our heart for ...
REVIVAL
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways,
I will hear from heaven and will forgive
their sins and restore their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT
What is Revival?
Some people think revival is powerful evangelism with many unbelievers coming to Christ and filling our churches. This may be the result of revival, but it is not where revival starts. The very word revival means to "re-vive" or "bring back to life again." Revival therefore has to do with reviving those who already have spiritual life (believers)...
...Revival is God coming in His mercy to awaken us from spiritual sleep, to quicken us and raise us to the level of spiritual life we should always have been experiencing. Revival is God blowing upon the dying embers of our hearts to bring a fresh fire of love and passion for Him again.
...What a sick and sleeping church needs is not better programs, greater effort or even more teaching but a powerful visitation and revelation of God.
Won't you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? Psalm 85:6 NLT
Often we hear about revivals and think it is all glory and joy but don't realize that this deep cleansing must come first if revival is to be deep and lasting. Revival is first of all God coming to refine and purify His people so that we might burn for Him again with a pure and holy fire (see Malachi 3:1-5) This prepares us for the heart of revival, which is God restoring us to fellowship and intimacy with Himself because He loves us and then reaching out through us to people who are lost, broken and alienated from Him.
(taken from Prepare the Way for Revival by Ian Malins)
Pastor Brian Briggs had an encounter with God when he was just 16 years of age which radically changed his life forever!
At that time he was attending the local Pentecostal church and like most young people of that age, questioning whether God was real or not. He decided to put God to the test, asking God to reveal Himself to him in a personal and real way. Pastor Brian made a decision to fast and pray for three days, and if nothing happened, then he would give in to the temptation to ‘live it up’ like so many of the young people of the 1960’s.
After fasting for only two days the Holy Spirit came in a powerful and significant way. Riding his push bike home from a friend’s house who was also fasting to see God move in his own life he began to feel a powerful sensation all around him of the presence of Almighty God, who it seemed was pouring liquid love all over him! He doesn’t know how he got home how he climbed the stairs to home, all he knows is that God supernaturally visited him in a way he’d never known in his life before, showing him visions of a future Revival in Maryborough that saw halls and churches filled to overflowing, uniting Christians, saving lives and breaking down denominational barriers.
Confirming (he believes) what he had seen in the visions, Brian and his friend, who were later praying about this encounter, received a prophetic word about their then Pastor, Noel Brown, and his wife from the AOG church Maryborough. God was going to bless them with a child! This had been their deepest, passionate desire for many years! Riding their push bikes from Aubenville to the manse behind the church in Alice Street, they excitedly told the Pastor what God had told them, only to have him announce that the doctors had just that week confirmed their worst fears; they would never have biological children of their own. It was physically impossible. But, God was to prove that prediction wrong and approx. nine months later Mrs Brown gave birth to the first of not one, but two beautiful children. Nothing is impossible with God!
‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people'
Smith Wigglesworth, often referred to as ‘the Apostle of Faith,’ was one of the pioneers of the Pentecostal revival that occurred a century ago.
Without human refinement and education he was able to tap into the infinite resources of God to bring divine grace to multitudes.
Thousands came to Christian faith in his meetings, hundreds were healed of serious illnesses and diseases as supernatural signs followed his ministry.
A deep intimacy with his heavenly Father and an unquestioning faith in God’s Word brought spectacular results and provided an example for all true believers of the Gospel.
(extract from smithwigglesworth.com)
Acts 2:17
Prophetic word for Australia given by Heidi Baker in Sydney at Jubilee International Church on
March 16th 2010
Heidi was powerfully called to the mission field at age 16 after being led to the Lord by a Navajo evangelist and experienced 7 hours in a vision where she heard Jesus speaking to her audibly and telling her to minister in Asia, England and Africa.
Since then Heidi and Rolland Baker founded Iris Global in 1980 that now has over 35 bases in about 20 nations led by teams of missionaries and local leaders and where they are seeing countless salvations with supernatural visions, miraculous healing and provision and Revival.
In 1985 became ordained ministers in 1985. They continue to lead the movement Iris Global .
Australia, The Great Southland of the Holy Spirit
In the year 1606 Capt. Pedro Fernandez de Quiros gave this continent the name “Australia del Espiritu Santo” or literally “Southland of the Holy Spirit”.
In the Bible Hebrew names not only indicate character but also happenings and even the destiny of those granted that name. What does this suggest for the destiny of Australia? No other nation on earth has been blessed with the title "South Land of the Holy Spirit"!
In fact de Quiros’s actual proclamation was as follows: “Let the heavens, the earth, the waters with all their creatures and all those present witness that I, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros…..in the name of Jesus Christ ...... hoist this emblem of the Holy Cross on which His (Jesus Christ’s) person was crucified and whereon He gave His life for the ransom and remedy of all the human race…. on this Day of Pentecost, 14 May 1606….. I, take possession of all this part of the South as far as the pole in the name of Jesus…. Which from now on shall be called the Southern land of the Holy Ghost