The Road Hosea 6:5: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."
Numbers 16:35: “And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.”
Amos 1:4: “But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.”
Revelation 11:5: “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.”
Jeremiah 5:14: “Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.”
Hosea 6:5: “Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.”
I got this quote from Derek Johnson’s RattleTrap 1776 Telegram page:
“I’m not intimidating, you’re intimidated. There’s a difference. I’m not mean, nor aggressive, I am honest & assertive and that makes you uncomfortable. And it’s not ME that makes you uncomfortable, my PRESENCE challenges your comfort. I will not be less for you to feel better about yourself.”
In the New Testament sense this would read:
The demons in them are intimidated by the Presence of God in you.
or
People are convicted of sin because of the Holy Ghost Fire in you.
Matthew 8:29: “And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”
Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
I John 3:12-13: “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”
Luke 7:44-46: “And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.”
Acts 7:51: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”
Isaiah 48:4: “Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass.”
WILMORE, Kentucky. (BP) – Revival fires may be stirring again at a small college in rural Kentucky near Lexington. Services, filled with preaching, singing and personal testimonies, have been ongoing at Asbury University and Theological Seminary since Feb. 8.
A capacity crowd of 1,500 gather on Friday, Feb. 10, at Hughes Auditorium on the campus of Asbury University to join services that have been ongoing since Feb. 8. (photo submitted by Alex Griffith)
According to university accounts, a similar 144-hour revival broke out at the campus in 1970.
Alexandra Presta, a student at Asbury wrote in The Asbury Collegian, the campus newspaper, on Feb. 8, “Peers, professors, local church leaders and seminary students surround me— all of them praying, worshipping, and praising God together. Voices are ringing out. People are bowing at the altar, arms stretched wide.”
She wrote that in the midweek chapel service campus minister Zach Meerkreebs led an invitation for personal confession and testimonies.
“Wednesday chapel speaker Zach Meerkreebs admitted to those in attendance he didn’t know what the call of confession would look like, but this morning he spoke about seeing God not only as a Father but as a friend. Someone who won’t abandon you. Someone who will be there when you need to cry, mourn, rejoice, dance or anything in between,” she wrote in the Asbury Collegian.
Bill Elliff, founding pastor of The Summit Church in North Little Rock, Arkansas, attended a portion of the services on Feb. 10.
“Within the first hour, I had moved from a spectator to a humble participant,” he wrote in a blog on his website.
“There are wise leaders from the University who are helping shepherd the moment. I’m sure they have learned from the past movements how to steward this best,” he wrote.
Elliff has been a student of prayer and spiritual awakening and has written more than 50 books on the subjects.
“In some ways, it is a worship-based, Spirit-led, Scripture-fed prayer gathering. It is just what we should be doing all the time: waiting before God, worshiping Him, praying to Him, listening to Him, responding to Him, and being shepherded by wise leaders who see themselves merely as facilitators of God’s activity,” Elliff wrote.
Elliff said the 1,500-seat Hughes Auditorium was full on Friday night (Feb. 10). Reports indicated it was overflowing on Saturday night (Feb. 11).
Eric Allen, Kentucky Baptist Convention missions team leader, attended a portion of Saturday’s meeting and reported a similar experience.
“Sherry (Allen’s wife) and I had only been there a few minutes singing music when we were both moved emotionally and in tears because the presence of God was so real in that place. We could feel it,” he told Baptist Press.
“There was genuine praise and worship. Everything pointed to God and was very Christ-centered,” he said.
He said that while there was freedom in the meeting, there was also order.
Revival services at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky have been ongoing since Feb. 8. (photo submitted by Alex Griffith)
“One of the things I noticed was that there was spontaneity and order to what was happening. It wasn’t a stifling or restricting kind of order because there was also a freedom for people to testify, sing or pray and the freedom was never wild or without order,” he said.
Elliff made similar observations.
“It is not weird. Everything is extremely orderly but vibrant, spontaneous, and powerful,” he wrote.
Graci Bradley, an Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) student from Shelbyville, attended the Friday night service.
“Seeing people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, and from all different generations, was a glimpse of heaven. It was very encouraging to see that everyone was there for one common goal – to give God glory,” she told Baptist Press.
“He is worthy of it all, and in Him we are united,” she said.
Bradley, an active member of the Baptist Campus Ministry at EKU said in written comments, “What is happening at Asbury is something pleasing to God, as His children are uniting to sing His praise.”
That is a similar theme to the 1970 revival at Asbury, where 2,000 witness teams were sent to 130 colleges to share of their experience. On Saturday afternoon, campus ministers hosted a dinner for college campus student leaders to hear of how they might share in a similar event at their campus.
Kenny Rager, church evangelism strategist at the Kentucky Baptist Convention, attended the service on Saturday night.
“I was encouraged to see the staff shepherding the revival movement,” he told Baptist Press. “They are keeping order, giving instructions, and announcements but still encouraging the freedom of the spirit,” he said.
Rager said there were many testimonies shared while he was there, but there were also sermons.
“I was very encouraged that the preaching of God’s Word is happening. Lots of expressive worship and testimonies but there was also good preaching of the Word by the staff,” he said.
Ella Blacey and Lauren Powell pray during a worship service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky., on Friday, Feb. 10. Revival services have been ongoing since Feb. 8. (photo submitted by Alex Griffith)
He says he understands some people might be skeptical of the events taking place at Asbury.
“I understand why people may be skeptical. I was a little, too. We have seen a lot of movements fizzle out or even drift into heresy,” he said.
“Honestly, time will tell if this bears lasting fruit. But I went. I felt the Lord’s presence. I saw people worship. I saw people praying. I heard the Word preached. I met new brothers and sisters in the Lord and I felt the Lord speak to me about some issues,” he told Baptist Press in written comments.
A hunger for God permeates the people we’ve talked to who have attended.
“People are hungry to see God at work, and I think that’s what draws the crowds. They want to see God do something great in our lives and in our midst,” Allen said.
Bradley added, “…it’s my hope and prayer that it doesn’t stop at Asbury, but that it extends all over – we are called to be sent.”
“I believe these meetings are being driven by a desire to see a fresh outpouring of the spirit,” Rager said. “So many people want to see their churches wake up. Programs, plans, and strategic places can never replace the Holy Spirit,” he said.
Elliff called on other believers to pray for what is happening at Asbury and to pray that God would bring it to their church, campus, and city.
“As I spoke to the hotel receptionist this morning, she told me they were sold out of rooms. ‘We were not prepared for revival,’ she said. May it not be true of us,” he wrote.
I had a dream last night, July 27, 2022, where I saw a lamp on the altar inside of a church building. The lamp on the altar brought light to the whole building. Then I saw the lamp leave the altar of its own accord and move slowly towards the door in the back of the church. When it finally went through the door, the church was in total darkness. It was a darkness full of fear and one that could be felt. Then I heard the following.
Woe, Woe, Woe to those who shut me out and quench the fire of my Spirit.
I did see people leaving the darkness and follow the lamp.
Last night I had a dream where I was with several people. We were observing two very wicked women. One of the women was Hillary Clinton; the other woman was younger–it looked like she worked for Hillary Clinton (it may have been Huma Abedin or Hillary’s daughter, Chelsea).
The younger woman walked up to me: she knew that her life was in danger. She tried to talk to me, but I wouldn’t let her talk. I spoke a few words to her and then her body was burned with fire. After her body was consumed by fire, there was nothing left of her.
Then Hillary Clinton looked at me with fear in her eyes. She also knew that her life was in danger. She tried talking with me, but I wouldn’t let her. I spoke a few words to her and her body also was consumed by fire. There was nothing left.
Proverbs 18: 21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
I Kings 21: 23-24: “And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.”
II Kings 1: 12: “And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.”
II Kings 9: 35-37: “And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.”
The Lord is a man of war: The Lord is His name.
Exodus 15:3
Throughout the earthly life of our Lord was manifested this very truth in all that He did and said. Never was the warfare a distant or partial truth to the Son of God – it always was the present reality within which His deeds were done, and His words spoken…
…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8
Whether in preaching the good news, in healing the sick, or in casting out demons, His eyes were alight with the vision of the battle before Him. His passion, His compassion, and His righteous anger all symphonized into the heavenly music of His ministration: vigorous, gentle, and awesome.
In the synagogue He healed the man with the withered hand; and in so doing condemned those who with vehement disapproval looked on. In this He warred against and exposed the false spirit of the pharisees’ religiosity. In large crowds He walked about, teaching men the way of Life; thereby releasing them from the bondage of contrived burdens unto the freedom of His Lordship. In this He warred against and exposed the captivity of the adversary. With great frequency He also cast out demons; directly throwing off the power of the wicked one from those who drew near to His holy light. In this He warred against and exposed the secret devices of the enemy. And in all these things, our Lord was ever in prayer, communing with the Father; and gained final victory over the corruption that is in the flesh by His perfect intercession.
What then of ourselves? Are we men of war after His likeness? For such will be those who are indeed His workmanship!
“…The Lordis a man of war: The Lord is His name…”
Is the Spirit of The Lord upon you? Should you not then be a man of war after His likeness? One will say, “Ah, but the scriptures say, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Ex 14:14), and, “The battle belongs to the Lord.” – And truly indeed does the battle belong to Him, truly indeed is it His own to glory in. Yet it is on the children’s behalf that He fights while they hold their peace, since war is not the province of children. But He is a man of war: for war is the province of men, not of children; and He would not have us always remain helpless children (Eph 4:13-14). For through men of war, God glories all the more in battle, since then He displays two victories: the one over us, and then the one through us. Under Joshua, the men who warred for the advance of Israel were at times called “mighty men of valour” – and would that we could also be so named!
But carnal men love the convenience of slavery to Pharaoh; and after a time, slaves grow to love the providence of their worldly captors over the deliverance of God. How many a warring man of God is met even by brethren with the accusation, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Ex 2:14) Cowards fear deliverance, and spit upon its purveyors.
How easily does the slumbering soul dismiss the Lord’s zeal for His house as undue severity! And how quick also is the conceited mind to mistake the Lord’s dispassion in battle as a lack of heart. For if many of us today had witnessed Jesus drive the moneychangers out of the temple, we might have thought to take Him aside and suggest that He utilize a more “civil” or “toned down” measure against their grievous evil. And if we had observed Him seated outside the temple beforehand, weaving the whip in silence, we might have gasped in self-righteous shock, hand-over-heart at this “uncaring” and “ruthless” display of quiet premeditation.
O, how we trust the unreliable fire of human offense, and disdain the white-hot furnace of Godly passion! O, how we embrace the nihilism and empty hatred of human apathy, and recoil at the unearthly calm of Godly dispassion! This is because we do not know God, and in particular because we have not spent a day on the battlefield – except either in captivity of the enemy, or in cowering behind the Lord, who is trying to teach our hands to war and our fingers to fight.
But the warring character of Christ – with both holy zeal and divine peace – shone forth brightly in Peter when he confronted Ananias and Saphira in their lie…
And Peter answered unto her, “Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?” And she said, “Yea, for so much.” Then Peter said unto her, “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.” Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
Acts 5:8-11
Peter derived no earthly pleasure in the demise of these two; yet he also did not shrink from his duty in keeping the house of God clean from the blemish of deceitful scheming. When the Spirit of the Lord is upon a man to do battle against the devil’s handiwork, the man is on fire; and as he fights, he finds peace in the Lord while doing the Lord’s will – though in his wake other men lie possibly condemned, and all around him the demons are stirred up.
“In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge.”
Proverbs 14:26
But to fear man is to not fear the Lord; and Egypt is always more than happy to take back its slaves.
Let not the house of God remain such a den of thieves: trading the souls of its men for mammon, and their divinely-given birthright for a single meal.
The quote by A.W. Tozer above was taken from the Singapore Christian blog. This is my comment below:
I Corinthians 9: 20-22: “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
I believe too many Christians take the above scripture and re-translate it like this: “I must be conformed to the world so that I can save the world.” Too many worldly Christians on this planet. The Lord has called us to be a holy people–separate from the world system.
The Holy Ghost Fire really separates the wheat from the chaff.
II Corinthians 6: 17-18: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
James 4: 4: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
_____
Something to meditate on:
Why did John the Baptist camp out on the other side of the Jordan River?
[John 1: 28: “These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.]
___
John the Baptist lived a very short life; very little is written about him in the New Testament. Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest man ever born of woman. Maybe we could say that John the Baptist was a greater prophet than Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah and all the rest of the Old Testament prophets. The Book of Isaiah has 66 chapters; the Book of Jeremiah has 52 chapters; much more is written about Samuel and Elijah than John the Baptist.
Why is the life of John the Baptist still a powerful witness unto this day?
Probably because the crucified life has more power than the words that come out of our mouth.
On January 22, 2015, billboards started going up in Elkhart County, Indiana, proclaiming; REVIVAL IS HERE. The night before, hundreds of students from six local high schools gathered on the stage to be prayed for. The youth pastors who had brought them filled the center aisle. What was the reason for this gathering?
It had just been reported that the principals of two local high schools–one public, one private–had released their students to participate in the revival. And before the night was over, a text arrived from the board of another public school proclaiming the same thing.
One of the students on the stage was wearing a sweaty soccer uniform, because he’d skipped showering after the game in order not to miss another 10 minutes of the meeting. That morning, as soon as he’d heard that school was cancelled due to a heavy fog, he hurried in to join the dozens of groups going out to pray across the county. He’d prayed at three homes already before noon, and invited a young man at one of them to join the meetings for the rest of the day–who did. Then it was off the the soccer game and right back to the house of meeting.
We are now on the 11th straight sixteen-hour day of corporate worship, intense prayer, and scattering into the community to pray with anyone who wants it. WFRN-FM has been carrying the services every single night, and people are tuning in from 50, 60 miles away–and worldwide by internet. One woman who watched the online videos at reviveindiana.org wasn’t able to get out of her house until she prayed along with a healing prayer on the video, and 24 hours later her back pain and inflammation was totally gone–so of course she was present in person at the next meeting!
This is an unusual revival in two ways: first, there are no altar calls, and very little preaching on repentance. The assumption is that the church in Elkhart County already has the Holy Spirit, and all they have to do is go out into the community and spread Him around. The focus is on first praying for whatever felt need is expressed, then, with the discernment of the Holy Spirit, leading each contact through a five-verse plan of salvation, giving them a New Testament, and making a commitment to follow up within 24 hours.
Secondly, healing is a primary result of this revival. Not a focus; no one is ever prayed for unless he requests it. But many are requesting healing, and they are getting it. And it’s not happening up on stage–its happening in homes, parking lots, and sidewalks all over the community. No one claims to have a gift of healing, but when they pray, they’re seeing people healed–often to their own amazement. And it’s not just physical healing; bondages are being shattered.
Hundreds of people are testifying that the Holy Spirit is moving in and through them. Doors are opening. Walls are coming down. More and more churches, having had their premises visited by prayer teams the first week, are coming on board. The overflow room has overflowed. Last night, simultaneous Spanish translation was offered for the first time. At the rate things are going, there soon won’t be a building in Elkhart County big enough to hold the crowds–they may just have to move to the arena at the County Fairgrounds, which never hosts an outdoor crowd this time of year.
This has the makings of the first nationwide revival in over 100 years. And there are still over 40 days to go.
Tomorrow I’ll write about the building that’s about to be outgrown.
The Road 