A vision of the Revival I am looking for- January 20, 2001:
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my easy chair watching the events of the day on TV ( The inauguration of Pres. Bush) when all of a sudden I was in an open vision above the earth looking down.
North America was covered in a thick grey fog. There were 4 black words in the midst of the dark covering:
Deception, Depression, Destruction, and Depravity.
Then I saw Jesus on a white horse above the earth coming with an army. He blew away the dark fog and the Lord and His army descended upon North America.
Then I saw a light come on in the midst of America, next a few scattered lights; then soon lots of lights started coming on, like popcorn popping, all across the North America until there were 1,000’s of lights on in the USA and Canada.
Then I saw a huge tidal wave forming up on the east coast of Canada and New England and sweep across the Atlantic engulfing all of Great Britain and wash up on the northern shores of Europe.
Then I was back in my easy chair watching TV once more and I heard the Lord speak to me:
Dr. Kellie Agueze personally knows that God can change any situation. As a full-time minister, she spends hours warring for nations in prayer, encouraging millions of followers on social media with the Word of God, prophesying to others, and sharing the Gospel message all over the world.
Yet, the most profound miracle she’s ever witnessed happened recently in a small church in Roswell, Georgia. …
I immediately put on my nurse practitioner hat and checked his pulse…NOTHING. The gentleman was LIFELESS, COLD, SLUMPED OVER— DEAD,” she described in a Facebook post. …
“I made the decision that I had no choice but to raise him from the dead,” she said. “I have to bring this man back to life.”
She called out to onlookers asking what was his name. His wife identified the man as Stephen Ihenacho.
“I grabbed Stephen’s head and upper body and I prayed with a fervency I’d never experienced before and then I said ‘Stephen you get back here! Come back to life! You will not die today,” she shared.
Then the impossible happened. Within seconds the man started to blink his eyes and his pulse returned.
Response: Note that Dr. Kellie Agueze is not only a minister but a nurse practitioner by trade and surely knows when someone is dead. An Incredible story and this time in the USA.
I wrote this a few days after 9/11/01 reflecting on a couple of visions I had that week:
THE FACE OF JESUS
Friday, I Saw the face of Jesus,
While I was listening to the special service at National Cathedral; and tears were flowing down his cheeks.
Sunday, I saw the face of Jesus,
While I was worshipping at church; and tears were flowing down his cheeks, while thousands were filing past him in sorrow–those who died in the acts of terror– and they did not recognize him.
Then I saw the terrorists, they were celebrating while they walked together, until they saw Jesus, then there was terror in the eyes of the terrorists–they fell on their knees–some on their faces, raising their arms and pleading.
Then I saw the face of Jesus, and he was shaking his head in disappointment, and they were gone.
Later during the service, I saw the face of Jesus once again,
And he was smiling–as hundreds of people came before him and he hugged them, and he kissed them, and welcomed them. They were celebrating,
Then I saw the Face of Jesus once more, and he was laughing and celebrating with them.
The Holy Spirit found me in a Presbyterian church in New York on Mother’s Day. We were visiting our daughter and her family so we were worshipping at their home church in Yorktown, New York.
My mind wandered during the service, thinking about my next preaching assignment. The incomprehensible love of God came to mind along with the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:44:
“…love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
Suddenly I had a vision of the radical Muslims beheading 21 Christians in 2015 on the seashore in Libya. Then the Lord said:
“Love These. Pray for them.”
I replied: I love the persecuted Christians and pray for them every day.
“No, Love these and pray for them.”
Then I knew he was talking about the terrorists-my response: That is hard Lord and I can’t do it without your help.
Then the vision faded away- that was the lesson; we really can’t love or pray for our enemies without His help.
Here’s an encouraging testimony from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Most American Charismatics and Pentecostals do not normally think of English Anglican Bishops as being daily participants in speaking in tongues or as willing recipients of words of knowledge and prophecy. From Christian Today:
He said: ‘In my own prayer life and as part of my daily discipline I pray in tongues every day – not as an occasional thing, but as part of daily prayer.’
He said he had been encouraged by words of knowledge and prophecy: ‘I expect to hear from God through other people with words of knowledge or prophecies – some of which I am unsure about, others I can sense there being something of the Spirit of God.’
Better yet, Archbishop Welby is supporting a special prayer initiative for World evangelism:
The archbishop was speaking in connection with the launch of Thy Kingdom Come, now in its fourth year, the prayer initiative that has united more than a million Christians from more than 65 different denominations and traditions in more than 114 countries to pray for evangelisation. It takes place between Ascension to Pentecost, May 30-June 9. …
He added: ‘It’s very unusual for something like Thy Kingdom Come to gather churches together on such a global basis. I don’t think it’s unique, I think it’s biblical. It started by looking at what the disciples did between the Ascension and Pentecost. …
This week while reading in Mark I came across the story of the boy with an unclean spirit that the disciples could not cast out while Jesus was in the mountains praying (Mark 9:14-29). What really leaped out at me was the response of the Father after Jesus says- “All things are possible for one who believes”:
“I believe; help my unbelief!”
It was like trumpets were sounding and God was obviously trying to get my attention. Then the thought clearly came to me that this should be one of the key scriptures that I remember and repeat during my prayers this coming year.
I do believe everything in the bible and I have experienced and participated in numerous healings and miracles in my life but they are still the exceptions rather than the rule. When I pray for someone and they receive healing I am still surprised. Thankful but pleasantly surprised. Sort of like the folks praying for Peter to be released from prison and then when he actually knocked on the door they were shocked.
I also believe that I am not alone; that this is where the American church is right now at the close of 2016 and the beginning of 2017. We believe in the miracles of the Bible and all of the healings that Jesus performed. Most of us believe that God can still do those things today but we call them ‘supernatural’ and view them as exceptions in the ‘normal’ life of the American Christian and the church. There are even some of our brothers and sisters who believe that God stopped doing that stuff once the Bible was completed.
That’s why I believe that we should be praying this year for the entire America church (every faithful part of it) and pray for a new awakening, a new sovereign work of God, a new reformation of the church, and revival:
“We believe; help our unbelief!”
I do believe that it is already here and coming to a church near you. We just need help to dial up our faith and receive.
We live in ‘interesting times.’ Sometimes considering all of economic difficulties, cultural changes, wars and threats of terrorism, along with weather that is extreme to the point that some are calling it ‘Biblical’, I wish I was living in a different generation when life might have been easier for a Christian.
However what is happening in these times can also be exciting. Christianity around the world is growing faster than any generation before and I recently read that the were more Christians living today than all of the previous generations combined. Here in America and in the West we seem to be in decline but in reality we are seeing a great harvest with revivals happening in many countries, some of which are somewhat secret.
On Sunday during church I thought about all of the moves of God that have happened in my lifetime along with some special men and women of God that came and gone ministering in special ways. The tent revivals following WWII, the Charismatic Renewal that touched mainline churches, the Jesus People movement that touched at least a million folks, the charismatic movement that followed along with The Vineyard, KC, Toronto, and Florida and many others. Thinking about all of the moves in this generation including what is happening in China, Africa, and Iran, I came away with a new conviction that what we have seen in the past we will see again and maybe even greater things since the difficult times before us may call for it.
I spent 2015 praying the Psalms asking for revival in our land and started 2016 with the same conviction. I have prayed for the Kingdom to come down and touch the church and awaken it as never before. Now on Sunday came the inspiration to pray for every miracle and healing I come across while reading the Scriptures to happen again. What God has done in the past he can do again in this generation.
Today I ran across the following article and account of a dream in Charisma with the same message: Prophetic Dream: God Did It Before and He Will Do It Again(Link NLA)
Here’s a short quote from the article:
I heard a second phrase in these dreams. … “If I did it then, I will do it again!” Every miracle we have ever read about in the Word, every revival or awakening from a past season, every example of a city or nation turning towards Christ becomes a foreshadowing of what God desires to do again!
Amen! I am praying to see it all again and even more starting in 2016.
There have been many reports of Muslims coming to the Christian faith in the last few years through dreams and visions. The video above has a few of those testimonies. However the most dramatic that I have ever read about is one I found today in the Christian Post.
An ISIS soldier who actually ‘enjoyed’ killing Christians was visited in a dream by Jesus who told him: “You are killing my people.” Now he is being discipled as a new follower of Christ. Here’s the dramatic story from the Christian Post:
“One of our YWAM workers in the Middle East was contacted by a friend earlier this year and they met up and he was introduced to an ISIS fighter who had killed many Christians already. …(He) went on to share that this Islamic State jihadi confessed not only to killing Christians but “that he had actually enjoyed doing so.”
“He told this YWAM leader that he had begun having dreams of this man in white who came to him and said, ‘ You are killing my people.’ And he started to feel really sick and uneasy about what he was doing,”
Fadely continued. “The fighter said just before he killed one Christian, the man said, ‘I know you will kill me, but I give to you my Bible.’ The Christian was killed and this ISIS fighter actually took the Bible and began to read it. In another dream, Jesus asked him to follow him and he was now asking to become a follower of Christ and to be discipled.”
“So who knows. Perhaps this man will be like Saul in the Bible … “God can turn it around.”
Response: ISIS has killed thousands of Christians and destroyed hundreds of churches. They seem to be unstoppable lately. This conversion account gives me hope and demonstrates that God is still in charge regardless of what we see in the news.
What I take away from this is a lesson that we should have learned a long time ago. We really should be praying for our enemies just like Jesus taught.
Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board (IMB) dropped its ban on those who spoke in tongues along with several other rule changes at a recent meeting. Nevertheless, missionaries are expected to faithfully represent Southern Baptist churches and Southern Baptist teaching which does not include any kind of an emphasis on charismatic gifts.
This has been a long time in coming and considering the large number of cessationists in the SBC it is still surprising. However, years ago (2007) we discovered some research that showed over 50% of head pastors in the SBA believed in tongues so maybe the change is not so odd after all.
It does go along with what is happening overseas in the mission fields. I have heard that an increasing number of SBA missionaries had to hide their involvement in the ‘gifts’ from their board and their sponsoring churches just to continue. Healing and giftedness were not something they ever expected or sought out or even theologically believed in for that matter. It just happened in the midst of their ministry.
