Reflections from Asbury (Part 6)

 

Reflections on Spiritual Awakening

 

Bill Elliff on the Asbury University revival was posted first on his blog site HERE. 

 

By Bill Elliff

Reprinted from The Stand & Bill Elliff’s blog

The Asbury University Revival: Parts 1 & 2 

 

Reflection #4

When God calls us into new realms of spiritual experience, it can create great fear. Right now, we are seeing a revival movement at Asbury University and many other places that will take us where we have never been. Those who study the movements of God would tell you that it is about to explode across our nation—perhaps across our world.

What will you do? Many will criticize, which can often be nothing more than a convenient way to avoid addressing your life before God. Some will ignore God’s movement. Some will go to a certain place and then stop because the cost may seem too high, the unknowns too uncertain.

Will you walk away in fear? Fear of the unknown? Fear of your inability? Fear of what might happen if you really let the Spirit of God lead your life and your church? Fear of the cost of revival? Fear that your preconceived ideas of convenient, Americanized Christianity will be disturbed?

IT’S NATURAL

Paul was afraid in the city of Corinth. The reason we know this is because Jesus doesn’t waste words. He comes to him in Acts 18:9-10 with an encouragement that addresses his fear (and ours). He knew Paul needed an infusion of boldness.

And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

Paul knew that if he kept speaking and the spiritual movement kept spreading, he could be persecuted. It could become hard, uncomfortable, and challenging. There would be enemies and critics. It had happened before. At Corinth, he had worked among the religious Jews, finally “shaking the dust off his feet” and telling them he was going to the Gentiles because they would not listen. God directed Paul to move next door to the synagogue to a Gentile house (which was repulsive to a self-righteous Jew).

Suddenly, the work of God was becoming multi-ethnic. God was asking Paul to go to a crowd that any self-respecting Jew would never consider. It was a perfect recipe for fear—an uncomfortable, new direction. And Paul was obviously afraid. This step was a new wineskin, a different paradigm from what had existed in the religious establishment.

In the Jesus Movement in the 1970s—the last nationwide movement of God we have seen that was sparked by an almost identical beginning at Asbury college—God began to work among students and the somewhat rebellious group of people called “hippies.” They began to come to Christ in record numbers all across America. When they began to go into the churches (who were comfortable in their normal Christian routines), many churches rejected this out of fear. Those churches who recognized the activity of God accepted these new people, changed their wineskins to accommodate the Wine of God’s presence, and exploded in godliness and growth. It was messy at times but worth it.

God’s movement among us now will be messy and confusing at times because people with all of our problems are messy. And it will most certainly challenge our status quo. What will drive our responses? An unhindered love of God and others or a fear of our own discomfort?

THE PROMISE

The remedy for Paul’s concern was the promise of God’s presence. “I am with you!” was all he needed. But the Lord followed that with a challenge and responsibility. “I have many people in this city.” In other words, “Paul, you are not alone! Others will be in this great movement with you!”

And it also meant that there were many yet to be won to Christ if Paul would keep on boldly following the Spirit and sharing the gospel. If he would not cower before man’s opinions. This encouragement and instruction was exactly the word Paul needed. And he “settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”

ARE YOU AFRAID?

The answer to that is quickly determined by how many people you speak to about Christ daily. If the answer is “not many” or “none,” the culprit is almost always fear. We are afraid we will be persecuted, laughed at, and thought less of. Or simply that it will become awkward or inconvenient with people. Or fear that we don’t know what to say or are ill-equipped.

What is happening at Asbury is spreading rapidly. There are similar reports on many campuses and churches. This is precisely the same accelerated trajectory that has occurred in the last five nationwide movements in American history (First Great Awakening, 1735; Second, 1800; Prayer Revival, 1857; Welsh Revival, 1904; Jesus Movement, 1970). God has visited us every 30-60 years in America to bring the church back to Him and rapidly advance His kingdom.

It is coming to your town, your campus, and your life. In fact, it’s before you right now. God is speaking with a megaphone, calling His church to fall down before Him in complete surrender and rise up in bold witness. But in the current moment sparked by the Asbury Revival, God will undoubtedly call you to enter places you may not have gone. To surrender all. To confess sin and walk deeply with Him. To worship with abandonment. To clear your conscience with those you’ve wronged. To give with reckless generosity. To give up your schedule. To be willing to pray all night if needed for the sake of the kingdom. And to share the gospel and testify boldly to everyone. It can be fearful.

The primary message of the Welsh revival (in which 100,000 people came to faith in nine months) was summarized in four points by Evan Roberts and others:

  1. Confess all known sin
  2. Lay aside every doubtful habit
  3. Obey the Spirit promptly
  4. Confess Christ openly

Read those four points again carefully and prayerfully. Are you willing to go there? Will you aggressively cooperate with God? Or will you turn away in fear? Will you miss God’s movement or step into the powerful river of God’s awakening?

What God in His sovereignty may yet do on the world-scale I do not claim to know, but what He will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His face I believe I do know, and can tell others. Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days.

AW Tozer. The Pursuit of God.

Reflection #5

One of the most remarkable realities about the extraordinary spiritual movement that is happening at Asbury University is its beginning.

20 STUDENTS

After a normal chapel service on Wednesday, February 8, the speaker challenged the students to stay around if they wanted to pursue God more. Twenty students remained. Twenty. Not 200 or 2,000. Twenty. As the day wore on, they were joined by dozens more, then hundreds, then thousands in this chapel service that has now lasted for nine continuous days.

In our day of mass promotion and careful strategies, we are enamored with big. “How can we make it go viral?” “How can we get the crowd?”

The beauty of God’s activity at Asbury is who God used in its initiation. He called 20 students. Not 20 faculty, 20 pastors, or 20 high-capacity Christian leaders. God moved 20 students to pursue Him, and they humbly obeyed.

WAITING

We must remember that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which has been unstoppable for 2,000 years, began with 12, then 120. They waited on the Lord, per His instructions, simply pursuing Him and waiting. Their activity seemed like inactivity.

These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers (Acts 1:14).

In a matter of days, their waiting was rewarded by an invasion of God, and 3,000 people were saved in a single day.

My friend, Byron Paulus, who founded the OneCry initiative, often says, “Movements begin by not moving.” Waiting on the Lord. Seeking Him. Listening for God-initiation and then aggressively cooperating with Him when He speaks, doing exactly as He directs.

Robby Gallaty, a pastor who saw 1,000 people saved in 15 months in his church DURING Covid, was instructed by God to sit on his porch every night and be quiet. He learned the art of waiting. God began to break him of his pride. Then, after months, God began to give instruction, which led to an explosion of spiritual harvest. It started in silence and solitude. Waiting on the Lord.

If you have the privilege of visiting Asbury during these days, you will be shocked by how quiet it often is. Hours of simple worship, interspersed by silence. There are great moments of joyful singing, testimony, preaching, joy. But there are hours through the night and early mornings of waiting on God. The room has been soaked in humble prayers for days. I wonder what would happen in our churches this Sunday if the rooms were soaked for hours in prayer.

EPHESUS

As the early church began, a new convert named Paul headed to Ephesus. He met a group of Gentile seekers who had not yet heard about all God was doing. He shared the gospel with them, the Holy Spirit came upon them (just as He had at Pentecost), and then we read this simple bit of helpful travelogue.

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus … there were, in all, about twelve men(Acts 19:5,7).

Twelve. (Not even twenty!) Paul continued to follow the Lord’s initiation, discipling these followers. And then we read a few more amazing historical statements.

All who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19:10).

So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing (Acts 19:20).

“You see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people (i.e., from pagan worship) (Acts 19:26).

“I WANT REVIVAL IN MY CITY!”

Thousands are taking quick, modern-day pilgrimages to Wilmore, Kentucky, to see what God is doing. While I was there on the third day following its outbreak, I had booked a hotel room for several days but felt led to leave after three days. I went to check out, and a man was checking in.

“Are you coming for the revival?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“How long are you staying?”

“Two days.”

“Well, take my room. I’ve already paid for those days.”

“That’s awesome!” said the hotel receptionist.

“By the way,” I asked. “Where are you from?”

“I drove ten hours from Toronto, Canada.”

“That’s amazing,” I said. “I drove ten hours from Arkansas.”

Like moths to a flame, we were drawn from north and south just like others from around the nation (and now, around the world.) God knows how to “get the crowd” when He desires to accelerate His movements and display His glory.

YOUR TOWN

Don’t despise small beginnings. If you long for a spiritual movement in your life, family, church, and city, gather a few hungry believers. Like the first followers, continually devote yourselves to prayer (not promotion or programming, but prayer.) Confess all known sin, do nothing to quench the Spirit, move at His slightest promptings, and testify of what God is doing. Cry out to Him for His merciful intervention. Don’t try to manipulate or make a movement, but cry to the Only-One-Who-Saves. You don’t have to go to Kentucky … Christ is in your city. You just may be one of the first twenty.

Reflection #6

What if God intends to save the next generation? To redeem them from the clutches of our culture and set them ablaze for His missionary purposes? And what if Asbury is the beginning in our day?

ATLANTA

Ten years ago, a group of 50 Christian leaders met in Atlanta for a day to ask a question:

What can we do to cooperate with God to help foster revival and awakening?

The leaders of the OneCry initiative had convened this meeting, and the men in the room were well-known leaders who all shared a burning passion for the movement of God. We longed to see the next Great Awakening.

As we began that day, we went around the room, introducing ourselves by sharing when it was that each of us developed a passion for revival. As each man spoke, the vast majority traced the birth of this passion from one source: The Jesus Movement in the early 1970s. It had changed their lives and forever put a taste under their tongue for God’s presence. In the spiritual fires of that visitation from God, we had all realized that more could be accomplished in five minutes of God’s presence than 50 years of our best human effort.

OUACHITA

Last night I was invited back to my alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, to speak about what I had observed at Asbury during my recent visit. I was a freshman at OBU in 1970. On one day in the spring of 1970, God came in unusual power at a student-led noon service. The 15-minute service continued through the afternoon. All classes were canceled. Hundreds of students were overwhelmed by the manifest presence of God. God moved through that crowd that grew throughout the day, changing lives. Testimonies erupted of repentance, people clearing their consciences with those they’d wronged, salvation, humility, and brokenness.

I stood and spoke to students last night in the small chapel where that occurred and suddenly realized that day had completely changed the trajectory of my life. As a student, the next 50+ years of life and ministry were dramatically shaped by an encounter with the manifest presence of God during a season of revival and awakening.

OUR NEXT GENERATION

Our culture is overwhelmed with godlessness. We have reached a level of sexual perversion and confusion that is mind-boggling. There is a spirit of entitlement and anarchy prevailing. Almost any small piece of news can break into a riot (just like the ’60s). We want OUR rights, OUR way. It is a dangerous time for our children.

We can put acronyms and new psychological terms to it, but the best way to describe the current culture is to simply read God’s description. It is found in Romans 1:18-32 where God tells us what always happens when we ignore Him, and He lifts His hand and gives us over to our own humanism. We develop “depraved minds,” which means we completely lose the ability to make moral judgments. It has become, now in great measure, our collective consciousness.

The next generation is filled with the consequences of living in this environment. Depression, anger, bitterness, confusion, and sexual aberrations all stem from a Romans 1 culture. The term “mental health” is being used because there is no word to describe our students’ level of loss, fear, anxiety, and confusion. They are resorting to every kind of aberrant behavior—even seeking to change their gender—trying to make sense of it all and find peace.

The tragedy is, within the next ten years, every needed pastor, missionary, godly church leader and elder will come from this hurting generation. These will be the people in charge.

WHAT IS ASBURY ABOUT?

It seems to be no coincidence that this extraordinary movement of God (that began at Asbury University but is now spreading like a rising tide to many campuses) is erupting among our next generation. What could happen if God spread this movement like a prairie fire to thousands of campuses and churches?

  • What if multiplied thousands of 17-20-year-old students are genuinely saved in the next two years (just as they were in the Jesus Movement)?
  • What if this is birthed, not in a nice church program, but in a moment of a radical visitation from God?
  • What if it’s marked (as is Asbury) by radical humility, deep repentance, aggressive obedience, and unashamed testimony?
  • What if the next generation is healed from the deep dysfunctions of broken homes and commits to building godly homes that live to raise their children for Christ?
  • What if this generation sees and understands the glory of God far more than their parents?
  • What if a whole generation’s hearts are set ablaze (just as Christ’s is) for every tongue, tribe, nation, and people, and the next missionary force arises?
  • What if God is interrupting our subnormal Christianity, marked by mere intellectual knowledge of Christ and little experiential relationship with the living God?
  • What if our Biblical orthodoxy is ignited and informed by experiencing the manifest presence of God? If we move from knowing about God to KNOWING God, just as Paul did?
  • What if the remedy for our tragic reality of plateaued and dying churches (85%) in America was raising church men and women full of God, just like the book of Acts?

Samuel Davies was shaped by the first great awakening and later became the President of Princeton and was known as the Apostle of Virginia. He said that he saw humble pastors preach for years with little results. “Then the revival came,” he said. The same pastors, Davies noted, preached the same sermons, and 200 people were saved. “The gospel became almighty,” he wrote, “and carried everything before it.” He also said the following about the movements of God and their place in culture:

“There are eras when only a large outpouring of the Spirit can produce a public general reformation.” (Samuel Davies)

GOD’S MERCIFUL INTERVENTIONS

God has given America a nationwide awakening every 30-60 years. A course correction that has radically brought us back to Him. In these times, churches have become vibrant lights for the gospel. The salt of New Testament Christianity and its morally preserving effects has returned. We must remember that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34)

If this is true, we should not discourage but deeply encourage the next generation’s involvement in these days. We should pray that we will all not only understand God’s ways in such a movement but that we will join them. That we would become participants and illustrations of what happens when a people are fully surrendered to God. Most historians believe that the Jesus Movement was far more short-lived than possible because many churches resisted the work among the next generation and the new wineskins it required. God helps us.

These students will make some mistakes in their zeal, but God forbid that we should seize upon a few things we don’t agree with and discount the great movement of the Father redeeming a generation! The Pharisees did that and ended up crucifying the One who’d come to save them.

FINALLY …

It is absolutely no coincidence that for over a year, the nationwide broadcast for the Collegiate Day of Prayer has been scheduled to be livestreamed from Hughes Auditorium on the campus of Asbury University this Thursday, February 23rd.

Next Thursday, what is happening in the sacred spot of God’s visitation will be opened to everyone. Believers and churches will adopt the 4,196 American colleges and universities nationwide for laser-focused prayer. You and your church or campus can adopt a campus and join this 2-hour livestream from the auditorium in Asbury here: https://collegiatedayofprayer.org/. Gather your church or campus to watch and pray. (Please take time to read of the amazing history of God’s revivals on campuses here: https://collegiatedayofprayer.org/about/history/. It will give great perspective to you regarding what is happening right now.)

What if millions of believers united on this one day to pray for God to visit every campus with an extraordinary movement of God’s Spirit that produced extraordinary results?

The providence of God has provided this. And, adding further fuel to God’s fire, the “Jesus Revolution” movie (produced by Jon Erwin, whose father was radically changed by the Jesus Movement) premiers across America the very next day (February 24th). It will be seen by millions.

God is out to save a generation. Will we cooperate? Will we pray?

Reflection #7

Notice I have changed this title from “Asbury” (in previous posts) to “Spiritual Awakening.” There is a reason. In the wake of God’s movement, of which Asbury was catalytic, we no longer need to look to Wilmore, Kentucky. God seems to be manifesting Himself in increasing measure in many, many places.

He may be taking our eyes off Asbury. We must realize He is near, knocking at the door of His church across our nation and world. We must ask Him to visit our lives, our churches, and our cities in power—not to pass us by.

It is to be determined how vast His movement will be. But the psalmist gives us words to describe this. He speaks of an unusual time of God’s presence in Israel during the reign of a King who humbly sought the presence of God more than anything else.

God … has made Himself known. (Psalm 48:3)

SUNDAY, FEB 19

Yesterday I heard from four different pastor-friends from Mississippi and Texas in unsolicited conversations.

Flora, MS: “A spontaneous baptism service broke out at our DNow (student retreat) last night. We baptized 52 students!”

Brandon, MS: (2:15 PM) “No words for what just happened. Leaving the church now. 106 baptized.”

Baptized over 20 today … (and then later) … oops, I left too early, baptized 33!

Longview, TX: (phone conversation) The church met on Wednesday for prayer, and they have continued to meet (unplanned) each night for hours. On Sunday, their multiple services merged into one continuous service. 60 people were baptized on Sunday.

I’m hearing reports of people showing up at churches simply to pray for hours; churches opening their doors for people to come and pray this week throughout the day. Multiple college campuses are reporting similar ongoing meetings of prayer, repentance, and salvation.

Richard Owen Roberts describes revival as “The extraordinary movement of the Spirit of God that produces extraordinary results.” How are we to explain a normal chapel service that lasts (at this point) for 11 days? Spontaneous baptisms of 251 people saved in a day in just four churches? A myriad of believers across our nation (and around the world) who are being drawn to fervent prayer and genuine repentance?

If you want to read similar accounts, read Chapter 2 of J. Edwin Orr’s historical account of the 1857 revival, “The Second Evangelical Awakening.” Orr was perhaps our greatest revival historian, even renowned in the secular world. He lists the actual number of attendees at noonday prayer meetings and the number converted in New York City.

“At the turn of the New Year 1858, the city of New York had a population of 850,000 people.”

“In the month of February, showers of blessing had increased so much that they had become a deluge of no mean proportions. The secular press, noticing that something unprecedented was happening, began to give space to the news of the revival.”

“Fulton Street, the original meeting place (for the noonday prayer gatherings) was trying to accommodate crowds by holding three simultaneous prayer meetings one above the other in rooms in the same building.”

“On March 14 (Sunday) the Thirteenth Presbyterian Church of New York City received 113 by profession of faith.”

“Before very long, 10,000 New Yorkers had been converted to God and were in the care of the churches and in May a good authority gave the total for the City as fifty thousand converts.”

“As early as the beginning of February, ‘extensive revivals … now prevailing in the Methodist Episcopal Church all over the country’ were reported… a total of 8,000 people converted in Methodist meetings in one week.”

“A Baptist journal attempted to keep abreast of the news of conversion reaching its offices, but its editor apparently gave up the task after listing 17,000 conversions reported to him by Baptist leaders in three weeks.”

“The showers of blessing had caused a flood in New York, and this flood suddenly burst its bounds and swept over New England, engulfed the Ohio Valley cities and states, rolled over the newly settled West, lapped the edges of the mountains in the South, and covered the United States of America and Canada with Divine favour.”

“At any rate, the number of conversions reported soon reached the total of fifty thousand weekly, a figure borne out by the fact that church statistics show an average of 10,000 additions to church membership weekly for a period of two years.”

SIX RESPONSES

I was in conversation Saturday with a pastor friend, David Jett, in Mississippi. In his normal devotional time, he said, he was reading Mark 3. He texted me what he observed. This is the exact text.

Mark 3:20-27

One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.” Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.”

The Pressures of a Move of God

When Jesus shows up and begins to move, miracles begin, and the Kingdom of God is preached. Six Groups of People begin to form:

    1. The Followers: These are the believers that are His disciples who will be exhausted.
    2. The Hurting: These are the lame, sick, and demonized who come pressing in out of desperation.
    3. The Familiar: These are the ones who love us, but not the movement. They will try to protect us from ourselves.
    4. The Curious: These will come to check out what is going on. They won’t get involved, but will tell others what they have seen and what they think.
    5. The Religious: These come to refute and renounce the move, even calling it demonic.
    6. The Disruptive: These are sent by the enemy to discourage and disrupt the move of God.

 We must be diligent and ready to navigate through these various groups with humility to sustain a genuine move of God!

God is making Himself known. He descended upon New York City in the past. He has visited Wilmore, Kentucky, in our day. He is the same God everywhere. He longs to visit your city.

How will we respond?