Cover Story
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FIRES OF REVIVAL:
The Power of The Holy Spirit Ignites The Shoals
By Garry Lovette
One only needs to go outside to discover that Fall is
just around the corner and recently seems to have arrived in a big way. Just
as the seasons are changing in a dramatic way, so is the spiritual climate
changing over the Shoals area. Just as the harvest time in the natural is
here, so is the harvest time for souls.
REVIVAL IS NOT COMING, REVIVAL IS ALREADY HERE!
Many do not realize it, but we are in the middle of a
great move of God! No, it didn’t happen like we thought it would, and it
didn’t come in the way that we expected, but it definitely is here. The
reason many don’t recognize this sovereign move of the Holy Spirit is because
it since it didn’t come in the usual way. Of course there have been great
church services where many were blessed, and expectations are definitely
higher than they used to be, but we definitely didn’t see this coming in this
fashion.
Great numbers are being added to the Kingdom of God on a
daily basis, and many more are on the way. Maybe it isn’t happening at your
church, but it soon will. Many are beginning to be saved on their jobs.
I was so privileged to attend the funeral of Rev.
William Franklin the other day. The church was full and chairs had to be
brought in to accommodate the people. What a glorious service is was! At the
end of the service, a young lady gave her heart to Jesus. What a fitting end
to a very special homegoing celebration! This is becoming commonplace in many
scenarios. (We will give updates in later editions).
There are many reports coming in where the staff and
leaderships of churches are soaking the carpets of their churches with tears
for repentance and for the harvest. God is honoring that commitment by
sending a wave of His Glory to our area.
The revival is beginning to reach into the local school
systems, where people are being prayed for with the laying on of hands. God
has performed many healings and many cases of deliverance are being reported.
NOW IS THE TIME TO PRESS IN!
We all need to help with this harvest of souls! There
will soon be requests made known to many of you that you will be needed to
witness to the lost. Don’t miss your opportunity for this time of ministry.
FIRE IN THE SHOALS
One of the best opportunities for ministry will take
place the first week of October, as a huge tent will be erected at the split
of Hwys. 20 & 157. This will be a salvation and unity crusade with several
area churches participating to see people come to Christ.
At a recent meeting for the crusade, representatives
were there representing Baptist, Word of Faith, Assemblies of God, Lutheran,
Interdenominational, Church of God of Prophecy, and others who sent their
support from the United Methodists and Churches of Christ.
THIS WILL CHANGE OUR AREA FOREVER!
After this revival, this area will change permanently.
There will be a unity among the churches like never before, and many will
give their hearts to Christ in numbers never before seen. (We are asking God
for 1,000 souls!)
WILL YOU MISS OUT ON THIS MOVE OF GOD?
After this particular event is over, many will still be
preaching and looking for revival to begin, only to realize years later that
they have been in the middle of something great. It’s time to wake up and
“smell the coffee”, and to know that this is what we have been earnestly
praying for. God has shown up. Do you see it?
The following words came to me via e-mail. I’m not
sure exactly who wrote it, but I couldn’t believe how timely this was. I felt
it so important to pass it on to the readers so they can understand exactly
what is going on and why they feel the way they do. Be blessed as you read
this as much as I was.
More and more, there is a restlessness of spirit among
people of faith. Some mistakenly perceive it to be a “critical spirit” or a
bad attitude. But it’s not. It’s an answer to prayer.
For years people have talked of a coming move of
God, an outpouring of His power for renewal in the church and vision for the
practical inbreaking of Kingdom of God in the streets and in the
neighborhoods. There has been talk of being “on the cutting edge” and
“catching the wave” of the Spirit’s present action and power. And there has
been prayer; Prayer neighborhoods, for the church, for personal repentance
and revival and corporate renewal and justice and reconciliation. But even in
all that, the words, the language and the God-talk fall short. None of the
phrases really packs the punch it once did. The techniques and formulas and
programs and ideas all just “kind-of” work. But deep down, we know. We want
more. MORE!
More and more of us are less and less willing to
settle for faith that “kind-of” works. We’re not willing anymore to “listen
to reason” and “be patient”. The still small voice of God inside us is
getting louder and rowdier and more insistent. We have prayed for revival and
renewal, and God is sending a holy restlessness. A blessed dissatisfaction
with the way things are and have been. We have been taken by surprise. We
asked for vision, because without it people lose heart and perish. We have
asked for the mind and sight of Christ, yet we remain profoundly unprepared
to recognize and embrace the vision He gives us. So in answer to our prayers,
he gives us a longing. He gives us dissatisfaction and restlessness. He
calls us to move on quickly. We can receive provision and survive on manna
and quail, but still fail to enter the promise. He calls us to step into the
promise, To watch and pray. To look for the next thing He is doing.
We know as a church that God is taking us to the next
level. We simply do not know what that means. What it looks like. So we
need to listen. Those afflicted with this gift of vague vision and holy
frustration need to answer the Spirit’s call to WATCH and PRAY…”I have set
watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace day or
night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no
rest till He establishes and till he makes Jerusalem a praise in the
earth”–.Isaiah 62:6-7. We need to obey the Spirit’s call to our hearts to
give the Lord no rest till He establishes His Kingdom.
God is answering our prayers, by calling us to
prayer. He is calling us to war. The sadness we sense at times, or the
anger over the enemy’s schemes, is itself an answer (discernment) and a call
to battle. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.”—Ephesians 6:12.
We are being called to move on…to get angry in the Lord and go to war. We
are being called to stand between the devil and our families, our leaders,
our church, our country, our neighborhood. We are being called to see the
enemy’s schemes and step between him and his targets with the authority of
Jesus and intercede with new boldness and power. We are being called not
only to pray defensively, but to move out and run him off territories he has
held for ages. NOW! Not next year or next month or next week. NOW! We are
being called to stand in the gap for those who are too weak or small or
wounded or broken to stand on their own. We are being called to radical,
life-saving, fire-breathing, glory-walking, devil kicking intercession. But
even more, we are being called to start living prophetic lives that are a
countersign to the world around us. Lives of personal integrity, and joy,
and love, and mercy and justice. Many of you reading this right now recognize
this call. It’s been stirring in your spirit for quite some time and you
haven’t known what to do about it. Now you do. Embrace it. It is an answer
to prayer and a call to prayer. It’s a sound, a Kingdom sound, a battle cry
in the Spirit that is going up as God gives vision and calls us to move out.
It is the roaring of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah calling His people to
war, to prayer, to intercession, to overcome, to dance the dance of wild and
fierce worship, to roar.
To whoever sent this, God bless you. Thanks for being
obedient and for the great timing.
Let’s get busy for God and reap this great harvest of
souls. Now you know why you are so unsettled in your spirit. God is saying,
“IT’S TIME”.
CG |
