Awakening: Revival Around the Globe

I had the privilege of going to Asbury College to witness the awakening that is taking place on the campus.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The worship could be heard walking up the steps to Hughes Auditorium so we joined. When we crossed the threshold I immediately began to cry and nearly fell to my knees. The presence of God was so overwhelming. 

Were the worship teams well rehearsed?  Not exactly.  Were the testimonies elegantly prepared?  Not really. So what made this encounter so powerful?  For me, It was the hunger in the room.  It was the multiple generations, ethnicities, and denominations gathering together for no other reason than to worship a merciful God. Some had been praying for this for years and some were experiencing Jesus’ love for the first time.

There have been plenty to say, “You don’t have to go to Asbury to experience revival. You can have it right where you are.”  This is absolutely true, and I agree 100%, you don’t have to be there, or any certain place, to experience revival.  We carry His presence everywhere we go.  

On the other hand, I think of the woman that touched Jesus’ hem.  She had to touch him. She needed something tangible. Luke 8:43 says no one had been able to heal her. She was, no doubt, in a desperate state. After she touched His garment, verse 48 says that Jesus told her that her faith made her whole.  And that’s what Asbury is to many, something tangible. 

Many are walking into Asbury with no hope and desperate for a touch from God.  Many are walking in fed up with their dry church atmosphere and hoping to bring back a fire. (This was testimony of a sweet couple sitting beside me). Many are looking for the tangible presence of God, somewhere that their faith meets His faithfulness.

In prayer on the Sunday before we went to Asbury, I kept seeing a gate. It was wrought iron and attached to a short cobblestone wall. The gate was wide open. That morning I read a couple scriptures, one being Psalms 100:4-5, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courtyards with praise.  Give thanks to Him, bless His name.  For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting and His Faithfulness is to all generations.”  Well we could just stop there, is this not what has been happening all around our nation and beyond?! Let me go on, so we get to Asbury that Wednesday we get into the auditorium. Like I said earlier, The presence of God was so overwhelming!! We worshiped. We prayed with that sweet couple sitting beside me (Gary and Cindy from Kokomo, Indiana- I’m believing Gary is healed, in Jesus name, and that their kids and grandkids will come back to the Lord!) We were in there for hours… soaking it all in- crying, laughing, encountering. One lady in front of me reached back and grabbed my hands, when the song was over she told me she thought I was an angel! Oh my!  They slow things down to take a dinner break, we leave to eat. We decide to walk around the campus and pray after we eat. We’re walking up the sidewalk across the street and I notice this cool cobblestone wall, we pass it and as I look back over my shoulder I see the gate. It looks almost identical to the one I saw on Sunday.  I make the comment that if the gates opened the other way it would be just like what I saw… I walk on a bit and it hits me, these gates and the wall are for a little cemetery. If I was standing in the cemetery, not on the sidewalk, the vision was perfect. Come on Jesus!! Dead things are coming back to life- REVIVAL. Awakening around the globe is happening! 

For a month or two I have declared a simple prayer of ‘Father, thank you for the ones that seek you. Because they will find you. And when they find you they will keep you.” 

“Revival isn’t hype, it’s ordinary people hungry and crying out for a move of God.”- testimony from Asbury 

What we are witnessing and experiencing isn’t just another ‘good revival,’  this is a move!!

“I’m caught up in Your presence.  I just want to sit here at Your feet.  I’m caught up in this holy moment, I never want to leave.  Oh, I’m not here for blessings.  Jesus, You don’t owe me anything.  More than anything that You can do, I just want You.”  These lyrics to Nothing Else by Cody Carnes (I really like Rick Pino’s version) pretty much sums up my thoughts.  

All I want is to be in His presence. And that’s all I want for you too.  Will you join me as we seek (and find) Him?