Yesterday I caught a glimpse of revival. It left me awestruck. It rendered me speechless. It filled with me with wonder and a craving for more of God.
It happened at a women’s retreat. The theme was “Fearless and Free.” The sessions addressed several rampant fears: the fears of the storms of life, of inadequacy, and of facing the ghosts of our past. The fourth session focused on the Scriptural truth, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
During that session, we examined the Truth not only as the written and spoken word of God, but as the person of Jesus Christ who declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” We talked about the importance of knowing Him intimately, and looked at practical ways to pursue that friendship.
As the teaching time drew to a close, I sensed the Holy Spirit say, “Don’t close this time with prayer for the women. Instead, invite them to pray—to offer short, sentence prayers of worship to Jesus, the one who came to give freedom.”
Over the course of the weekend, many of these women had admitted to being afraid to pray in public. Asking them to pray now, despite their fear, meant calling them to put into practice the truths they’d heard throughout the weekend. Would they respond? Or would they allow fear to continue to hold them in chains?
They responded. One after another, like popcorn, they stood to their feet and prayed. They seemed to forget about others in the room. They didn’t seem hampered by a perceived need to impress with spiritual-sounding words. They simply poured out their love for Jesus with words of thanks, and they cried to God for a greater passion for Him.
Tears flowed, and a reverential awe fell across the room. Together, with only our voices, we sang “Jesus Loves Me”—a sweet offering to the Lord for loving us and calling us His daughters. How can I adequately describe that time except to say, “God visited us.”
“God, send revival,” I’ve prayed for years. “We, the North American church, desperately need You to stir our hearts to passionate intimacy with You.” This weekend, I experienced an answer to that prayer. I can hardly wait to see how God is going to draw the women from this retreat into greater intimacy with Him, transforming and using them in amazing ways as they learn to walk in freedom.
“Go, God! Send revival. Change Your people from the inside out by giving us an unquenchable desire for You and Your ways.”
Have you ever experienced a time such as I’ve described?
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How awesome!!! God is sooo good :O) I especially like how you said, “They responded. One after another, like popcorn, they stood to their feet and prayed.”
Like popcorn…LOVE IT!!!
That describes how I feel most always…I’m poppin here, poppin there…I’m spiritual popcorn :O) (With LOTS of butter please!!!)
Hugs, Johnna
You’re right, Johnna. You ARE like popcorn in more ways than one. Have you thought about this similarity? Like salted popcorn, your life creates a thirst in others to know Jesus 🙂
This is beautiful. I am honored and excited to follow you as a guest on the Living Better at 50 Radio program tomorrow.
Thanks, Beverly. It was joy to be with you on the show yesterday!