what?

I talk to a lot of people from all over, and many don't seem to know exactly what I'm talking about when I mention the revival. I'd just like to take a moment here and mention what the revival (or as I call it, The Revival) is all about. Basically, God is moving around us, He wants to get closer to us (as He always has).

Exactly where this movement of God started is disputable (and it doesn't really matter anyways), but we can look at Pensacola, Florida for starters. in 1997, God showed up, and thousands are still getting saved. People come in from the street to get saved and baptised in their street clothes, and the only important thing is that God is there. From there, the Toronto Blessing began, where God just showed up, and the town goes wild for Jesus. Same thing for Houston, as God moves miraculously and mightily.

Many believe that God is getting us ready for the return of His Son. As the Lord came clothed in humility on His visit, so will He return in His glory, for the earth to praise. To do that, God is preparing us by purifying us, and taking us through a revival that has no precedent. The revival in Pensacola began a couple of years ago, and has shown no sign of slowing down. The same is true for Houston and Toronto, that God has begun to move there, and there is no sign that He will stop. Putting it simply, once revival has begun in a city, I believe that it will not cease until the Lord returns. Don't worry, though, I think your dinner plans for this weekend are safe. I think.  *grin* 

Further, our own church has been told that we will have the favor of God this year, and it's quite likely that this will include The Revival. We search for the face of God ceaselessly. I think that Fort Worth is getting the Revival this year, but the next city on the list right now is Tulsa Oklahoma, and it's been mentioned that Cincinnatti might be next. Basically, I'm a God chaser, so I'm about to bust trying to stay here and usher in The Revival in my own town. At any rate, that's what The Revival is: God shows up, and cities change.

In my church, we've been praying to see the glory of God. We pray for open heavens, that nothing could come between us and the Lord. Many of usunderstand the difference between the omnipresence of God, and the manifest presence, but I'll explain briefly here. See, God is everywhere, all the time. He is in everything at once. This is called the "omnipresence" of God, and it just means that He's everywhere. Also, tho, there is the "manifest presence" of God, and that's what's really cool. See, God can sort of concentrate His presence in one place. Remember the story of Moses, when he went up on Mount Sinai? God showed up in His glory, in a cloud. Know why He hid himself in a cloud? Cause Moses woulda died if He hadn't. That is the "manifest presence" of God, and it's awesome! See, when we get a miracle, or an annointing of some sort, that's what we call the hands of God. But I'm tired of seeing the hands of God; I love Him, and I want to see His Holy Face. I want to truly know Him, like a bride knows her bridegroom, I want to love my Lord. So, when God shows up, literally anything can happen!

So that's what we've been praying for, the manifest presence of God. See, when someone is annointed, they can preach better, or worship better, or bring someone to Him easier, because God is guiding. When God shows up, tho, we don't have to do anything at all, and our flesh can't even get in the way. When He shows up, people are convicted of their sin, and there's no need to preach. Cool things just happen. So lately, a lot of things have been happening that indicate that He's about to move mightily. For instance:

• Last month, God began showing us how important we are to Him. We have been led several times to pray for each other's mouths. At first we felt odd, but when we found out what He was doing, it became a normal accepted gift from Him to us. Basically, many, many porcelin and silver dental fillings have been turned to gold. Pretty interesting stuff, but still not the face of God.
• I myself fasted (a complete fast, no food, no liquids, not even a tictac) for about a day, which is a long time when you eat as much as I do, and dance and play drums too. *grin* I was wanting to hear from the Lord about this, and as I mentioned up there, He ministered to me as I played drums in worship. This was, I believe, a major personal stepping stone.
• Recently God had something to say to us. Again, I was up on stage, so I couldn't hear very well (the word came thru a very upstanding member of the congregation, and he didn't have a mike), and I couldn't write it down, obviously, as I was playing at the moment it was spoken, but this is the general idea, this is what He said to us, in a nutshell:
  

   

  "I have heard your cries to see My face, but you cannot see Me unless you are holy. I will make you holy with fire, but with it I will bring My mercy."

   

  Again, there was a little more to the word than that, it was much longer, but that was the general idea. Basically, He's saying here that His Glory will descend upon us, and that we will see His manifest presence (I assume we won't get enough to die from it, but I don't care..), and that He will make it happen. I will continue to pray.

• This past weekend, I got my first real taste of what revival, True Revival from the Lord, might feel like. I was playing congas for the worship team, a station I never leave, even during altar calls that pertain to me. As a worship leader, I feel it's my duty to lead the congregation, and so I never leave my instrument. Last Saturday, however, was quite different. During the worship service, i felt the need to get on my face before God. The Holy Spirit was obviously already moving; I noticed that my sister was already almost falling over (she and I tend to manifest the presence of God in the same way - lots of swaying, almost falling over, but not quite...) I felt the presence of God, as if He were ready to fill the room, and I had to get on my face. I left the stage for the altar, and got on my knees. I began to weep uncontrollably, and soon felt that being on my knees was too high a place for me. I lay down, and put my face directly on the ground. Even still I just wanted to flatten myself as much as possible before the Lord. As His presence entered the room, it was so heavy that I just wanted to get out of the way, and bow the lowest way I could before His Holiness. Soon enough my sister and I began trevailing. Now if you've never heard it, you should know that trevail is the weirdest sounding form of prayer there is, tongues included. Trevail is a very loud form of moaning almost, and it's known as a "birthing" type of prayer. Trevail is used to bring forth a new work in the Lord. Later on I'll put up scripture backing all this up, but right now I just gotta tell ya about it. So anyway, there we are, my sister and I, she stumbling around near the front, and me on my face in front of the altar, both of us weeping and moaning our heads off. Then the worship team decided they were done. Typically this means that the pastor gets up to preach, but for some reason he decided not to just at that moment.  *grin*  At any rate, the church is basically quiet except for the few of us (there was another one or two people up there with us, i think) up at the front, crying and groaning. I felt like I was under a microscope, but I didn't care. I was weeping and saying my prayers loudly (as loudly as one can when speaking into the ground through so many tears). I prayed for God to show us His glory, and declared that I was so sick of church, and tired of "normal" service; I told Him that I didn't want annointing, or another touch of God, just that I would give anything to see His Holy face, and to have Him fill the room. Well He did, and man, it was the heaviest, strangest thing I've ever felt. It was wonderful, and horrible, and so many things. There is no way I can possibly put it into words, except to say that His presence was sweet, and heavy, and wonderful, and the horrible part came because He was so Holy, and we were so not holy... Again, it's the sort of thing that can't be described, and I've been through quite a bit. I mean, I've felt the Holy Spirit move before. I've been slain in the Spirit, and drunk with the Spirit, and all sorts of spiritual things. This was not that. This was the manifest presence of God, and He was nice enough to make it a very small visitation. Many people didn't seem to notice that anything was happening, or experienced what I did, but I do remember that the pastor gave an altar call for any reason I think he said, and a good portion of the congregation went up front for whatever. Anyway, you should know in advance that you'd better be right with God, cause when He shows up, things happen. Sorry this one went on for so long, but I'm sure you can imagine trying to put God into words; it's not a task easily accomplished.