America is hungry for revival, and the recent outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Asbury University, already spreading to other college campuses, is proof of hungry hearts yearning for God’s refining fire.
As one of the leading ministry figures during the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida, that started in June 1995 and continued for several years, Dr. Michael Brown is exhilarated at the revival taking place, but isn’t surprised by what is occurring.
“First, I’m thrilled to hear the reports,” Dr. Brown shared in a Charisma News exclusive interview. “I know some people on or near the campus that have come back with wonderful reports. So, I’m rejoicing, I’m blessed, but I’m not the least bit surprised.
“In fact, this is exactly what we’ve been expecting…for several years now I’ve had this picture very clearly in my mind’s eye of revival breaking out all over America in many, many, many different places,” he continued.
Bringing with him years of knowledge and wisdom from decades of speaking and encountering revival, Dr. Brown shares that this is simply not something man can plan for. It is a move of God, occurring and spreading according to His will and the contrite hearts repenting and praising His holy name.
“I would say to people you can no more schedule the revival [than] you can schedule a hurricane,” Dr. Brown explains. “Revival is not something man sends up, revival is something that God sends down…apparently one of the key things that I understand that broke out was a confession of sin, and that’s going to happen when the Holy Spirit comes, and that’s going to trigger something.”
With prophetic words saying that revival will catch fire and spread across the nation, many also want to maintain the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and bask in the glory of God.
But how do Christians keep this Holy Spirit experience alive? How do you balance the practicalities of life such as work and school around such a marvelous supernatural event?
Dr. Brown lists three ways to go from “the wave of refreshing” into “full blown revival”:
- Keep your eyes on Jesus.
- Give place to the Spirit to move.
- Major on the majors: Holiness and harvest.
“The message of repentance for the saved [is] to turn to God and get right, the message of repentance to the lost [is] to come to Him,” Dr. Brown says. “In times like this, things get very intense and they become humanly unsustainable.
“My schedule during the Brownsville days, in terms of being in services and being in ministry related activity, was between 70 and 80 hours a week,” he revealed. “So, at a certain point, you start to burn out. At a certain point you have to say, ‘How do we manage this?’
“There has to be divine wisdom given to leaders to find the sustainable place.”
These practical steps to maintaining the outpouring of the Holy Spirit yield yet another example of relying on God, which is the very foundation of not just the Christian relationship with Him, but inviting His holy fire down and receiving it.
People must realize how much the Lord is needed in everyday life, and that He is the One who washes away sin from a penitent heart. This humility and obedience in true repentance and the yearning for His presence open the door for Him to bring down His glory upon the earth.
From this fresh outpouring of revival comes another answer to prayer that has been lifted up to the Lord for decades now: a changing of society that will turn America’s heart back toward God and His commandments.
“It is on the heels of a sweeping revival in America that we can see reformation and change come,” Dr. Brown concluded. “We can go from revival to awakening.”
While many across the country look for answers to the unrest and division that are plaguing America, it is within the Hughes Auditorium that the answer to America’s problems can be found.
The solution to society’s problems are not from any politician or occultic practice such as those spreading across America, but in the healing presence of the glory of God. He can heal the wounds affecting the United States and every nation. It is His creation after all, and who better to bring about a healing and reviving rain than the One who gave life to all things? {eoa}
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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