Prayer Precedes Revival part 2 by Len Paxton

I long for a revival that will sweep across this planet, ushering millions into the Kingdom of God! A move of God that will literally cause men and women; boys and girls to shake under the weight of conviction over their sins and the sins of the world we live in today! My heart yearns to see Jesus manifest Himself as Savior, Healer, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, Deliverer, and Lord of millions in ways before unseen and in unprecedented ways…. That is also what the heart of God desires for us; even more than we may desire it.

When the Holy Spirit is given free reign in our lives He will bring the power of God to bear in many miraculous signs and wonders. God has extended great grace to humanity in Jesus Christ and the Cross was an action of Gods grace that took place once with continuing results. Because of the shed Blood of Jesus we can still believe today to see miraculous signs and wonders in our generation.
Look at Acts 4:29-33 KJV ” And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.”

The Jesus of Acts 4 and the whole Bible for that matter is the SAME JESUS of today. God never changes. Jesus still wills to save, deliver, and heal and perform mighty miracles we can’t even imagine.
PRAYER is the foundation of seeing these desires of God realized in us and the world in which we live.

Take God at His word when He says in Proverbs 15:29 NIV “The Lord is far from the wicked but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” This is not just ffew. This is for all who have been made righteous by faith in the Blood of Jesus. The Spirit of intercession and grace came come upon you to help you pray continuously before the Father without being weary.To have a prayer life like that, you need a vision, a deep motivation and an anointing from God! The Vision allows you to see and comprehend what God wants you to do in the right way. You cannot however, receive and maintain this vision and anointing by being lax and haphazard with the spiritual disciplines in your life. One may not approach God simply on the basis of when they want to or feel like it. God desires to birth consistency in us that flows in Him no matter what our feelings may be. We do not live by feelings ; we live by Faith.

In order to walk in the revival vision God has for your life you must also get rid of all your own ideas about revival. We must not be quick to dismiss or criticize things that have a biblical basis but are uncomfortable to us.
In James 4:10 we read “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” NKJV. While we certainly must reject what is unbiblical and false we must be equally careful not to be found fighting against God and that which God is truly doing.(Acts 5:34-39).
The Holy Spirit can demolish all the delusions we have about revival. He will attack indifference, wipe out discouragement, and replace fear with a true vision in us, a true and Holy word from God in Heaven to us; filling our hearts with purpose and revival. In 1904 during the Welsh revival in Wales, there were many who pitted themselves against Evan Roberts and were very critical of him and the move that was taking place and yet God had absolutely raised Evan Roberts up and anointed him for “such a time as this”. But also there were many who recognized God at work and supported the revival and did so completely and wholeheartedly with actions of prayer, fellowship, and giving that went far beyond the mere hallow words of ‘we love you’. No preaching like this is not putting guilt on folks to get them to give; the scripture clearly says that giving is one way we prove the sincerity of our love as indicated in 2 Cor. 8:24 and numerous other verses in New Testament teaching!

Honestly, every move of God that has ever occurred has suffered opposition from within as well as without. This will short circuit your prayers of faith if you get involved in it. Avoid strife at all costs. Strife and anger are 2 very dangerous revival killers and it is well worth the price of avoiding places, things, or people who continuously keep strife stirred up.. Hang around people who stir up the love and gifts of God within each other. We can walk in the love, compassion, and tenderness of Christ without making best friends with strife carriers. Be kind and keep moving forward. If you give them to much time it will affect your own heart with the poison of division. Far better for you to alone a little more with the Lord in prayer and intercession. Amen.

When we truly long for revival then we will not need to be constantly prodded to have a prayer life. The type of prayer that precedes revival flows out of the inner man of the heart! Lets read James 5:16 from the NLT, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results”. In context, the ‘sins’ James is referring to being in need to be confessed are the ones which may have caused the particular sickness. Not all sickness is directly caused by a persons sins and neither should we go around blabbing everything we do wrong to anyone who will listen. Wisdom must always be used in these matters. When speaking of “earnest prayer of a righteous person” the original language is a bit awkward but most translators agree it refers to the basic idea of a supplication before God having energy.. So we see several factors here. The believer must be sincere in their desire and not merely ‘pretending’ to be; also, must desire to maintain a pure heart before the Lord not harboring ‘favorite’ sins or flesh and self of any nature but willing rather to allow the Lord to purify them inside and out. This does not mean one must be perfect in their conduct but most assuredly willing to be corrected and disciplined by the Lord in this matter. It also speaks to us about the need to allow the Holy Spirit to energize our prayers.. His presence must be eagerly sought after as well as His touch and powerful anointings. All bored and disinterested praying must be shunned by the believer and the fullness of the Spirit sought after! This type of prayer will always precede revival!

Len Paxton… 2nd excerpt of my new booklet… Traverse City, MI 9/11/2013