Are You Looking Forward to the Move?

This article moved me so much that I wanted to share with my friends.
Enjoy!
Ken


The Most Important Issue Of 2010

Ian Johnson
New Zealand

December 17, 2009

ianjohn@xtra.co.nz

Today I was talking to an older saint from Wales, his father had been involved in the Welsh revival He was a boy when the fire was still burning in Wales, my old friend has always carried that burning in his heart for revival. We were talking and a group of young people came toward us in the street and a burden for souls like nothing I have experienced for a long time came over me. My friend said look at these young ones isn't it sad probably not one of them has been to Sunday School and no one has ever told them about the Lord. Now they are so far removed from the truth that even when someone speaks to them concerning God they think the person speaking is from another planet.

How can we see this tragedy turned around? Well it’s going to take a sovereign powerful move of God, something that grabs the attention of a generation. It’s not compromise or a lowering of standards to help them "fit" in to a Church system, it’s a takeover. A radical death destroying soul transforming move of the Holy Spirit.

In 1976 I was a teenager who had never been to Sunday School, never been inside a church building, No one ever shared the gospel with me and I certainly didn't know what a true Christian was. My job involved staying with a different farming family every night; one night in June 1976 I stayed with a Christian family, they said to me "We read the bible and pray after dinner, would you like to join us?" I felt awkward and listened to the bible reading then excused myself and said I was going to bed, I went into my room, pulled the blankets over my head and shut my eyes tight. In an instant there was light all around me, I could see it through my closed eyelids. It was the Lord, I guess in response to the prayers of the family he had come for a lost and lonely boy. In an instant I went from having some belief in God to knowing without a doubt that he existed. My life had been changed through a supernatural encounter with Jesus, nothing could convince me otherwise from that moment, Jesus was real and I needed to know more. In 1975 I had walked into a meeting of Christian young people drunk and had been judged and driven out and told not to come back. My standards were less than acceptable around or near this group. So I just walked out. The judgment of that situation didn't change me a bit. But the encounter with Jesus changed me in an instant.

Down through the generations there have always been periods where the young people had no understanding of God or his claims on their lives. In times like these no amount of self righteous indignation and blustering has ever touched a generation. No it takes a sovereign move of the Holy Spirit to bring change.

These moves always come in response to a cry from the heart of Gods people. Evan Roberts in Wales was so disturbed that his friends were away from God, and he seemed to have no answers for them. He went and sat in a Chapel and cried out to God, Lord bend me till I'm the shape I need to be to be of use to you.

Tonight I'm sitting here with a cry on my heart. "Lord bend me till I am of use in your hands" I'm overwhelmed by the mass of humanity that don't know Jesus; I sit here realising that only a move of God’s spirit will bring transformation to the young men I saw today. I think Lord if you did it for me over 30 years ago then Lord you can do it again and again. I'm coming to the end of 2009 more convinced than ever that the most relevant thing for young or old is an encounter with the living God.

My plea to the body as we enter the holiday season is don't wind down, rest by all means but let your heart cry out for the souls of the young and old of our land. Then cry for our own unbending souls that refuse to allow the Holy Spirit access to our ministries and churches.

One of the most amazing men of the Spirit of the past 60 years Oral Roberts has just passed over into his reward, His passing should bring a challenge for another generation to say Lord please give us souls. It won’t be the same as that which Oral Roberts did. But it needs to happen this year. The most important issue in 2010 is not the economy or climate change, it’s not world peace or nuclear destruction. The most important issue in 2010 is there are Millions who don't know Jesus and without a supernatural encounter our religion is not going to touch them.

I think talking to a man who still has the smoke of the Welsh revival on his life was the best thing that could have happened to me at the end of 2009

Lord bend us to your will in 2010 that young and old may have an encounter with you.

IAN JOHNSON

www.hisamazinggloryministries.org