when God comes down

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!  When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.  For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.  (Isaiah 64:1-4)

In Bernera things were difficult; the stream of Christianity was running low, the churches empty, there were no prayer meetings. So I sent a wire requesting the praying men of Barvas to come and assist me in prayer, and making this special request that little Donald [15 years old and newly saved] be brought with them. They came, and in a meeting at which about eighty people gathered, I was preaching from the text, "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell." That has been the burden of the message from the beginning to this day, when God is sweeping through the isles. The burden of the message has been the severity of God in judgment, the glories of heaven and the terrible reality of doomed souls in a burning hell. Listen, you preachers of the Gospel: I am convinced of this, that we have to get back to this emphasis and the terrible reality of doomed souls n a burning hell. Listen, you preachers of the Gospel: I am convinced of this, that we have to get back to this emphasis; we have been soft-pedalling far too long, and the soul-destroying doctrine of Universalism is eating at the vital part of our message. Half-way through that address I stopped, and, looking down at this lad, I said, "Donald, will you lead us in prayer?" 

He stands; he is not praying more than five minutes when God sweeps into the church, and there is the congregation falling almost on top of each other; others throw themselves back and become rigid as in death. Do not ask me to explain these physical manifestations; I only state that again we are moving into the realm of the supernatural. But the remarkable thing about that great meeting is this, that while that was happening in the church fishermen out in their fishing boats, men behind their looms, men at the pit bank, a merchant out with his van, school teachers examining their papers, were gripped by God, and by ten o'clock the roads were black with people seeking after God who were never near me. I went along that country road and found in one place three men lying on their faces, so distressed about their souls that they couldn't talk to me; yet they were never near a meeting that I held. This is revival!       (Rev. Duncan Campbell, on the Hebrides Revival, 1949-51)

 

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.  I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.  (Isaiah 41:17-18)

Well, the congregation sang a couple of hymns.  Then somebody prayed.  And they said, "We're glad to have Principal George Jeffreys here."  He was the head of the Bible school.  He came on the platform and stood there.  He never raised his voice.  You could feel the power of God emanating from him.  The whole congregation was ignited.  There was an expectation.  They did with him what they did with this man [the invalid who was brought to Christ].  They brought cripples off the street.  A woman had been in bed for thirty-one years.  And they laid her at his feet.  Then, he spoke.  And she jumped straight up!  And everywhere they went, they had people jamming the streets.  They had the most horrible cases of twisted, deformed, demented people.  There was no fundraising.  There was no asking for money.  There was no magic, no shows.  But the glory of God filled the temple.    (Leonard Ravenhill, on the ministry of George Jeffreys)

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.  (2 Chronicles 16:9)

I remember when [my wife] and I, before we were pastors, we were in a community with about~I don't know how many people, but it was 40 square miles, as far as we knew with no testimony of God.  We were left in that area.  And we began to meet.  I was a cop; my wife was a housewife; and a bus driver joined us.  And the three of us, every Tuesday night, began to pray.  No degrees; no religious degrees; no influence; no authority; no provision~we had no money to do anything with.  But we started to pray every Tuesday night.  And we would come into the living room, and each of us would take a corner, and we would start to petition God to move in the darkness.  And we didn't have anything to give.  We didn't have any mechanism.  We didn't have any machinery behind us.  We didn't have a program.  There was no strategy.  All we did was pray.  "Lord, break the darkness.  Bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people.  Set them free."  We would turn to the North and command the North to set them free.  We would turn to the South, and the East, and the West, and we would pray.  And I still remember the night when we broke through.  After weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and weeks of prayer: one night we broke through, and we knew God had answered our prayer.  Seven years later; two churches later; one Christian school later; $700,000.oo in real estate all paid for; a food bank feeding 237 people~seven years later!  God had broken through!    (Carter Conlon, pastor, Times Square Church in New York City)

Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.  Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.  Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children; whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood....  That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets....   (Psalm 144:5-13)

Donald, George, Carter, and his wife Teresa: all were ordinary people who saw God move in extraordinary ways.  Why?  Because, they believed His Word and, so, they prayed.  Many more names and testimonies could be added to the list.  Whole books could be written~indeed they have been written, telling the stories of how that ordinary men and women, and even young persons, took God at His Word, and prayed; and, how that God moved in amazing ways, in answer to those petitioners' prayers.

God has not only demonstrated His willingness to "bow His heavens and come down."  But in His Word God gives us to understand that it is in fact His will to do so.  God wants to "come down" amongst the world of men, in order that He still might "seek and save that which was lost."  But for reasons which are fully known only to God, He evidently has purposed to move and to work through the prayers of His people.

God's not done yet.  How do I know?  Because, His Word says so.

I gladly recommend that you should listen to this message by Carter Conlon, in its entirety!  It is titled, "Miracles and the Coming Revival."  WARNING: This video was posted five years ago.  We now have five fewer years. . . .