Our church has been experiencing a prayer revival. Have you ever heard of one or been a part of one? I had not. Never in my 51 years as a Christ follower. It was not really planned ahead to become what it has. We were expecting something, but not this.
Twice a year we have revival services. Some may not be familiar with that. We have a guest speaker, another minister, come in for about 4-5 services and preach. It is a time of renewal for the members and usually a time of salvation for the lost. Normally the week before the services begin, we have special prayer time focusing on the guest minister and the moving of the Holy Spirit within the services. For years we had people designate a time they would come to the church to quietly pray. Last year, as well as opening the church, we had cottage prayer meetings at different homes. This time has been different. Not only where and when we prayed, but how we prayed.
Services were to begin on November 8th. The week prior, beginning on November 1st, we began praying in earnest for a moving like we had never seen before. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday through Saturday we had multiple groups meeting in homes, different areas on our campus,and at various times of the days and evenings. We cried out for something different, something that would remain past the meetings with the guest speaker. On Wednesday night, our regular Bible study time, we had prayer instead of study. On Sunday we were looking forward to the beginning of our services. That was not to be. The guest speaker had tragically lost several members of his family and needed to remain to conduct funerals and support his loved ones. So our revival services were delayed for another week.
Our pastor knew God had begun moving in the hearts of our people and he did not want this momentum to change. Neither did we. Instead of the preaching services we expected to have Sunday through Wednesday nights, we met at the church to continue praying. We poured ourselves out before God and bathed the altar in tears. We had more in attendance for these meetings than we normally have for the actual revival services. One of the most moving things has been the participation by our youth, especially our teens. Each night they have filled pews and bowed before God. The remaining days and nights, prayer groups would meet as we did the week before. We also committed to each pray an hour a day on our own. It has been an awe inspiring thing to be a part of! God has met with us each time. We will be ready to receive what God has prepared for us next week.
I normally have a hard time kneeling for more than a few minutes due to previous back surgeries, but God has allowed me to kneel for our meetings with no pain or numbness in my legs. When I arrived at church Wednesday night, there were only a couple of people already in the sanctuary. The lights were low and soft Christian music was playing. As I opened the sanctuary door, it seemed the Spirit of God rushed to greet me and my eyes filled with tears. Please do not think this is just a temporary emotional experience. It is emotional, but it is much deeper than that. This is a real moving of the Spirit within our people.
So you may be wondering what these prayers were like. Not what you would expect probably. They were not flowery words that would impress anyone. They were simple words of praise for a merciful God and pleas for Him to change our hearts, our lives, our service to Him. There are many gifted orators who can deliver prayers that impress men. All too often this type of prayer does not move us spiritually and I fear does not move God at all. This does not mean that all gifted orators pray without feeling, for I know those who pray straight from their hearts, but even for them this was different. Prayers that usually come controlled, came as cries of desperation. It is hard to explain just how different this has been. I wish you could be there. I pray that God will give each of you a prayer revival, individually and as a church body. I ask that if you are a Christ follower, that you lift up my church family, that what God has begun Satan will not be able to penetrate.
