In Canada, the bears hibernate during the cold winter season. Then, when the snow melts in the spring, they come out of their dens into a brand-new season. When they come out, they are very ‘hangry’ and can be aggressive, especially if they smell food!
Like the bear, much of the world’s population has been forced into hibernation through harsh Covid19 restrictions and lockdowns. This has been crippling to many businesses, churches, friendships, families, lives, hopes, and so much more! But now, we are like those bears, we are waking up, we are ‘hangry’, and we can smell revival just around the corner!
I see three main elements needed for a great Spiritual Awakening to take place:
1.The Sovereignty of God. Revival is always a sovereign move of God. Nevertheless, He moves at specific times. These are times when much of the church is backslidden, apathetic, complacent, or lukewarm, and the world is in such a desperate condition that God must intervene.
2. The Conditions in the World and the Church. God’s intervention is desperately needed in the world and church today. Only God can save our families, churches, and governments. We need God’s presence, power, protection, and provision! We need His wisdom, guidance, and direction! That means we must stay close to Him. Prayer and fasting can bring Divine Intervention into a world that is in a mess and a church that needs reviving and restoring. In Judges 6, Israel was in bondage to a cruel enemy and conditions could hardly have been worse. Whenever God is going to do something wonderful, He starts with a seeming impossibility. When the people began to cry out to God, He heard them and sent a deliverer. Gideon defeated an army of three hundred thousand soldiers with an army of just three hundred trained, unified, and anointed men - each one standing in his place and doing his part. God can still do more with less.
3. The Preparedness of Man and the Church. This does not mean the whole church is prepared, but some are. On the day of Pentecost, not everybody in Jerusalem was prepared, but one hundred and twenty were! In every generation God has a prepared people that He can use. At the turn of the 20th Century, there were a handful of people in a little building on Azusa Street in Los Angeles and another small group in Wales who had been crying out to God for spiritual rain. When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them it launched the modern-day Pentecostal and Apostolic movements. They, in turn, gave birth to a multitude of new Full-Gospel, Pentecostal, Apostolic, and first generational movements that exploded around the world. Hundreds of thousands of fresh, vibrant new churches were planted! And Victory was a part of this!
The Pattern of Revival is described in 2 Chron 7:14: “If My people who are called by My name, will 1) humble themselves and 2) pray and 3) Seek My face and 4) turn from their wicked ways,
THEN, I will 1) hear from heaven, 2) forgive their sins and 3) heal their land.”
If God’s people will do these four things - God will do three things that will bring healing to our land!!
The season is changing, and the hungry bears are coming out of hibernation. They are waking up and getting ready to Eat and to Act! Are you a hungry bear? Let me hear you GROWL!
Yours for a Great Spiritual Awakening!
Dr. George Hill
President and Founder, VCI
www.victoryint.org