Hunger for Revival (10/11/23)

 There comes a time when the Lord is ready to release revival. Evan Roberts was one man who discerned the Lord’s timing for revival and prayed until God “bent” him. Evan heard the Spirit beckoning him to see the fire of God igniting cold hearts for Jesus Christ. Evan turned his heart to the Lord and allowed the Holy Spirit to move upon him and use him. The Welsh revival of 1904 and 1905 was sparked and masses of sinners turned to the Lord for salvation. 

I feel the Holy Spirit calling again in that same fashion. He is calling out to the hidden “nobodies” like Evan Roberts. He is calling on those who will let Him have His way without trying to control Him. The Holy Spirit is seeking those who will break tradition with the current religious system of ceremonies and programs. Will we allow the Spirit of God to move even if we look foolish before the church?

“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth so that He may support those whose heart is completely His….” (2 Chronicles 16:9 AMP)

Revival Has Tarried

I understand that revival has tarried and that many believers have grown weary. In fact, if you haven’t grown weary then you probably haven’t been believing for revival. When you believe for revival for decades and it doesn’t come, you are going to get spiritually weary. It’s easy to press in for revival for five years or so. Any believer can do that. It's what you do after a decade of pressing in without revival manifesting that really matters.

One reason that the Lord has allowed revival to tarry is so He can get our own zeal (that comes from the self-life) out of us. Our own zeal and religious fervor must die on the cross. Therefore, our passion for revival (from our self-life) must be killed. Then the Lord brings forth His zeal, passion, and hunger for revival in us. The Lord’s zeal for revival will ensure that we don’t waste revival and that we bring it all the way to maturity.

I understand that the fullness of revival is inward transformation into the nature of Christ. However, if people in the religious system and in the world don’t experience an outward revival of healing, miracles, power, the presence of God, repentance, deliverance, the anointing being released, and the glory of God filling the atmosphere; then a lot of people will be damned, and many people will never journey on to the fullness of Christ. We have to have a movement of the Holy Spirit and power or we are in serious trouble!

The Fire of God

When you feel the presence and fire of God burn through your body, it marks you. It moves your heart to commit to the Lord fully. There is something about the fire and presence of God that causes you to willfully give everything to the Lord. You simply want to remain in His presence and fire. Nothing else matters. You will do whatever He desires as long as you are near Him. This generation needs to understand this truth that comes from an experiential encounter with the Holy Spirit. They need to be ignited by the fire of God!

As the nations are now raging, will we cry out for the Lord to initiate revivals in locations of His choosing? Will we call on Heaven to release the carriers of revival? We need the carriers of the Lord’s presence to come forth more than ever before.

Fed Up with the Religious System

Revival will come when we can’t stand the religious system any longer. The burden for revival will begin igniting in our hearts when our disdain for religious programming outweighs our desire for comfort. The burden for a fiery revival will then arise in our hearts according to the zeal and fervor of the living God. This is when the Spirit takes over our prayers and prays through us. He births through us what we cannot birth in our own human capabilities.

“So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.” (Romans 8:26 AMPC)

The groanings of the Spirit birth the purposes of God. May the Kingdom of our Father come, and let the whole false religious system be burnt to the ground by the revival fire of the Holy Spirit!

Breaking Point

In 2016 I reached a breaking point. I had been pressing in as hard as I possibly could for revival. Most days consisted of revival praying, praying in tongues, waiting on God, meditating on the scriptures, and standing in faith for the promises. But in late 2015, my contending for revival was crushed by divisions in the church, controlling leadership, and my own immaturity. I remember weeping before the Lord and saying that I had given all that I had, yet the Lord’s promises were not coming forth.

It turns out that giving it my best or everything that I had to offer was part of the issue. All of the spiritual disciplines can be good if they bring us closer to the Lord. But our best will never produce the promises of God. Christ, the One who is worthy, will bring forth the promises of God through us when He is living through us. Revivals ended prematurely in the past because of the low levels of the measure of Christ in the revivalists. Christ ministering in a vessel will steward revival and bring it to maturity. The Lord has been preparing His revivalists with this in mind and waiting for the fullness of time before He sends forth His sons of revival.

Woman in the Wheelchair

In July 2009, my wife and I traveled to church in Polson, Montana to minister with another couple. A woman in a wheelchair asked for prayer during the ministry time. I prayed in faith and commanded her body to be healed. Nothing happened. I continued to pray but she was not healed. I began to weep. It was not alright with me that she wasn’t being healed. She couldn’t walk and she needed to. It wasn’t about seeing God’s power come or anything else. I was weeping because this woman needed Jesus in me to heal her, but there was not enough of Jesus coming through me to heal her.

Self-life was still strong in me, and it was not allowing the necessary measure of Christ to come forth through me and heal the woman. I knew the problem was with me and it was not alright. The woman kindly said, “It’s not your fault.” But I knew it was. Christ was able to heal her, but I had not yet been crucified with Christ to where He was living through me to heal her. I had to take responsibility for the failure. If you don’t take responsibility for the failure then you will never allow yourself to be pushed to the place where you need to be in the Spirit.

We have a choice to make. We can continue with the attitude of, "Well, it just didn't happen this time. All I can do is pray. If God doesn't heal then I can't do anything about it." Or we can be honest about what the problem really is. The problem wasn't with the woman, and it certainly wasn't with Jesus. The problem was me. If we can't see who the real problem is, we won't be moving in revival and seeing astonishing demonstrations of God's power.

I remember another failed healing from when I was on a ministry trip to Brazil. During the ministry time at one church, I had a young translator assigned to me who had to be in her lower 20s. She had been mostly blinded in one eye from a vehicle accident she was in. Glass had gone into her eye. She translated for me for a long time as I prayed for hundreds of people. At the end of the meeting I prayed for her. I had recently undergone major eye surgery and understood what a terrible situation it could be to lose your vision.

I really wanted this young woman to be healed. It wasn’t right. She has her whole life in front of her and recently got married. This wasn’t about a statistic or how great it is to have God use me. This prayer was about her quality of life, her faith, and her family. She needed healing. She needed the Lord to heal her. Out of all the people I prayed for, I really wanted her to be healed. I had compassion for her and I prayed. I commanded her eye to be healed and her sight to be restored. I prayed for several minutes and nothing happened.

I went and got another guy on the ministry team to pray for her. I didn’t care who God moved through; I just wanted to see her healed for her sake. She didn’t get healed. That failure marked me. It’s not okay that the woman’s eye sight wasn’t restored.

Christ needs you broken of your own way and self-life so He can pour the Spirit out on you in a greater measure. I failed the woman in the wheelchair and the woman in Brazil. Christ did not fail them. Those failures needed to sink deep into my soul. It helps you to understand that Christ coming forth from you is the only way forward.

I have other stories like these because it takes more than one until your thick soul is pierced by the cross of Christ. I have failed more people than I’d like to admit because there has been too much of me and not enough of the Lamb of God radiating from me. And if I don’t speak of my weaknesses, then the power of Christ will not rest on me and come forth through me.

“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:9-10 NKJV)

Ministers who talk about how well they preach, how good they are, how anointed they are, or how full of faith they are definitely don’t need Jesus. They definitely won’t be used by the Holy Spirit to carry revival either. They already have their reward. But a time comes when we have to get ahold of the Holy Spirit. No more failed testimonies of people that you know the Lord wanted to heal but didn’t get healed. We have to hit that point where enough is enough. A line has to be drawn in the sand. We can no longer live in defeat. We must have the resurrection life and power of Christ overshadowing people who are sick and healing the most severe infirmities.

Desperation for the Holy Spirit

The atmosphere changes when the Holy Spirit shows up in a meeting. His presence and glory charges the atmosphere with faith and spiritual fire. To continue going through the motions like we have is torture. The will of God is for His church to be soaked in His presence so that He is our first love and our eyes are fixed on him. Oh, if some people would hide themselves away with God until He rends the Heavens and comes down!

Once you’ve experienced the Lord in this way, you have to have Him continually. He is Life, and how can we live properly without the Life Himself? We are either going to fade away into a cold religious system of programs or protocols, or we are going to find grace with the living God and burn in His holy fire. I know the Lord uses seasons of spiritual dryness to crucify us and mature us, but we are coming into a time in which we must have the fire of God! We need His presence and glory for our very survival!

Presence and Glory of God

When the manifest presence of the Lord is prevalent in revival gatherings, we can more easily maintain the burning for our first love. When you physically feel the Lord’s presence, it means that you are near the Lord (in the Spirit). When you are near Him, you focus on Him and have communion with Him. His presence fills your lamp with oil, so you stay passionate about Him. The Lord’s presence allows revelation to flow more freely. I hear the Lord a lot more clearly when I am before Him in His presence. I can also write much better and meditate on the scriptures much easier when I feel His physical presence saturating my body.

The presence of the Lord brings comfort, peace, and rest to our souls. We are able to overcome the things of this world after being before the Lord. He heals our souls and renews us. He imparts His love and faith to us in this place before His throne. We are protected from temptation and sin when we are consistently in the presence of the Lord. We want to worship Him in Spirit and truth when we feel His fiery glory in our midst. The more time we spend with the Lord in this way, the better friends we become with Him.

We need a fresh baptism in His fire that we might be imparted with a healthy fear of the Lord. May we all experience the refiner's fire that burns away worldliness and sets us free from the weeds and thorns that choke out our spiritual progression into the image of Christ! One of the greatest threats to us all is the cares and worries of this world. They will choke out revival and our progression to the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ:

“As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the Word, and it yields no fruit.” (Matthew 13:22 AMPC)

There are those who have experienced the Lord’s presence over a period of time and they are ruined for Him. These ones must have His presence. King David was one of these people. Saul had neglected the ark—the manifest presence of God. David needed to be before the Lord and he hungered for revival:

“And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of the Lord our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us; and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.”” (I Chronicles 13:2-3 NKJV)

It’s time we brought back the ark (presence of God) to the church. Let’s get rid of “dead religion” and seek to be before the face of the Lord. We must have His reviving Spirit in our midst. Without His presence among us, it’s as if we are only gathering to talk about Him, not to meet with Him. The church of the living God should have meetings directly with the Lord. His presence matters, regardless of what some say.

Old Fashion Revival

I long for the Holy Spirit to move as He did in the meetings of Maria Woodworth Etter. People fell to the floor under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was preached. The power of God would strike people and they would be frozen in place for hours. Some would be caught up in Heavenly encounters or feel the glory of God. Sinners were converted and started serving the Lord. The Holy Spirit drew hearts to Jesus and the Lord was glorified.

I don’t want to focus on what was, nor do I want to talk about what will be. We need a “right now!” The Holy Spirit knows exactly what we need and He will have a certain way that He wants to come. But we desperately need Him to come! Let the cry of your heart be heard by Him! Let Him see your desire and desperation! A generation is slipping into Hell and the world is at the threshold of World War III.

The Holy Spirit is the only One who can help us with the state we are in. We need the new wine, whatever it may be. I don’t care what the wine of the Spirit looks or tastes like because I’m thirsty. I would even take the old wine at this point! Some believers are in such a darkened spiritual state that unless we have the Holy Spirit come in His revival fire, many believers will not be made ready as the bride. We must have more grace released to prepare Christians for Christ!

“This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,” (I Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

The Wilderness 

“He turns rivers into a wilderness, And springs of water into a thirsty ground; A productive land into a [barren] salt waste, Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a wilderness into a pool of water And a dry land into springs of water; And there He has the hungry dwell, So that they may establish an inhabited city, And sow fields and plant vineyards, And produce an abundant harvest.” (Psalms 107:33-37 AMP)

The Lord will put His people and revivalists in a dry land so that they will hunger and thirst for a revival of the Holy Spirit. These places of spiritual bareness will produce the burden of the Lord, which causes the water to burst forth in the dry wilderness.

“Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is valued as a forest.” (Isaiah 32:15 AMP)

The Lord will pour out His Spirit from on high in certain locations. He must have revivalists, disciples, and leaders positioned so He can make that city or region a habitation for His glory. We cannot allow ourselves to be the reason for delay any longer. The spiritual future of others depends on our readiness. We need our dry ground turned into rivers of living water as soon as possible.

Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord

We must have a revival in the church in which the Lord reveals more of Himself to His people. We need to be covered in a canopy of His glory and gaze upon Him. This intimate communion imparts a revelation of who He is. There is an entire generation that doesn’t really know Him that well because they have only read about Him. That’s not good enough.

I feel like I barely know Him and I need to know Him in a greater way. We should be gaining knowledge of the Lord every day. I’m not sure that I can say that. But will we contend to have Him in that way until we get the breakthrough and He gives us Himself? There is no greater gift that He can give us than Himself.

“But [the time is coming when] the earth shall be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14 AMP)

I understand that this scripture will not be fulfilled until Jesus comes and sets up His Kingdom. But the Lord told me in the spring of 2023 to take the book of Habakkuk to the nation. I believe the Lord desires to unveil Himself in a much deeper way to His remnant, bride, and disciples in these final days. His church will behold a deeper level of His glory before He comes. I believe the Lord wants us to contend to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Father, fill your Heavenly city that is on earth with the knowledge of Your glory now!

Impartation

In February 2009, I was prayed for by a minister who was traveling with Leif Hetland. The power of God hit me and all of a sudden I was on the floor. He prayed for me for what seemed like 20 minutes as the Holy Spirit absolutely wrecked me. I was never the same after that encounter. I groaned as the fire of God scorched me. The Spirit imparted His calling and His fire into me. That encounter caused me to diligently seek the Lord. I was never the same. The Lord had me.

In 2015, the Lord allowed me to release that same impartation to four people. I knew what was happening to them because it had happened to me. They would never be the same and they would pursue Jesus. The satisfaction it brought as the Lord was flowing through me cannot be put into words. He was allowing me to be a small part of their journey with Him. Seeing people’s hearts turn to the Lord in a greater way is priceless. We have to be vessels that turn people’s hearts to the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit can empower us.

Think of all of the people who would pursue Christ if they had a similar impartation as I described above. Many young people would commit themselves to the Lord and follow Him if they only had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit that marked them and changed them forever. We have to have revivals that introduce people to the fire of God. The Holy Spirit will put people on the right track to follow Jesus. He desires to glorify Jesus. It's time to stir up what the Lord has given you for the time is at hand:

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (II Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

Atmosphere of Electricity 

During a 2015 trip to Brazil, Blaine Cook was speaking at a large church gathering. He was only halfway through his message on the power of God when it thundered very loudly. He continued and it thundered again. He stopped preaching and it thundered a third time. As this happened, one person ran out in front of the platform and began jumping. The whole building erupted in praise and worship. The worship team started playing, and a thousand people rushed the space in front of the stage at once.

No one could believe what just happened. The atmosphere was electric with the power of God. People were hungry for the fire of God. It looked like chaos but it was not the flesh. It was an eruption by the Holy Spirit. Blaine Cook never finished his message. The message was over and the Holy Spirit was moving. Blaine started laying hands on people from the stage and people were falling over under the power of God and shaking as Holy Spirit electricity coursed through their bodies. The Lord responded to the hunger that was in people's hearts.

I’ve been in other meetings in the U.S. where you could feel an atmosphere of the Lord’s fiery glory. The Lord was closer than usual. The fire was so intense that it felt like your body was being radiated in His glory. I remember squinting my eyes when that high level of fire was in the room. It was special and I’ve only experienced that a few different times in a corporate setting. We have to have the Lord among us like that consistently. You don't want to leave the meeting when the Lord is manifesting Himself in that way. All other concerns fade away when the King is in the room.

Fire Starters

I understand some of the reasons why the Lord has not been moving in revival. When nations fail to repent of sin, a spiritual darkness falls over that nation. Miracles and revivals become very difficult to see happen. This has occurred in the U.S. and in other nations. However, we have never been in the place where we are now. Our position on the spiritual road map is towards the very end of the age and the Lord will have a bride prepared for Him when He returns. Therefore, He will move powerfully and quickly upon His people to get us ready for Him.

During the deepest spiritual darkness ever felt on earth, Jesus will manifest His glory to His remnant. He will use spiritual fire starters to ignite burning revivals in various locations of His choosing. The church will burn with the glory and fire of God in these regions. Darkness will be all around and things will not be easy. But the Lord will build His church and see to it that the remnant goes on to the full measure of Christ’s stature. He will bring the wheat to maturity before the harvest. Only mature wheat can be harvested. The Father is going to send the burning ones who will carry the fire of God and start spiritual fires.

The time for this is near. I don’t know exactly how far off it is, but I do know the Lord moved me to write this. We can no longer go on as usual. We have to engage Heaven and believe for revival. I know that it is difficult when you have spent decades praying for revival and nothing has happened. I understand the position we are in and the pain of not seeing the promises come to pass. However, we are now at a point of no return. We have no choice but to pick ourselves back up from the spiritual tomb of “hope deferred” and believe one last time. The spiritual future of many people may rest in our contending for revival and believing God.

Nothing was happening spiritually in Israel before the Son of God was sent to bring revival. The nation was spiritully dead in a form of religion (except for John preaching in the wilderness). But suddenly miracles, healings, and deliverances began breaking out. The Kingdom of God and the will of the Father were being preached. Everything changed in a moment of time.

It happened suddenly. The Father broke through the darkness and sent His fire starter, His burning One. The Fire Starter in us is about to be released. The One who burns in us is going to send the burning ones to His people. We have never been here before and we have never seen anything like what is coming.

-Ty Unruh (October 2023)