Scripture: Joel 2 v 27 - 31: "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 the terrible day of the LORD come."
When we seek the Lord with our whole heart, the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and revive us to prophesy, have prophetic dreams and see many visions. Revivals come with weeping, not with laughter.
When the Holy Spirit comes upon us in power we are crushed under the weight of sin. Even born again, filled with the Spirit people, are burdened with things that offend God. It's in our attitudes, speech, behaviour and thoughts that He exposes areas in our lives that He intends to crush out of existence.
He moves in on us and slowly reveals our pride, our self-love, our lack of obedience, our rebellion against holiness, our escape from walking the strait and narrow path. At each breaking of the wrong things within we are distressed in our deepest place and we weep with sorrow and regret for our failures.
The cleansing takes place over days and weeks as we remain alone with the Holy Spirit until He is satisfied with our submission to God. When His hand lifts from us we are changed forever into the person He created us to become. We have been transformed to our true purpose and the bridge back to the flesh and selfish desire has been burnt to ashes.
All traditions, religious leanings, worldly philosophy and conflicting teachings has been uprooted and replaced with the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus. We are filled with a passion for the lost souls that leads us into an insatiable desire to win them. We have a hunger to know the Word of God and have a close relationship with Jesus.
Now we experience true joy as every cloud over our lives has become filled with living water pouring out upon us. As revival grows in a city or country the power of God is unleashed and profound miracles explode like in Acts 5 v 14 - 16: "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)
15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one."
God can cause our shadow passing over people in the street or anywhere, that they would be born again, healed, delivered and filled with the Holy Spirit en masse. In the delightful book by H.R. Baker, Visions Beyond The Veil, a Christian orphanage filled with young Chinese boys was unexpectedly visited by the Holy Spirit and these children were caught up to Heaven where the Bakers saw them doing "charades" of blowing trumpets, picking fruit, singing with angels, and greeting children who had died while in the orphanage.
They were so filled with the Holy Spirit that they went out in groups into the town's around them and preached on street corners, average age of 7! They would speak in tongues and one would interpret the words Jesus wanted those villagers to hear. They would see visions and pray. Amazing miracles happened there. Back in the 1930's but it could be even greater now.
This is what we are longing for, what this whole world needs. It is spiritually as dry as a desert in many parts of the world.
Here is an excerpt from this book....
"On Chinese New Year, the streets were filled with all kinds of people out to celebrate the holiday. After circulating thousands of tracts in the crowd, all the Adullam Orphanage residents formed a circle on the street to preach the gospel.
One of the older boys had prepared a sermon on a New Year's theme. But when he began preaching, the power of God fell so forcefully that this boy suddenly began speaking in other tongues while another person interpreted. One small boy after another took turns as interpreter.
As soon as the Lord was through with one interpreter, he would step back and another would feel the anointing and take his place. As soon as each boy stepped into the circle, he would immediately receive an interpretation. This went on for an hour or two as many people gathered to listen, jostling to get near enough to hear.
They spoke with an earnestness so unusual that people who would seldom listen to the gospel now listened attentively. It was an evening conducted by the Holy Spirit in incredible order and beauty, each preacher being of the Lord's appointment, each one speaking a message from Him under direct inspiration.
As we came away from that service, we seemed to understand what the preaching of the church was like in the beginning, and what the Lord wanted it to be in the end. Not that preaching through other tongues and interpretation was to be the regular order of preaching, but, as 1 Corinthians 14 clearly shows, such preaching constitutes a part of the Lord's method of preaching the gospel in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit.
In such preaching the mind of the speaker is entirely disengaged. Often, before the words are formed, the speaker literally has no idea what the Spirit will speak through his lips. This is pure prophetic preaching.
In other cases, the mind of the speaker may be active and know before speaking (at least momentarily) what the Spirit will speak through him. The message may be an exposition of the Scriptures, as in the sermon by Stephen. Peter, on various occasions, preached as the Spirit spoke through him. Although preaching the gospel under the direct unction of the Holy Spirit is not exactly pure prophecy, it is nevertheless prophetic whenever the Holy Spirit directs and guides us.
The Lord was the guest preacher on several occasions in our little street chapel. For two or three nights, the youthful preachers, under the unction of the Spirit, preached the most inspiring sermons I have ever heard from Chinese evangelists. It seemed as if those sermons would stir anyone to repentance."
We need to be stirred up in Spirit as these former child beggars were stirred. They had no theological training nor educated background, but they were caught up in a rare outpouring of Revival that lasted for 18 months and changed their lives, and those who heard them, forever. No matter what our station in life, nor adverse or challenging circumstances, when revival breaks through we are brought low at first, then lifted very high.
This world desperately needs the most widespread outpouring of revival as soon as possible to fill up the Kingdom of Heaven to bring joy to our Father.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we earnestly seek Your face for the promise of pouring out the Holy Spirit on all flesh as stated in Acts 2 v 17: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:".
Father we are so dry, send us the rain Lord, the Living Water that will saturate our souls and revive us to proclaim Your Kingdom. In Jesus' name. Amen.
