I Will Not Let You Go
| In Genesis 32:24-32 the Patriarch Jacob has an encounter with an Angel in which they find themselves in a wrestling match. Jacob says to his night time visitor, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing upon me.” And there you have it. Many times in our prayers we won’t persevere in prayer to breakthrough to the answer. Isaiah 64:7 states: “And no one calls on Your name and awakens and bestirs himself to take and keep hold of You…” In wrestling with God for our answer we are changed, and that’s God’s goal. Seeing our walk through life changed to look like Jesus is God’s ultimate desire for our lives. I got behind on Lou Engle’s blogs so today I will send you 2 to catch you up. God bless you in your pursuit of God, and may your walk be changed forever. “Billy Graham, I will not let you go!” Read 2 Kings 2. Seventy years ago, Billy Graham pitched his tent in Los Angeles, and Jesus the evangelist was manifested through him and many others. In the course of his lifetime, Billy preached the Gospel to more than 215 million individuals, but I am convinced that his life was a down payment for a nameless and faceless generation to come that would fill stadiums across the whole earth. It is time for Billy Graham’s mantle to come on entire nations! Years ago I received a word that I was to watch closely for the passing of Billy Graham. Earlier in 2018, in an extended season of fasting and prayer, I was reading about the mantle of Elijah passing to Elisha. Next to the passage, I wrote in big letters in my Bible: “Billy Graham I will not let you go until I get a double-portion of your mantle on the next generation.” What I did not know was that Graham would pass away in just ten days! When he passed, I knew that it was the moment we had been waiting for all these years. Seventy years were up! When Daniel understood that it was time, he set his face to fasting and prayer. We just held the Send with 59,000 praying for Billy Graham’s mantle. It is time to fast. Fasting is the great era-shifter. Moses’ 40-Day fast shifted Israel into the era where the glory of God was made manifest. His fast released a double-portion on Joshua, whose name means “The Lord Saves.” Elijah’s 40-Day fast released a double-portion on Elisha, whose name means “God Saves.” John the Baptist’s lifestyle of fasting and even Jesus’ 40-Day Fast released the prototype, a double-portion Son, our Jesus, whose name means “The Lord Saves.” |
| Prayer Lord, we believe that the millions who heard Billy Graham’s preaching was just a down payment of what You are about to do. Loose a double-portion on the next generation! Release Stadium Christianity in America and all of the nations of the earth! |
A New Scroll for the Nation
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:16-19)
In 1999, I prayed the prayer, “How can I turn America back to God?” It became the defining prayer of my entire life and birthed the movement of TheCall. That very night I had a dream where I was overwhelmed with the impossibility of seeing America turn back to God. In the dream, a scroll rolled down before me with the Scripture of Luke 1:17. When I woke up, I knew at that moment TheCall would be like a John-the-Baptist type movement that would prepare the way of the Lord. For the last two decades, we have gathered hundreds of thousands in fields, arenas, and stadiums to fast and pray, believing that it would lead to a moment where, like John the Baptist, we would declare, “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world!”
“This is a random picture taken by David Parks at The Send. Look at the time on the clock in the photo. We Prophesied The Send would release the Luke 4:18 scroll. The photo is a whisper that has become a roar in my heart.”
It was last year on the Central Coast of California that a new scroll began to unfold. I heard the prophetic storyline of Paul Cain’s life and stadium vision that confirmed the transition I was feeling in my heart. At the end of Anna Cain’s life (Paul Cain’s mother), who was a prophetess in her own right, she told her son Paul that the Lord had one last prophetic word. She said that it would be the most important prophecy she would ever give to her son and the whole world. Then, she slipped into a coma. Weeks passed. Suddenly, one night Anna woke from the coma to say, “Paul, the Lord is going to release over your life and the Body of Christ across the world – Luke 4:18.” After prophesying, she slipped back into a coma and then passed away the next day. Mike Bickle, my friend, and leader of the International House of Prayer, who was there with Paul, noted that she passed on 4/18 at 4:18 PM.
When I heard this story, and as I now ponder the recent death of Paul Cain, I know that a new scroll is unfolding for my life and the nation. It is not just the Luke 1:17 scroll of TheCall. It is now also the Luke 4:18 scroll of Jesus. Coming out of the 40-Day Fast, Jesus entered Galilee “in the power of the spirit” (Luke 4:14). He then went to Nazareth and opened a new scroll for the whole nation -Luke 4:18. I believe that we are in the season of the great transition. We are in a moment where the scroll of Luke 4:18 could be opened up over the whole nation, and then it will be a Jesus Movement like we have never seen before.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for 20 years of The Call and now thank you for The Send! Now let the scroll of Luke 4:18 roar throughout the earth. Raise up thousands of workers who have the spirit of the sovereign lord upon them to unleash the ministry of Jesus to the broken and the oppressed. Heal every manner of disease, sickness and mental oppression. Let joy erupt!
