An Article of Faith

Only a mighty spiritual awakening as we have known in our past can reverse the spiritual and moral decline in the present. We need a massive course correction that only a Sovereign King can bring. Without it we will continue to spiral down into moral and spiritual oblivion. We need God to “rend the heavens and come down” (see Isaiah 64:1) in His saving power.
And He has done it before. Every major awakening in American history has been followed by extensive cultural transformation that nothing else could accomplish. During the Welsh Revival, the jails were emptied, drunkenness was cut in half as were unwed pregnancies, and the judges were issued white gloves signifying there were no more cases to try!
When God opens heaven and releases a rapid expansion of His kingdom on earth, everything changes. These Divine invasions that we call “spiritual awakenings” are beyond-the-norm, over-the-top, clearly recognizable interventions by a gracious God easily distinguishable from the regular work of His Church. During great, widespread awakenings, the doors of heaven are opened with extraordinary wideness, and we see and experience His kingdom coming to earth. A reminder of the unfathomable love of God.
What is tragic is that most of us have no context for these seasons of awakening. We may have read the biblical accounts and perhaps some stories from church history, but we’ve not seen with our own eyes moments of mighty, nationwide, spiritual awakening. We have no fathers or grandfathers that have passed firsthand accounts into our soul. Because of this our faith is weak and our prayers are small. We find it hard to conceive or believe that God could send us such times of nationwide outpouring. But our lack of experience doesn’t negate their reality or God’s power to do it again in our day and time.
In the fall of 2010 a local church in Arkansas sensed a growing desperation for revival. They called the congregation to 40 days of prayer and fasting. In January they began to meet on the first Monday of each month to cry out for revival. There seemed to be a growing sense of expectancy.
In April of 2011 a wonderful mercy-drop of revival and awakening occurred in the church. While preaching on the quenching of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Thessalonians 5:19 and Ephesians 4:30), the Lord stopped the pastor in the middle of his message and told him, “You’re done.” After a brief bit of argument with the Lord, the pastor told the congregation, “It’s time for me to stop.”
Immediately a former missionary stood up in the congregation and pled with the church to obey Christ “right now” and quench the Spirit no longer. The altar filled, people began to come to the microphone, and the service, which normally ended at 12:30 p.m., lasted until 3 p.m.! (Taken and adapted from: OneCry: A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening. For more information see: www.ONECRY.com.)
“If My people,” declares the LORD, “who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV).

Jessie J. Charpentier Sr. is pastor of Jenkins Memorial Baptist Church in St. Martinville.