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REVIVAL NEWS |
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REVIVAL NEWS |
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I R N N E W S D I G E S T Editor: Tony Black
Email: news-items@openheaven.com | http://www.openheaven.com
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ENCOURAGE FRIENDS
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SPECIAL EDITION - October 2001
What will the 21st Century Church
look like?
These reports all relate
to how the Lord is changing the face of the Church today.
The
narrow way; love and glory
- Judy Loughrey
1. THE NARROW WAY; LOVE AND GLORY - Judy Loughrey
Hear the Lord of the harvest sweetly calling: "Who will come and work for me today, who will bring to me the lost and dying, who will point them to the narrow way?!
There's a road that I have trodden a road so bleak and cold. A road that speaks of Heaven, a road that's centuries old. A road that now is calling, His Pilgrims to walk down. A road that's bathed in mercy, a road that gives a crown
So come now weary Pilgrims, you're soon now to come home. Prepare, the way before me, through prayer and sacrifice. My Love will stand beside you, on this road to Paradise.
One morning last week an intercessor called to share a dream. As she began a picture of two large oak trees with stone steps separating them and two large church doors filled my vision. When I opened the doors I see only a foundation left as the roof and walls are gone! The Lord began to speak saying: "I will bring down every stone that man has placed on my temple walls (Matt.24:2). I said, but Lord, there are no walls left on your temple? The Lord replied:
"The twenty first century church doesn't look like Church! For all the fullness of the deity lives in me, and now that fullness is imparted to you as I am the head over EVERY power and authority (Col.2:9,10). When I died the curtain was torn between the Holy and most Holy place as the father made His Spirit available to all who would then accept me!
The way to the Fathers' covenant Restoration evolves out of communing with me through prayer, and Bible study. For behold I stand at the door and knock if and one hear my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with them and they with me. (Rev. 3:20) The two large oak trees (in the dream) represent those that looked up and received the light of my father and the rain which softens the earth that their roots might grow deep in me.
For my Temple is built in the hearts of my people that my LOVE and the Fathers GLORY might be experienced by a hurting and dying world. I am calling my saints to walk today, as I walked in days of long ago. To travel down each path I choose, with reverent steps and slow. For those little lanes they have not changed the sweet peace of the father can still fill the air! So come my Loved ones come, for I am the Rose of sharon blooming within your hearts."
Love in Christ, Judy Loughrey
2. SPEAKING PEACE INTO HEARTS OF FEAR - Russ Hughes
Dear Tony. I want to thank you for the words brought through IRN.. here are some that have been with me since the 11th. I believe they may be from the Lord, but I give them to you to weigh.
As I watched the twin towers falling and listened to the panic on all the world news networks I felt a very clear word from the Lord saying ‘when you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be afraid, for the time has not yet come. Since that time the questions have been asked about what God is trying to say to us from many people. There has been talk about judgement, anger and comparisons with Babylon, however I believe the word that the Lord has for us is not conspiracy, judgement or all other words such as this but the word ‘opportunity’.
This time is a ‘God given’ opportunity for us to reap a harvest of souls for the Kingdom. We do pray for peace, but more importantly we speak peace, the peace of Christ into hearts filled with fear. The peace of Christ which comes from knowing that even if the earth be shaken and the mountains fall into the sea, those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
The Church is at a pivotal event in history, the world is looking for a spiritual guide and we must be that guide to the Father in heaven. They will look to anybody for the answer, for as GK Chesterton wrote ‘when people stop believing the historic Christian gospel, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything!’ The race of opportunity is on, we must run the race and get there first, for many will be deceived during this time, our call is clear ‘the opportunity to reap the harvest is here&ldots; GO!
Russ Hughes, St. Luke’s Church, Maidstone, UK. www.stlukes.org.uk
Russ is the author of the music album Holy Mountain, in our view one of the most anointed in many years. You can obtain it online via Russ' site at www.joshuamusic.com or by calling 1 888 869 4633 (US) or +44 870 901 7777 (UK).
3. EXCERPTS FROM THE SHEPHERDS ROD - Bob Jones
A house of prayer for all nations
A fresh and amplified deposit of the Spirit of travail is coming to the church. The unprecedented events we are imminently facing will require prayer on a scale in which we have not yet attained. In fact, we do not even know how to pray as we ought. However, the Lord has promised a notable allocation of the Spirit of travail as Kingdom plans are birthed in this hour through powerful intercessory prayer...
There is presently a great emphasis on the ministry of intercession. The Lord Himself ever lives to make intercession on our behalf and the church will join with Him in this great ministry as the Kingdom is birthed and displayed in the earth. Great encouragement will come to the intercessory ministry because of the clear and obvious results that will be easily seen.
Many leaders have resisted the ministry of travail in its pure form because the results have not been readily discernable. However, when a clear and recognizable impact emerges from the ministry of travail, it will be warmly received even within traditional structures because of its fruit. We can much more readily handle the reproach if we see the results. The intercessors are presently characterized in the order of Elizabeth. Through their spiritual womb the Spirit of Elijah is being conceived and birthed into the church.
Spiritual Fathers
In large part, we have been like a fatherless generation. Now, the true divinely appointed spiritual “fathers” will take their place with the power of impartation and begin grooming sons and daughters for great kingdom assignments.
There will be Prophetic Fathers and Apostolic Fathers who teach and prepare an entire younger generation to walk in true governmental power and authority. Part of their responsibility will be to overseer accountability within the body of Christ and bring true correction according to the Spirit of Truth. This will be particularly true among the various prophetic streams. The Holy Spirit is desiring to establish a righteous standard and have His people sound a clear trumpet.
The Joseph Ministries
Facilitating the revelation of the kingdom throughout the earth, along with the historic things that are about to take place worldwide, will require vast sums of resources. Part of the promise for this day is the emerging “Joseph Ministries” that will provide a great source of plenty in time of famine. The enemy knows that day has now come and is assigning this demonic assault against the financial structure of our country. His primary aim is to deplete our resources in order that we may not have the funds to invest in divine opportunities. This can radically change our entire perspective of prayer when we recognize this as an enemy assault against the economy. That is another of the many reasons for the emerging intercessory ministry in order to overcome the effects of this demonic aggression.
Full version at http://www.whitedoveministries.org
4. EGYPT: THOUSANDS OF CONVERSIONS
Those who know Egypt will hardly believe the following report which we recently received from one of the leaders of the Evangelical Alliance. Checks revealed the report to be accurate: Bayadiya, a medium-sized Egyptian city, experienced one of the greatest evangelistic breakthroughs in the nation's history: at least 7,500 people (some sources mention up to 15,000) have decided to follow Jesus.
The idea came during a weekend for church planters, musicians and young artists: why not hold an 'evangelical celebration' similar to those held over 40 times each year by the Coptic Orthodox church to honor saints? They planned a large celebration for all Evangelically-oriented groups. The youths were excited, and immediately started writing songs and sketches," reports one of the initiators. Bayadiya, a predominantly Christian town near Minyas, was selected as the venue. 30,000 of Bayadiya's inhabitants are 'Christians', although only 1,000 attend the services in the town's six churches.
Five of the six churches were prepared to cooperate, so prayer and preparations began. Despite initially granting permission, the police banned the event - one day before it was supposed to take place! All the tents had to be taken down. The Christians didn't give up: instead of inviting the people to the celebration, they went to the people on the street, in the churches and in their homes. They performed the sketches on the back of a truck which drove around the town, stopping at strategic spots. Hundreds and thousands of people saw the sketches, heard "Sunday School", took part in puppet theaters, listened to music groups and even received prayer in coffee houses.
Thousands of people - conservative estimates speak of 7,500, some up to 15,000 - of all age groups, and including visitors from the surrounding villages, experienced a spiritual rebirth, according to the report. A gang leader gave his life to Jesus after seeing the Jesus film, and led six others of his gang to the Lord. A number of people experienced physical healing, to which they testified on video; many were freed from demons, and whole houses and streets decided to follow Jesus. Young people saw how God performed miracles through them, and how hundreds of Christians an non-Christians reacted to the supposedly weak sermons. Several criminals and even murderers were deeply touched, and repented in tears. "It was as in the early days of the church," says one of the organizers.
Harvest strategy?: Plant new churches! Fifty leading members of Bayadiya's churches are have their hands full with continuing the revival. 25 new "Street meetings" (fellowships) meet every week, some with up to four parallel meetings. Many people have asked to be allowed to start Christian meetings in houses. The followup work is centered on planting churches; some 80 of which are planned in the coming months. A public Christian festival is planned to be held every two months. The 350 Christians who took part in the celebration are totally changed, having experienced a paradigm change in their ministry, and returned to their churches refreshed in spirit.
Source: Friday Fax - 5 of 6 churches in Bayadiya, personally known to the editor
5. THE CHURCH IS SHIFTING - Chuck Pierce
As I shared at the beginning of the year, this is a year in which the war mantle is being restored to the Church. I'm praying that each of you will receive a fresh anointing to decode and overthrow the enemy's strategy within your boundaries. For the Church to move forward in this season, there must be a shift in paradigm, or way of thinking. The Church is shifting its government into God's apostolic prophetic order. The Church is in a major shift of methods from one methodology to another so we can prepare for the Harvest of the future. I believe this historical shift began in October 1996, and matured in September 2000. I see the next two years as defining the role of the identity of the Church of the future in the earth realm. My new book, The Future War of the Church, explains much of this shift in detail.
Cindy Jacobs recently prophesied that NOW is the time for the prayer movement to shift. Unless God's prayer people shift first, the Church can't make its shift for the future. Many of you have asked how to we pray to see such a shift. Just as the book of Acts recorded the history of God's people making a shift in the Early Church, I believe Acts is a pattern for us to pray in this historical shift. I also want to recommend Peter Wagner's commentary, The Acts of the Holy Spirit. This is modern, Spirit-filled treasure for today. The book of Acts portrays a spiritual perspective from a geographical, political, historical, personal, and corporate standpoint. We see that people had a personal experience with the Holy Spirit in Acts, and that personal experience resulted in a corporate and territorial expression that shifted the history of the world. I believe that if each one of us pray for 28 days from each chapter of Acts we will see our personal lives, the Church corporately, and our geographical territories shift.
To order Chuck's book: www.glory-of-zion.org or 1-888-965-1099.
6. INDIA - CAN A NATION BE CHANGED IN DAY?
This report sounded almost too good to be true. We therefore waited until we were able to validate it's authenticity from several sources. Having done so, but with some personal reservation (see end) we concur with the authors plea for urgent prayer.
[Begin] I can't over estimate the importance and urgency regarding the probability of a revival that could begin in India on November 4, 2001. 300 million Dalits (low-caste "untouchables") are on the verge of turning to the Christian faith. Over the past few months, high-level leaders representing no less than 300 million Dalits have been in dialogue with the All India Christian Council. (The AICC is the largest Evangelical network in India with membership of over 2,000 Mission organizations, denominations and other Christian entities.)
Their simple request was: "The only way for our people to find freedom from 3,000 years of slavery is to quit Hinduism and Castism and embrace another faith. Christianity offers hope for us. We would be happy if our people would become Christians... can you help us?" This request culminated in a historic meeting on September 7, 2001 in Hyberabad, India where over 740 top Evangelical leaders from across India met with 26 top Dalit leaders to discuss how this movement should be handled.
Dr. Joseph D'Souza and Dr. K.P. Yohannan give leadership to the AICC which is committed to mobilize the Church body to respond to this most urgent challenge. Gospel for Asia is one of the largest Church planting movement in the subcontinent and has been busy in taking concrete steps to respond to this move of God.
This mass exodus begins on November 4, 2001. At this time, one million low-caste Dalits are expected to meet in Delhi, India for a mass conversion event to Bhudhism. Originally, these 1 million low-caste Dalits were to be asked to convert only to Bhuddism. Now, by God's grace, the option of finding freedom in Christ will also be presented on November 4th, 2001. Will you please stand in the gap and get involved on behalf of millions who are about to follow the Lord Jesus? http://www.gfa.org [end]
[Editor] This is undoubtedly going to be a huge spiritual battle. I don't want to be ungracious in any way, but this "choice" must have the breath of the Holy Spirit permeate the process. It is vital that we pray for a mighty Pentecost amongst these dear people. Otherwise the "option", even if Christianity, will be life-less. Without the Holy Spirit bringing conviction, deliverance (and sufficient pastoral care) we could end up with another few million "religious" people. Zealots even. On the other hand, we could end up with the most amazing miracle ever known in our lifetime. Wouldn't it be something \o/
Time for the highways and byways, me-thinks :o) \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/
Shalom and blessings, Tony Black~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COPYRIGHT RESERVED: REPRODUCTION OF REPORTS WELCOME, BUT
ONLY WITH CREDIT LINE PLEASE = [ Source: IRN - www.openheaven.com ]
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