| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-482 * 11 AUGUST 2004 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN482-1. WORD: Do you want revival? JN482-2. WORD: Revival unaware? No such thing! JN482-3. WORD: For this child I prayed! --- ENCOURAGEMENT - Need some encouragement? In this edition three stirring contributions from Conrad Lampan, an evangelist from the renewal/revival in Argentina. --- JN482-1. WORD: Do you want revival? By Conrad Lampan In these days when we are seeing several moves of God around the world, and also quite a few other things which some call revival, the question comes to mind: How do we define revival? What in essence is revival? I would like to bring a definition from the results of revival rather than from the looks of it. We can have an amazing time of unexpected manifestations; or we can have an increased level of awareness of God's Presence; we can have a sense of happiness that we did not have before, but if we do not have as a result Christians everywhere turned into witnesses, then we do not have revival. Awareness of God's Presence is not enough because that awareness will not change us. The devil is well aware of God's Presence but he is by no means changed. What we need, along with that sense of awareness is submission, a total surrendering of the self to the will of God. Unless we surrender, we are not changed, and if we are not changed we cannot even speak of revival. Revival is a true move of the Holy Spirit that turns Christians into witnesses. Before Pentecost the disciples had experienced joy, and happiness, and have seen and even performed miracles in the name of Jesus, they have cast out demons, but after Pentecost they were turned into witnesses, and then it spread like fire. After all that is what Jesus promised: "You will receive power, and you will be my witnesses... to the end of the earth". Do not expect a revival sitting comfortably in your assigned pew waiting for the next anointed preacher to come by and bring revival in his or her suitcase, for revival will happen when Christians start living as Christians. Are you available? Source: Center for Revival Studies --- JN482-2. WORD: Revival unaware? No such thing! By Conrad Lampan Some tend to believe that revival hits a church, or a city, or even a nation totally by surprise. Yes it can be construed as a breakthrough, but unaware? Only to outsiders! The way it happens, the details and some particulars of each and every revival might come as a surprise, but there is no such a thing as a revival that was totally unexpected. If anybody dare say that some revival in history just happened when nobody at all was expecting it, then they will have to say also that those who were praying for a move of God did not believe that God would really answer their prayers. Nobody in their sound mind would expect a harvest without first having sowed. Randy Clark was used of God to spark a move of God in Toronto; however long before that night the church was praying, they had been praying, seeking God's face, tilling the ground and sowing and many tears of hunger and desperation watered the planting until at the right time God sent His vessel. In 1904 a revival that some consider to have been the greatest ever hit Wales. Evan Roberts was the instrument God used to spark it. There was a great harvest of souls, in the line of 100,000 souls or about. But this was not unexpected. The intensity of what happened still marvels us, but nobody can say it was unexpected for there were many places that I would call 'pockets of prayer' where Christians were crying out for God to move in their nation. Evan Roberts was one of them who actually prayed for 100,000 souls! And God answered. Back to the book of Acts the disciples did not have in mind any past revival to learn from. Everything was new to them. They did not know exactly what was going to happen. They did not know what, or when, or how it was going to happen, but they were together; they were praying; they were waiting. They were surely surprised; they must have been actually because of all the wonderful things that happened when the Holy Spirit came. Surprised, yes. Unaware? No sir, they were prepared. Waiting to God. Yessir, that's it. They were not about their business; they did not go home to wait while comfortably sleeping in their own beds. They were not about planning strategies or programs; they were not even about revival! They were waiting to God. In the fifties Tommy Hick, an American evangelist was used by God to spark a revival in Argentina. Unexpected? For many people, yes it was unexpected, but for the students at the Bible College that had suspended their classes and were spending their time in prayer 24 hours a day, no sir for them it was not unexpected. One of those students was found one day facing a wall standing in a puddle of his own tears as he prayed for the nation. Revival unaware? No such thing. We should not expect any Randy Clark, or Evan Roberts, or Carlos Anacondia, or any other anointed servant to come and start a harvest where we have not bothered to sow. Source: Center for Revival Studies --- JN482-3. WORD: For this child I prayed! By Conrad Lampan Do you feel like quitting? Get encouraged, you are not alone; keep pressing, for in due time you will be able to declare: "For this child I prayed!" A couple years ago we were helping in a crusade that Sergio Scataglini was holding in his town of birth, La Plata, Argentina. One night after ministering to several thousands of people individually, we were literally exhausted so we went to a side room or office to have some refreshments. Isabel Scataglini, Sergio's mom was there and she began to remember our years of Bible School when Sergio and I were roommates and friends. She said: "You were two crazy ones, you did quite a few crazy things; do you remember when you locked yourselves to pray in the middle of the night?" Now, I must explain here that we were not allowed to be up after 10:00, that was 'lights off' time and having two other roommates in our room we could not pray there if they wanted to sleep, so we needed to find our way out; may times we spent hours in a dark bathroom or classroom, simply praying for a move of God. When Isabel mentioned that, one thing came immediately to my mind. I saw the multitudes we had just ministered to and 1st Samuel 1:27 popped in my mind like a flashing neon sign: "For this child I prayed!" When I look around and see what God has done, and what He is doing; how He has blessed our own nation Argentina, and how He has raised that generation of students, using some like Claudio Freidzon to spark a mighty revival, or Sergio Scataglini to bring a message of holiness that changed the lives of thousands; when I see how God has sent several of us to carry this flame of revival to many nations in the world; and when I see and hear and read the testimonies of thousands saved, healed, touched, transformed, then I say: "For this child I prayed!" That generation of students was a very combative one, and some of us were badly beaten. Some of us were on the brink of quitting, and some even actually quit. Claudio Freidzon once told me: "We are where we are because of God's grace". Those were hard years, then there was no revival in sight. The prospects for a minister were not brilliant, rather grim I'd say. Churches were small, the average church had 20 to 40 people, with just a few exceptions a little bit bigger. To be a born-again committed Christian was considered rather shameful. However God has answered the prayers made during those hard years. How long have you been praying for revival? How long have you been praying for a miracle? Do not get discouraged. From the distance I want to encourage you to "write the vision, because it will not tarry, it will come to pass" (Hab. 2:2-3). "Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time. But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry." I know that each one of us students in those years had a vision, a dream, expectations, and you who read these lines now, you also have a dream you have been praying for maybe for years. I also know that each one of us was praying for that vision and for the future contained within that dream. But I also know that some have not yet received the answer; the vision seems ever so far away: Do not despair, one day on this side or on the other side of the river we will meet and say: "For this child I prayed!" In our case it has been 25 years; I don't know how long it has been in your case. There were years of struggles, years of sowing in dry land, of pressing ahead in spite of trials, of falling down and standing up and starting again. Years where we could see no fruit, sowing without seeing a harvest. But then there were the years of blessings, years of great rain that caused the seed to germinate. If there hadn't been those years of sowing, many times with tears, hoping against hope, then when the rain came there wouldn't have been a harvest, only a muddy mess of unprepared soil. It was not easy, but who said that Christian life is easy? In fact our Lord Jesus told us that our life was not to be an easy one. Many dreams seem to die in the way, and tell me: How many times you had to stop in the way and gather strength out of weakness and start all over again? How many times you have felt so lonely that it was almost unbearable? And how many times you feel like you are all by yourself because you cannot explain the burden that is literally squeezing your heart, but you cannot share it? Do not get discouraged, it is right then in the middle of your inner nowhere that the Holy Spirit comes to you in a soft, still small voice to tell you: "He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber" (Ps 121:3). I like to watch the faces of people coming to the altar. Sometimes you can see them coming with faces hardened by years of pain and rejection. But I also see them when the Holy Spirit has touched them, how their faces change and they leave the place with a peaceful radiance they did not have before; it is then that I can look back and say: "It was well worth the cost". It is then that I can look back to those years of prayer and say: "For this child I prayed!" Source: Center for Revival Studies --- COLOPHON Joel News International is a leading special interest bulletin on prayer, church growth and revival. We offer a keen selection of the most encouraging news reports, the most challenging developments and the best resources from over 100 reliable sources in six continents. Joel News International is a great help and time-saver for thousands of Christian leaders and intercessors in over 120 nations. Editor: Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl. Joel News International is distributed weekly by e-mail on the basis of an annual donation. 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