A little child shall lead them!

I hear many people today saying they want to see the Holy Spirit poured out. I am sure none of us really know what that all entails.

For one thing, I know that we are asking for the Holy Spirit to be poured out not just on one generation, or gender, or race, or social class. It is upon "all flesh," old men, young men, parents, sons and daughters, men and women, all races and social classes (including bondservants and handmaidens). God will use all types of people in these days.

We need to be preparing a wineskin to allow for this sort of thing to happen, so that God can use children as well as older ones, women as well as men. Many of us grew up in a culture where children were to be "seen and not heard."

Even in many of our church structures today, we remove the children from the place of worship so that they do not disturb those of us who are older while we worship God. Something is majorly wrong with this.

God wants to use the children in this present day. The other evening, my friend, Raymond McLean, pastor of the First Nations Family Worship Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, shared with me the story of a service he had had the previous evening, Sunday evening of July 6, 2008.

He told of a little eleven-year-old girl that has lost her mother this past winter. She was the baby in the family. She got up crying, and said that she wanted to sing a song that she sang at her mother's funeral.

Everybody was deeply touched by her singing. Shortly afterward, the pastor in Garden Hill First Nation called her up for prayer, and she received the filling of the Holy Spirit according to the book of Acts. She was so blessed.

In seeing this, six other children got baptized with the Holy Spirit as well.

Here is a picture of this eleven-year-old girl with Pastor Raymond McLean who then preached that night on the Holy Spirit, taking his cue from what had happened through this young girl. Up until then, the Lord had not shown him what to preach on. At the end of the service, the WHOLE CHURCH was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Raymond McLean stated, "In all of my 28 years of ministry, I have never seen anything like this happening, where the WHOLE CHURCH corporately received the filling of the Holy Spirit at one time, just like in Acts chapter 2."

The hunger of the Holy Spirit is stirring in the community of Garden Hill, Manitoba, and in other First Nations communities, and God is already using the children to play a key role in this corporate outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

Defining Revival -- Discernment for the End Times

"LORD, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2, NIV).

"O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:1, NKJV.

"Come, and let us return to the LORD. For He has torn, but He will heal us. He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us. on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.

"Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth" (Hosea 6:1-3).

"Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, LORD, and grant us Your salvation" (Psalm 85:6, 7).

Revival is certainly a biblical term, but it means many different things to many people. Some churches call special services where they invite a special speaker a "revival." "Come to the revival meetings," they say.

Others are looking for the latest "hot spot" that they can call a revival. People flock to Toronto, Ontario, to Brownsville, Texas, to Redding, California, to Lakeland, Florida. I am very much in favour of these meetings, but think a word of caution is in order.

People tend to look for one geographical location, a place where they can go, and say, "This is it! This is the place from where the last end time revival is coming that will sweep the earth!"

We look for the big event, the place where the crowds are flocking, and we tend, then, to get our eyes and our focus on the outward manifestations instead of on God Himself. We tend to go by outward observation instead of becoming sensitive to that which God is doing upon the earth in some of the remotest places that nobody has hardly heard of, and where people do not even know how to advertise or to market what God is doing.

The media, even the Christian media, has ruined many a "revival" by getting the focus too much on man, and that which started with people who were humble, broken and desperate suddenly becomes a "revival machine" that becomes huge. The danger at that point is always that when we become large, there is a strong tendency to start leaning on our organization, our expertise, our administration to perfect that which was started in the Spirit.

It doesn't have to happen, and I pray to God that it doesn't happen in places like Lakeland, Florida, but I have a sense that what God is really after to to spring forth from WITHIN every community, city and nation (ethnos) on the face of the earth, and it will be unique and distinct in every location.

Every community, every city, faces different principalities and powers that keep people in bondage in their part of the earth. Therefore, it takes a unique strategy, a revelation from heaven to the LOCAL leaders of the LOCAL communities and cities to see the strongholds come down in each region of this planet.

There can and is certainly value in going to other cities where God is moving, and catch something of the fire that is burning in that region. But we need to be careful that we do not try to simply "copy" what they are doing, and trying to replicate it back home without going through the travail and intercession that is needed to get God's plan and God's strategy for OUR part of the earth, for our community, and for our city.

This is why, I believe, that the letters of the New Testament were written to LOCAL churches. God did not speak one universal word so that people were supposed to travel to one place to get the word for their area. The leaders in every locality need to become intercessors, prayer warriors, watchmen on the wall, who learn to hear from God for themselves, and then to obey that word that he is speaking to address the principalities in their area and region.

It is the LOCAL gatekeepers who are best qualified to identify the roots and the generational issues that have given the principalities and powers a lodging place in their area. It is the local authorities who are the gatekeepers with the spiritual authority to address those issues where they and their fathers have sinned and defiled the land.

They have the authority to repent of those things that have happened in that part of the earth where God has called them to live, and to bring a cleansing of those defilements, and then a welcoming of the Holy Spirit to find a Resting Place in their part of the earth. The Holy Spirit comes where He is welcomed by those who have the legal authority in their part of the earth.

While we can learn from people who live in different regions, it will be different in each region as to how "revival" manifests, but the important thing is to keep one's eyes upon God, and look for Him to come from within the community in creative ways that will be different from anywhere else.

It is in God that we live and move and have our being. He is not far from every one of us, and He wants for us to seek Him within the borders of our own territory on the earth, and that we open the gates for Him to come to our lives, our families, our spheres of influence, our communities, our nation.

The moment we build up a mental framework on what we "think" revival is like, based on past revivals, or based on what we have seen Him do in other regions, we find that God will pretty much always surprise us. He will work in our situation in ways that we least expect.

Here are some people in a remote community in Baffin Island where God has moved powerfully by His Spirit. The crowds are not flocking there from other communities, but the community leaders are starting to take ownership of their own issues, and to seek the Lord for how He wants to move in their own midst, knowing that He already lives in the midst of their community. There is no need to run to a Benny Hinn meeting, or some other "revival" meeting in order to find God or to experience "revival." God wants it to begin in us as we humble ourselves before Him.

There are people who want to get "God TV" to come up to the Arctic. I am not so sure that it would be a good thing. Too much publicity can distract us away from what God is doing. Soon the leaders of the move of God get invitations from all over the world before they have really established and sufficiently mentored what God is doing at the local level. If we are not careful, and if we spread ourselves out too thin, we can leave a gap at the local level where the enemy can get back in, and before we know it, we are praying for another "revival" again at the local level while we are seen as an "expert" on the international stage.

It is significant that every move of God always reverts back to what is maintained and mentored at the LOCAL level. A national revival cannot sustain a local revival, because the nation is the extension of the locality. The locality is not the extension of the nation. God's Kingdom is within, and flows from within, from the inside out.

God begins with the small, the unnoticed, the grain of mustard seed, and it grows from there to become something visible and significant. That is how it is in the Kingdom of God, but in the kingdoms of this world, things always start with a "bang" amid high hopes, but then gradually fizzle out from there.
The young girl above comes from one of the remotest communities of the North. Outside of her community, I don't think hardly any one has ever heard about her, and yet I have seen one of the deepest repentances manifested through her than I have ever seen in huge events. She is staying faithful in her own community, establishing her testimony there, even though it is not always easy, and sometimes the temptation is to run away, and to go somewhere where it would be "easier."

When we do that, however, and when we avoid the pain and the suffering and the travail that results in transformation, we don't grow, and develop, and become more Christ-like either.

I just received a newsletter from a friend, Geoff Clarke, who is building a YWAM Borealis base in McKenzie, British Columbia. He writes, "The Kingdom is advancing and building inertia in the North. Just as a believer's faith is in the unseen Kingdom, so is our faith and commitment to small communities in the North, the 'unseen' places. Much time was spent this past year seeking God's heart and presence for the North."

His vision is for the far corners of the earth that hardly anybody knows about yet. The Vision Statement of YWAM Borealis is to "serve, encourage and equip full Kingdom purpose for all generations of the circumpolar nations, make God known in communities large or small and bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth (Acts 13:47)."

God is moving all over the earth in ways that many of us are not even aware of, because it is not something we can readily observe. When Jesus was asked when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered, "The Kingdom of God does not come with observation (or outward show). Nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20, 21).

On another occasion, He said, "See, I have told you before hand. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:25-27; see also Mark 13:21).

Please do not hear me to say that I am against large revival meetings, but I think that in order to sustain and maintain a move of God in our communities, it is going to take wise and mature leadership who have a strong commitment to their community to see God's purposes birthed through suffering and travail. Then whatever manifests will truly be identified with the community where we live, not some kind of a foreign commodity that may have worked somewhere else.

So let us praise Jesus for what He is doing in Florida. May many catch the fire, and then learn how to keep kindling afresh the flame of God's presence at the local level in their own community. And may we also not make "revival" as a focus in itself that can actually take us away from God, and from seeking to hear His voice for ourselves in our community, in our family, in our sphere of influence.

Jesus told us to "seek first the Kingdom of God," and that "the Kingdom of God is within us," not some place way out there.

Many of the true revivalists of the past had to go outdoors from the institutional church, out on to the fields like John Wesley, or on to the streets like William Booth. However, we can study some of the revivalists like Charles Spurgeon who preached inside of church buildings, and so we build up a picture of what we think revival will be like. That picture can become an idol.

A preacher can easily look at the 18th and 19th century revivals, and conceive of revival that will elevate him, the preacher, while the masses flock to hear him preach. We can conceive a revival that will elevate me, the eloquent preacher or the great evangelist that God will use mightily.

It may not work like that this time, because what God is after is a Body of believers to manifest His glory, not the individualistic, one-man ministry.

The one-man ministry can see a picture of "revival" as a gathering of great numbers with success and fame for the one who is the centre of attention. We need to avoid that like the plague. I want to emphasize that as far as I know, Todd Bentley has stayed humble, but we really need up uphold him in prayer as the snares and pitfalls of the enemy increase with the growing attention.

God says that He will do "a new thing." We can pray for revival without following God in doing a new thing, and instead of allowing Him to use us in ways that may be hidden from the lime light, we can end up trying to use Him to serve our image of revival. Then we become impatient with the congregation if they do not respond according to our picture.

After the lady above had deeply repented, I saw her face shining with the glory of God. Hardly anybody even knows about her. The TV networks have not got on to her story yet, and in a way I hope that they don't. It is not that I don't want these stories to get out, but too much publicity too soon can actually ruin a deep move of God that begins among a repentant people who are broken. The limelight can change all of that.

We start looking for the glory, angels, healings and great spiritual experiences. We have a picture of revival and success coming to our churches! We market revival to the Christian media! But we forget the humility, brokenness and death to ourselves that is the beginning of genuine revival.

I recently received an e-mail from Terry Somerville in which he stated,"I often minister to pastors in Korea. They are calling on God to repeat the revival of 100 years ago. The problem is, the revival of 100 years ago was among poor, simple, outcast believers humbling themselves with each other and finally being totally freed by God!"

Today, the ones asking for revival are pastors of large, modern, successful churches with a vision to fulfill. How do we make a shift from a 100 year old revival? We can't. God wants to do a new thing that will still originate within the hearts of the poor, the broken, the contrite and the humble.

At one time, God used the bronze serpent on the pole to heal everyone who looked at it. but later generations worshiped it. Hezekiah had to destroy it (II Kings 18:4). The same thing can happen to our picture of a revival.

Having said that, may we have hearts that say, "God, let revival come to us in Your way, and in Your plan for us. Help us not to fit You into our plans, but to fit ourselves into Your plan and purpose."

According to Terry Somerville, when we talk about the third wave and the "last great revival to sweep the earth," we are talking about something that is far bigger than our continent, and well outside of our present perspective in the West. God is not North American.

This revival will be about the kingdom of God in the earth, not the modern western church having greater meetings. Terry gives a few prophetic characteristics of the coming wave of end time revival.

1. The Last Revival will be Greater than All

We need perspective. God is moving throughout the earth in fantastic ways already. It's not new, it's just new to us!

In Asia and Africa, the dead are raised, the lame walk, the blind see, demons are cast out, and multiplied thousands are coming to Christ, but it is not necessarily a replica of the western church.

We look at numbers who attend our big meetings, but what God is doing by way of making disciples is often invisible to the natural eye. Yet when one sees what God is doing in China, Nepal and Indonesia where people are persecuted for their faith, and much of the church is underground, it is a huge thing that God is doing, and they are producing real disciples, not merely "converts."

This end-time revival is certainly bigger than anything that has come so far! But we need spiritual eyes to recognize this.

2. The Last Revival Will Flow through God's People

The last days revival will flow through believers, not just leaders. It will be a "people of the Kingdom" revival, not a "leaders and their meetings" revival. This is why it is often called the "nameless and faceless" revival.

There will still be meetings and leaders, of course. They are just not the epi-center of the revival. This is also why we have seen the focus on the market place in preparation for this move. It will flow through everyone, mainly out in the public square or in businesses or schools or in the parks, wherever the people are. It will not be contained to a church building.

3. The Last Revival Will be Focused on Grace

The religious systems of the church will either change or by by-passed by the last revival. It is a grace revival!

It is Christians returning to their first love, and totally depending on the amazing love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. In Him they will find total forgiveness, and will live in transformation.
God's grace will abound to save even the chiefest of sinners. His blood will make even the vilest sinner clean, and there will be healing and deliverance for all who come to theThrone of Grace..

This revival will be the Holy Spirit's good and joyful live expressed not only on Sundays, but in every day living. It will be the rule of the Kingdom in every man and woman, every boy and girl, blessing and expanding in this world's business, bringing the love and character of God to everything that they touch. This will be a wave of life and love that sweeps everyone before it.

Now that's revival! "Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?" (Psalm 85:6).