Why?

Several people have asked me about the High Point Blessing videos I’ve posted on youtube. These are videos of some rather extreme encounters with the Lord – some documenting a healing, some of worship, some of a bunch of people falling on the floor… and people who’ve never seen this before are asking me, “Why?” or “What?” and “What’s the point?” or “Revival… why?”

Let me say this first: “Revival” is not posting a sign on the marquee and having a special speaker in for three nights of meetings. “Revival” is not hopped-up services, emotionalism, special music. Revival is a lot of things… and all of those things may be a part of revival… but Revival is not in the things. Revival is the raw power of God unleashed – heaven invading earth. Revival is the way Christianity is supposed to be all the time.

And let me say this, second: I am charismatic. I believe that all Christians should be filled with the Holy Ghost and fire as soon after their salvation as possible (preferably within the first five minutes…) and that healings, miracles, prophecy, and radical encounters with God similar to those in the book of Acts are not only “possible” today, but that those things should be the norm for all believers. I can only comment on revival within a charismatic context; I really don’t know about it in non-charismatic churches EXCEPT that historically, when revival has broken out in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches people have become Spirit-filled in a hurry

It’s hard to answer the question, “What does revival look like?” even within the broad umbrella of Pentecostal and charismatic churches because that varies from place to place and from person to person. It seems like the Spirit has an agenda when He pours Himself out on a church or region – in some places there is a manifestation of joy, or of adoption, salvation and repentance, healing, and so on. Although all of those elements may be present, there is often a focus on a particular area He wants to minister to us in.

From the book of Acts through the great revivals that swept North Carolina in the late 1700′s and early 1800′s, to Asuza Street, to the Healing Revivals of the 1950′s, to Toronto, Brownsville, Lakeland, to High Point where the Blessing is being poured out right now… there are some similarities between them all:

(in no particular order)

• Salvations, repentance, and water baptism
• Spirit Baptism and a whole lot of speaking in tongues
• Manifestations of extreme joy or excitement (often that go on for hours or days, to hundreds of people at the same time)
• Extremely vibrant ongoing worship
• Prophecy
• People falling on the floor, shaking, twitching, etc.
• Healings and Deliverances
• People raised up into ministry callings and offices
• Visible manifestations of the presence of God and of angels
• A mass-scale re-alignment to God’s Word and His will

These things are not “a person or two or even ten” because all of this is pretty common among charismatics (and should be to all Christians). It’s the level that God’s doing it on. That’s why we often use the term “outpouring”.

I think that most people can wrap their minds around most of the above except for the vibrant worship, what happens when the power of God hits the human body, and visual manifestations. (If any readers want me to talk about the rest ask me in the comments!)

A friend sent me a message asking,

I don’t get it – people spinning in circles and muttering and yelling and waving flags(?) and glow sticks, it’s just an incomprehensible way to worship to me. Why do you do it? What’s the appeal?

Worship is one of those things that can be defined in many ways. We should all strive to make every single thing we do an act of worship. When we do our jobs, when we wash our dishes, when we hug our kids, when we grocery shop, we should be doing these things as unto the Lord (1 Cor 10:31, Col 3:17)… this makes these “mundane” tasks acts of worship.

However, that’s not “it”.

(side note: I’m not going to get into the difference between “praise” and “worship” here; just lumping it all together as “worship”)

Worship is expressions of love, honor, glory, and submission for our Lord. Let’s look at some natural expressions of this: You may show your kids you love them by washing the dishes and buying them clothes, but you also show them by wrapping them up in a big bear hug or throwing them in the air or grabbing their hands and dancing around the room with them. Looked at in other ways, a wife would hold her husband close or snuggle up and enjoy closeness… or we might throw a tickertape parade or write a song or do a choreographed dance to honor someone famous… we might stand and cheer for a football team… or a child might throw herself headlong into Papa’s arms…

These are all expressions of love and intimacy, honor and respect and excitement – and when expressed to the Lord, are forms of worship.

And so you will see people dancing, cheering and shouting (or muttering) praise (in their own language or in tongues), waving flags, jumping, spinning, kneeling or laying on the floor, or even just sitting quietly meditating on His goodness. Some people even draw or paint. There’s no one “right” way to worship – He loves all expressions when we worship in Spirit and in truth. And just as you don’t love your kids or your Dad or your football team in only one expression of love… we should seek to express our love to God in a myriad of ways.

We don’t see anything funny about standing and cheering until we’re hoarse when our team scores a goal… why then do we think it’s funny to cheer and shout and bless the name of the Lord? It’s perfectly natural to dance with our spouse… why is it “weird” to dance with the Bridegroom? It’s perfectly acceptable for a small child to dance with reckless abandon… why then do the children of God feel the need to “contain” themselves?

Extreme excitement is quite thoroughly biblical – King David’s ticker-tape parade for God (2 Samuel 6), singing and praise and rejoicing and joy and dancing and music (Psalm 149, 150), even singing in the face of adversity (Acts 16:25). The atmosphere of Heaven is wild, chaotic, beautiful praise (Revelation 4) – is it any wonder that Jesus prayed, “on earth as it is in heaven”?

The other thing that tends to be shocking for those who have not experienced it is the variety of physical manifestations of the glory and presence of God upon the human body. When people have a radical encounter with Him, it’s very common for people to shake, twitch, fall out on the floor (sometimes completely unconscious), laugh, cry, shout or even roar, dance or thrash uncontrollably, and a wide variety of other reactions. People often report feeling “drunk” or “high” (but let me say this: there is NO high like the MOST high)… sometimes for hours or even days (I’m on day 7 of a continual Holy Ghost High…)

One often sees this sort of reaction when people are prayed for, but it also often happens during worship or even spontaneously. If you watch revival videos you’re sure to see a prayer line or fire tunnel where people are simply falling en masse. It’s not an example of mass hysteria or expectation as some have suggested. I know people who have fallen on the floor resisting all the way and extremely quiet people who begin to shout with reckless abandon. I’ve fallen out unconscious while worshiping at home (and woke up on my kitchen floor with gold dust all over me – and no, I do not have any gold dust in my house). I’ve also walked into the church building to do something wholly mundane, with my mind on the mundane, and it’s like walking into a cloud of glory. BAM!

There should never be an expectation on the part of a worshiper or minister that people will fall or have some other reaction (tho sometimes when you’re praying for someone you know what will happen)… some people simply stand and receive. This is usually NOT due to fear or resistance. God knows what each person needs and if they NEED to fall on the floor, trust me, He’ll do it even with them resisting all the way. God also knows what we each need and sometimes we “need” to fall over or jerk or twitch or be unconscious, and other times what we need it to just stand and calmly receive.  Some ministers are “pushy” because they want you to fall down (because they think it validates their ministry) and this is wrong. Falling on the floor is not what transforms a heart or heals a body. (Some ministers are excited, too – must not confuse the two!)

The last thing that tends to freak people out is when they hear somebody say, “I saw an angel” or “the cloud of glory” or when things like gemstones and angel feathers start turning up. There’s no way I can address every phenomenon here (maybe someday in a book) but I’ll divide them into two categories: Things everyone can see, and things only a few can see. And I’ll say this of both: Yes – there are counterfeits out there… both from well-meaning or mistaken individuals, and the sort of counterfeit that satan serves up to distract us away from God. For every counterfeit there is a real (else, why would there be a counterfeit? No one prints up bright blue hundred dollar bills with their own face on the front and tries to spend those at Wal-Mart). I have my own personal criteria for judging such things, which boils down to this: “Holy Spirit, what is this that I’m seeing here?” and “Is Jesus getting the glory?”

Everyone can see gold dust, feathers, gemstones, etc. when they manifest. They are real, tangible objects that you can reach out and touch. I’m not going to touch on this too deeply but I will say this – we tend to operate under this subconscious mindset that the spiritual realm is intangible and untouchable and that is an extremely false – and exceedingly dangerous – mindset.

Angels (and demons) and visible glory are things that are usually seen (or perceived) by only a few people. Discerning of spirits is a spiritual gift (1 Cor. 12:10) and revival has a tendency to activate that gift. Discerning of spirits shows the spirit that is at work: Holy Spirit? Flesh? Angel? Demon?

Again, like prophecy, I believe this gift is for all Spirit-filled believers. If you don’t see stuff and you want to, ask.

I’m amazed at how many Christians ask me… are they real? Yes – they are real. Yes, I really do see it. Yes, I really can reach out and touch it. I’ve taken to praying like Elisha prayed for Gehazi – Lord, let them see!

We’ve seen the visible, tangible glory of God – it looks like a shimmering cloud. I’ve seen it up close and personal at Lakeland and at New Day, and also have seen it on revival videos. I see angels (I actually see them everywhere I go). I sometimes see demons, too, but not all the time (thank goodness). Usually I only see them when I’m ministering deliverance and ask God to reveal the problem to me, or if I’m watching a deliverance I often see it as it leaves. I don’t interact with demons, period – “leave in the name of Jesus!” and I don’t generally interact with angels, or they with me – I ask God what they’re there for (if that’s not evident; sometimes it is) and ask Him to release them to minister.

Well – that’s just the tip of the iceberg… but it might answer some questions for some folks. Ask away in the comments if you want more