Several years ago, I was invited to lead the morning prayer sessions for our denomination’s international assembly. Interestingly, church leaders had chosen “Awake” for the theme to inspire delegates representing more than 130 nations around the globe. After a powerful week of prayer, worship and the Word, I experienced an encounter with the Holy Spirit unlike anything I had ever known in my life. It was as if the Father was giving me a clearer picture of what a truly awakened church would look like.
Today, as hundreds of thousands are crying out in extraordinary, united prayer for a Christ-awakening in America, we would do well to ask ourselves: “What now? What follows the plethora of 9/11 prayers resonating across our nation?”
As I have reflected on my personal, awakening moment years ago, these are some of the dreams I believe will become reality for an awakened church in any nation:
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We will attract Father’s presence by honoring the Son, seated at His right hand. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will become the center of our focus—the pre-eminent One.
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With cleansed hands and purified hearts, we will be robed with holiness, unconditional love and power to not only move forward into God’s presence but to move out into our world—forward, never backward.
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Holy Spirit fire will be imparted to us and ignited in us. It will stir within God’s people a righteous indignation for His young sons and daughters who have been overtaken in the darkness of the night.
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God’s time is not our time … He says, “It is final harvesting time.” We have heard His call in the past, but we will not hear it forever: “AWAKE to My cry, AWAKE to My harvest! I have washed you; now continually robe yourself in My purity, My power and My anointing for My work.”
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Our obedience will mean our death, yet those who die with Christ will be raised to new life with Him. We will shine with His anointing not only to stand in His pulpits but to walk into His fields. We will also drip with His perspiration as we work together in the night of this world (Song 5:1-2). We will radiate with the glory of His presence that will rise upon us.
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If we truly CRY OUT in repentance and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chron. 7:14), our hearts will be purged of our temple prostitution, and our post-abortion syndrome from the many child sacrifices will be healed. He says to us, “I will pour in My oil for your mourning, wrap you in My restored beauty for your rags and ashes, and cover you in a garment of praise for the privilege of being My oaks of righteous planted in the harvest field for the display of My splendor—not your own.”
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We have heard His invitation for corporate prayerfulness, private communion, and deeper revelation. Now we must walk forward with great expectation and watch as He brings transformation within us and within those we harvest for Him.
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We will find an unbelievable soul satisfaction for this fresh longing of our hearts as we expect our destination in Christ and with His Holy Spirit empowerment. While others are polishing their thrones to build their kingdoms, we will be cleaning our dirty stalls with towels that have become wet from washing the feet of His newborn babies (Prov. 14:4).
What do you see? What do you dream for America’s awakened church? If today’s dreams awaken tomorrow’s destiny, how will we go forward from our 9/11 prayer gatherings to impact a culture in desperate need for transformation?
We must be consistent and intentional to pursue what God envisions within us. We must do so with holiness, for the One who has called us is holy. We must pursue His harvest with true, not feigned, humility because as we awake, arise and shine, our shining will be with His reflected glory and not our own. We will be awakened to an unsatiated hunger for more.
In this new day, the joy we experience will far outweigh the pain of giving birth. Our joy and strength will be exponentially multiplied not only in this day of harvest but in the day of Christ’s return, for He says to us: “I AM, I AM, I AM your soon-coming king!”
Kay Horner is the executive director of the Awakening America Alliance and Coordinator for the Cry Out America 9/11 Prayer Initiative.
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