“I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene, And
wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how
wonderful! And my song shall
ever be: Oh, how marvelous!
Oh, how wonderful Is my
Savior’s love for me!”
This song accurately describes the musings of my heart as I ponder over the week of Bible School. Truly God has been amazingly good to His people. He has fulfilled many promises throughout the week. He promises us in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The Lord brought this verse into fulfillment in this week of Bible School. We have seen many young people humble themselves, and pray, and seek the face of God, and turn from their wicked ways. Then we beheld as God met with them in a way that astounded all. And not only with the young people, but also with many others. In fact, it seemed He didn’t pass any of us by, but rather all who sought Him earnestly, found Him in a real way. He forgave our sins and truly healed our land.
I would like to share with you a little of what happened behind the scenes. Things that I believe contributed greatly to the revival that we experienced. First of all, there was much prayer and fasting that ascended to the throne before the Bible School ever started. For many weeks prior to this week, the church here at Hope Christian Fellowship sought the face of God for revival. We earnestly prayed that it would yield a harvest of souls and bring joy to the heart of our Lord Jesus. So the Lord started to prepare our hearts for this week. God began to do a deep work in our lives as we prayed. It seemed every Sunday morning was a revival service. A brother would preach for an hour or so, then we had time to share testimonies and pray one for another, which sometimes would last for two hours. The services began to stretch into three and four hour services instead of two hours. Frequently people were anointed for sickness and prayed for by the elders (James 5).
God was preparing His people for a great work. And so we entered into the week of Bible School with much anticipation. It was a big step for our small congregation. But we all poured our heart into it and trusted God for the rest. And so Monday morning arrived and the young people came. Twenty-three states were represented. So you can image the differences of backgrounds and cultures that came with that. But God is no respecter of persons and we were thrilled as we saw these differences break away after about the second day. As the Word of God began to work in their hearts it seemed to bring everyone onto one level. And as they began to share hearts together, it provoked others to open up their lives also. And so the Spirit of God moved amongst His people.
On Tuesday evening the Lord broke through to many and around five souls were born again. By Wednesday afternoon all of the leaders of the Bible School sensed that God was about to break through in a powerful way. Not knowing how to proceed we sought the face of God. The schedule was planned to not have any service on Wednesday evening and let the students go to their host families to rest and get to bed early. But as we sought the face of God we felt moved by the Holy Ghost to keep the students at the church house and spend some time in praise and worship. So we proceeded with anticipation and trembling. As the Bible School coordinator, I opened up the service with prayer and songs. Then I opened it up to the students to share testimonies and songs. I also told them that if anyone wanted to seek God in private, they were welcome to leave the auditorium and go to a private room. Also the counselors were available if they desired to have counseling. As they began to share, the presence of God filled the building. Men and women began to weep and leave the auditorium with counselors. Others kept sharing testimonies and singing. Soon some of those who had left the room came back with their counselors. Their faces were aglow with joy and peace. The counselor announced that they had met with God and were freed from the bondage of sin. Others were born again. At these announcements the whole building rang with songs of joy, praising God for His salvation. As all of this was going on, Reuben Esh, the principle of the Bible School, came up front to tell me that a young man we all knew well had gone out with a counselor, and was wrestling with God. So we all prayed for this dear young man. A while later Reuben again comes up to tell me that we needed to find a trash barrel. This young man had gotten through to God and needed to destroy a lot of evil music, in both CDs and tapes. So we found a barrel and put it up in the front of the room and here comes this young man with all his ungodly music. With this stage set, I asked if any others needed to get rid of ungodly music. Soon there were others. And so the evening hours flew by. Before we realized it, it was l0:00 P.M. We had started at 6:30 P.M. and how quickly the hours had flown by. Truly revival had come to God’s people. Of course no one wanted to go home. But we knew tomorrow morning would be another day of Bible School and so we tried to gently close this meeting. How do you close a meeting like this? You don’t. All you can do is tell everyone to go home and rest for tomorrow is another day. But the Spirit of God is brooding over His people and some go home to wrestle with God on their beds. Others go home, gloriously set free from self and sin, with too much joy in their hearts to sleep. Nevertheless, the evening came to a close, leaving all who were there staggered at how God had poured out His spirit upon His people.
This, of course, set the stage for the rest of the week. The Lord brought forth sermons that were filled with rich, practical truth and seeded it gently into the hearts that were made tender by the evening before. On Thursday evening God again brought forth His Word in a powerful way, and more souls were added to the kingdom. It seemed to climax on Friday evening as some souls wrestled with God into the wee hours of the morning. Saturday afternoon we again had a time of sharing testimonies and songs for a few hours. Then after eating dinner at 4:00 P.M., we all headed out into the country (Brother Don Campbell’s place) to have a bonfire. We heaped all the CDs, tapes, magazines, books, etc., onto a pile and burned it. What a sight it was! As it burned, 200 or more people gathered around the fire and sang songs till it had all burned and only a pile of hot ashes remained. With our voices hoarse from singing, but our hearts bursting with joy, we returned to our respective homes at around 8:30pm. Sunday was the last day, and what a day it was. God spoke to us through Brother Denny Kenaston, on living by faith, and then through Brother Keith Daniel on spiritual warfare. God always meets the need of the hour, and truly He did with these two sermons. As the Word came forth in the power of the Holy Ghost, it left all who listened stunned. The revival fires had climbed to a new height and God still wasn’t finished with His people. And God is still not finished with His people and never will be till we see Him coming in the clouds with great glory and power! Praise His Holy Name.
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 7:9-12
