The Church has a destiny to experience and continue to experience the glory and the Presence of the Lord. Acts 2:16 in the Amplified Bible says, “This is the beginning of what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind.’” Pentecost is not the final event, it is just the beginning of what God intends for His Church to possess. We are to continue in the glory and the Presence of God that came at Pentecost. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says we go “from glory to glory.” Whether we are looking at the glory revealed at the first Pentecost or to the great revivals of previous centuries, we thank the Lord for what He has given, but we look forward to what is to come. This is part of our commission as the Body of Christ. We don’t simply celebrate the past, but we pray with expectancy for His Presence and Glory to continue in our generation with even greater glory than before. Revivals can have a beginning, but they should never have an end. God intended that those first sparks of Pentecost would ignite a blaze that would continue and grow in every generation. It is the same in our personal lives. If we have experienced Pentecost in our lives it should never end. If we miss the fire, then we need to get the fire. But let us get in that revival glory so that we stay ablaze, and so that our children, our grandchildren and our great grandchildren will carry the zeal and fire of Pentecost into their generations.

Revival is first and foremost about God’s Presence. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the Presence of the Lord.” As much as we enjoy being refreshed, restored and revived, the source of it all is from the very Presence of God. There have been times in our gatherings that the Presence of God was so thick that a visible cloud of God’s glory appeared in our midst. The Rabbis came up with a word to describe this visible effulgence of God’s glory. They called it the Shekinah. It is the mist, the cloud of His Presence that rested over the Ark of the Covenant, and filled the wilderness with the provision and counsel of God. In those moments when His glory appears, our hearts are awakened again to the awesomeness and wonder of God. His Presence is more precious than gold. We love and value His Presence. Even as we pray for fresh waves of revival, we want to emphasize that it is the Presence of the Lord that we desire. Like Moses in the wilderness, we don’t want to move forward unless His Presence goes with us.

To paraphrase Charles Finney, one of the great revivalists of the 19th century, “Every Spirit-filled Christian needs to experience revival-glory every four to six weeks.” We go through seasons and from glory to glory, but if you are not living in the Presence, or if you haven’t had an experience with His glory in your life, then you are long overdue for a refreshing. Isaiah 12:3 tells us, “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” We have access to the wells of refreshing through Jesus Christ. If you are experiencing a dried-up prune life, then you are overdue for revival! Get into His Presence and drink from the wells of the refreshing waters of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 5:6 in The Message says, “You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.” The Lord wants to fill you up. All we have to do is ask.

“If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:11. We are coming to our heavenly Father asking for revival and refreshing. We are asking for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on us, our children, our families, our churches and our nations. Will He give us a stone? No. Scripture tells us that our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. So we cry out as a church, as families and as individuals for revival. We cry for the Shekinah Presence of the Lord to come. We pray today, “Father God, I’m hungry and thirsty for more of Your Presence. I am so thankful that You are Lord of my life, and I want everything that you have for the Church in 2008.” We are coming together as the corporate Body of Believers to say, “More Lord. More of Your Presence. We are hungry and we are thirsty for You.” Do you think that the Father is not going to listen? We are crying for revival. And as the refreshing comes, we then can pour the waters out for the thirsty around us. I am praying for revival for our Church. I am praying for revival for our city. I am praying for revival for our region, I am praying for revival for our nation, and I am praying for a great last-day revival that will touch all the nations of the earth. Our God is a big God. He’s an awesome God, and wherever His hungry children ask, whether in America, Algeria or Japan, our Father God will pour out His Presence, His revival, His Shekinah, His healing, His deliverance and His restoration. He wants to bring us into this glory today. We are overdue for a visitation. We are overdue for a revival.

To be continued in Part 2.