Azusa Then and Now

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“Heroes will arise from the dust of obscure and despised circumstances, whose names will be in blazoned on
heaven’s eternal page of fame. The spirit is brooding over our land again as at creations dawn, and the fiat of
God goes forth. “Let there be light.”Brother, sister, if we all believed God, can you realize what would happen?
Many of us here are living for nothing else. A volume of believing prayer is this ascending to the throne night
and day. Los Angeles, Southern California, and the whole continent shall surely find itself here long in the
throes of a mighty revival by the spirit and power of God”  – November 16, 1905, Frank Bartleman
      Thirty-five years, almost exactly, have come and gone since I first read the book.  On April 4, 1984, we moved to
Pasadena, California because My pastor Che Ahn had a dream of a black man waving to him saying “Come to Los Angeles,
there’s going to be a great revival!”  At that time we were reading a book called Azusa Street by a man whose name was
Frank. Bartleman. He had moved to Los Angeles in December of 1904 and had come under a burden for revival there. He
surrendered his soul to the spirit of prayer and fasting the whole year of 1905, the year prior to the outbreak of the great
Azuza street Revival April 9, 1906.

   When I read this book in 1984 my soul was set on fire. Moses had a ‘burning bush,’ but I had a ‘burning book’ and I turned aside to see this wonderful burning vision of revival pulsing within it. What I heard was something akin to God calling my
name. Sometimes when you have a moment born of heaven you have to pause and take off your shoes, for that place is holy ground. Hungering to understand my soul’s magnetism to this man Bartleman, I entered into many days of fasting. My
prayer culminated one evening in a two-hour cry in my garage, “God, give me the mantle of Frank Bartleman! I want to
pray like that man. I don’t want to read about revival, I want to see revival!”

   I didn’t know it then, but the following morning I found out that I had touched God and he had heard my prayer. My
prophetic friend came to me that morning knowing nothing that I had prayed. He said, “last night I had a dream Lou, and in the dream, I saw a big black book and the title said “revival”. I then opened to the Inside of the cover and I saw a man’s face whose name was Frank Bartleman. His face then turned your face. I closed the book and knew I had to give it to you Lou.”  I knew at that moment that the title of the scroll that God wrote about my life before ever I was conceived was REVIVAL!
And I knew what my job description was for my time on the earth. It was to give myself to fasting and prayer, writing’ and mobilizing for revival.

After this dream of divine destiny,  I knew in the marrow of my mind it would be a kind of navigation chart for all my future course settings. I knew I had received heavens passport to walk His highway of destiny, thus assuring me, despite all
setbacks and failings, that He would be walking the revival road with me. Toward the end of this fast, I  sensed the whisper of God saying, ”What 1905 was to Frank Bartleman and the birthing of the Azusa Street Revival, so 2019 is to you Lou and
the church for the 2020 Vision move of God.”

Can I pay the price of prayer that  Bartleman did in 1905? The question haunts me but stirs me. I don’t want to be a binge
faster and return to normal or shall I say abnormal. Jesus said “ now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father,
save me from this hour?” But for this purpose, I have come to this hour.”  Then He traveled the Via Dolorosa to the cross.
The highway of destiny always leads to the highway of the cross before fulfillment.

With this in mind, I feel the Lord nudging me to continue setting my face in grace-filled fasting and prayer in the seasons of his beckoning unto 2020. I believe one of The greatest ways to sustain this highway of my heart is to continue this blog,
maybe not every day, but regularly as the Spirit directs. It will be to me a kind of built-in prophetic challenge to live out this navigational chart, not just write about it. I hope you have been changed by fasting and reading this blog. It’s been a great
joy for me. Please send testimonies of how the fast changed your life. S

I would like to invite all of you who feel stirred,  to continue with me, follow the blog, and keep our fires for revival white
hot together.
 
Prayer
Father, as we come to the end of this fast, we pray for the grace of divinely sustained focus in prayer. I pray that you would
forge out of this fast a company of men and women who will cry out for the mantle of Frank Bartleman and give this year of 2019 to sustained prayer and fasting for the most outrageous outbreaks of God everywhere. We set ourselves for Now and
for 2020.

The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel

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These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.Matthew 10:5-6 
I want to comfort the heart of God
 
Yesterday, we emphasized Daniel’s fasting in the 70-year window for the great jailbreak of the Jewish people out of Babylon back to their homeland. We sense that we are in another 70 year period since Israel became a nation and the great evangelistic outpouring of the Spirit began in 1948. I believe that I and the body of Christ is in a major
transitional prayer shift and divine assignment to understand, like Daniel, if we fast and pray we will see an
outbreak of God’s wondrous grace on the Jewish people worldwide.
 
Yesterday we concentrated on Every Home for Christ, primarily targeting the gentile world. During this fast, I
have been apprehended with God’s heart for his own people. As we have been praying Ekballo, I have been deeply moved by what it would mean to Jesus when the church worldwide begins to pray Ekballo for His own people, the ones he first directed his disciples to pray for and go to.
 
When Jesus said, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers,” He then directed those very disciples not to go to the Gentiles, but rather to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He groaned over His own people. Now
2,000+ years later, what do you think his groan is now? I want to comfort the heart of Jesus. I have this
deep prophetic feeling that as this massive worldwide Jesus movement breaks out it’s going to break out
among the Jewish people as well and maybe first and foremost. 70 years are up. Could it be time for the
beginnings of the fulfillment of Romans 11:15 speaking concerning the Jews receiving Christ, “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will  their acceptance mean but life from the dead?”Just the other day a young Jewish woman who has launched a movement of 40 days of fasting in Israel called me with a dream in
which I was told, “You cannot see a revival in America unless you, Lou, begin praying for the Jewish people.” I am weighing the dream very heavily. Today we begin praying at the end of this fast, that all over the world the Lord of the harvest would thrust forth laborers into the Jewish harvest field both in the land of Israel and in the diaspora worldwide.
 
Prayer
Jesus, once again we know you are looking to your own people harassed and helpless like sheep without a
shepherd. And we know your heart is broken because there are few laborers. So we take up your groan and your
prayer. We seek to align with your broken heart. We beg you to do what you have been longing to do since you
first commanded your disciples to pray this prayer, “Hurl forth laborers to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Revelation Demands Participation

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  ..in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.   Daniel 9:2-3

 “History belongs to the intercessor.”- Walter Wink

 It is amazing how Daniel’s fasts in chapter 9 and 10, actually shifted the public policy of Persian Kings directing favor toward the people of Israel. How astounding that one man esteemed by God could literally move principalities and powers to preside over whole empire shifts. He understood the times and set his face to fasting and prayer thus shifting history. His revelation of the times demanded his participation in intercessory rulership. I believe that we are in a Daniel moment right now in this 70th-year window to establish God’s rulers in Israel.
 
Sometimes Providence kicks us into divine moments and recognizing those moments we have to seize them just like Daniel did. The command of the apostle Paul was for the church to pray for those in authority so that the land would dwell in peace.
 
Let me drop a time bomb on you…we couldn’t have planned this convergence. The 40th day of our fast, April 9th, is the election day in Israel. The future direction of Israel is greatly at stake. God doesn’t tell us to pray for authorities unless that prayer actually affects elections. I believe God has 15,000 of us and many more around the world, fasting at this very moment in the time of this 70-year period. I want to urge you in the next 3 days to pray that God will preside over these elections; even shift public opinion in the crucial valley of decision and exalt the man of His own choice for such a time as this.
 
A casual approach to the prophetic leads to casualties but history belongs to the intercessor! Here comes Daniel if we will pray.
 
Prayer
God, we know that good government establishes peace and so we pray for the peace of Israel according to your word. We pray that you would establish your government in Israel on April 9th. Lord, we pray that you would establish your chosen one for this critical moment in history, looking to the coming day when you, the Prince of Peace, the very Son of David will establish His throne forever. Oh, let the increase of your government and of your peace know no end. Amen.

Robert’s Note: I posted this a little late but I thought it might interest you to know that Netanyahu was elected once again as Prime Minister of Israel. How’s that for prophetic intercession?

Every Creature Commission

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“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.”  – JFK


“And he said unto them, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’” Mark 16:15

 
We know that Jesus was the Great Dreamer of all dreamers. When He said preach the gospel to Every Creature, was it merely a generic wish, or was it the Dreamer’s command — that every person would have the gospel preached to them? We cannot take casually the commands of Christ.
Seventy-three years ago, a young Canadian Pastor named Jack McAlister was apprehended by the divine vision of Mark 16 – to reach every home in the world with the gospel. He took Jesus’ words at face value and founded the ministry of Every Home for Christ. Today thousands of believers are carrying the gospel door to door with a vision to reach every home. Millions have been saved and thousands of Christ groups (home churches) have been formed to preserve the harvest. Arguably, this ministry has been the most successful missions movement in the world. And who fuels it, but everyday common indigenous workers, who risk their lives because they’ve been gripped with the simple gospel – Jesus saves.
 
Now, a new generation arises. A spiritual son of mine, Tanner Peake, Vice President of International Ministries at Every Home for Christ has been apprehended with finishing that task – the ‘Every Creature Commission.’ He is launching the Oikos (Greek word for home) vision – that every home in the world would receive the gospel presentation through a personal witness or the receiving of gospel literature at their home. The goal is to reach every home in the world in the next 20 years. Even as today’s quote declares – there are skeptics and cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities of such a goal. When I look through National Geographic magazines and see the stacked high rises of Hong Kong or the great populations of the slum communities built on top of one another in cities and on mountains, it’s impossible.

Hudson Taylor the great missionary to China said, “There are three stages to every great work of God; first it is impossible, then it is difficult; then it is done.”

Jesus said, “all things are possible to them that believe.”

Goeth said, “Dream no small dreams, for they have no power to move men.”

Surely Jesus did not dream a small dream, and we refuse to dial down and limit His horizons. Jesus gave us a prayer that turns impossibilities into possibilities. He said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Lou’s translation: “Therefore, I command you to beg me, the Lord of the Harvest, to ekballo laborers into the harvest fields.” As an older man, I want to stand behind a new Joshua who says it can be done. What I bring to the table of possibility is this dynamic prayer. Those fasting with me today, all over the world, would you take up this prayer – for the finishing of the task? Pray “Ekballo” with faith and persistence for the ‘Every Creature Commission to be fulfilled. I want us to pray that God would thrust forth tens of thousands of indigenous workers into the harvest of every unreached people group and into Every Home.
 
Prayer
Lord, we believe Your word, that you want to reach every creature. And Lord, there’s no way to measure every creature unless we reach every home. We are overwhelmed with the obvious realities of the impossibility of this task, but you gave us this scripture as the antidote to this impossibility.  Therefore, we have courage to pray the prayer you gave us – Lord of the Harvest, hurl forth laborers into every home, every refugee and nomad tent, every slum dwelling, every houseboat, and every high-rise apartment. I pray for this Oikos vision to find tens of thousands of fellow dreamers who will put the dream in action. May this great dream move men and women all across the globe. May you breathe on this vision, and may it multiply beyond all that we could think or imagine. For Jesus, You are worthy of every creature’s devotion. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Spiritual Violence

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“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.  Mt. 11:12

 
The days between the preaching of John the Baptist and the explosive, widespread excitement of the Messiah breaking forth in the land with signs and wonders, was a rare sliver of time. Old religious paradigms and boxes were being shattered. The masses fled the centuries of a staid and stifling religion in desperate pursuit of direct spiritual encounter. First, up to three-quarters of a million people, according to Josephus, ran to hear and experience the desert preacher John. Then, in a sudden breakout, the great crowds flocked to hear Jesus and see the miracles he was performing. Jesus’ fame spread throughout the whole land. That wonderful season of time was infused with a powerful spiritual attitude which Jesus called “violence”. This was not a violence of weapons and anger. No! This was a violence of spirit that had seized the masses. Daily life was suspended and hearts were upended. It was like the whole world forsook all to press into Jesus. The Messiah was passing by, and their day may have been the only day.
 
As I gaze over the spiritual landscape of America, while not ignoring the horrible agony that millions are living in, I am gripped with hopeful amazement. I see a new breed of leaders articulating with dynamic energy new ideas, a unity of love, and an indomitable faith that the kingdom is at hand. I believe the grandfather clock of historic time kicked in, at least in some measure, at The Send. Stunningly, The Send sent a message, and evangelists are all aflame with it. I see widespread expectancy of a new Jesus Movement. In 2020 I see potentially 8-10 stadiums being prepared now for massive breakouts of evangelism and sending in America, let alone the stadium visions of Europe and South America. I believe this stadium surge is a harbinger of a mass jailbreak out of old systems and structures into a new day of freedom, love, and Holy Spirit power. What has gotten into these men and women? Risking everything – their own finances, their futures, their reputations – to go for stadiums. It’s a spirit of holy violence. Even the Jesus Fast that you are on now is preparing the way for the 2020 vision. There is coming a Super Bowl for the church!  
 
Jesus after his fast came out in the power of the Spirit. After this fast, if you are hearing the voice of God, don’t stay in the bleachers. Seize your divine moment. Buy your field of dreams. The new breed has heard the voice, “If you build it, He will come. If you build it, they will come.” Whether it’s a stadium or a studio, a prison or a political post, a business or a book, don’t let fear be the disconnect between the dream and the destiny. The Great God is in the risk. Seize your divine moment. Your fast has fueled your future.
 
Prayer
Father we pray for this generation – make it the greatest generation. Today, cause men and women to lay hold of dynamic kingdom impact with a spirit of holy violence. Raise up preachers with a fiery tongue that will challenge the universities of Babylon’s pagan professors. Raise up men and women of faith who will dare to believe that God will put them in the highest places of influence in the land to reshape its culture with God-brilliance and integrity. Pour out a great baptism of love and sonship that can alone produce true societal reform as in the Book of Acts where “they held all their possessions in common and there was not a needy one among them” Acts 4:32-35. Let the kingdom advance violently, with violent love. Create new tracks for new movements through new voices, who have paid the price and risked it all to be the hinge of history, determining the future of America and the nations of the earth. Amen.
 
 

Flashpoint

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Tiananmen Square, Boston Tea Party, Woodstock, the fall of the Berlin wall, Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, Mount Hermon 100, Azusa Street, every revolution has one defining moment that is remembered long after the names of politicians and kings have been forgotten. In every massive shift in human history, whether political, cultural, or religious, a flash point occurs. Cultural sea changes, whether for good or evil, are spawned in these flashpoints. Such rare slivers of time actually define destinies, as key men and women seek to courageously shape the future, by articulating ideas that “ignite the circuit between the individual and the masses and thereby alter history. Great leaders and great ideas succeed when events have prepared the way for them when the community is waiting to be aroused” – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

I believe The Send, February 23, 2019, was a significant flashpoint inaugurating hope for a new era of explosive evangelism and global missions. What preceded The Send was 7 years of 7  forty day seasons of fasting and continuous praying the Great Idea of Jesus Christ, “Pray the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest.”
A flash point requires leaders to articulate those thoughts, passions, and aspirations quietly groaned for in the heart of the masses. You see, when the response to a ripe moment with a right message is magnified by a Collective Readiness – “when the community is waiting to be aroused” – widespread explosive action inevitably results. In scripture, this is described as, “the fullness of times”. We are entering a “fullness of times era”.

The 1960s was a decade of turbulence and societal upheaval. Everything was shaking but the chaotic milieu created a fullness of time moment for the 1970s. The Jesus Movement exploded on the scenes where thousands of hippies and disillusioned young people ran to Christ. Jesus was on the front page of magazines and newspapers. 100,000 believers gathered for a Jesus People flashpoint in the Cotton Bowl in 1972. Jesus was the idea whose time had fully come. Thousands of young people were saved and baptized and hurled forth into the harvest fields. Many of the great leaders of the church today were forged from the season of the 70s.

Now 50 years later, the world is in upheaval again. But I hear the sound of another Jesus Movement exploding on the scene. Stadiums will be filled. Mass harvest will be reaped. The revolutionary prayer idea in Matthew 9:38 articulated by our Great Leader Jesus Christ Himself is connecting the circuit between Him and the Christian masses thus now altering history. This is a revolution in one verse that connects the prayer movement and the missions movement. “PRAY the Lord of the Harvest to SEND laborers into His harvest.” The church is waiting to be aroused and the great PRAY and GO idea is building for the billion soul harvest. Oh brothers and sisters, let the Great Idea explode. PRAY EKBALLO!

Seeking the Face of God

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If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place!2 Chronicles 7:14-15


The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; not those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray. -S.D. Gordon “Quiet Talks on Prayer”

I sat across the table from my wife on our weekly date at one of our favorite restaurants on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. We had been missionaries with a church planting team for six years in the teeming, tropical city of 11 million Thai Buddhists. It was March 1997 and we were deep in discussion of the book that we just finished by the legendary leader Bill Bright of Campus Crusade. He had released a book called The Coming Revival: America’s Call to Fast, Pray and “Seek God’s Face.” In it, Bill Bright issued a clarion call across the face of the earth for 2 million believers to stand as watchmen on the wall for America and fast for 40 days to see a nation turn back to God.

We had both been gripped by the words of this Kingdom Statesman, who exhorted us as readers that nothing will shift in our nation except a furnace room of prayer fueled by the intercession of the saints. As we talked, my wife paused for a long moment and a gleam came into her eyes as she said with passion, “I’m called to do this 40 day fast!” When she said this, I knew immediately that we were to do this fast together.
 
The longest fast we had ever done previously was three days, so this was like climbing Mount Everest for us.

We learned many things during this fast; our own weaknesses and frailties and also the kindness and grace of God to go the distance. In looking back now, I can see the Hand of God all through it.

Ten years later, in 2007 we flew our two oldest sons from Bangkok to attend TheCall Nashville on 7-7-07. They were 14 and 12 at the time. A seed was planted in their hearts for the house of prayer and intercession. Fast forward another 10 years to 2017. After graduating from Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee they both moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to work with SAFA, (the Spiritual Air Force Academy) led by David and Audrey Kim a spiritual son and daughter to Lou Engle.  The rest of our family joined them a year later. 

It is powerful and significant to see that many who took part in that 40 day historic fast in the late 90s we’re later strategically shifted and moved into geographical locations and ministries that were advancing the Kingdom through prayer and fasting. What is God doing in your heart right now in this 40 day fast? What is he calling you to?


Prayer
Father God, stir my heart in this 40 day fast to see this nation turned back to God and the nations of the earth come in a mighty procession before the throne of God. May my prayers flow into 10,000 streams that converge into the mighty River of God that will cover the face of the earth. Habakkuk 2:14

Steve Allen
Contend Global – Staff

Travel 40 Days and 40 Nights

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For the next two days, my friend Steve Allen who served, along with his family, on the mission field in Thailand for 16 years, has written 2 very encouraging devotionals to strengthen and empower you for the final 10 days of our fast. I hope you are helped and encouraged by them.  -Lou Engle

 “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.”1 Kings 19:3-8 NIV

Great things are in store for those who seek the face of God. Fear is your enemy. What you fear you empower. What you focus on you make room for. Fear God. Focus on Him and you will make room for Him in your life! -John Paul Jackson

After Elijah defeated the 450 prophets of Baal through a spectacular display of the power of God on Mount Carmel; he flees for his life into the desert after receiving a death threat from the wicked queen Jezebel. Depressed, deflated and filled with self-doubt Elijah exhausted from his battles falls to the ground and wants to die. An angel of the Lord comes to him giving him food and water and watched over him while he rested. After a deep sleep, he rises and then under the strength of the Lord, Elijah travels 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb/Mt. Sinai the mountain of God – to encounter the Living One.

On this 40 day Jesus Fast there will be challenges and you will be tempted to give up, to the throw in the towel. The enemy will attack your body, soul, and spirit. Maybe the biggest challenge is to never give up when you have actually faltered in the fast. Don’t berate yourself. God is not necessarily looking at how well you do, but how you lay hold of Him by faith. Remember Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days. The enemy waited until the end where Jesus was at his weakest physically to attack him. Press into the Lord. Remember in your weakness His strength is made perfect. 

As you fast, eat the living bread of God every day, His word. Feast upon His truth for you and for these times. He will be the one who puts His super on your natural and give you the supernatural strength to go the distance. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Do not give up! Do not give in! 

In the days of World War II, Winston Churchill rallied the people of England with his epic speeches. In the face of overwhelming odds, with great darkness coming against Great Britain and with Nazi Germany demonically engulfing the free world, Winston Churchill at times stood as a lone voice calling his people to take courage. One of his most famous quotes was this, “Never, never, never, never, give up!”


Prayer
Father God, give me the physical, emotional and mental strength to go the distance on this Jesus Fast. Help me to remember that it is Christ in me, the hope of glory that will enable me to finish this race! Give me vision to see your Kingdom coming and receive your joy in the journey. All glory to you Father! 

Steve Allen
Contend Global – Staff

4:18N

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…morning by morning he awakens me; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. Isaiah 50:4

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” Luke 4:18

Books don’t change people; paragraphs do. Sometimes even sentences. -John Piper

Startled, I awoke from my sleep this very morning hearing a very clear inner audible voice, “God you said that you would deliver us,” and then I saw this image like ticker tape going across my mind: 4:18N. Immediately I jumped out of bed calling to my wife, “Don’t let me forget this!” Instantly I knew the Lord was giving me the prayer to pray for the next 10 days. This is that prayer! “God, You said that You would deliver us! Release the delivering power of Luke 4:18, the scroll of Jesus into this Nation now!”

Remember Paul Cain, that great healing evangelist, and prophet, whose mother at age 104 said to Paul, “I have given you many words, but I am going to give you the most significant word I have ever given.” Paul said, “What is it?” and she said, “I don’t know, God hasn’t given it to me yet.” Then she went into a coma for 2 months. Finally coming out of the coma she said to Paul, “I am now giving you the word God promised. He is giving Luke 4:18 to you Paul, and to the world.” Amazingly in the presence of Paul and Mike Bickle, Anna Cain died on 4/18 at 4:18.

I have already shown you this photograph, but I want to show it again with this devotional. A random photo at The Send in Orlando on February 22, 2019. Look at the time on the TV monitor.

Isn’t it amazing that Paul Cain passed away right before The Send. He so wanted to be at that gathering to see the fulfillment of his prophecy of Stadium Christianity. I believe he saw that gathering from the great cloud of witnesses.

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. John 12:24

And so this morning, having this profound dream, I refuse to diminish its profound clarity and power. I believe we have come to an upper room moment to pray in Luke 4:18 for the next 10 days.

Prayer: God, You said that You would deliver us! So, we have the courage to pray this very prayer. Let the Spirit of the Lord be upon us to set the captive free. We call forth Luke 4:18 for this nation now! In Jesus Name, Amen.

30 Days Ablaze

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…and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good,  for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud…2 Chronicles 5:13

We have come to the 30th day of the fast and I am expecting that the next 10 days will at least, in a measure, be days of awe. I am asking God for an AWEwakening in my own life and for the many others that I am praying for. 

In the 1980s our church, pastored by Che Ahn had a 30 day awakening. Many times in my life I have experienced somewhat of a “come away My beloved” tug. An inward desire maybe spawned by a dream, scripture or still small voice, draws me into a seeking time which leads to a finding time. Believe it or not, I was the worship leader in those days. Our worship team began to yearn to experience a prophetic anointing in worship that would lead to people getting saved without an altar call. For 30 days we fasted holding prayer meetings almost nightly. We were crying, “Open the heavens!” 

On the 29th night, I was reading about King Saul. When he came into the presence of the sons of the prophets who were playing their instruments, he was basically slain in the spirit and prophesied all day long. I was pondering this in my heart, “What kind of worship brings kings under such an influence?” Suddenly I began to experience a deep groan in my spirit that continued for maybe an hour. I knew the Holy Spirit was praying through me and that the next morning’s worship service would be a day of an encounter. It would be the 30th day. 

Our church was not a wild congregation, though we loved the prophetic and the freedom of expression. The worship was somewhat ordinary that morning until the lead guitar player began to release a prophetic chord progression. At the same moment, a woman felt led to come down from the balcony and take one of the singers microphones (that should never have happened.) I began to sing spontaneously and she echoed the same lines:
 We gaze upon Your purity
We gaze upon Your beauty
We gaze upon Your loveliness
Holy incense do we bring
We gaze into an open heaven…  

As we sang that line it was like heaven exploded in the congregation. Pandemonium broke out, people were running and dancing in the aisles. Some began crying out, “We see angels! We see angels!” People were saved when no one could preach, for God had done the preaching. God had visited our 30 day fast with a glory bomb and for weeks people were healed and saved in our times of worship.

So now once again, let’s open our hearts with the expectation of God showing up; or feeding us with bread from heaven; delivering us from addiction; healing a family member. Let’s enter into this day and the following 10 days with faith for an AWEwakening. 

30 Days For A Breakthrough

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Today we continue on the theme of 30 days for a breakthrough. I shared yesterday on the subject of Esther waiting 30 days before she was summoned to the court and about our breakthrough with the Supreme Court. Today I will share my testimony of what praying for 30 days did for my son. The significance of 30 days may not be a biblical foundation assuring us of a breakthrough in prayer, but it has been a significant number in my own life. I share it only as a possible point of faith as we enter into the 30th day of our 40 day fast.

Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 1st Kings 17:21-22

“As we look at all the unholy chaos in the world at the close of the twentieth century, we sense that new levels of faith and prayer will be needed to reach this next generation – something close to raising the dead. Elijah’s revolution is a prayer revolution. Before he prayed for a fire to fall from heaven, he prayed to raise a fatherless child from the dead.”  -Lou Engle ‘Fast Forward

In the Bible, the first person raised from the dead was not a king or a priest or a general. It was the only child of a poverty-stricken widow who had been on the verge of starvation not long before. Elijah took the boy to the upper room, laid him on the bed and stretched himself over the boy three times, crying out to God for his life. The “upper room” of prayer is still God’s answer for dead individuals. May “upper rooms” arise all over this nation, where saints would stretch themselves out in prayer for a dead generation in order to turn them back to God! It took perseverance to raise that dead boy back to life.

One family’s “upper room” prayer changed the life of my dear friend Che Ahn. While still a teenager, Che threw himself into the rebellion of the 60s. As a Korean hippie and drug pusher, a turn was needed. A young girl in his neighborhood saw Che and told her father about him. This family felt a burden for his salvation and at every mealtime, they prayed for him. Soon afterward, Che encountered Jesus in a remarkable way. Since then, he has led thousands to Christ. 

Many years ago I had lost my teenage son’s heart. I longed for him and I know he longed for me, but we couldn’t find each other. He was headed in the wrong direction and I feared darkness would overtake him. I was desperate to see change and breakthrough in his life, so I set my face to fasting 31 days on only water, stretching myself out over him (so to speak) in prayer. On the 31st day, my son came to me and told me that he was having dreams of revival and of the coming of the Holy Spirit; it was the breath of life entering to his spirit; it was the beginning of me getting my boy back from the dead; it was a 30 day breakthrough. It took Elijah three times to spread himself over the boy, and it took me 30 days of prayer and fasting. 

Dear brothers and sisters, let’s go to the upper room and stretch ourselves out over our children, over immovable obstacles, and over spiritual veils that hide His face from our hearts. Let’s believe God for a miracle in this 30 day window. If we don’t see a miracle, we still believe and we will never stop praying until heaven has lit up our darkness.

Prayer
Father, we pray for the spirit of Elijah to come on a generation of mothers and fathers who want their kids more than the world wants them. Release a mighty grace of fasting on fathers and mothers who will stretch themselves out over their kids struggling with sexual confusion, drug addiction, lack of purpose, or sickness. Release an Elijah revolution in our day stronger than the death culture of suicide. God, I pray in this 30 day window that all across the world, many of us that are fasting will celebrate breakthroughs and shout praises to the God of miracles. Amen. 

30 Days and Into the Throne Room

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…But as for me, I have not been called to come into the king these thirty days. Esther 4:11

On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room… Esther 5:1
For the next few days, I want to make a shift in focus. Fasting in many ways is a doorway to throne room favor and encounter. Matthew 7:7-8 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Fasting fuels our prayers with urgency and desperation. In fasting we don’t just seek, in fasting, we knock. But what is that door to be opened to us? Daniel fasted for 21 days and a door opened to the spirit realm and an archangel appeared to him. John was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and a door opened and the throne room of heaven was made manifest to his spiritual eyes.

Esther had not been summoned for 30 days into the presence of the king and his throne room. We are nearing the end of 30 days in this fast and I want to believe for you and for thousands of us, that after 30 days, you will have a throne room encounter with God; or a spiritual breakthrough that can only be explained as God; or a divine whisper that will open up a passageway for your future. Over the next 3 days, I want to share 3 experiences where I fasted or prayed for 30 days and then a sovereign breakthrough occurred.

In 2004, 30 days before the elections, our prayer company had journeyed to Washington D.C. to pray for a pro-life president and the shifting of the Supreme Court. We stood in front of the Supreme Court for 30 days with life tape on our mouths. You may recall in an earlier devotional that on the 30th day of our stand, I was summoned to the Highest Court in the land. It’s a basketball court in the Supreme Court building, and it is exactly on top of where the Supreme Court holds its hearings. When I had inquired about it, the young woman giving me the tour informed me about that basketball court and I said, “Take me to that Court!” On that basketball court, I decreed a shift to the Supreme Court, and that righteous judges would arise to reverse Roe V. Wade. It’s interesting that we had called a 3-day Esther fast at that time, no food and no water. Isn’t it interesting that I went to the highest court at the end of that Esther fast? Chance? I say divine providence.

When I came out of the Supreme Court building all my young people were abuzz with excitement. They had seen a cloud in the sky shaped like a perfect arrow and as they watched, the arrow completely turned around and pointed in the opposite direction. The name of our journey had been, “The arrow of the Lord’s victory against abortion.” What are the chances that we stood in front of the Court for 30 days, and then on an Esther fast, I stood in the Court above the Supreme Court. The result: a pro-life President was elected, and 2 conservative Justices were appointed by President Bush. If you could have pulled back the curtain of the supernatural realm, I’m sure that we would have been in the throne room where the heavenly court was seated, the books were opened, and a verdict was made on behalf of the saints of the most high. (Daniel 7)

When Esther stood in the court, the king stretched out his scepter of favor. As we enter into these next 3 days leading to the 30th day of our fast,  I want us to believe that the Supreme Court can shift; I want us to believe that the person we are praying for will get a breakthrough; I want us to believe that we will have dreams, spiritual encounters, and even be caught  up into the throne room dimensions like John was privileged to audit.

Muslims on the 27th night of Ramadan, have a day of focus in which they appeal to Allah for dreams that would reveal their destinies. They call it, “The Night of Power” or, “The Night of Destiny.” Many have dreams that night and many of them dream of the man dressed in white – Jesus. Maybe we should learn from them. In these next 3 days, start knocking; spend hours, if you can, calling on God to open the heavens; show you your calling, and answer your prayers. Knock, and the door shall be opened! Tomorrow another testimony of the power of the 30 days.

Prayer
Lord, it’s close to 30 days. Summon us to the throne room and stretch out your scepter of favor toward us. Father, I pray that in this fast we would move from asking and seeking into the realm of knocking; stir an inward passion and desire to be heard from heaven; call us into extraordinary prayer; take us into the courtroom of heaven and let us see visions from which none of us could ever be the same. Give us the Holy Spirit as we’ve never known Him; unleash spiritual gifts, and open the eyes of our hearts, that we might see you. In Jesus name, Amen.