people of God.
I am concerned about this, and I think you are too. Above everything else in this end time, wouldn't you like to have spiritual vision? Wouldn't you like to have spiritual ears to hear? Don't you want to be prepared for whatever God is saying, whatever He is doing, whatever He is revealing, so that when it comes, you will be ready to move in it?
Sometimes we fail to appreciate that there is another world about us- a world more real than the one we know. In fact, the world of the physical senses is very deceptive. When we observe something, we usually do not realize that it is not at all the way it appears.
There is another world that is more real. God says it is wonderful. ...Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit... I Corinthians 2:9-10.
What we need today is that special moving of the Spirit that puts us in tune with the world that the eyes cannot see, the ears cannot hear, and the imagination of the heart cannot perceive. We must begin to walk in this spirit realm, where God has wonderful things prepared for His people.
How do we get out of the bondage of the senses into the spirit realm? The Kingdom of God is filled with people who are groping along, because they do not see what is happening.
"Blessed is he who has ears to hear. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."
His Spirit upon all flesh. Old men will dream dreams; young men will see visions. Joel 2:28
A parallel exists between the physical and the spiritual realms. Just as there are five physical senses- sight, hearing, smell, and taste- so there are also spiritual senses or faculties. The Bible says, "Blessed are the ears that hear, blessed are the eyes that see," as though your spirit has faculties that correspond exactly to your physical senses. These faculties can be developed by reason of usage.
Our modern way of life in this end time is conducive to spiritual deadness. As we look at the church of Laodicea, we see that they boasted about certain things, but as a whole the opposite condition existed. They were cautioned to anoint their eyes with eye salve so they could really see.
They needed spiritual ministry so they would have spiritual perception.
We are living in an age in which we are over stimulated, and this factor tends to blank out the spiritual and the mystical faculties that God has given us. When the prophets walked with God in the olden days, they did not have much to do. They sat on hills watching the sheep, gazing in the heavens, and listening to the Lord, with nothing much to distract them.
Now when you go home to wait upon the Lord, you will be distracted by many things. Before long you are reeling with over stimulation by soulish influences. Iphones, ipads, computers, flat screens, bluray players, texting, gaming...etc...
Because iniquities shall abound in the last days, the love of many will wax cold. Matthew 24:12.
Even the Christians fervor for the Lord begins to go down, down, down. So you see how necessary it is that we keep ourselves sensitive to the Lord and to the voice of the Spirit, that we become better Christians and truly learn to walk with God.
We must not become victimized by this age until all our spiritual senses are dulled. We want to hear and we want to see.
We can read that chapter in 5 minutes, and we wonder how long it took for the Lord to reach the depth of that woman's heart and bring her into such a genuine experience with God that she brought the whole city out to hear the Lord. Wasn't that wonderful? It was spiritual perception that did it.
Jesus began talking to the woman about ‘living water', something from the spiritual world. Naturally this caught the interest of the woman, as she was burdened with the daily task of carrying water in the natural physical world. She naturally asked Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep and are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus explained that when people drink ordinary water, they get thirsty again. But he had spiritual water springing up into everlasting life." The women ask him for some of this water so she may not thirst again. (John 4:15)
The woman left the water jar she has brought and hurried back to the town. ‘She said to the people “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and went on their way to him.’(John 4:28-30) Leaving her water jar behind seems like a trivial piece of information, but it parallels other incidents in the gospels, when various men left their everyday pursuits, abandoning fishing nets or tax collection tables to immediately respond to Jesus. The Samaritan woman did the same thing, but on her own initiative. The woman told everyone about Jesus.
We talk about soul winning and about being a witness to the Lord, but we must realize that we will be a real witness to the Lord when we have the perception and the discernment to sense an individual's needs, and we reach in and minister to him or her. This could make us one hundred times more effective than any soul-winning methods we have ever seen.
When they leave I want them to leave with something that will stay with them and help them in their walks with God. They get prophecies spoken over them that impact them. They get encouragement from the Lord. They get Jesus the Living Water.
Be sensitive to what God is doing, enter into the Kings chamber and hear Him and see what He is doing. Get something from the Lord!
Make time to cut yourself off from phones, texting, the net, gaming, videos etc...
And just wait upon the Lord. Not so easy in these last days. But if you want ears that hear and eyes that see spiritually, you will pay the price gladly.
Do you think the world has all of these wonderful distracting things in these last days for nothing?
The god of this world wants everyone distracted and occupied.
We can't even look up and see the stars as they are because of all the chemtrail spraying operations and all of the pollution that obscures.
Get free of encumbrances and every weight that keeps you from waiting before the Lord.
Hebrews 12:1
...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Seek after the world that the eyes cannot see, the ears cannot hear, and the imagination of the heart cannot perceive. Seek after the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. That God will reveal to us by His Spirit... I Corinthians 2:9-10.
Honestly, if you don't then do not expect to see any more then you have already seen.
You will remain arrested in your spiritual growth.
Watch your flat screen TV and let the next move of God pass you by...or?
Nothing is set in stone, you can make a difference in the lives that you come across if you will get your eyes and ears truly open!
Go after the Living Water.
http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/
Captured By The Holy Spirit
(Lord Send The Fire Today)
There is something deep, something apostolic, that is calling out to you today!
There is more!
God is not finished with His Church, His people.
David Sloane
I know of a few people who were touched by the Holy Spirit at a young age.
They actually experienced the powerful presence of God that the Holy Spirit can manifest when He is present.
They became God's hungry children!
Lonnie Frisbee, the youth pastor of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa Ca, during the Jesus People days, once said, "It only takes a one split second touch of the Holy Spirit to change a life. That one touch will do more then years of seminary could ever do."
Some of those who were touched by God's Spirit are now caught in a kind of no man's land.
They can't seem to find a church or place where the presence of the Shekinah Holy Spirit is manifested like it was for them early on.
They know what it is like and how it was for them to be touched to the core of their being by the person of the Holy Spirit.
Some of them say that they do not like Pentecostal churches but they also do not like dry and boring churches either.
They keep hoping that one day they will once again experience being touched by the Holy Spirit like they first experienced so long ago.
Some of these people have simply given up, figuring that it was all just an emotional imaginary experience of their youth.
Others have accepted that such things just do not happen these days and have quit seeking after an experience with God.
There are men who had a big gathering to support that such things do not happen today and that in fact those who say they do and who believe they do are evil.
In Christianity, cessationism is the doctrine that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing ceased with the original twelve apostles.
But some men have visions of more about to come.
One man, with a prophetic ministry, named Paul has had several specific burdens and prophetic expectations for the Body of Christ today and in the days to come.
He has had reoccurring visions concerning the end time, which he believes are rapidly approaching.
About 30 years ago the Lord gave Paul a vision that has occurred to Paul more than 100 times and still reoccurs to this day.
It is a vision of the last days when sports stadiums all over the United States are filled with thousands of people.
In this vision, people are being healed and miracles are happening to thousands in the
People are turning to the Lord in droves and the whole nation is in revival.
It seemed the whole earth was turning to Christ.
Television news reporters are broadcasting stories of resurrections and miracle healings.
None of the secular reporters could get near the men on the platform.
They did not know who the men were.
Paul described them as "almost faceless men."
He hears a TV anchorman saying, "There are no sporting events to report tonight because all the stadiums, ball parks and arenas are being used for large revival meetings and are filled with people crying, ''Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord."
In these visions, Paul saw these men minister for three days and nights without food, water or change of clothing.
Supernatural strength enabled them to continue for these long periods.
In the vision, Paul is standing at the crossroads of life and sees a billboard that says, "Joel's army now in training."
People are being trained to walk in obedience to Jesus.
They have learned patience and endurance, have the power of God and having done all, they know how to stand against the enemy.
"They will have the mind of Christ," Paul said. "They will partake of the heavenly calling and be a new breed, God's dread champions."
Those ministries will be filled with such passion for Jesus and the power of the Spirit that the host of darkness will dread their impact.
Paul said in the midst of the Laodicean church age of lethargy and apathy, that God was preparing in hiddenness an army to pull down enemy strongholds, and go forth in the power of God and have pure and undefiled religion.
"He's going to do this with a people who have stripped themselves and separated themselves from the world, the flesh and the devil," Paul said.
They will realize the end time is here and that things are in a mess and things at the end time are different.
Just as it required total sacrifice on the part of the disciples to begin this thing, it will require an equal commitment from us to complete the task in the end times.
Joel's mighty army, as described in Joel Chapter 2 is the army of God - not a wicked army, as some have thought.
They are the ones with 'feet of iron not mixed with clay', with the wisdom of God alone, not imitators of other men of God.
Some of the superstars of the Church will fall.
The Lord will have an army of holy anointed vessels to usher in His kingdom so that no one man can take credit for it.
It will be to the glory of God alone."
I hear a lot of ministers sharing stuff along these lines lately.
We may get jaded and doubt what they are saying.
We may just write them off as people simply trying to drum up some excitement in their own ministries etc...
Is there any truth to what they are telling us?
Can there be another great out pouring of the Holy Spirit upon the earth coming?
Why does the Holy Spirit seem to come and go like the wind?
There is a much bigger picture here.
Let's start from the beginning. The Bible.
Joel 1:1-4
1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Joel 2:23-32
King James Version (KJV)
23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
It was a wonderful day when God first began to pour out His Spirit as He foretold in these great prophecies of the prophet Joel. It was nearly 850 years after this prophecy was made that God began the fulfillment of it.
Acts 2:1-16
King James Version (KJV)
2 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Then Peter quoted the passage in Joel 2:28-32
On this great day of Pentecost, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit opened, and the Church was born in great power and glory.
The book of Acts in the New Testament tells us many stories of the miracles, signs, and wonders which blessed that early Church.
From that day until now, the Holy Spirit has been in the earth bringing to us the blessings of Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord.
How great have been the experiences and blessings through the years: salvation, healings, a true New Testament ministry, visions and revelations in the Spirit, and gifts and abilities of the Spirit.
When that strange happening occurred- 120 Christian believers being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in different languages which they had never learned- no wonder the bystanders were amazed and said, "What meaneth this?"
The verses from Joel, chapters 1 and 2, cover the entire Church age.
Volumes have been written on Church history, yet these few verses from Joel 1:4 to Joel 2:25 cover the entire story of the Church, even the chapters not yet recorded in history and the things that are yet to come.
Joel's vision revealed a beautiful, fruitful vineyard which was slowly eaten by ravages of insects and then was miraculously restored by God's hand. What a wonderful picture this is of the Church.
The Church began with great glory and wonderful miracles and signs.
The vineyard was then full of fruit.
The early Church had the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the miraculous divine word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, miraculous faith, gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits, ability to speak divers kinds of tongues, and the ability to interpret them (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
That early Church also had the fruit of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22,23).
But God had seen and foretold in the days of Joel that the Church would not remain in its beauty and power.
Then came the palmerworm into the vineyard.
The diabolical forces began to destroy the miracles and signs, and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit and the fruit disappeared.
It was not long after the time of the apostles that a slow deterioration began in that apostolic Church.
The locust continued eating.
Already the palmerworm had destroyed the fruit, and the locust began to eat what was left.
The centuries passed, with the Church being stripped of the fullness of the Spirit and prayer and humility. Formality and sectarianism took over.
Denominationalism and sectarianism have always been an evidence of lack of divine life and love in the Church.
There is not one verse of Scripture in the Holy Bible to authorize the various forms of division which we call denominations in the Body of Christ.
Men came, claiming to have the Holy Spirit, who did not have any Biblical evidences of having received, such as speaking with other tongues.
They had no Biblical evidences of possessing the Spirit, such as the fruit of the Spirit. Then came the cankerworm, eating what the locust had left.
The cancerous eating of the vitals of the vine continued until the divine holiness and life-flow into the Church was corrupted and finally died.
The last devastation was to come to the vineyard by the caterpillar.
The vine was stripped of its fruit, its leaves and the bark were gone, cancerous holes were in its heart, and the caterpillar nested in its roots and hollows.
Likewise, the Church also came to have its very root life destroyed; the root of the Church is its salvation experience-justification by faith in Christ.
When this was destroyed, it signaled the beginning of the dark ages. We call them Dark Ages, and they were dark.
The angels of God must have looked at the Church in that hour and wept; for the light was gone, and the night without Jesus Christ became the Dark Ages.
But weep not for the former glory which has departed, for Joel 2:25 says, I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
God declared, I will restore, and then came a glorious time in the history of the Church as God slowly
The first step of restoration had come.
The Lutherans and Protestants were persecuted and martyred, but what God had done remained.
All the tortures of the inquisition, the maiming and blinding of the believers, the scourgings, and the burnings at the stake could not destroy the work of God in restoring the Church.
The restoration of the Church followed with the work and ministry of great men like John Calvin, John Knox, Fletcher, and hundreds of others.
Satan could not hold back God's move to restore in those days, and he cannot stop it now.
As generations passed, God restored more.
The holiness movement sprang forth; that our above quoted prophet Paul was involved with.
But always the story was the same: as soon as one church movement grew cold, lost its first love, or fought higher truths, it lost out spiritually.
Often it became highly organized with man-rule instead of God-rule, and the people refused to walk in the light God gave them, and so the Lord God stepped over their little denominational and sectarian walls.
He left them to their dying forms and rituals and ceremonies and He took with Him a hungry band of believers.
They were the called-out of the called-out.
Thus a fresh new step was made in God's restoration of the Church.
O Churches that bear the name of the Lord, do you have a name that you live, but are dead (Revelation 3:1)? Men who are moving on with God marched down through the centuries.
Read of John Wesley who endured bitter persecutions.
With every church in England closed to the
Stoned, rotten-egged, he moved on with God, and another new step in the restoration was made.
Then followed men like Charles Finney and a host of others; but alas, in those very movements the fire began to wane, and they turned to a social gospel.
With organization, church suppers and programs, they, too, began to erect sectarian walls.
Then came William Booth with the Salvation Army, and it was a great day in his thronged church
His wife called to him from the balcony, "Say no, William," and William Booth said "No"; and the Church moved on one more step.
History tells us of the power of God in the Salvation Army with its all-night prayer meetings and men and women slain under the power of God.
About half a century ago another movement was born which was much like the story in Acts 2.
It is called the great Welsh revival and was initiated under the ministry of Evan Roberts.
It led to subsequent outpourings of God's Spirit all over the world, with men and women of every nation beginning to
The rain of heaven was falling on the humble and the empty, and Satan fought it as he had always done before.
All of the movements of God which had closed their doors to further revelation fought it too.
Preachers also fought this movement and called it many names.
It is a tragedy that those who were persecuted for former light a few years before were now persecuting those who were moving on into greater light.
Stepping out of Calvary Chapel came the Vineyard and Shekinah Fellowship.
This new light was but a restoration of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as it was experienced by the early New Testament church.
As the years passed, those who fought the light began to dry up, and they followed the pattern of the denominations before them.
They became strongly sectarian and cast out the new light and all its messengers.
Thank God that His truth is marching on!
Nothing can stop the rain of Almighty God.
Calling names and becoming angry will not stop the rain from falling.
You cannot sweep back this mighty tide with a little broom.
Strange things are happening again.
God is moving on His people to restore the gifts of the Holy Spirit with the fruit of the Spirit.
God is moving to complete the final steps for restoring the Church in these last days.
For 450 years, from the days of Martin Luther,
It is sad but true, that those who received the Holy Spirit and even spoke in tongues are now fighting the present restoration of the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, the ministries, and the spiritual authority of Christ in the believer which are recorded in Ephesians.
Many of those truths will be found only in a New Testament church.
God is moving again in the earth. Hear Him and rejoice. Receive this illumination from God's Word and walk in His new light.
The glorious Church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27) will soon come forth again in the earth. God said,"I will restore all the years..."
Take care that you do not follow the crowd and speak
Evangelical Fundamentalist, listen!
Holiness people, listen!
Pentecostals, listen!
Reformation people, listen!
God is moving on!
Will you move on with Him, or will you in unbelief raise your man-made denominational walls a little higher and sink into the pits of formality and deadness like the denominations before you?
Jesus People are you listening?
Firefall People are you listening?
Emergent people are you listening?
God will surely step over your walls, just as He did in other generations; and He will lead His people, the hungry and humble in
Press on into every scriptural New Testament church experience and endowment of the Holy Spirit.
Put away your doubts and fears, and dare to walk on with God, even at the cost of persecution and man's disfavor.
It is better to please God than to please man.
Take care, lest it be said of you as the prophet Isaiah wrote: "This is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses; they for a are prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will harken and hear for the time to come?"
Isaiah 42:22,23.
This is a day of restoration, the restitution of all things (Acts 3:21).
This is a day He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28).
To speak truths and to know we speak the Word from God is a great blessing to us.
The prejudices and sectarianism of the multitudes will never stop God's hungry children from moving on with God.
One small chapter in the continuing move of God in the earth.
Do you want to march on with God?
Are you willing to give up your preconceived notions of what a move of God should look like and be like?
Are you willing to open up and receive of the richness that the Holy Spirit can bring?
Cry out!
Yearn!
Desire for the move of God in this your time.
The story is vast and great and impacts the life of many upon the earth.
I am hungry for something from God!
Lord send Your fire today!
Vineyard Community Church in Laguna Niguel, California with pastor Mike Hudgins on Monday nights is a great place to start.
The family of God meets at 7:15 PM and worships God together then things start to happen.
People have had prayers answered and have had physical healings etc.
If you are hungry for God and want to sit under a powerful experienced leader who knows and understands the move of God and is very sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit in meetings then by all means attend this incredible gathering of the saints.
You will not be disappointed!
I highly endorse this mighty humble man of God!
http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/
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