The Art of Receiving

Revival is waiting for us, we're not waiting for it.

I was once asked to bring a brief word of greeting at the close of a monthly combined churches "Revival" meeting in the Philippines. I wasn't the guest speaker - they'd already had a sermon from the guest-speaker - but since they knew I was a preacher too, they felt they had to give me the opportunity to share a word at the end of the meeting, out of courtesy.

So I stood up and said, "Today you have sung about revival, you've heard a special number about revival, you've prayed for revival and you've preached about revival. Now – would you like to have a revival?" They looked at me quizzically.

So I explained: "You've spent 40 minutes singing about revival and 40 minutes preaching about revival. Now how about we give Jesus 40 minutes to give us a revival!

Did you ever think after all this ado about revival that Jesus may actually have heard you and he may be saying, 'I've heard you – now are you ready for me to give it to you?' " I asked them.

Their faces started to light up. So I continued:

"You would have closed the meeting at this point if I hadn't got up. But what if Jesus was ready to give you a revival? You deliberately planned the others things - like singing, praying and preaching, and it was all about revival – now what about planning to give Jesus some time in the meeting to actually answer your request?"

So I asked the congregation - having devoted 40 minutes to singing and 40 minutes to preaching - if they could spare a further 20 minutes to let God move. They all gladly agreed. (I knew that by the time He started moving, no-one would mind that it went way over the 20 minutes!) By this time their faces were beaming with anticipation.

I explained that we were going to just stay in our seats, welcome the Holy Spirit to come, and then just begin to respond and receive from Him any way He wanted to touch us.

Having said that I prayed a simple, short prayer announcing our availability and welcoming the Holy Spirit to have the rest of the meeting.

After just a short wait, people began to show signs of being touched by the Holy Spirit of the Lord. There were shakings, tears, laughter, speaking in tongues and people in the Spirit. Some remained in their seats while others came to the front. It was obvious there was an outpouring going on in the room. Others were swept up in the moment. Hallelujah! This is it – this is what Jesus wants to do. He wants us to just open the door to Him by giving Him time to move any way He wants, in our meetings. Just give Him time – its the only requirement to seeing a great move of God.

Well it lasted quite a bit longer than the 20 minutes and people were so thrilled and amazed at what happened – there were a lot of eager smiles and a look of glory and intense longing and satisfaction on their faces, a corporate knowing that this is it, this is what we've been waiting for. But you know, if I hadn't lead the congregation in that way, probably the next month they would have had yet another meeting, praying for revival again – when all along Jesus had heard and was ready to bless.

In a similar way, a move of God was experienced in other meetings also simply by just letting God have time to move, and it grew from small beginnings into a real revival: bringing laughter, repentance, tears, tongues, interpretations, prophecies, visions, deliverance, salvations, so much so that often many had to be carried home from the meetings. Other churches in the city would close down their own services to be part of the meetings, some travelling from faraway distances like other cities and islands. The church overflowed. It then spread to schools and universities and other locations.

In another instance, in Malaysia, a church elder brought a couple to me and asked me, "Would you pray for this couple to receive the joy of the Lord?"

The elder explained that the couple had just been the subjects of a heavy counseling session and by now they were all feeling quite mentally drained – so she felt they needed to lighten up a bit before going home, and thought a touch of the Joy of the Lord would be good for them.

I agreed, stretched forth my hand and said, "Receive the Joy of the Lord!"

My eyes were opened and I saw an angel of the Lord arrive in that instant, appearing in front of me, standing facing this couple, holding forth a golden gift in his hands to give them, theirs to just take. I knew that this gift was the Joy of the Lord.

But you know, it took ten minutes before this couple started to receive the joy of the Lord. When they got it, they really got it – they laughed and were still laughing when they got home. The husband shared about it in his church the following Sunday and laughter broke out in the congregation there too!

So why did it take ten minutes - when the angel had arrived the instant I said receive, and was there holding out his hands wanting them to take it instantly without unnecessary delay?

Its all about receiving. And we can learn something along this line that will affect us as individuals, and as a church, and in our nation.

You see, when I laid hands on them and said, "Receive the Joy of the Lord," you know what this couple did? They started to pray. And pray more intensely. Then they started to pray in tongues. Then they started getting more intense, almost employing a "spiritual warfare" type prayer. Prayer was a strong-point in their church.

So I said, "Don't pray. Don't speak in tongues. You may speak in tongues all you like when you get home. But right now its time to receive."

[We can't speak in tongues and do something else with our mouth that God may want us to do, at the same time! So if we insist on speaking in tongues or doing anything else that we are used, we can delay or hinder whatever else God may have wanted us to do at the time.]

Immediately they became really quiet and had a look of waiting on their faces. Still no Joy of the Lord manifested.

I realized what was going on now. Another strong point of their church was prophecy. So when I said just receive, they assumed I was about to prophesy over them, and were silently waiting to hear my words.

"I'm not going to prophesy over you right now," I said.

[You see, sometimes we block out what God wants to do because we are so used to doing certain things, used to functioning in a certain way.]

They finally got the message. In fact, the elder I was with grabbed the husband joyfully and said something like: "Sometimes we're so serious. I think God just wants you to laugh!" The elder laughed, instantly the Spirit moved, the husband and his wife got filled with laughter and joy and with the Spirit. Joy bells were ringing. Such refreshing! It lasted quite a while, he was still laughing when he got home and, as I said, he spread it to his whole church the following Sunday.

But it could have happened ten minutes earlier! I don't think angels like delays, they want to just do the errand the Father gives them (the will of God) then get back to His presence.

As with that individual, so with our meetings, and our churches, our cities: often, revival and the things we are desiring, are a matter of receiving it, rather than of praying more.

"The pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand."



Some More Lessons on Receiving:

Once at my home church our Pastor showed a video of Benny Hinn teaching on paying the price for the anointing, the price being prayer.

At the end of the video-sermon people streamed to the front to pray. Many of the adults were agonizing in prayer, kneeling, crying, becoming intense. They reminded me of something like an elephant trying to squeeze through a keyhole.

Meanwhile there was a group of very young teenagers out the front who weren't kneeling or agonizing, they were standing, they were even interacting and smiling at each other, just totally enjoying the Lord!

Like children playing around a water fountain, they took turns at laying hands on each other, and receiving, and standing behind incase the one being ministered to had difficulty standing. They were feeling totally acceptable to God and laughed with glee.

Eventually, their youth pastor at the time (not the current youth pastor) came and told them to stop. But I thought: "Who out of this group really know how to receive [the anointing]? I looked at those striving, moaning, groaning adults then - it looks like these kids do!"

To these kids, the whole thing was the Father's invitation to step in and freely enjoy everything His anointing has to give, and they came with acceptance up to His altar.




God is Love Fellowship:

I thought I heard Christian music coming from a sports stadium. So I said to the pastor, "Lets go have a look." Sure enough, it was a church group practicing for their upcoming musical.

Well when they found out he was a pastor and I a missionary, they invited us to pray for them. So I began to lay hands on them and the Holy Spirit fell on each one. After getting filled and thrilled, they invited us to come back and share at their half-night of prayer in a few days time.

When we arrived at the half night of prayer, I asked the meeting leader how long I should speak for. She said, "Oh about 40 minutes."

I said, "Well, how about I speak for 20-minutes and then let the Holy Spirit move for 20- minutes?" [ I knew when the Holy Spirit gets to moving, people don't usually care if it goes over time] I don't know if she knew what that was all about.

I shared some remarks preparing them for a move of the Spirit, then announced a time of making the meeting available to him. Well, people started to get touched. There was laughter, the atmosphere was charged. The Holy Spirit was there! Hallelujah. It went on!

I dutifully handed the meeting back after my time, and the appointed person stood up to lead the rest of the prayer meeting. As she stood to the front, I knew that this would be a telling-point for the meeting. I looked to God to touch her, to cause her to guide us appropriately, sensitively, to help her to not quench the Spirit.

Well she had real trouble speaking. Its like she was trying to move on with the intercession side of things, but just couldn't enter in! As I watched it was like something tottering on the edge and you're wondering which way its going to fall.

"Well!" she said, "I was supposed to pray for a move of the Spirit – but its already here. I was supposed to pray for revival – but its already here. I was supposed to pray for our musicians to be anointed – but they're already anointed. I think we've got nothing left to do but to thank and praise the Lord!"

With that I, and the whole congregation it seemed, burst into a relieved laughter, jumped to our feet and celebrated the rest of the night with dancing, singing and praising – and in fact, we didn't' even have to go 'til midnight. We finished a little earlier, feeling quite refreshed and satisfied that our requests were granted.

Next, we were invited to minister in the Sunday service. Now, the pastor who accompanied me and I often itinerated together, so in each meeting we would seek to be sensitive to the will of the Spirit concerning which of us should do what, in the meeting. For example, sometimes I would preach, then after that the anointing would come on him not me, to minister the Spirit. Other times he was led to minister the Word then the anointing to minister the Spirit would come on me. Other times both anointings were on each of us.

But this particular Sunday, after I shared the Word, the anointing to minister the Spirit wasn't on either of us. Eventually the pastor accompanying me called the pastor of this church because he felt that God wanted to use her this time, because God wanted to demonstrate two things: 1) He wanted to encourage this pastor that God can use her; and 2) He wanted the congregation to know that. So he laid hands on her, then told her to go lay hands on the congregation.

Well everyone she touched received a powerful anointing. All of heaven broke loose at that point, as in previous meetings, whereas it hadn't when Pastor Bobbie and I had tried to minister the Spirit in this meeting. See, God just wanted to demonstrate something.

The pastor was so excited that God used her. No doubt she had desired to be, but said that
she had never been used like that before.



Some Thoughts on Prayer Meetings:


One of the biggest hindrances to revival can be prayer meetings...another big hindrance can be singing.

Its a mistake to pray for something that God has already given us.


Smith Wigglesworth:

While holding a series of meetings in a certain town, some men came to Smith and said, "We are holding a half night of prayer tonight to pray for your meetings. Would you like to join us?"

Wigglesworth retorted: "I could get more from God in half an hour than you could in half a night."

Wigglesworth:

"Those who are waiting for the power have mistaken the position. God is waiting for us to act."



More on the Art of Receiving

Angels

Angels are sent on errands from the throne – but we determine what we receive and don't receive.

JOHN 1:51
51 And he saith unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Hereafter
ye shall see heaven open, and the
angels of God ascending and de-
scending upon the Son of man.

Nethanael had been amazed by the gift of the discernment of spirits that just occurred in Jesus' ministry. But Jesus said, "Thou shalt see greater things than these." And he did: he saw the dead raised, the cripples walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, the dumb talk, water turned to wine, the feeding of the multitudes, walking on water, the wind and waves calmed, and Jesus resurrected and ascending into glory. All these miracles were the outward sign, but in the unseen realm, what was taking place is angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man. There is an unseen realm, there are activities of angels, which are involved in the manifestation of the miraculous.

For example, in Kuarla Lumpur when an elder in the church brought a couple to me and asked me to pray for them to receive the joy of the Lord, as soon as I laid hands on them and said, Receive the joy of the Lord, immediately an angel appeared with a golden present held out for them to receive. That was the gift of discernment of spirits in operation, for only I saw the angel. But notice that angels are involved in delivering what we speak.

In Melacca, a leader of the church saw angels in the meetings in which there was joy and other manifestations of the Spirit occurring. In Sydney, someone saw an angel come and touch my hands when I knelt and lifted my hands before the Lord, asking for his anointing in the meeting. In the same meeting someone else saw the Lord standing behind me on the stage.

In Kuching, someone saw the angels lined up along the sides of the building in order, as if waiting for commands. They were waiting. In that meeting, there was no thorough breakthrough of manifestations of the Spirit. The man who had this discernment of spirits told us that the angels were here to do things sent from the throne, and urged the congregation to let it happen, to make it happen, to not miss what was available. There was no great breakthrough, no free receiving, of manifestations of the Spirit in that meeting however - it seems the angels never quite got their go ahead although they certainly were ready.

I preached in a bible college at Ipswich Region Assembly of God from the scripture "There are more with us than be with them" and Gehazi's eyes were opened to see the hosts of God. "The strong angels of God are on our side, and we can determine what we receive from God today," I preached.

Before leaving Cagayan de Oro city, Jun Nagac and I went up onto the hill overlooking the city to pray. I saw a large guardian angel standing over the city with a sword drawn. I sensed that he would prepare a lodging place for me if I came back.

Angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14).

I read where brother Hagin taught about this verse. He pointed out that it says the angels minister for them [ not just to them] who shall be heirs of salvation. He shared how the Lord told him to command the angels to go forth and cause the money to come in, the amount that he needed, for his ministry.

I decided to try it. I said to the Lord, "I need an amount more than $100, but not more than $110 – somewhere in between the vicinity of those two amounts." Then I said, "I command the angels to go out and cause the money [that amount] to come in."

Well that night I was invited to lead a meeting where they received an offering and I noticed the amount was $107. I wondered if they would give it to me and if that could be the Lord's provision. But they didn't give it to me.

Later that night we were saying goodbye in the carpark after having been out at a cafe when Jolon said, "I've been feeling that I need to give you some money, but I don't know if I have the amount in my wallet that I feel I'm meant to give you. Let me have a look."

He took out his wallet, had a look, then handed me a hundred dollars. Rodney promptly spoke, "I'm going to give you something too," and added ten dollars. So I came away with my $110. God gave me the top of the two amounts! And in fact, one of the guys soon afterwards began a system where an automatic regular payment was made from his account to mine, as a way of contributing to my expenses. Hallelujah!

The gift of discernment of spirits is not just about seeing angels or the Lord in operation, its about seeing the activity of demons too. More on that later. But the point is: there is an unseen host that is commissioned to minister for us individually, for our ministries, for our cities, for our churches, for our meetings.

So how can we see greater things happen? Jesus said, "Thou shalt see greater things than these." Why did that angel appear in Kualar Lumpur 10-minutes before the couple received the joy? Why were the angels waiting in formation but not activated, in that church in Kuching? Why were angels seen to be active in the meeting in Melacca where the Spirit's works were manifested?

The answer is that its up to us to activate, to receive. Notice that in relation to the greater things that Jesus said Nathanael would see, He said he will see the angels ascending first and then descending upon the Son of man. Its as if they ascend with something, and then return with something in response, from the throne. I believe it is our faith that they take up to the throne. Then in response, angels descend with the answer, the object of our faith. Faith is spoken and acted. It is deliberate.

Notice that Jesus said there were many widows in the days of Elias but unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. Why? God responds to an accepting heart.

Smith Wigglesworth said, "If the Holy Ghost doesn't move, I move the Holy Ghost." There are things that God is ready to do in our midst. What is needed now is not just for more prayer meetings asking God to move. The other ingredient is to act, to accept, to speak, to receive, to make room, to deliberately allow time in the program, for Jesus to do His miraculous works in our meetings. We just have to give him time to move.


We could hold a hundred more prayer meetings where the church gathers to ask God to move by His Spirit, to pour our revival on the meetings. The church could fill up its cup of prayer until it overflowed, to the point where Jesus would come and visit – yet we could still not see a manifestation of the Spirit and still miss the revival that He came to give.

"I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night [I've come to move in your meeting]."

"I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them [I can sense your anointing, but we've got a songlist to complete, the announcements to make, and then a guestspeaker to preach – how can we just drop our plan and let you move in the meeting]?
My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him [He tried His best to do all He could in our meeting, but it was really up to us to receive His visitation].

I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock [as an afterthought, I decided we still really do want a move of God in our meetings...]

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone [...but it wasn't quite the same when I tried to give an altar call where God could move in our boxed-in way at the tail-end of the meeting when most of the congregation were already dismissed]: my soul failed when he spake [I really do long for Him, I really do want revival, you know] : I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer [more prayer meetings, more preaching on revival – but it doesn't bring the breakthrough that satisfies the heart]...

..."I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love [now I know what I want, I've determined I'm not going to be satisfied with church as I usually run it].

..."What is thy beloved more than another beloved,that thou dost so charge us [what makes you decide you really want Jesus to have time to move in the meetings the way He wants from now on? Even though it may be an inconvenience to your timed program when He gets to moving?]"

"My beloved is...[because Jesus fills with joy, fills with the Spirit, works miracles, gives healings, people prophesy and see visions, or speak with tongues and interpret, He anoints with words like no other, He can add daily to the church such as are being saved...]

And she and her beloved enter into that mutual celebration of each other's love, and appreciate everything around them together. [And the disciples went out and preached everywhere, THE LORD WORKING WITH THEM AND CONFIRMING THE WORD WITH SIGNS FOLLOWING...And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost...And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord].