From Dutch
This week Ceci and I will be spending time with our amazing DSM staff for a time of staff enrichment. Since we have employees in 4 different states, we feel it’s important that we spend time together periodically, face to face. While away, I’ve asked 5 of my ministry friends to share with you.
As one who studies revival and church history, today Larry Sparks encourages us about recent outbreaks of revivals that have occurred. Larry, a publisher with Destiny Image, shares with us how we can prepare for revival and awakening in America.
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The River is Rising
“The River of God is rising from trickle level to ankle-deep levels.”
This statement shocked me. As a revivalist, I got excited, but as a church history researcher, I had to partner with the Holy Spirit to get some confirmation. Needless to say, it’s not hype; open your eyes and behold what the Lord is doing across the Earth.
At the time of this post, I had just returned from two weeks of ministry in the United Kingdom. Though the enemy would love to assign a demonic narrative over those beautiful nations, calling them hard, dark, and secular, that’s not what I saw. Day after day, we witnessed entire gatherings where the Holy Spirit invaded the room with His presence and power, leaving everyone undone. Something is stirring across the Earth.
Worship leader and songwriter Martin Smith, prophesied in the 1990s with his song “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble,” announcing that a mighty River of God would be moving through the nations. As Dutch Sheets has taught, we are witnessing time catching up with the decree—what was prophesied in times past; we are stepping into its fulfillment right now.(1)
The Trickle
In 2023, we witnessed the unusual outpouring of Holy Spirit at Asbury University, along with multiple other Christian universities and church gatherings. There was an emphasis on gathering together for prayer, worship, and repentance. Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart that what we observed in 2023 was an Acts 2:1 moment in time, where the people gathered together in one place and one accord; this would be followed by the inevitability of an “Acts 2:2” suddenly deluge where widespread outbreaks of the Spirit would unstoppably canvas the nations.
While talking with leaders like Ché Ahn and Sid Roth about the phenomena experienced in 2023, we concluded we were watching the beginnings of a landscape-changing move of God, similarly to how Ezekiel’s river (Ezekiel 47) starts with a trickle but escalates and intensifies.
Ankle Deep
I have bold, good news for you: With the start of 2024, I believe we shifted from trickle level of revival to the next level, ankle deep (Ezekiel 47:3). We’ve stepped into another depth and dimension of what God is pouring out, and thus, we need to act and pray accordingly.
2024 began with the Passion Conference hosted by Louie Giglio at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. The messages were bold, confronting lukewarm Christianity and provoking the 55,000 youth and young adults to give everything to follow Jesus.(2) A landmark moment was the worship team leading the entire stadium in the Michael W. Smith worship anthem, “Agnus Dei.” You can find it on YouTube.(3) It shifts from being a dynamic worship song to an indicator light of the next level of revival as the worship team leads from the floor, while on their faces. Young adults fall to their knees in worship. You can even hear the faint cries and groans of desperation (around 8/9 mins in). This is not hype; this is a cry for God to fulfill Isaiah 64:1—"tear open the Heavens and come down!” This large-scale measure of encounter is a sign that the river is rising.
This broke something open for youth and young adults, as we started to witness gatherings springing up at secular universities, from Auburn University(4) to Florida State University (the number 2 party school in America)(5) to University of Tennessee(6) to University of Alabama.(7) Thousands of students gathered at each place, worshipping the Lord, praying, repenting of sin, giving their hearts completely to Jesus, and being water-baptized… in university fountains and horse troughs!
Most recently, in May 2024, the largest U.S. baptism ever was held in California, where 12,000 people were immersed.(8)
May the data and testimonies I shared encouragingly remind you that we are stepping into another depth of the River of God.
Four Keys to Step into the Next Level of God’s River
1. Discern the Times. Dutch Sheets teaches that when you know what time it is, you know what to do. Scripture tells us to “ask for rain in the time of rain” (Zechariah 10:1). If we are seeing God move in this unusual way, pouring out His Spirit, we have a responsibility to ask for more. Every report I have provided thus far is prophetic reinforcement to let you know that we are living in days of outpouring and awakening. Every testimony of God’s activity is an indicator light clearly communicating what time it is in the Spirit.
2. Define the Terms. We are moving into an hour of awakening; this is different from revival. A quick review of terms: Renewal is when a believer who is already passionate about Jesus is refreshed by the Holy Spirit. Revival is when the outpouring of the Spirit resurrects or revives a spiritually dying/dead church or believer. Awakening is another depth of the River altogether. This is when a move of God becomes geographical and impacts the land. Notice that many of the great moves of God throughout history did not have a church name in their title: The Welsh Revival, the Hebrides Revival, the Great Awakening. They shifted the spiritual landscapes of cities, territories, and even nations. I prophesy we are stepping into awakening, where revived believers will arise and become carriers of God’s revival fire wherever they go, causing entire territories to spiritually awaken to the activity of God.
3. Determine to Get a Bigger Vision. Your assignment is to read Acts 8:4-8 and Acts 9:32-43 until you get a vision of multitudes saved, many healed, notable miracles, resurrections from the dead, mass deliverances, and entire cities turning to the Lord. Remember, you will pray for what you can see with the eyes of faith. If you don’t have faith for cities, territories, or even nations to be transformed, you simply won’t pray into these realities. The Lord recently convicted me about this. He asked, “Larry, are you praying for revival?” Sure, I preach and lecture about moves of God and write books about revival, and encourage others to pray for outpouring, but I was not personally praying for the revival I preached about… because my vision was limited. I realized I needed eyes of faith to see the very real possibility of cities, territories, and even nations being spiritually “born in a day” in the thunder of awakening.
Acts 8:8 says that there was “great joy in that city” because of the supernatural demonstration of Holy Spirit power through deliverance and healing. Imagine a city filled with joy. Can you see it: New York, London, San Francisco, Sydney, and Vegas – filled with joy. If it’s in Scripture, it’s possible, and if it’s possible, it’s legal grounds for fervent prayer and intercession.
Continue to read Acts 9:32-34, and you will note that because of a notable miracle, “all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him (Aeneas, who was healed) and turned to the Lord.” Let that little phrase provoke you: “all… turned to the Lord.”
4. Decide to Pray. Armed with Book-of-Acts level vision, it’s time to start praying some big, bold prayers. Why? It’s raining, so we ask for rain. The river is rising, so we continue to dive in head-first, wildly splashing in everything the Spirit of God is pouring out right now.
Pray with me:
Lord, give me eyes to see the possibility of a landscape-changing spiritual awakening in my city, in my state, and in my nation—in my day. Burn it in my heart – the vision of seeing mass salvations, mass deliverance, and mass miracles – so much so that entire territories would be filled with Your Presence and joy.
Father, raise up watchmen of revival. Give us spiritual discernment and sensitivity to appropriately recognize the works of darkness, so we can resist them. But may our consuming drive be to eagerly look for Your movement, Your activity, Your outpourings, and Your glory rising.
Our decree:
We decree that the River of God is rising and that we are stepping into a whole new dimension and depth of awakening.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
Today’s post was contributed by Larry Sparks and taken from his book, Pentecostal Fire. You can find out more about Larry at LarrySparksMinistries.com. His book can be found on Amazon.
For an excellent presentation of this teaching, read Releasing the Prophetic Destiny of a Nation Second Edition by Dutch Sheets and Chuck Pierce (2024, Destiny Image), pages 141-150.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/passion-2024-jonathan-pokluda-slams-lukewarm-christianity.html
“Agnus Dei” performed by Passion Worship.
Amen and amen! We decree that the River of God is rising and that we are stepping into a whole new dimension and depth of awakening.
I am so grateful for your introductions of late. I am enjoying connecting with other ministries.
AWAKEN!!! REJOICE!! CARRY FORWARD!! IN THE WONDEFUL NAME OF YESHUA ADONI!!!