Now - THE AWAKENING

Now - is the time

Now - is your time

Now  - real change comes

Now - but then, You have to be here

COME STRAIGHT FROM WORK - COME WITH YOUR HEART PREPARED

TO BE AWAKENED - AT THE AWAKENING

WELLSPRING CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS

4870 JANELL DRIVE * LAS VEGAS, NV 89149

"PROPHETIC PRAYER & WORSHIP"

ENTER INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES * SOAK IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

EVERY WEEK: SUNDAY @ 6:00 P.M.

The following is written by Bille Brim and can be found on her website at http://www.billyebrim.org/partnership/partnerletters/february_2009_partner_letter

Join the Awakening Prayer at Prayer Mountain at http://www.billyebrim.org/content/live_prayer_prayer_mountain Wednesday's at 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. CST (10:00 to 11:00 a.m. PST)

I include it here because of the similar call that God has put upon our hearts here at Wellspring Ministries - Churches & Missions.

How He Made Us to Know This
In a way it started on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at our 3 p.m. corporate prayer meeting on Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks. Layer upon layer, year after year, however, of the Lord's workings brought us to that prayer meeting on Prayer Mountain that day.

Without tackling the impossible task of even remembering, let alone relating just His dealings I am aware of, here are a few road marks along the way which stand out to me.
•The 1981, or so, vision in which He made me know it was my task to help the pray-ers unwrap His gifts to the church for her glorious walk just prior to His coming.
•Brother Philip Halverson's last conversation with me June 1, 1985, in which he said, "Don't ever forget that your number one call is to help the pray-ers."
•The 1995 trance-vision of the inside of a prayer cabin and instructions to establish a place of prayer near Branson, Missouri. Its two-fold purpose would be: 1) To pray in the plans of God, and 2) To stop the strategies of the enemy.

On June 29, 2008, forty or more faithful pray-ers were praying about the then up-coming American elections in November…about Israel…and the nations. Especially united, we seemed to pray as one man. And we reached a place that was high and somewhat unfamiliar.

Then, as in Acts 13:2, "the Holy Spirit said…." The Spirit of prophecy fell powerfully upon me and in a strong voice the utterance poured past my lips.

One thing will save America.
And it is NOT the election.
It is an awakening to God!
One thing will help Israel and the nations.
It is an awakening to God!

Silenced, in our petitions. Even rebuked. Our hearts listened for more.

More words came. And at the same time, Spirit-inspired thoughts sped through my mind. The best person in the world could be elected President, and it wouldn't help if America did not awaken to God. America's history. The Great Awakening. Prayer.

Then these things were emphasized. The importance of prayer in an Awakening. The call to help, even to assemble, pray-ers which this ministry has been given. Preparation. Preparation of ourselves. Preparation of the pray-ers coming to Branson.

I sensed, though I did not voice it, that there would be little, if any, anointing to pray about the elections in our Autumn Assembly in Branson. Previously when our annual prayer meeting came just before an election, the Holy Spirit took up with us to pray about that election. We had come to expect it. But I sensed from that Sunday afternoon that it would not be the same. Now, the anointing would come to pray about an awakening—an awakening to save America. Little did we realize just how much America needed saving. For in June, the soon-to-be revealed economic crisis was not in our thinking.

We gave ourselves two weeks to seek God's will for the October prayer meeting. Two weeks later, Brother Gene Wiseman addressed us with a vision he'd received from the Lord concerning ambers and a wall of prayer. (I now see so much more about how this. Concisely, God has stored up treasures preserved in His people. He is ready to tap His resources.)

Immediately after the Autumn Assembly of Prayer, Shelli and I went to Paris where so much happened. From there we went to Northern Ireland to Pastor Paul and Karen Brady's church in Ballymena. Here a surprising revelation met us.

The Brady's had placed a book in my room entitled Ireland's Lost Heritage.1 An account of what is known as "The Ulster Awakening (1859)" was covered in the book. I was completely oblivious to it—though it is reported in a book I have read many times and often offer, Revival Fire by Wesley Duewel.2 Duewel records how the Ulster (Northern Ireland) awakening coincided with "The great awakening of 1857-59" in America. Both great moves, known historically as awakenings, began with prayer. More about these thrilling awakenings in my next letter.

In Ireland's Lost Heritage I found these statements: "A case could be made for saying that…'a Revival' could be described as 'a visitation of God's Spirit on God's people,' but 'an Awakening' as 'a time of such intense visitation that both the Christian and non-Christian communities are affected…revivals alter the lives of individuals, awakenings alter the world view of a whole people or culture'."

The First Great Awakening

That's exactly what happened in The Great Awakening preceding the birth of The United States of America. I have now read many secular accounts from the academic world and it is the consensus that America was born out of The Great Awakening. One Harvard professor wrote that one cannot understand the colonial society that brought about the American Revolution without a study of The Great Awakening.

The Longmeadow (Mass.) Historical Society website carries an article entitled The Great Awakening and Its Effect on the Society and Religion of the Connecticut River Valley, by Meaghan McCormick. The article states:

The Great Awakening was a religious movement during the 1730's and 1740's in which
itinerant ministers presented powerful messages of salvation and which provided early
Americans with a greater sense of nationality…one of the most notable points of origin
was in the Connecticut River Valley under the leadership of Jonathan Edwards...The
Great Awakening…brought about a change of values that affected politics and daily
life…These attitudes were the beginnings of a sense of independence and equality that
would set the stage for the American Revolution. And, as the spirit of independence was
proclaimed in the colonies by the Declaration of Independence, it was often the local
clergy…who rose to read to their congregations the words of that document which would
spark independence in America….

When we went on line to look for a definition of the word awakening, we were surprised to see that www.answers.comcredited Jonathan Edwards with the word's origin:

Word Origin: 1736
In the winter of 1734-35, the mild-mannered Reverend Jonathan Edwards, minister of the
church in Northampton, Massachusetts, was astounded. People actually were listening to
his sermons and following his advice…Their talk turned to nothing but religion, and they
began living godly lives. Even "the vainest and loosest"! Even young people! And this
behavior was spreading from Northampton to other towns up and down the Connecticut
River Valley. In a famous letter published in 1736, Edwards called this a "general awakening."

Jonathan Edwards

I had read about Jonathan Edwards. But I have now come to admire a dedicated saint God could work through to begin The First Great Awakening. Some particularly enlightening insight into his character came to me unexpectedly—supernaturally, I believe. At our family New Year's gathering, I asked each one to voice a resolution. My grandson, Cody Oaks and his bride, Aubrey Pearsons Oaks were with us. The next morning Aubrey came to my place from the prayer cabin where they stayed. She had in her hand a very old book we had used for décor.

The Harper's Fifth Reader was published in 1889. Its Publisher's Note read: "To cultivate a spirit of patriotism and to inculcate a commendable pride in the achievements of our countrymen is one of the first duties of the schools." The reader's lessons were by authors such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ward Beecher, Julia Ward Howe, etc. And it included "Resolutions by Jonathan Edwards." Written when he was young, they show the bent of his resolve to live life—the life God anointed for great purpose. (We will send you a copy of his resolutions free. Just call or write. Or go on line to billyebrim.org; we have them posted.)

In Lecture Four, The Great Awakening, Wake Forest University (www.wfu.edu) reports:

...Edwards has received a bad press for his "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."…But if you
read his sermons, you will find that he spoke quietly, reasonably, and logically. Indeed he was dry
and even a bit boring. But he began to experience a harvest of conversions that were accompanied
by exaggerated behavior. People would…shout, and run when they were converted.

Edwards kept accurate records of what happened:

And then it was, in the latter part of December, that the Spirit of God began extraordinarily
to…work amongst us. There were, very suddenly, one after another, 5 or 6 persons who were, to all
appearance, savingly converted, and some of them wrought upon in a very remarkable manner.

Particularly I was surprised with…a young woman, who had been one of the greatest
company-keepers in the whole town. When she came to me, I had never heard that she was become
in any ways serious, but by the conversation I then had with her, it appeared to me that what she
gave an account of was a glorious work of God's infinite power and sovereign grace, and that God
had given her a new heart, truly broken and sanctified…

God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening to others of anything that ever
came to pass in the town…The news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning upon the
hearts of young people all over the town, and upon many others….

Presently upon this, a great and earnest concern about the great things of religion and the
eternal world became universal in all parts of the town and among persons of all degrees and all
ages…Those that were wont to be the vainest and loosest…And the work of conversion was
carried on in a most astonishing manner and increased…souls did, as it were come by flocks to
Jesus Christ…This work of God…soon made a glorious alteration in the town, so that in the spring
and summer following, Anno 1735, the town seemed to be full of the presence of God.3

Historian, Eddie L. Hyatt, writes:

People from other communities often scoffed when they heard of the events in
Northampton. Simply upon entering the community, however, their skepticism inevitably
dissipated because of the overwhelming presence of God. As converts returned home, they
carried the spirit of revival with them, and so the awakening spread.

During this time, Edwards preached his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God. So powerfully did conviction of sin grip the people…that the penitent cries for mercy
drowned [out] Edwards' voice. Hell became so real to the congregation that some clutched the
backs of pews while others wrapped their arms around the pillars to keep, as it were, from being
consumed by its eternal flames….

The power that accompanied Edward's preaching was not the result of his topic alone.
Preaching on the terrors of hell did not monopolize his messages. He was, in fact, a very sensitive
individual who could be melted to tears while contemplating the love and mercy of God. Neither
was the power the fruit of oratorical skill, for Edwards normally read his sermons. His preaching
derived its power from his prayer life. He would spend whole days and weeks in prayer, and it was
not unusual for him to spend 18 hours in prayer prior to preaching a single sermon. The result was
a revival that not only transformed the moral and spiritual character of his own community, but also
that of the entire nation.4

George Whitefield
For many reasons, the sense of Divine purpose for the new world and for themselves as individuals, which the Pilgrims and Puritans dedicated their lives to, had waned in the intervening years until God stirred it up again in The Great Awakening. The expanding Colonies were divided by distance and lack of good roads and good communication. Time was consumed in surviving. One source said, "the majority of the people were unchurched," when the awakening began.

Though many had their parts, the one person all historians, secular and religious, point to as the most influential was George Whitefield. The Restoring America project states, "By the time of his death in 1770, evangelist Reverend George Whitefield was the best known American in the 13 Colonies."

The Light and the Glory calls him, "…the greatest evangelist of the 18th century, one of the handful of men in the history of Christendom to be used by God to change the course of nations through the power of His Spirit."5

Thousands gathered wherever George Whitefield preached. Benjamin Franklin, who became his friend, observed:

It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being
thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious,
so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in
different families of every street.

The persuasion and power of Whitefield's anointed voice were remarkable. The Light and the Glory states:

Franklin, the first truly scientific observer of lightning, listened to Christ's 25-year-old lightning
rod [Whitefield] preaching from the courthouse steps, and was amazed at the carrying power of his
voice. Retracing his steps backwards down Market Street until he could at last no longer hear him,
the amazed Franklin computed that in an open space, Whitefield's words could be heard by 30,000
people…And on more than one occasion, they were.

He traversed the colonies, preaching the unifying message of equality for all at the foot of the cross. A Wake Forest site (www.wfu.edu) states that "…the Great Awakening was to unify 4/5 of Americans in a common understanding of the Christian faith and life…." George Whitfield literally gave his life to bring that about. The Light and the Glory records his ministry:

…year after year, up and down the East Coast, and as far inland by canoe and horseback as
civilization extended. In the summer of 1754 he wrote to Charles Wesley.

My wonted vomitings have left me, and though I ride whole nights and have frequently
been exposed to great thunders, violent lightnings, and heavy rains, yet I am rather better
than usual… O that I might at length begin to live! I am ashamed of my sloth and
lukewarmness, and long to be on the stretch for God.

…in [that] same year…he preached 100 times in 6 weeks, riding the main roads and throughout the
backwoods of New England, covering nearly 2000 miles in 5 months. …Some might say that this
was not good stewardship of God's gift of health. But the power of the Holy Spirit fell practically
every time he preached, and one wonders if…he had driven himself any less hard…would the
tremendous work which God purposed through him have been accomplished?
The Lord was uniting the thirteen colonies….

…Whitefield preached more than 18,000 sermons between 1736 and 1770!
…In 1770, his health broken and his breathing tormented…He reached Boston on his last visit...
5 months after British troops fired on a mob of civilians, killing 5, in…the Boston Massacre.

Gloria Copeland and I recently did two weeks of television on Why America Needs to be Saved and The Awakening to God That Will Save Her. The BVOV programs will be broadcast March 9-13 and March 16-20. When we came to George Whitefield's dedication even to the point of death, the Spirit of God fell upon everyone on the set. We all wept as we read this account in The Light and the Glory.

The next month found him up in New Hampshire, where the ministers of Exeter begged him
for a sermon. But when the time came, he could barely breathe…glancing heavenward he
[said], "Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not of it. If I have not finished my course, let me
go and speak for Thee once more in the fields, and seal Thy truth, and come home and die!"

And the Lord granted his request. The entire district seemed to have converged on the
Exeter Green…At first, Whitefield could hardly be heard, and his words were rambling…He
stopped and stood silent. Minutes passed. Then he said, "I will wait for the gracious assistance of
God. For He will, I am certain, assist me once more to speak in His name."

Then, according to Jonathan Parsons, the minister of Newburyport, he seemed to be
rekindled by an inner fire. His voice now strong and clear…On and on he went, into the second
hour…when he cried out: "I go! I go to rest prepared My sun has arisen and by the aid of heaven
has given light to many. It is now about to set…No! It is about to rise to the zenith of immortal
glory…O thought divine!...How willingly I would ever live to preach Christ! But I die to be with
Him!" [After a night of fitful sleep] in the early morning, he…pulled himself out of bed and…over
to the window, to see the dawn's early light. George Whitefield died, just as the first rays of the
sun caught the waters of the bay below. The new day would soon break across the nation. His
dream had come true: America was a nation now—one nation under God.

Unto a Good Land, by David Edwin Harrell, Jr and a team of historians concludes, "To be sure, Whitefield did not do it alone, though it is worth noting that the first individual to bring some degree of unity to the colonies was not a politician but a preacher."

United Noon-Time Prayer for A Great Awakening
In my next letter, I will write of the simultaneous awakenings in Northern Ireland and in America in 1859. Both were the result of specific prayer. America's awakening resulted from noon-time prayer meetings that spread like fire across the continent.

Right now, the Holy Spirit has stirred us to initiate noon-time prayers (CST) every Wednesday to be streamed from Prayer Mountain. Northern Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Ft Worth, Minneapolis, New York and others are uniting with us. Please join us. If you connect by internet at www.billyebrim.org, fine! But for sure, we can connect by the Spirit of God wherever you are and whenever you pray. We look forward to meeting you at the Throne of Grace where we shall mix and mingle our voices asking Him for an Awakening to God!

In Him,

Billye Brim

1 David Carnduff, M.Th., Ireland's Lost Heritage (IPCB Publications, printed by Antrim Printers Steeple Industrial Estate, Antrim, BT41 1 AB, 2003)
2 Wesley L. Duewel, Revival Fire, (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1995), pp125-160.
3 Jonathan Edwards, The Works of President Edwards (Isaiah Thomas, editor). Vol III, pp.14-19
4 Eddie L. Hyatt, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity, Strang Publications, Lake Mary, FL, pp. 114-115.
5 Peter Marshall & David Manuel, The Light and the Glory, Fleming H. Revell, Grand Rapids, MI

 

The following excerpt is from the book "Revival - God's Proven Method of Awakening His Church" by Edgar H. Lewellen.

The Hebrides Revival: 1949 - 1953

Place: Village of Barvas, on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides--an island off the NW coast of Scotland.

Population: Approximately 25,000

The Key Figures God Used: Two elderly ladies, the praying men of Barvas and Duncan Campbell

The Spiritual Condition of the Land the Church's Response

1. A declaration was made in the churches and newspapers, calling on the people to "view with concern the drift away of the people and especially the young people from God and the Church."

2. Two elderly women who knew God in a wonderful way - one 82 and the other 84 years old took this declaration seriously to heart and went home and spent the whole night in prayer. It was accepted by all that this revival started with these two women who were in touch with God. This resulted in God showing them a vision of a crowded church full of young people and a strange minister in the pulpit.

3. In the morning they went to the pastor and told him of the vision and that revival was coming to the community. His question, "What do you think we should do?" The women replied, "You ought to know yourself what you ought to do. Get on your knees. Call your elders and ask God what He wants you to do."

4. Result: A decision was made to spend two nights a week in prayer - the praying men of Barvas and the pastor on one side of town in a barn, and the two women on the other. They continued praying for more than three months, claiming the promise in Isaiah 44:3, "I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground."

Events That Followed

Praying and claiming the promise, and yet not seeing any improvement, one elder read Psalm 24:3-5, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord (N.S.)." He then said, "It seems so much humbug to be waiting and praying, waiting and praying, if I am not rightly related to God." he then cried out, "Oh God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?" He went to his knees and onto his face and could not speak. The other elders also went to their knees and knew at that moment that God had answered their prayer, and revival was coming. At this point the pastor became aware that a God-sent revival must be related to holiness. The next day, all over the island, men became gripped by the fear of God.

Taken from The Price and Power of Revival, -- Duncan Campbell

Calling Duncan Campbell

The pastor had heard of a man by the name of Duncan Campbell that God was using in meetings in Glasgow, Scotland. They made a decision to call him. The pastor contacted him, and Duncan Campbell wrote that he could only come after one year, due to previous engagements. Hearing this, the two women replied, "Ha! That's man talking. He will be here within two weeks." The hall where Duncan Campbell's meetings were scheduled suddenly became unavailable and his meetings were canceled. He left for the Hebrides and arrived on the Isle of Lewis within ten days.

A People Cooperating With God

As people continued to pray and claim God's promise, there came an unusual awareness of the presence of God on the Isle of Lewis, and the fear of God began to fall on the people. This happened without extensive publicity and advertising. God was doing His own publicity through conviction and awareness of His presence.

A People Seeking God

Duncan Campbell arrived on the island, and even though his food and accommodation were ready in the parsonage - the minister requested him to stop at the church where about 300 people had gathered, to assure them that he had arrived. After he gave a few words of encouragement to them the people continued to pray and seek God. At the same time approximately 350 young people were at the dance hall, still unaware that God's Spirit was about to descend.

Result of Meeting God's Conditions

At the church the Benediction was pronounced and the people filed out leaving only the elders, the pastor and Duncan Campbell. One elder cried out with a burdened heart, "God you have promised to pour water on him who is thirsty. I believe you are going to do it right now!" He then fell to his knees and then to the floor under the power of God. The elders were conscious that God had come! There was a very real sense that God was about to reveal His power.

Their Prayers Answered

One elder came running in from outside shouting, "Mr. Campbell, stand up. God has come! Something wonderful has happened. Come and see. It must be revival!" In front of the church and on the road and nearby field about 600 - 700 were gathered, many on their knees, crying to God for mercy and forgiveness. Duncan Campbell said, "One could hear the cries of the penitent. It was now 11:00 P.M. The island was suddenly gripped by God. I question if there was one single house on the island that wasn't visited that night. The very atmosphere was charged with the power of Almighty God. That is revival!" (The Nature of a God-Sent Revival - Duncan Campbell)

Without being personally contacted, people from neighboring towns and villages, from their homes and even from their beds, suddenly felt compelled to get dressed and go to the church. There were coal miners, doctors, lawyers, carpenters, drunkards, farmers, and young people - all together - weeping and praying. Later it was reported that at the dance hall it was as if someone had yelled, "Fire!," and as a body the young people vacated the dance hall and ran to the church. The church doors were opened again, and the church seating 1,000 including the aisles was packed. At 4:00 A.M., while the people continued to seek God, Duncan Campbell slipped out to go to bed. He was asked by a young man to first visit the hall at the police station, since it was on his way. There he found 300 people praying and weeping in the presence of God.

A Community Touched by God

The next day factories, schools, coal mines, taverns, and stores were all closed, as those who were in-charge were at the meetings. People were seen walking down the roads and streets toward the church carrying chairs, since the seats and pews in the churches were not sufficient to seat all the people. Others, wherever they were, sensing the presence of God, became deeply convicted of sin, cried out for mercy in their own homes and then headed for the church. Yet others were overcome by tremendous joy and love, and fell to their knees, conscious only of the presence and power of God. In one place, Duncan Campbell saw two teen-aged girls leading a drunkard who was lying in the street to the Lord, as he cried out, "Is there mercy for me? Is there mercy for me?" THis scene was not uncommon, when many helped others to find Him after meeting God themselves.

The Place of God and Man in Revival

Duncan Campbell states that "In the field of revival, God is sovereign! This in no way nullifies man's responsibility. Although God is the God of revival, we are the human agents through which revival is possible." Someone has said, "There is nothing we can do about it. When God decides to send revival, He will."

In response we need to stat that revival depends on two things: 1. The Sovereignty of God and 2. The preparedness of man. Let us not forget that it is God Who determines the time and place to visit mankind with fire from above. It is God who sends revival. It is man who needs to prepare the "soil." God yearns to send rain upon these parched and dry souls of ours, and therefore he says, "I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground" (Isaiah 44:3). Then in Hosea 10:12, God beckons us by saying "Break up the fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." God has promised to do His part if we do ours. And what is that? To prepare the "soil."

If you would like to purchase this book, please contact Living Word Bookstore online or call (763) 315-7015.