Come, Lord Jesus
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| Photo courtesy of nighthawk7 |
My own story begins in Israel in March of this year. My mother and step-father were on a tour of the Holy Land led by Erwin Lutzer of The Moody Church. One day my mother was able to sit and chat with Dr. Lutzer and she shared with him about my ministry and my heart for revival. This led to an invitation for me to come to Chicago for the National Conversation on Revival in June. During this conversation I was able (not by coincidence by the way) to have lunch with Dan Jarvis who is heading up the "voices" team of OneCry. We parted ways with blessings upon each others' ministry and went home. Then, a few weeks later Dan called me to ask if I would like to be a part of this team. My response, "Let me pray about it...YES!" My point is that it is not by my own merit that I find myself a part of this team. It is purely by the hand of God and I think everyone else would say the same thing.
Even the vision did not originate with us. First it came from God but the earthly vehicle was Byron Paulus, the Executive Director of Life Action. This vision is God sized and extends far beyond getting churches to have good "revivals." It truly is nationwide and something that God alone can orchestrate. I pray that you will be hearing much more about OneCry but let me give you a brief overview so you can see the scale of this movement. The initial goal of OneCry is to have:
50,000 prayer warriors who will intercede for the other members of the movement and pray that God would send true renewal to our land.
5,000 "voices" for revival that will act as John the Baptists and be voices in the wilderness spreading the message of revival throughout their communities.
500 leaders for revival who will partner together in mobilizing God's Church toward revival until He comes.
Granted, these numbers are meant to be benchmarks and we certainly are hoping for more. However, can you imagine 50,000 believers uniting in prayer for America to repent, be broken and experience a true movement of God? Listen to what James 5:17-18 say about the prayers of just one man;
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced fruit.
Just prior to that statement James gives us this, which is a beautiful expression of what OneCry is about;
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
This tells me that confession of, and brokenness over our sin coupled with earnest prayer is a powerful tool for healing. Truly, revival or renewal or awakening is something that God alone can produce but there are ways we can prepare for it and "pray it down" from Heaven. It is here that OneCry steps in and hopes to unite the Body of Christ in repentance and prayer for His revival in our land.
On the last night of our meeting we joined together for prayer in the great room of the Lodge. During this time I could only think of one thing to pray and it came from the words of John at the close of his revelation;
Come, Lord Jesus.
This is my prayer and I believe it is the prayer of revival. We want to see Jesus come. Yes, we want Him to come again in power and glory to get His Church and end the suffering and wrong doing in the world. However, in the meantime I pray that He would visit us with His Spirit and renew us to an authentic and vibrant life in Him.
Godspeed,
Christian
As the OneCry initiative comes to fruition and is promoted publicly I will keep you informed of specific steps you can take to be a part of this nationwide call to spiritual awakening. Please be in prayer for all the leaders of these three teams and begin praying that God would visit us and be magnified by us.
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