In the ministry God has entrusted me with, I operate in the realm of the Prophetic. As such I have experienced certain “Moves of God” in a different way many do. I am often able to see things in the spirit others might miss or dismiss. I may not always be particularly gifted, I’ve just lived my life as never too cynical or too gullible about anything. I operate on the principle of Gemalial. If it’s of God, you’ll know. If not it will die a slow painful death. So, when the train goes by I may or may not jump on. Mostly I let a few freight cars go by to see.
27 years of living in Pentecost I have seen plenty of “Waves” come that were predicted as something that would “change everything”. Few did. Very few ever really do. Most are programs of men, good godly efforts but not God. You’ve seen them flash in the spiritual pan too. Jabez, Purpose, Promise, and a dozen more. Not wrong, just not real winds of the Holy Ghost. So even today when someone wants to explain why this or that is a new wave I’m just a little slow on the uptake. That doesn’t mean I don’t check it out. I just want to be sure what I commit myself to. Life is too short to run after fads and waste time doing so.
Rodney Howard-Browne was a move that was real. Howard-Browne was sent by God from South Africa to America to bring revival in the early 80s. He did. From that wave of the Spirit he carried there was initiated the Toronto Blessing, Brownville, Gray, and hundreds of living breathing Churches that are still benefiting from this wave of God. They may not know the genesis of it all but it’s still there. All this happened with a spark that became a fire that is being reignited over and over again. Nothing is the same as it was since the early 1990s. Every free worshipping church in America with new passion owes it’s existence to Howard-Browne. What’s interesting is he is now sidelined. God will share his glory with no man. If you offer to be used of God expect nothing in return except himself. He is his own reward. That is and should be enough. He may use you again but if you become offended with him he may not. It's best to trust him with your life and not worry about your glory.
A second genuine wave is the Prayer Movement as commissioned by God to Mike Bickle. Once again this wave is globally changing the body of Christ. He was given a vision and a dream of God to fulfill. He is doing it and the movement is reverberating throughout the Body of Christ. There are now thousands of these bonfires in American and Europe. More spring up every day. They provide something that "Church as usual" cannot provide. Preparation of the saints thru intimacy. Here is a woman who had experienced just one such from Bethany Fellowship in Minneapolis. Her story is really worth reading to grasp what is happening in this vital move and the importance of preparation thru intimacy.
Another who is in the middle of one of these fires in Indianapolis. Read her bio. Click on some of the links. This is what is going on. It's marvelous. Reading both of these gives you a flavor of what is happening.
In both cases much of the traditional denominational and many non-denominational churches initially rejected these moves. They were too far outside the box. The laughing and howling at Howard-Browne’s meetings put most of them off. It wasn’t 3 hymns and a her with a 10 minute sermon read by a half dead preacher and closing with a poem from the readers digest. Traditions broken.
Bickle’s vision in implementation by the International Houses of Prayer worldwide has been vilified by many. This comes from a lack of understanding that worship and prayer are one and the same. They wonder about the 24/7/365 days per year prayer model. The concept of prophetic spontaneous expression however that was ushered in by the House of Prayer movement is now being used by good churches as a fresh new worship model. In Rockford IL at Faith Center they have an outstanding worship leader, Corey Pelley who operates in this with great depth. He can go on prophesying in song for 15 minutes straight. It is extraordinary. It speaks to people with a dimension not found otherwise. It’s all birthed in intimacy. You can’t do this without a deep passionate one-on-one relationship with Jesus.
This all grew out of the Prayer Movement. There were spontaneous songs before but not at this level. Todd Beery who is the leader of the House of Prayer in Bolingbrook IL once told me that he believed the day would come when most worship would be spontaneous song with prophetic words. I am really looking forward to that day. Let’s sing a new song.
As a discerning observer of this whole scene I have see a sea change coming that will usher in new depths in prayer and worship not yet experienced. Typically these changes in methods and style come because a critical mass is reached. I this change has taken place.
It will now move thru the Body of Christ. This will indeed change the face of Christianity in one generation.
There has been as a result of this move of God an accumulation of a vital new vocabulary in the Spirit never heard before. Words and phrases in music. In earlier days men and women of God spoke to each other in King James English to communicate spiritual things. That was good, but now new expressions of God are coming out. David the Psalmist carved words that we still use to this day. Those phrases and passages are of great comfort and hope. This new thing does not take away from that modality. It enhances it. This is a new day of Psalms.
This is about intimacy, passion, prayer and the prophetic. Exactly like David and the Psalms. Except David didn’t have CD’s Drums, Electric Guitars and keyboards.
There is a worldly parallel. I remember as a teenager when the Beatles came on the scene. Up till then we were all 3-cord wonders. They changed everything by the influence of the British invasion. Rock and Roll was never the same again.
But the real sea change came a few years later. Eric Clapton and Cream in Disralei Gears, a much harder rock sound with much more electronic innovation raised the bar much higher. You could never go back again. Even the Beatles had to adapt.
But this isn’t about musical style; this isn’t about music at all. This is about new prayer expressions coming to maturity and implementation. The departure CD I have identified is just one of many, but it’s the one that most definitively represents this. Misty Edwards new one (a leader at the Kansas City House of Prayer), “Always on His Mind”. This is that kind of radical departure. What’s interesting is everything up till now has been a spectrum of development. Some pushing one way, some another. Now there is a culmination that causes me to say, "look where we are". A fine tuned focus of what this new thing looks like. If we went back 5 years in the prayer movement in a time machine we would not recognize where we are today. Now this is beginning to manifest in the Churches. When Paul said, “Pray without ceasing" this has been a challenge. With this you can, forever and when you step from time into eternity you won’t miss a beat”.
Does anyone really think that we’ll play pool in heaven or sit around and tune our harps? NO, it will be eternal praise to the King. And we’ll never get enough. So, If Jesus told us to pray, “On earth as it is in heaven”, How is it in heaven. What's going on there right now. 24/7 (eternal) glorious praise to the King. Why not here, why not now, why not us?
Get ready for this wave of impassioned prayer couched in musical worship in a fresh vocabulary. It will change you forever. It will be glorious.
How far will you let us go Lord, how abandoned will you let us be?
Further and More I’m Guessing.
Take me away, (BUT HURRY)
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