The Day Has Broken Upon Us
Psalm 110:1-7 (KJV)
The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. The Lord shall
send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the
dew of thy youth. The Lord hath
sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike
through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall
fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many
countries.
He shall drink of the brook in the way:
therefore shall he lift up the head.
God of Creation
Genesis 1:1-5
In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters.
And God said, Let
there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and
God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness
he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
How can
they believe if they have not heard?
Romans 10:14-17
How then
shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher?
And how
shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of
good things!
But they
have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our
report?
So
then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
1 John 1:12-14
I write
unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's
sake.
I write
unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I
write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write
unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
I have
written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the
beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and
the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Old Testament Revivals
Joshua and the generation under 20.
Your
little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no
knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and
they shall possess it. (Deuteronomy 1:39)
David, the young hero.
You
are not able to ... fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of
war from his youth...(I Samuel 17:33)
Josiah, the boy king who started a
revival.
In
the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the
God of his father David ... and he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the
high places ... (II Chronicles 34:3)
Jeremiah, the young prophet.
Ah,
Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth. But the Lord said to me: "Do not say, I am a youth. For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and
whatever I command you, you shall speak." (Jeremiah 1:6, 7)
New Testament Revivals
John the Baptist and his radical message.
Now
John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt ... and he ate
locusts and wild honey.(Mark 1:6)
Jesus’ disciples.
Now Jesus Himself
began His ministry at about 30 years of age.
The disciples who followed
Jesus probably ranged in age from 21 to 35 and many others followed Him
included teenagers and children. From these young leaders, the Lord established
a Church that "turned the world upside down."
And
it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and
continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him
his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; (Luke
6:2-13)
The Great Reformation - 1500s
John
Calvin - He was converted at age 25 and within a year had completed the
first draft of a now famous book, Institutes of the Christian Religion - a book
called "the single most influential book on theology in Church
history."
Martin
Luther - Himself a young man, Luther was joined by Philipp Melanchthon, a
21 year old scholar, as they lectured hundreds of university students during
the years of the Reformation.
William
Tyndale - Burnt on a stake for translating the Bible to English, he prayed, "Lord, open the eyes of the King of England," as He was dying. A couple of years
later, King James commissioned the translation of the entire Bible.
The Great Awakening - 1700s
George
Whitefield - Began to preach at age 21 and was one of the greatest
preachers of the 1700s. he and often spoke to crowds in excess of 30,000
people with no amplification.
Johnathan
Edwards - A young preacher in Northampton, Massachusetts, Edwards had a
great influence on the youth of his day. In 1734, some exciting things
began to happen among the young people of New England.
Yale
College - In 1796, 26 Yale students founded an organisation on campus called
the "Moral Society" which discouraged profanity, immorality and drinking.
By 1800 nearly one half of the college students were members and this group is
credited with laying the foundation for four revivals that occurred later on
that campus in the first few decades of the 19th century.
Charles
and John Wesley - Set up the "Holy Club" at Oxford University when they were
students. This became the nucleus of the Wesleyan reformation of the 1700s.
The 1875 Revival
D.L.
Moody - In 1858, Dwight Moody began an outreach to young people in Chicago.
He started a Sunday school for youth in a vacant tavern which soon grew into a
church filled with young believers. This was the launching pad for one of
the great ministries of the 1800s.
C.T.
Studd - A convert under Moody's ministry at Cambridge University in
England, Studd "was the toast of the nation, captain of their champion
cricket team ... top sportsman, and inheritor of a small fortune." He
became part of the "Cambridge Seven". This group consisted of Moody's
helpers or his converts, who toured universities and challenged students for
missions. They were called holy madmen, launched out to redeem another
generation of spiritual warriors.
Wales
- From a report in 1859, "one of the most striking characteristics of
the movement was its effect on young people and even on children. The youth of
our congregations are nearly all the subjects of deep religious impressions. Very
young people ... children from 10 to 14 years of age, gather together to hold
prayer meetings, and pray very fervently. In many places, the young people
hold a prayer meeting of their own, and these sometimes proved instrumental in
bringing the powerful influences of the revival to that particular locality. The
majority of all converts of the revival were young people.
Student
Volunteer Movement - One of the greatest missionary revivals of this century
had its beginning in July, 1886, at the Mt. Hermon Conference of college
students. Two hundred and fifty-one students from eighty-nine colleges of the
United States and Canada had come together at the invitation of Evangelist
D. L. Moody to spend four weeks in Bible study and ended in what became a great
missionary movement as university students gave their lives to be foreign
missionaries.
The 20th Century Outpouring of the Holy
Spirit
Evan
Roberts - A movement known as the Welsh Revival began in 1904 when Evan
Roberts, at the age of 26, said to his college principal, "I keep
hearing a voice that tells me I must go home to speak to our young people in my
home church." So began a sweeping revival in which 100,000 people were
converted in five months throughout Wales. "The revival seems to work
especially among young people. Its form, which was that of prayer, praise
and personal testimony, and its absence of method made it the most methodical
expression of the emotions of young hearts aflame with the love of God.
Yale
- In 1905, nearly one-fourth of the college's students were part of campus
prayer meetings and Bible studies.
Student
Volunteer Movement- One of the greatest missionary revivals of this century had
its beginning in July, 1886, at the Mt. Hermon Conference of college students. Two
hundred and fifty-one students from eighty-nine colleges of the United
States and Canada had come together at the invitation of Mr. Moody to spend
four weeks in Bible study and ended in what became a great missionary
movement as university students gave their lives to be foreign missionaries.
What about the 21st
Century?
• Can
revival happen in our time, through our youth?
• Yes,
if God did not withhold from previous generation, He will not withhold from us.
• We
will be praying with persistent insistence that our Lord in His mercy would
come for our youth in our generation.
• We
will be appealing to heaven and begging our God. Say to Him, "We, the wombs who
bore these children are here."
• Lord, have mercy and come for our own children, our youth, our young people.
• We
will be tarrying here, begging the Lord and trusting Him for our own
generation.
Prayer Points| Tear the Veil
Lord, tear the veil.
2
Corinthians 3:12-16
Seeing
then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
And not
as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not
steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their
minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away
in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
But even
unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless
when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
- Lord, please let the hearts of our children and our youth begin to turn to you.
- Lord, please remove every dullness of the heart to spiritual things; remove every blindfold off their faces.
- Lord, send Your word as a hammer to break every hardened heart.
- Lord, turn them, arrest their hearts, capture their hearts, let Your love overwhelm them.
- Let the sacrifice of Calvary seize their imagination, their thoughts, their devotion, their love.Ignite them with passion for Your name.
- Lord, tear the veil; tear the veil of the natural man, the complacency of the natural man, the contentment with the world system and worldly toys off the hearts of our children and youths.
- Cause an unrest, a conflict, a disillusionment in their hearts, let their cry be, there must be more than this to my life.
- O Lord, tear the veil; tear the veil, we beseech You; tear the veil off their faces.
Prayer Points| Enlarge their hearts, O Lord!
What happens when a heart is enlarged?
Psalm 119:32
I will
run in the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my
heart - KJV.
I will
eagerly pursue your commandments because you continue to increase my
understanding - GW.
I will
eagerly obey your commands, because you will give me more
understanding - GNT.
I am
quick to follow your commands, because you have added to my
understanding - NIRV.
- Lord, please break the narrow hearts of our youths and children.
- Lord, enlarge their hearts, broaden their hearts with the sight of the man of Calvary.
- Lord, increase the capacity of their heart to understand eternal things and Your eternal purpose for them.
- Lord, broaden their hearts; grant them capacity in the Holy Ghost to understand spiritual things.
- Lord, break their hearts with the sacrifice on Calvary’s tree, let them understand the gospel as the power of God unto salvation so that they can run, and chase, and pursue, set their hearts ablaze with passionate love for You and a pursuit of the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.
Prayer Points|Vision Upgrade
Lord, open the eyes of our young ones.
Ephesians
1:18
The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints -KJV.
To
make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes
focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to
do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his
followers - MSG.
By
having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and
understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious
inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones) -
- Lord, flood the eyes and hearts of our children with light; remove every scale off their eyes, O Lord.
- Grant them understanding of what Your will and purpose in Christ for them is.
- Show them Calvary the way they have never seen it before.
- Spiritual things are spiritually discerned and the natural man cannot understand natural things. Tear the veil of the natural off their faces; remove the darkness of the natural man. Please Lord, we beg You, shine Your light upon their heart.
- Bring the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to them afresh; let there be light set upon Your rods in their youth, O Lord our God.
- Shine Your light, O Lord, upon Your labourers in their youth.
Galatians
4:19
My little
children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you...
Travail for
rods/labourers in their youth. Please travail, agonise, labour in
the spirit over our children and our youths in the name of Jesus,
