NOW is the time for a New Great Awakening!

 NOW is the time for a New Great Awakening!

Early Monday morning (2/13/23), in my devotional reading, Exodus 3:4 got me thinking…. It said “When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ ‘Here I am!’ Moses replied.”  As I read that, I knew I also needed to get a closer, more intimate, look at a “burning bush” (a spontaneous and continuous revival that had started on 2/8/23) that was taking place at Hughes Auditorium on the Campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, KY.

The subject of “Revival” as a whole, and “Revivals” in general, are without a doubt, something I am very passionate about, a part of my daily prayer life, and a key part of my personal Calling and vocation in ministry.  Since the Summer of 2015 I have been a full-time, traveling evangelist, and since the Fall of 2015 I have been inviting others (everywhere I speak) to join me in prayer daily at 3:16pm (see John 3:16) and to ask God to bring about a “New Great Awakening” that would sweep our State, our Nation and the entire Globe.  I believe that the “Awakening” I (and so many others) have been praying for is upon us, and that things like the Asbury Revival are evidence of that fact that we need to take particular note of.

Yesterday, 2/15/23, as a means of turning aside and getting a closer look, my good friend, Pastor Dirk Westerman and I, road-tripped from Kansas to Kentucky.  After driving all day, and… after coming to the aid of a Congolese woman who had been the victim of a hit-and-run traffic accident in Lexington, KY, we finally made it to Wilmore at about 9pm last night.

Arriving in Wilmore, with a long line of cars both in front and behind us, we could definitely see that something significant was… happening.  Once in town, we noticed cars and people were everywhere, and quickly realized that parking was possibly going to be a challenge.  After securing a parking space, one we hoped was legal, we walked towards Hughes Auditorium, and noticed that all over the campus of Asbury Seminary, Asbury University, and all over town, people were milling about, arm in arm, hand in hand, talking, walking, worshiping and praying.  God was touching the lives and the hearts of His people and moving both in and among them.

As we made it onto the Asbury University campus, it intrigued me to see so many people gathered outside, worshiping, praying, talking, and ministering to one another.  Outside of the chapel there was a large screen set up to accommodate those who were waiting to get inside.  Things felt like they were happening… not planned, but as if actions were being taken in response to the leading of God’s Spirit.

As I walked and took video of our approach of Hughes I heard someone say, “Hey, I like your Sweatshirt!  I’m from Western, Kansas!” (I had a Kansas State Hoodie on).  As I turned to see who was talking to me, I found myself face to face with a young man in his early 20’s who said his name was Josh and that he was from Hays, KS.  I’d never met him before but we hugged like we were family and asked each other questions about family, faith, work and exact locations of where we lived and why we were here.  It was awesome!  As we talked… I felt led to do so, and I asked Josh if I could pray for him, he said “Dude, Absolutely!”  As I prayed, God put on my heart to pray Jeremiah 1:4-8 over my new friend, and so I did.  And, as I did, I felt like that passage was not only for Josh in that moment, but that it was a big part of what was happening in this specific “Burning Bush” moment that Dirk and I were there to experience.  Jeremiah 1:4-8 is a part of the calling of Jeremiah the prophet, a young man who, in that passage, had a life altering, personal encounter with God.

   “Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’ Then I said, ‘Oh, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.’ But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am a youth’, ‘Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD.’”  - Jeremiah 1:4-8

Last night as we made our way up the steps and into Hughes Auditorium, physically I had a feeling of weightiness and depth, like a truly fulfilling deep breath.  Once inside… things felt so… familiar, like I was supposed to be there.  Like all of us who were there, were “supposed to” be there.  We all felt “purposefully welcome.”  It was like there was something happening I was (we were) “supposed to” see, even if briefly.  Like the moment was “from God” and “for us.”  The worship was… indescribable.  Words like real, raw, vibrant, tangible, spontaneous, intense… none of them do justice to what I heard and participated in.  The voices were… perfect, harmonious, vibrant, passionate, fulfilling, infilling… more than I can explain.  We spent a few hours worshiping, listening, reading Scripture, then… we went to the Altar.  

At the Altar, Dirk and I both spent time in individual prayer, and brought personal things from our own, individual lives, and laid them before God, in that holy space.  On our drive to Kentucky, both of us had talked about things we were struggling with, things we needed, wanted, and hoped God would do while we were there.  There at the Altar, I talked with Jesus about those things from my life.  It was an awesome moment of seeking God’s face, praying privately and together, and praying for one another as brothers in Christ and as friends of more than 30 years, who were both desperately still in need of Jesus.

This morning we got up early, did devotions, had breakfast and hit the road for Kansas.  What will become of the Asbury Awakening of 2023?  I don’t know… but I do know that when God does business with and in the hearts of His people, things change!

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances.” 

- Ezekiel 36:25-27

This, I believe, is what America needs.  Repentance.  Revival.  Transformation.  “Please Jesus, bring it.  Please, break our hardened hearts.  Replace our stony hearts with hearts of flesh.  Pour out Your Holy Spirit!  Bring about whatever circumstances are necessary to bring us, both as individuals and as a Nation, to our knees and into a right, real and transformational relationship with You!  Come Lord Jesus!”

As for me, I’m so thankful to have been able to carve out the time to “turn aside” and to “come and see” a part of this moment at Asbury University.    With all of my heart I want to both see and be a part of a larger moment and of a new movement of God’s Spirit.  There have been Great Awakenings that have altered the people and the course of our Nation in the past, but I think this one, this one in which we are now in the beginning stages of, will be the Greatest yet.  Bring it Lord, let NOW be the time for a New Great Awakening!