In the Hills of Rwanda

 Up in the Hills of Rwanda

 “Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!”  (Isa 64:1-2)

Our first set of meetings are in Muhanga, an hour’s drive from the capital. I have no idea what to expect – sometimes it will be an incredible surprise; sometimes it is just warm-up for the rest of the campaign.  Most of the bigger outpourings of the Holy Spirit seem to happen in the small villages out in the country, so I don’t mind driving an hour to minister to God’s hungry children out here. They do more for me than I do for them.

Muhanga is where everything starts in Rwanda, including the Genocide in 1994 that destroyed a million people in just 100 days. I have been asked to come here because the cold wall of unforgiveness still grips the hearts of these people. Which is not surprising considering the extreme horrors that took place. My host tells me that they have asked me to come to Muhanga for two reasons: they need revival here desperately because of the spirit of unforgiveness that lingers, and it is in Muhanga that everything starts in Rwanda.

All that may be well and good, but do they want revival is the question I ask. If they are not willing to let go of the old hatreds and passions, there’s not much I can do. I don’t have anything special to offer other than the message that God has given me.  The spark of revival has to happen between the hearts of people who are desperate for God and the throne of His mercy.  For some reason, I am not feeling the usual excitement inside me that pumps me up to drive into each campaign. Maybe it’s from lack of sleep, maybe I’m not tanked up enough on reading and prayer, or maybe there is a cold layer of ice in the hearts of these people that is shutting out God. Whatever it is, I am not expecting what comes next.

Instead of a little country church where a couple dozen poor people are waiting for me, I walk into a large building where over 250 people start cheering and clapping as I enter.  I am thoroughly amazed.  Here is hope, because it is not me that they are cheering, but it is the promise of God for revival.  I may not have a “feel” for what the message will be yet, but God has to feed His people. It will come.

The evening service is even more incredible. Now there are over 700 people in this place, all singing and praising God at the top of their lungs.  Again, as I walk in, they start cheering. It is deafening. How can God not hear? I have decided to bring the message from the Book of Joel and show them the prophesies of the coming great revival first before launching into the usual series of messages about how badly the Church in the last days would need a true, Holy Ghost revival.  I am told that they normally win about 300 souls every month, so how can I reprove them about not winning souls? These people are already on the road to revival, so what is it that I can give them?

But there is still something missing here.  I can feel it but I don’t know what it is. As the message pours out of me for the next hour and a half, I get this sense of people stuck inside a bucket, peering over the edge at me. They want what I am telling them about, but they are stuck in something that keeps them from being free. I don’t know what it is yet, but this will not be the usual set of messages that I bring. I will have to be totally yielded to the Spirit to navigate these waters so that God can break through whatever this barrier is in their hearts. 

And right now, I don’t feel very yielded or up to the task. But then, when am I ever? I just have to close my eyes and step off the cliff, and let God do what He is going to do. 

Rend the heavens, O God, and let the mountains of Rwanda flow down at Thy presence!

Desperate Hunger

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I spend a lot of time speaking about the hunger for God that I continually find in the churches I visit in Africa. I suppose it is not true for every church over there.  I probably miss the ones that are not hungry for revival because I refuse to give thousands of dollars so I can come preach at your church. I have two reasons for that. 

One is that I hate con artists, especially Christian con artists.  We’ve got plenty in the U.S. splattered all over the television, selling oil and rags, holy water and thinly disguised indulgences, while they pat each other on the back and invite each other to their programs so they can pump up the audience to give more money.  I call them the C.C.A.A – Christian Con Artists of America.  I’m sure you know exactly who I’m talking about.  Their slick cousins over in Africa are simply learning the trade from their American masters.

The other reason for me not giving thousands of dollars to pastors for them to create some organizational extravaganza is that I am not looking for great numbers.  I am only looking for those hungry souls who are willing to overcome any obstacles that are in their way to receive the fire of revival. Those are the ones who will carry the torch and light the rest of Africa – the others will just go home after they have been entertained and had their free meal. 

But there are those who are so desperate for revival that they will pay any price to bring this power to their people.  Pastor William Iddi, the pastor who was the primary reason for me coming to Tanzania on this last trip, had attended one of my meetings in Kenya three years ago and had picked up a business card that someone had dropped on the ground.  He has been asking me to come to his village in Tanzania ever since, but I have always been headed in a different direction. (Too many places and not enough time).  He decided that he would take his plea directly to God instead, so, on three separate occasions, he went out to a mountain to fast and pray, sleeping on the rocks at night, for an entire week each time until God answered.  Finally, the Lord spoke to him and told him He would send me.  Geez!  Talk about determination!  When you really want something from God, you can get it if you are determined enough to hang on to the horns of the Altar until God answers. 

Do you have the same zeal to see revival come to your church?  William Iddi is not alone in Africa. There are whole churches that enter into weeks of fasting and all-night prayer meetings for God to send someone to bring revival to their church.  Some of them are so far out of the way that it is an impossible dream for them.  No one goes out to preach at some of these places, especially white revivalists from America.  But God specializes in impossible dreams.

 Their hope, which is borne on the wings of soul-wrenching prayer and fasting, is birthed in a womb of desperation.  And God’s ears are attuned to the cries of the desperate.

Regardless of what our false prophets tell you, revival will not come to America until we are broken to our knees in repentance – and that will not happen unless something terrible happens to break us out of our hypnotic fascination with blessings, prosperity, and a cheap grace.  We are not desperate enough yet.  But Africa is, and I believe that God will use Africa to bring revival to the rest of the world.  My prayer is that, in our mediocrity, we will feel the heat of the fire that is kindled in Africa and drop to our knees to plead with God to forgive us for having “church” instead of what He called us to so long ago.

Brother Dale, dale@revivalfire.org

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Mount Kilimanjaro

We are in Moshi, a quaint little town at the base of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s largest mountain. I am told that “Kiliman” means “mountain” and “jaro” means “large”. The mountain is massive and dominates the entire horizon. It is no wonder that so many tourists come here to climb it. It sits there like a great king standing over his massive domain in a commanding challenge to all those around it.

But I am not here to climb Kilimanjaro. I have my own mountains to climb. I am here to open a window of revival to these churches here. The two weeks we spent in Dar es Salaam are over and it is time for a new set of challenges. We will be at one church for 3 days, and then off to Arusha for a week with a couple more churches there.

Dar es Salaam was a series of challenges for us. At first, it appeared that we had no churches to preach at. The pastor of the church we were originally slated for wanted $5,000 to set up our meetings. I suppose he was expecting a Billy Graham type of crusade, but that is not what the Lord has consistently placed before me to do. But as soon as that door closed, several smaller churches immediately opened their doors to us. They were cautious at first, but once the word got out about the anointing that accompanied our services, everything changed. One bishop of a large church said that he actually saw the glow turn on as soon as I started preaching, and he spread the word to everyone else. The doors opened up and the struggles we were experiencing quickly turned into victory after victory.

There have not been a lot of souls saved … yet. A couple of Muslims got saved, but the real proof of the ministry is what will happen in the forthcoming weeks. I have told them that before they start gathering in the harvest, a fire has to be built in their churches, otherwise the souls that do come in will not stay. They get it. And now they know what they need to do to kindle that fire. The spark has been lit, but it is up to them to put fuel on the fire and fan the flames.

Now that they have experienced the anointing, they all want me to hurry and come back so they can gather all the churches in the area for some big meetings. But I rarely come back to the same place. Once a fire has been lit, you don’t go back to light it again with another match. They say that I need to come back to see all the fruit that will be there, but I am off to the next place to strike the next match.

Brother Dale

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Stepping into the Impossible

We have had some terrific days here in Tanzania this past week. I have been at several churches throughout Dar es Salaam and every service has been great. In most places (probably every one of them), the message of revival has been shattering. They all want revival, but it’s as if they are not really sure what revival is or how to get it. And when I bring this message to them, it opens their understanding like someone ripping open the dark curtains that was hiding the bright noon day. What is interesting is that some of these places had just started getting serious about seeking God for revival when all of a sudden I showed up with this message. One pastor told me that he had been pasturing his church for 10 years, but only in the past couple of weeks has the Lord been pressing upon him to teach his church to go out and win souls. God’s perfect timing is so cool. What they have not experienced before is the power that accompanies these services. I can feel the Spirit flowing through me, but I don’t feel what they feel out in the congregation. Pastor Noah tells me that the power is so strong out there that it is breaking hearts to cry out to God. Even our driver, who is a Muslim and won’t come inside the churches, said he could feel the power of God out in the parking lot and has decided to start coming inside. That has to be a good sign. At every church, the people are excited, pumping my hand to express their thanks and begging me to come back. But when I come back to the hotel at night and stare out the window at the lights of the city, I don’t feel the same thing they’re feeling. I feel like a little boy who is trying to do a man’s job. Pretty funny seeing I am 62 years old. But honestly, I wonder about what I am doing here. Sometimes I just feel inadequate because I really don’t know what I am doing. I never know what the message will be until just before I stand up. Oh sure, it is always good – God never fails me – but even after preaching hundreds upon hundreds of messages that have all been filled with the Spirit, it is still daunting to me. It is not the words that I must deliver, but the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. It’s like getting ready to jump into a swimming pool, knowing that you don’t know how to swim but being forced to trust God that He will teach you how if you just dive in. Maybe I’m not supposed to be brimming with self-confidence like some big-time, sho’ nuff, Holy Ghost revivalist. Maybe I am supposed to stand in awe of the impossible providence of God’s Grace, knowing that I can’t do this – I will never be able to do this – but He can … and He does … every time. He just needs for me to get out of the way and let Him be God. When we let God take over, we release Him to do the miraculous. “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

Brother Dale

www.RevivalFire.org

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A Shadow in the Noon Day

“Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not him that wandereth.” (Isaiah 16:3)

There comes a time when you are called to make a stand against things that are wrong, and answer the call to fight against the oppression of the weak and innocent. God calls us to first take counsel and understand what you are doing and why. Whenever you stand up to resist the oppression of darkness, you need to understand that you will pay a price for your convictions, but stand anyway because it is the right thing to do. You may not win, you may not come out of it unhurt, you may pay a higher price than you’d like to, but there is a point when, knowing and realizing what the price may be, you make that decision anyway. It is a determined call that rises out of your soul that cries out that this is right and that is wrong, and you refuse to give in to the intimidation of iniquity. Count the cost and make a decision that you will stand for that which is right.

When you do stand, it will be in stark contrast to the landscape around you – as the shadow of night in the midst of the bright noon day. There is no mistaking who you are, what you are doing, and what you are standing for. There is a boldness to righteousness that fuels a faith that is defiant. It is a David kind of faith, the kind he took out into the field to defy Goliath; the kind that galvanized his feet to stand in that field of barley in 1Chronicles 11 with his two friends and defy the entire Philistine army. It is the type of defiant faith that Jonathan declared as he rose up to scramble up the rocks that “there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.” These were men of faith to whom the odds did not matter. It was not about winning or losing, or personal safety or advantage. It was not about blessings and prosperity. It was that “Damn the torpedoes!” call to a battle for righteousness. What were the odds against David when he and his two friends faced down an army that was so fearsome that the entire army of Israel had fled? Who cares? They stood to fight for the honor of God and it didn’t matter what the odds were! Did it matter to Jonathan that there were only two swords among all the Israelites to fight over 30,000 men of war? Not hardly. To men such as these, the victory belongs only to God. The only thing that matters is what is right.

God thrusts us into opportunities of challenge to strengthen and forge us into men and women of conviction, champions of righteousness, and defenders of the Faith. It is not an opportunity to be missed. Our weapon is the Word of God, our armor is our faith and our righteousness, and our determination is fueled by the zeal of the Lord of Hosts. We stand, not because we count the odds, but because it is right.

We have been called to hold up the Blood Stained Banner in the battle for the greatest cause of all time. Let us stand in such contrast to the world that we are as a great shadow of night in the midst of a glaring noonday sun that we may give refuge to a lost and dying world that has been beaten down with the forces of darkness, where victory has been stolen and trampled upon, where hope is but a faint glimmer in a dark world, and where courage is in great demand.

Brother Dale
Revivalfire.org

1968 PROPHECY from 90-YEAR-OLD WOMAN in NORWAY

An old woman of 90 from Valdres, Norway had a vision from God in 1968. The evangelist Emanuel Minos had meetings (services) where she lived. He had the opportunity to meet her, and she told him what she had seen. He wrote it down, but thought it to be so unbelievable that he put it in a drawer. After 30 years, he understood he had to share the vision with others.

The woman from Valdres was a very alert, reliable, awake and credible Christian, with a good reputation among all who knew her. This is what she saw:

“I saw the time just before the coming of Jesus and the outbreak of the Third World War. I saw the events with my natural eyes. I saw the world like a kind of a globe and saw Europe, land by land. I saw Scandinavia. I saw Norway. I saw certain things that would take place just before the return of Jesus, and just before the last calamity happens, a calamity the likes of which we have never before experienced.

She mentioned four waves:

1. “First, before Jesus comes and before the Third World War breaks out there will be a ‘détente’ like we have never had before. There will be peace between the super powers in the east and the west, and there will be a long peace. [Remember, that this was in 1968 when the cold war was at its highest]. In this period of peace there will be disarmament in many countries, also in Norway and we are not prepared when it (the war) comes. The Third World War will begin in a way no one would have anticipated – and from an unexpected place.

2. “A lukewarmness without parallel will take hold of the Christians, a falling away from true, living Christianity. Christians will not be open for penetrating preaching. They will not, like in earlier times, want to hear of sin and grace, law and gospel, repentance and restoration. There will come a substitute instead: prosperity (happiness) Christianity. “The important thing will be to have success, to be something; to have material things, things that God never promised us in this way. Churches and prayer houses will be emptier and emptier. Instead of the preaching we have been used to for generations -like, to take your cross up and follow Jesus, – entertainment, art and culture will invade the churches where there should have been gatherings for repentance and revival. This will increase markedly just before the return of Jesus.

3. “There will be a moral disintegration that old Norway has never experienced the likes of. People will live together like married without being married. Much uncleanness before marriage, and much infidelity in marriage will become the natural and it will be justified from every angle. It will even enter Christian circles and we will let it – even sin against nature. Just before Jesus returns there will be TV- programs like we have never experienced. [TV had just arrived in Norway in 1968] “TV will be filled with such horrible violence that it teaches people to murder and destroy each other, and it will be unsafe in our streets. People will copy what they see. There will not be only one ‘station’ on TV, it will be filled with ‘stations.’ [She did not know the word 'channel' which we use today. Therefore she called them stations. -E. Minos.] TV will be just like the radio where we have many ‘stations,’ and it will be filled with violence. People will use it for entertainment. We will see terrible scenes of murder and destruction one of the other, and this will spread in society. Sex scenes will also be shown on the screen, the most intimate things that take place in a marriage.” Then the old woman said: “It will happen, and you will see it. All we have had before will be broken down, and the most indecent things will pass before our eyes.”

4. “People from poor countries will stream to Europe. [In 1968 there was no such thing as immigration] They will also come to Scandinavia – and Norway. There will be so many of them that people will begin to dislike them and become hard with them. They will be treated like the Jews before the Second World War. Then the full measure of our sins will have been reached.

The tears streamed from the old woman’s eyes down her cheeks. “I will not see it, but you will. Then suddenly, Jesus will come and the Third World War breaks out. It will be a short war.” (She saw it in the vision.) “All that I have seen of war before is only child’s play compared to this one, and it will be ended with a nuclear atom bomb. The air will be so polluted that one cannot draw one’s breath. It will cover several continents, America, Japan, Australia and the wealthy nations. The water will be ruined (contaminated?). We can no longer till the soil. The result will be that only a remnant will remain. The remnant in the wealthy countries will try to flee to the poor countries, but they will be as hard on us as we were on them.

“I am so glad that I will not see it, but when the time draws near, you must take courage and tell this. I have received it from God, and nothing of it goes against what the Bible tells.”

——–

I am repeating this vision to you because of what the Lord showed me in 2002 – not as detailed, but just as harrowing. Many of you may remember the vision I had of the Stampede. In it I saw a stampede, like cattle, of Modern Christianity heading straight for a cliff, and although some of us were yelling at them and waving our arms, I could not get their attention. Then the Lord spoke to me and told me, “Even if they could hear you, which they can’t, they will not listen”. I knew that the only things that can end a stampede is either to let them run themselves out – which there was time for that – or something explosive would have to happen to break the hypnotic sway that they were mesmerized with. Immediately, I thought of 9/11 – but that had already happened. And then I realized that something else was coming, much greater than 9/11 or Katrina. And then the vision broke, and I saw as it were, a scene as it would be after a terrible explosion with dust and debris floating down in the air. Only a few people were left walking around in shell-shock. One of them approached me and asked, “How can we trust God?”

I mention this because I have heard others who have seen similar things. The Bibles says that God will not do anything but He will tell His prophets first. We have been warned repeatedly, but just like in the Old Testament, we hear, we repent briefly and seek God superficially, but then human nature is such that we end up going back to seeking our own ways. And then judgment falls.

I believe we have a small window of opportunity to go back to seeking for the fear of God so that we may return to that old-fashioned Gospel that we have left way behind us. The Church today would be unrecognizable to our forefathers, but we only give it a passing notice. We no longer care because we are so comfortable with the way we have fashioned our Christianity. We have created God in our own image.

 

Brother Dale, www.RevivalFire.org

 

 

Ten Pieces of Silver

“Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
(Luke 15:8-10)

As I get older, I find myself going through the same thing this woman went through. Where is that thing that I just laid down a moment ago? Where’s my glasses? What happened to that pen I just had in my hand? It was here just a moment ago. Am I getting more stupid as the days progress, or am I just getting old?

Or am I just like the Church?

We can take comfort that we still have 9 pieces of silver and that tenth piece is around here somewhere. It’ll turn up sooner or later. In the meantime, we have lots of other things to do that are more important right now.

Or do we?

Many of us may lament the loss of one piece of silver and will light a candle to find it, but if it doesn’t show up, we are satisfied that at least we made an effort to find it. We have tall white steeples to let everyone know where our churches are, we put our church in the local Church Directory for everyone to find us, and we’ve even put a sign out front to invite them in. We have lit our candle and are satisfied that we have done our best. But few of us are willing to sweep the house and turn it upside down in a desperate search for that one lost piece of silver, that one lost sheep.

The Lord doesn’t think like us. To Him, that missing piece of silver is every bit as important as the other nine. He would rather leave the 99 sheep to go find that one missing lamb than console Himself with the loss of even one.
It’s a matter of focus. What is the passion of your life? What are you really focused on? A true burden for souls gazes at neither self nor church, but looks past all that to focus on only one thing – lost souls. The Church, however, is becoming increasingly fixated on herself, and as a result, has lost that burden for that one lost piece of silver. She will light a candle, but will not sweep the house and search diligently until she finds it.
She is too busy with other things.

“Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.”
(Luke 13:26, 27)

The Hem of His Garment

Praise the Lord everybody. I haven’t written much on this trip, I guess because all the exotic stuff about being in Africa is becoming routine.  Even the excitement that we have in services here is … I don’t want to say routine, but I’ve had a thousand or more services like this and how many times can you tell the same story?  I must be getting old, callous, or accustomed to the supernatural.

This trip has been different than the others; possibly the most important one. For one thing, we have been attacked by the devil harder than we have ever been, so that has to tell you something. But there have been new open doors that I have not had before. For instance, I was invited to meet the President of Burundi (a Born-Again Christian who has two of my books), I’ve been on an hour long broadcast on national TV in Rwanda as well as a couple hours on Radio Rwanda and another station. I’ve preached at the biggest churches in Burundi, passed out a thousand “Four Steps to Revival” and over 200 Bibles, and seen over 400 souls get saved in just this trip alone.

But it’s the intensity and violent outpourings of the Holy Spirit that is what I am finding extraordinary.  I’ve had services before that were so anointed that you felt like you were floating, where people could actually see the glow of the Shekinah Glory. I’ve had healing lines where EVERBODY got healed, and services where the church we were at doubled and tripled in numbers within a week or so.  But there is something deeper about this trip that I have not sensed before.  Maybe that’s why I have gone through so much fire.

Yesterday and today really put a point on things.  We are done with Burundi and Rwanda, and will be finishing up here in Uganda for
a week or so before I finally go home. (I’ve been gone for 2 months).  Up until now, we have not seen any serious healings on this trip — there were 100 of them on the last trip to Uganda, but none so far on this one. That changed yesterday.

We were way out in the mountain villages.  At first, I was a little dismayed yesterday as we struggled through an hour of mountain dirt roads to end up at some little church on top of a mountain.  Here we had come all this way, spent all this money, time, and energy (that I was just about out of by now), for this little tiny church? Why didn’t someone tell us that it was going to be such a small crowd way out in the middle of nowhere!  (Can you tell I’m getting worn out and cranky?)

Stupid me.  I should have had a clue when I saw all the tarps strung out over the field. But at least I sucked it up, knowing that I have been in this situation before and have seen God pour out incredible anointings on these little tiny settings … just like with Cornelius in Acts 10. It has happened to me more times than I can remember.

Sure enough, here they came.  From all over, for miles around, walking for hours to get there. It wasn’t the number of people that got me – it was the intensity of their desperate hunger for God that really grabbed me. Preaching to this crowd was like dropping a match on a tank of gasoline. How do you describe the workings of the Spirit that takes place in the realm of the soul?

And then came the healings. At the end of the second service on the first day, Pastor Noah called for everyone to place their hand on wherever the pain was as I got up to pray for the healing. Several people came up to tell us of the debilitating things that they got instantly healed of, but one guy came forward who had a broken arm. He couldn’t pick anything up, couldn’t twist it or put it behind his back, or even touch anything. It was really broken … until we prayed. When he put his hand on where the pain was, God also put His hand on it and healed it completely in an instant. We could see where the scar was. He could hardly believe his own eyes! God really does do the supernatural.

Today, however, was even more special.  As far as I’m concerned, healing the blind is right up there with raising the dead.  It’s always scary for me to pray over someone who is blind. I’m sorry, but I have a real struggle with the challenge to my faith when that happens.  And yet, earlier this year an old lady received her sight when I prayed over her. Still …  

So I was in my ” Oh God, help me, I’m scared ” mode when I was asked to pray over a man who had lost his sight two years ago. So I prayed.  And prayed, and prayed, and prayed.  Can’t feel anything.  And I can’t ask him anything because he doesn’t speak English. So I prayed some more. Then Noah prayed over him. Then we both prayed. Noah asked him if he could see, and he said he could begin to make out fuzzy shapes. Whoa!  That’s just like in Mark 8 when Jesus prayed over the guy and he could barely make out shapes.  Now I’m encouraged. This just might really happen!

We prayed some more, and now he could see better – not perfect, but better.  Noah held out his hand, and the guy saw it and shook it.  Noah told him to follow him as he backed up and then turned, and the guy followed him into the turn.  He could see!  Yeah, you heard me. He could see!

Why am I so surprised?  It is one thing to talk about this happening to someone else; it’s entirely another thing to be faced with this kind of a supreme challenge to your faith.  I have made it through many times to see God do things that were supernatural, but living in a carnal world casts a shade upon you that keeps supernatural faith at arm’s length. You have to reach hard for it every time. I don’t know if it was me, Noah, or the blind man, but somebody reached out and touched the hem of His garment.

I wish you could see some of the things we are experiencing here almost every day. This is really happening. God is moving in incredible ways.  I have said it over and over and will say it again – the last great revival prophesied in the Book of Joel and Isaiah will begin in Africa because they are so desperately hungry for God, and He will use them to send the fire around the world. I believe I am seeing the very beginnings of that Great African Revival.

Brother Dale, dale@revivalfire.org

 

Birthplace of Revival

“And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” 1Kings 18:41

On our way to our last series of services in Rwanda, we drove past the place where the 1970 revival first broke out in a little round building just off the highway. It was small and unassuming by any standards, and nothing would have suggested anything extraordinary, but this is the place where the heavens first broke wide open in 1970 and started an outpouring of the Holy Ghost that swept across the Africa.

It was here that a small group of determined prayer warriors took hold of the horns of the altar of God and crashed the gates of Heaven, crying out to God with broken hearts for God to send revival. They gathered in this tiny place and cried and cried and cried out to God to send revival. They were just a handful of simple country folk, but they had the courage to believe God and hold Him to His Word. They refused to let go until He sent revival, and when it came, it broke out like a fire that raged across the continent.

Our generation has forgotten the art of spiritual war. We pray like children in comparison to these old warriors who, like Elijah, knew how to storm the Throne of God. When we hold revival prayer meetings, we do more fellowshipping with each other than serious contending with God. It’s because we are not desperate – not like those people in 1970 for whom nothing else mattered. Like Rachael in Genesis 30:1, their cry was, “Give me souls or else I die!” That is the difference between us and them, and the results are predictable.

Before leaving, we stood in the center of that tiny room and bound together in contending prayer for God to once again send revival to this land, to rend the heavens and come down in the fullness of His power. Break forth like a fire and consume us with your glory! Send revival once again, O God!

We were standing on holy ground – the very place where the fire had broken out 40 years ago. I felt like I was standing at Bethel, the very entrance to Heaven. As we lifted our voices, it felt as if a hole had already been punched into the heavens by the saints that had been here before us, and our prayers shot straight into the Throne Room of God. I knew, absolutely knew, that we were standing right before the God of the whole Earth – right before His Throne! He had heard us and He had answered us. The answer was already on the way. It was such a powerful sensation that I began to laugh and laugh and laugh. We were standing in the Presence of God!

Lightning rarely strikes in the same place twice. This shrine to the 1970 revival sits in the middle of a placid Anglican compound on top of a hill overlooking a lake. No one prays there anymore; the ringing cries of the old dedicated warriors are no longer heard through the night. Souls no longer get saved there and the sick no longer come to get healed. There are no shimmers of the Shekinah glory to be seen nor songs of revival to be heard. It sits as a silent testament of a former generation who were desperate enough to cry out to God and keep on crying until the heavens broke wide open.

There will be one last great revival before Jesus comes back. I believe it will begin in Africa. Across this continent from Kenya to Nigeria, I hear the echoes of that same desperation that drove those old warriors to the Throne. God can hear them also. It is a unique sound that is unlike any other.

It is the sound of an abundance of rain.

“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
(Isa 64:1-2)

 

In a Field of Barley

“And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties. He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines.

And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel, and delivered it, and slew the Philistines; and the LORD saved them by a great deliverance.” (1Ch 11:12-14)

There comes a time in your Christian life when you have had enough of good intentions, fair speeches, and repetitive platitudes. There comes a time when you are ready to plant your feet on solid ground and are ready to fight. No more talk; it is time to DO something.

I don’t believe that David and his two companions honestly thought they were going to live through this battle. After all, the enemy was so fearsome that the entire army of Israel ran in terror. It says in 2 Samuel 23 that they only came back after it was safe. This was way past what David faced with Goliath.

But while the situation had changed, the principles had not. They gripped their swords and drew a line in the ground beyond which they would not move.

Three guys standing against incredibly overwhelming odds … no let me take that back. No bookie in Las Vegas would even give you that much of a spread – there were NO odds. Not a chance. Adios, amigo!

But there comes a time when you have had enough talk. Come Hell or high water; win, lose, or draw, there comes a time when you are ready to stand and fight for the honor of God. No, I don’t believe they thought they would win – they just didn’t care. This was not their battle; it was the Lord’s. It was not up to the circumstances, the odds, or the facts – it was up to God Almighty. It didn’t matter what the outcome would be; what mattered was that they stood.

I have some friends like that, who yell out into the face of the enemy, “To Hell with the devil! Damn the torpedoes! I will not back down, I will not back up, I will not compromise, and I will not run!” God often puts his servants in situations like that to give them the opportunity to trust Him no matter what. Like Jonathon scrambling up the rocks to take on the enemy, they hang onto the promise that “there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.”

Champions are forged in times of utter desperation and sharpened by absolute reliance upon the salvation of God. There are times when the only thing that is sure is the Rock upon which you stand.  Those are the times of victory.

True Holy Ghost revivals are birthed out of the same womb.  There has to be a time when the Church has had enough of “church as usual”, enough of that sing-song Pollyanna Gospel our churches are so full of. Enough of the worn-out platitudes of peace, love, blessings, and how much Jesus loves us. When will the Church fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to repent of their Laodicean ways, their preponderance of worldly flash and glitter, and seek to the old paths, look to the old ways of old-fashioned, broken repentance at the altar for God to forgive us for having “church” instead of what He called us to?

When we reach that point, we will then have the courage to stand in that field of barley.

Brother Dale
www.RevivalFire.org

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