REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (19) - THE ROLLING HOLY SPIRIT

As a writer, I’d hope to come up with a better description than ‘rolling’, but I think it’s the best I can do…. We have a ‘rolling’ Holy Spirit!

Let me explain what I mean….

 

I’ve noticed it a few times now, but it was most obvious at our Revival Prayer meeting on Tuesday night. The presence of the Holy Spirit was such that the majority of us were on the floor, weighed down by the Spirit’s presence. But I got up and sat down for a while – which meant I was able to observe what then happened.

Starting at the far side of the auditorium, the Holy Spirit started to roll over the people. On the far side, many began to groan in the Spirit, others cried out, some shook, or rolled on the floor. And as I watched, I saw the Holy Spirit move over the congregation. From the far side to the middle. From the middle to the near side. Each time, the effect of the Spirit was for those feeling God’s presence to cry out, groan, laugh or shake.

And then I observed the same thing happen in reverse. The Holy Spirit began to move over the room from the near side to the far side with a repeat of the effects.

Something similar is recorded in the Charles Finney meetings of the mid-1800s. And earlier still in the Methodist Circuit Revivals in ‘Wild West’ America. Here’s a quote from an onlooker at the 1801 Cane Ridge Revival:

At one time I saw at least 500 swept down in a moment, as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened upon them, and there immediately followed shrieks and shouts that rent the very heavens.

I love that we are experiencing revival. Many healings. Many salvations – 80 or so in the last two months in our meetings alone.

A dear friend who was part of the Pensacola revival in the mid-1990s commented that what she is witnessing at Leicester is the first time she has seen a Holy Spirit move in a similar way to Pensacola in the 25+ years she has been in the UK.

Reflections

The first picture is the view from my sister’s holiday house. We are frequent visitors and the seat by the window with this view is my favourite place to sit.

The second picture is the view from our kitchen. Most days I start by sitting and looking at the beauty of God’s creation with this view in front of me.

Starting right is important. A time of reflection at the beginning of the day. Thinking through the day before us, looking to the day ahead.

For me as a Christian, it involves a short study from the Bible and some prayer. But whether you have a faith or not, a time of reflection is a good start to any day. I appreciate it’s easier for me nowadays with the kids away from home, but even five minutes reflection will help with the day ahead and bring context to the daily pressures of life.

And last thing at night too- just to be able to look back at the day, maybe to say a prayer of thanksgiving for another day. I reflect in a different way too – I keep a daily diary. And that’s the other rather boring looking photo here – I started writing a daily diary at Christmas 1977, when someone bought me one as a Christmas present. I thought I’d give it a go – I’m still giving it a go.

Diary writing, or an occasional piece in a journal, helps in the same way as a morning reflection – it gives time to consider the day, to record thoughts, thanks, anxieties, prayers, hopes and dreams. It takes us away from a cycle of work, sleep, TV and smartphones to an age-old tradition of crafted words, sentences that reach out beyond the daily rhythm of life.

And that leads to this blog. Just another way of recording and reflection – this one a bit more public. I started the blog when Elspeth, our oldest daughter, got married. It seemed a bit of a watershed moment. And it practically coincided with my 50^th birthday. Hence the 50 in the blog address. Seventeen years later – I’m still giving it a go.

So why not give it a go too? Reflect on the day. If you’re a Christian, pray and thank God for the day ahead and the day ended. If you don’t have a faith, why not try praying anyway? Or perhaps start that journal you always thought you should write.

My blog calls it climbing the mountains of life. The writer Eugene Peterson calls it a ‘long obedience in the same direction’. Our walk of life can mean so much more when we take time to reflect, to adjust course, to record, to say ‘thank you’ to the God who created the view, the day…. the years.

One Thousand Snowflakes

I don’t have the answers. But nor do the Government. On a day when lives are declared unimportant with the new deportation rules, I have ventured into poetry….. be kind!

 

One thousand snowflakes fell today. I didn’t count them, but they were there.

One thousand migrants landed today.* I didn’t count them but they were there.

We discuss the weather, talk of a cold start. We ignore the migrants, talk of a cold heart.

Closed gates. Closed doors. New rules. No choice.

Having risked everything, they are lost. Lost in a system that values politics before life. Lost in a broken world that talks of snow in March. And hides its eyes to the melting lives of a desperate people.

No surprise.

 

*The actual number of migrants detected landing in small boats in January was 1180.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (18) - JOY IN THE HOUSE

I love that this revival is being reflected in joy. Last night at the leaders meeting, we witnessed laughter breaking out around the room as 60 or so leaders met together. Holy Spirit laughter is fun!

And we have a lot to laugh about. A lot the Holy Spirit is doing in these days.

We have seen the congregation grow by around 150 in the last two months, taking our numbers well beyond 800 on a Sunday. We have seen 22 people come to the front of the meetings in these last two weeks to give their lives to Christ. At the first service on Sunday, we had the privilege of praying for a number of leaders who had heard what was happening and were visiting us.

We saw on Sunday night, 14 people being baptised. One had nearly died from knife wounds, but Jesus got hold of him, brought him through and brought him to faith. Another took drugs at a night club, causing a heart attack. He saw Jesus come to him and hold him. And now he’s full of the Holy Spirit rather than drugs.

A girl celebrating her 21^st birthday told of how God had taken her and her baby from wrong relationships, tarot cards and fortune telling to coming to Christ a week ago. And one week later she’s baptised in water. A young 8-year-old girl told of her own faith journey: ‘and now I know that baptism is my next step.’

Stories of lives changed. There is much to celebrate, to laugh about and to enjoy. There’s joy in the house.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (17) - DAYS OF HEAVEN

I’m not usually lost for words, but it’s hard to describe these last few days. Friday saw the start of the two-day Leaders Gathering, with around 350 people from churches up and down the country as well as from many nations including India, South Africa, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and more. (This was the same event as last year that started us on the revival road). This was followed by a wild Sunday in all three services. And then the Revival Prayer night on Tuesday.

The worship has been exceptional. Such a presence of the Holy Spirit. An awareness of the Father’s love. What can you do in such a time but worship?

The practical sessions brought a Holy Spirit anointing as people moved out in the gifts of the Spirit with many experiencing a new found freedom in prophecy and words of knowledge.

Sunday night’s service was particularly precious for its heartfelt worship and six people coming forward to give their lives to Christ.

Again, there have been angels in the building. Often  they are dancing. On Tuesday night’s Revival Prayer meeting, they seemed to be standing to attention. It was as if we had broken into a holy place, with increased awe and reverence.

What days to be living in. Days of heaven. And lost for words.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (16) - REVIVAL UPON REVIVAL

A year ago, revival came to Leicester. It was during the Chroma Church Leaders Gathering at the beginning of the year. The presence of the Holy Spirit was so thick, it was hard to stand. People had to be lifted out of the meeting, unable to walk. Others felt the presence of the Holy Spirit even as they parked their car in the car park. None remained unaffected.

Through the year that has followed, the Holy Spirit has continued to move. We’ve seen oil on hands as a common experience, some of our ladies having oil dripping off them. There have been angels seen regularly – some guarding doors, others entering into worship with wild dancing. Children have seen angels in their bedrooms, guarding them. In the children’s meetings, the sound of heaven has been heard.

We’ve seen 115 people walk to the front of the Sunday meetings over the year to give their lives to Christ. On top of that there have been hundreds on the street and in the youth and children’s meetings. 51 have been baptised. As Rachel says in our New Year message (from about the 1 hour 20 minute mark here) salvation isn’t a prayer, it’s a person. Jesus has been good to us in our times together. 115 times.

People of other faiths have started turning up to meetings, hearing that there’s healing to be had. Whole families are coming to Christ through healing encounters. Sikhs and Hindu’s have come to faith this year, some having dreams of Jesus that brought them to the church.

We’ve seen people give their lives to Christ where addictions have instantly lifted off them and they have remained free. We’ve seen new believers devouring the Bible, reading through the whole book in a short time.

The most dramatic healing was of a young lady with a heart condition. The doctors were unsure she would live, and certainly would not be able to work. She and her parents joined in the meetings online and the day we prayed for heart conditions, she was healed. Today she is active and has her first job.

There have been many other healings from the young to the old, sometimes happening in the worship without any prayer or particular emphasis.

Worship has been a key to the revival this year. ChromaWorship have been sensitive to the Holy Spirit and have consistently led us into God’s presence. Their heart for the Lord has been recognised too and they are beginning to lead in large international gatherings around the world.

The start of the revival in January a year ago caused us to start a weekly Revival Prayer meeting on Tuesday nights. These have been especially precious, with an overwhelming sense of God’s presence causing fear and reverence one week, outrageous praise on another. The weekly meetings have gathered others from other churches, including significant leaders of church networks. One of these leaders who had been particularly involved in the Toronto Outpouring in the 1990s commented that the revival was ‘like Toronto but more mature’. We’ll take that!

As 2022 was a year of revival, so for 2023. Revival upon revival. Every age group, every background, every nation represented. Revival has come to Leicester.

God's Glory

On Christmas day, the new James Webb telescope brought us some amazing images from space. The picture at the top is just one of them. This is the Cartwheel Galaxy. First discovered in the 1940s, it has a diameter of about 145,000 light years. One light-year is about 6 trillion miles.

The second image, below, is from one of the best magnifying glasses. It shows crystals of the adrenaline hormone. Infinitesimally small. The smallest units of life are quarks. How to describe their size? It would take one-hundred million atoms lined up together to make one inch in length. Now imagine Wembley Stadium in London as representing the size of one atom. Now go to the centre circle of the football pitch and pick up one grain of soil. That’s the nucleus of an atom. Then divide that nucleus into 1,000 tiny specks and one of these specks is the size of a quark.

I find it hard to understand how anyone cannot have a faith in God when we look at creation. As C S Lewis said, ‘nature gave the word “glory” a meaning for me’.

Big and small. What a creator God we have.