I got together last Thursday with a couple pastors from Middleton to pray. We spent a few minutes just talking and the subject at one point turned to Revival. I related what the evangelist had told us on Pentecost Sunday. I even told them how I wrestled with the heaviness of the first message, that God would honor “Pastor Terry’s desire” for His Presence and bless all those with that same desire. Then I conveyed the second part of the message – the part that I had to reconcile – that Revival would be different than I expected. It was in the telling that I found my peace.
The night before, I had wrestled with God over my expectations of what Revival would look like. I heard God ask me if I would still love Him if He brought it through a different church. The Way is probably the smallest church in Middleton, in both population and building size. And we all know the rap against small churches – that we must not be doing something right or we would be growing. My expectation of what Revival would look like definitely centered at The Way. So, could I rejoice if it came through another church after all the praying we’ve done? At the end of prayer on Wednesday I had not yet settled that question in my spirit.
But Thursday afternoon, as I sat with these precious pastors I could feel the same yearning in their spirits – they, too, want to see the Lord’s Presence in their churches, they want to see their people alive in Christ, they want healing and harvest. I knew I could rejoice with them if Revival came through them. The minute I resolved that in my spirit, I knew what the evangelist meant when he said that Revival would be different than we expect. It’s going to come to all of us in this little town! Instead of through one church, each church that is praying for life will get it. Each pastor seeking the Presence of the Lord will receive.
There will be no jealousy or envy, we will rejoice together. It will matter not our denomination nor theological alignment. We will see the One who will unify us all, Jesus our Lord and Master, and when He comes, walls are going to come down! The last great spiritual awakening in our land will not be denominationally led or owned, it will be led by pastors who have grown hungry in the dry and lean years and who are now crying out together for the rain.
