"I WAS AT the ASBURY REVIVAL"
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
(1) "I WAS AT the ASBURY REVIVAL"
-by Tom 'The Hawk'.
It is rather difficult for me to express to each of you in words what
occurred on my visit to Asbury College this past Friday but I will
try. The words that come to mind are overwhelmed, unpretentious,
amazing, awesome, unnerving, and simplistic, yet powerful.
Thursday night I had a group of people over at the house
worshipping the Lord. The intention was for several of us to go to
Asbury the following evening.
I live about three hours north of the college and so we would leave
after I got home from work.I called my wife and told her to pack us
an overnight bag in case we needed to stay the night.
Its funny how we are sometimes reluctant to go somewhere
outside of our area, thinking things like, Why do we have to go
to _____ to see or experience God or His working? or If God is
doing that there Hell do that here too. Funny how well travel
hundreds and thousands of miles and even cross the oceans to
see an event like the Super Bowl or the Olympics and yet have a
difficult time going three hours down the road to see if God is there.
Makes you wonder about where our priorities lie.
Asbury is just south of Lexington, KY, and as we approached
Lexington the snow began to come. Fortunately we were only a
few minutes away.
We arrived at the college and I thought that the building where this
was happening would be obvious. I figured there would be a bunch
of people around it and the cars would be parked all around there.
Boy, was I wrong! Instead it looked like a normal Friday night on a
college campus - not much activity at all. I didnt know if that was
normal or simply due to the snowfall.
We drove around for a while trying to locate the building where this
was taking place and finally went down a driveway that looped in
front of a number of buildings. Andy spotted the building we were
looking for but there was no place to park on the loop, so we
parked the car out on the street.
As I entered the hall I was totally overwhelmed by the presence of
God. I dont really know how else to explain it. It was totally
unexpected and I was absolutely overcome in my spirit. I remember
putting my hand to my heart and Andy asking me, What? I
simply replied, Im overwhelmed.
I couldnt believe it! It was unlike anything I had expected!
As I stood there I looked at the huge words over the front of the hall,
which read, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD. Truly this was a holy
place. There were only about two dozen people there. There was a
stillness in the air and such a wonder, How can this be? It was
real and yet very unnerving. The living God is here!
Andy told me he was going to go up front to pray. I told him to go
ahead. I felt somewhat frozen to where I was. I then noticed a
couple of people praying down front, a couple of us standing, and
the majority of the people just sitting there. I fell to my knees and
began to pray.
After some time one of the men down front read a scripture about
blind Bartemaeus. A couple of people got up and sang some songs
of praise and worship to the Lord. I decided to go ahead and sit
down in one of the chairs that I was praying behind. When I did I
realized why most of the people were sitting.
As I sat there I began to feel His love come over me. It was so
overwhelming that all I could do was to weep and weep and thank
Him over and over again. We were all just basking in His love.
The singing stopped and I would go from sitting to reading to
praying to sitting to praying to reading and so on. All the while
people are coming and going. Another couple comes in and sits
down across the aisle from me. They are both overcome by the
Lord and begin the weep.
Another lady got up and began to play the piano. She didnt sing -
just played music. I dont know why but as she played it was as if
the Lord was drawing nearer and nearer to us. It was so intense for
me that I remember asking Him to stop because it was simply too
much for me to bear. He then said to me that this was just a drop
in the bucket compared to His Fullness and that if He came in His
Fullness it would be more than anyone could bear!
I dont know or really understand the whys and how of all of this. I
just know that I had an experience, no, an encounter with God. His
love for us is so powerful and so overwhelming that it is hard for me
to adequately describe. All I know is that He has such a great love
for all of us. I now know that there is nothing, nothing, nothing,
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that can separate us from His love. If we
could all only realize how great a love He has for us and receive
that just once in our lives we would never forsake Him or flee from
His presence. Draw us Lord by your great unending and
unchangeable love.
After some time, I went to Andy and told him we needed to go. He
asked me why and I said that if we didnt go I dont know if Id ever
leave. Gods presence was so powerful and yet so unnerving. How
could this be and yet it was.
I dont know if this is revival or not but I am revived as a result.
We left the hall, but thats not the end of the story. When we got
into the car we looked at the clock and realized we had been in
there for three hours. It seemed like just a short time and yet we
had spent hours with our Lord. It was as if time had stopped and
we felt like two very fortunate men to have enjoyed these moments
with our Lord.
As we drove home I was overcome once more by His presence. I
began to weep again and speak of His great love for us. Andy too
had encountered God and had a renewed fervor to pray for our city
and for His love to be poured out upon our community.
I dont know what all of this means or where all of this will lead but
there is something about prayer that definitely moves the hand of
God. Saints of the living God cry out to Him night and day and He
will hear the cries of His people. He does not turn a deaf ear to the
prayers of His people but is faithful and true to answer each and
every one according to His will and by His great love.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen!
[To read the entirety of the above article, please go to the Forum
at- http://www.revivalschool.com ]
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(2) "ANOTHER HOLY OUTBREAK at ASBURY"
-by J. Lee Grady.
A sense of revival erupted this week on a college campus in
Kentucky. It could be the sign of a spiritual tsunami headed our way.
Students at Asbury College in Kentucky arrived for their usual
10 a.m. chapel on Monday of this week. Some of them are still there today.
Students are worshiping, weeping and praying. Many of them took
off their shoes in Hughes Auditorium because they felt they were
standing on holy ground. A photo on the nondenominational
Christian colleges Web site shows students with their hands
raised in praise as they crowd near the chapels altar.
There's nothing else you can do when you meet your Creator face
to face like we did yesterday. -Student Ben Greenhoe
Gods will just broke out, said one student, Michael Spann.
People were just yearning for God. I cant even describe it. I didnt
want to leave until I felt the Lord was in me the way He wanted to be.
Theres nothing else you can do when you meet your Creator face
to face like we did yesterday, sophomore Ben Greenhoe said on Tuesday.
The president of Asbury, Paul Rader, stayed in the auditorium
watching the scene until midnight Monday. Folks in the small town
of Wilmore, where Asbury is located, heard about the protracted
meeting and wandered in. A local grocer sent water and snacks to
the campus after hearing that the prayer service was going nonstop.
Wednesday night there were several hundred students praying in
the chapel. Some stayed until 4 a.m.
On Thursday Rader led the morning chapel and felt what he called
an awesome sense of expectation. He said: From the first praise
chorus students began coming to the long altar at the front of the
auditorium. Soon the altar was crowded with students again. There
was incredible freedom in the Spirit as we sang and prayed and
shared testimonies of Gods gracious work in the hearts of students.
This is not the first time Hughes Auditorium has been the site of a
revival outbreak. On Feb. 3, 1970, the Holy Spirit invaded a chapel
service that was supposed to last 50 minutes. It lasted 185 hours,
running 24 hours a day, and then continued intermittently for weeks.
It eventually spread throughout the United States and to several
foreign countries.
Asbury is an interdenominational Christian college with Wesleyan
roots.The 1970 revival broke out when the schools academic dean,
Custer Reynolds, gave his testimony and then asked students to
share theirs. After several students spoke, Reynolds said something broke.
Then [students] started pouring to the altar, Reynolds told the
Lexington Herald Leader.
The newspaper noted: Asbury, like many evangelical organizations,
held annual, scheduled revivals with guest ministers and services
booked in advance. This, however, was not the same. No one had
planned it. No one was leading it.
Asburys president at that time, Dennis Kinlaw, was later asked
by a reporter to explain what happened at Asbury. Kinlaw struggled
to find the words to describe something that seemed holy and otherworldly.
Said Kinlaw: Well, you may not understand this, but the only way
I know how to account for this is that last Tuesday morning, about
20 of 11, the Lord Jesus walked into Hughes Auditorium, and He's
been there ever since, and you've got the whole community paying
tribute to His presence.
History books now say that the 1970 Asbury Revival spread to 130
colleges, seminaries and Bible schools. Students from the school
fanned out and shared their testimonies in churches and schools
all across the nation, and their fervor spread like some kind of
heavenly virus.
A 1970 book about the revival One Divine Moment by Asbury
history professor Jeff Blake, described the event as a modern
Pentecost. Other historians have noted that it occurred at the
same time a neo-Pentecostal movement was breathing new life
into American churches during the Jesus movement.
And all of this begs the question: Are we on the verge of another
revival of the same magnitude?
Perhaps this weeks gathering at Hughes Auditorium is some type
of divine thermostat, helping us read the spiritual temperature?
Could the outbreak of revival fervor among these students be the
first faint sound of a huge wave that is headed our way?
It would be just like God to orchestrate it this way. Genuine revival
has an uncanny way of sneaking up on us. And when the Holy
Spirit comes in renewing power, He doesnt come on our own time
just because we programmed Him to, nor does He visit the places
we have prearranged.
All I can do is take off my shoes and say: Do it again, Lord.
[NOTE: The continual meetings seem to have wound down for
now. See the Asbury College website- http://www.asbury.edu ]
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.
SOURCE: http://www.charismanow.com/
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