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Richmond Report, Jun 4, 2003,
June 11, 2003
Richmond Report, Jun 4, 2003, from The Common Thread
This report goes into some of the recent intercessory history of Richmond, as well as some keys to pray for the amazing plans God has for us. We also want to APPLAUD all of those that have faithfully interceded for God's kingdom to come on earth, as it is in heaven. Many of the laborers now being thrust into the field are due to your response to Jesus' request in Matthew 9:38: "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."
The revival at Faith Heritage Church of God on Courthouse Road has entered it's 10th week. From what we understand, this small church (seats approximately 150-200) has been fairly full every night of their meetings (Sunday - Wednesday weekly), with at least 50% of the group being new people. Pastors from different denominations and different areas of the city have reported that they believe this is a true move of the Lord. This is in no way saying that this is the only place that God is moving; however, when the waters of Bethesda (John 5) are stirred, we need to jump in and receive the healing needed to go forth into what God has told us to do. We believe He is stirring the waters at Faith Heritage that many might be healed, refreshed and strengthened for the next leg of God's incredible journey in our city. We have not yet visited this revival, but plan to shortly. We have spent time asking our Lord what He was doing considering our personal journey gathering intercessors....We are on the verge of the breakthrough we have waited for. We must be as the sons of Issachar and know the times in which we live.
A little intercessory history
When the Lord first had us gather intercessors in 1997, He was very specific regarding the locations. He had us pray in the geographical center for quite some time (according to the original lay of the city), meeting at Tikvat Israel. This was two-fold, He wanted to proclaim freedom to the 4 corners of our city from the center, and He wanted us to stay connected with His purposes for natural Israel (there is a strong connection between Richmond and Israel and it will become more and more apparent in the days ahead).
Burying a Bible
At one point, Andrew Fuller of World Horizons felt led to bury a Bible in the center of the city...I ran upstairs and grabbed a Bible from a shelf in my husband's office. Little did I know that this Bible was from the monastery that is now Richmond Hill. After the Civil War, this monastery was built, and they prayed for at least 100 years for the rebuilding of Richmond and for God's destiny. This Bible is very old, with Roman numerals, and has a picture of Richmond, Virginia in it and handwritting from one of the nuns. We realized that God was connecting our prayers with those that have gone before. We joined with them in filling the bowls of prayer in heaven for Richmond, and the bowls were very close to being tipped. (Rev 5:8) It was during the burying of this Bible that the Lord told us there was a great destiny for African Americans in our city in the place of missions - both home, but mostly abroad. The Lord revealed to us that they would be sent like fire from Richmond. (Interesting Note: The first missionary from the Americas to Africa was sent from Richmond, and he was African American. A small portion of the story is on our website under "Revealing Richmond"....)
>From there, the Lord sent us to the East Gate where we met at Charity Mission International Church. It was there that intercessors sensed that one of the signs of the Lord coming into our city would be that the physical lay of the land on the east end would begin to change. Since that time, there has been great revitalization in the area. We then met at various ends of the city making sure that all the "gates" were visited.
Breaking a dam
At one of the meetings at Tikvat He showed me a large dam - one that has been in place for a long time in our city. It has squelched revival from ever breaking into our borders. (Historically, revival has broken out around Richmond and never within. This "dam" is a religious spirit. A pastor once told me that every foul spirit bowed to Jesus but one: the religious spirit. This is one of the strongholds that has plagued us. It plagued the disciples and we are no different than them). Behind the dam was a stream flowing; however, the water was unable to burst through the dam. The stream was indicative of the spirit of the Lord...the river of God (if you will allow me to call it that). A few trickles came through cracks that were in the dam walls, but nothing of any major significance. I then noticed that the stream began to slowly rise. I was encouraged at this, but knew it would not break the dam holding it back. The spirit of the Lord then told me "when you see the stream begin to rise...watch and see". I looked up and a tsunami was rushing through the woods and up the stream. The walls of the dam had NO CHANCE of resisting this mighty rushing wall of water. The dam burst, crumbling under weight of this mighty river.
Signs of a rising stream
What is happening at Faith Heritage, in several local prison ministries (Hank Parker of Grace Alive Outreach Center has reported multiple salvations in his prison ministry alone), the souls coming forward at the ROC, and the increase of anointing many of you may feel, are signs of the stream rising. Now is the time to pray as never before, and watch and see the Lord do His handiwork through those willing to go into the fields. We must be careful not to resist the Lord. We can do this by applauding these great outbreaks of God and continue to press in in prayer "more Lord...break out in more places, bring in more souls, send out more labourers!"
Actions we can take to partner with God
Two years ago, the Lord had me speak to leaders and intercessors in Richmond regarding prayer and the harvest. If we will hear it, the increase of ease in reaping souls is due to the incredible increase of intercessory prayer, prayerwalking, mapping, and reconciliation that the Body of Christ has experienced over the last 10 years. Every revival that has occured has begun with prayer....people crying out between the porch and the altar. However, the Lord pointed out to me a pattern that we must beware of. When the increase of souls takes place, the prayer closet is slowly abandoned because of excitement OR the work of discipleship. After several years of reaping marvelously, the spirit of the Lord would lessen and the souls coming forward to the altar would reduced to hardly anything. The Lord was wooing His people back to the place of prayer and intimacy. After a period of dryness we would once again, be driven back to our knees wondering what happened to "the good old days". Folks, this is the final sweep of the spirit of the Lord. He has absolutely gone global with this revival....prayer has birthed it and prayer shall sustain it. Let us be delivered from wrong patterns of either emphasizing prayer alone, or harvest alone. Stay in the prayer closet and press in in prayer...AND go out and thrust in the sickle the Lord has given you. It is a season for burning passionate prayer simultaneous with burning passionate outreach!
Location: Richmond, VA, United States
Website: http://www.thecommonthread.org/
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