"The NEW PIONEERS of REVIVAL" Part II

Encouraging the Next Generation of Revivalists To Stay on Course!
by David Smithers.

The High Peaks of Prayer

The American pioneers moving west were always looking for some high vantage point from which they could catch a glimpse of the path just ahead of them. The pioneers of revival are no different.

From the towering heights of bent knees they scan the spiritual horizon for some small token of a coming move of God. These Holy Ghost trailblazers are consistently scaling the mountain peaks of prayer in hopes of spotting even the smallest sign of revival. Revival pioneers cannot afford to live on second hand reports and experimental theories borrowed from books. The divine immensityof the pioneer’s vision and calling demands that they hear fromGod for themselves! They need Heaven’s insight and perspective ifthey are to stay on course and avoid falling short of their eternal destination. Only through regular and extended times in prayer can they maintain their bearings and spiritual compass.

Every true pioneer of revival is well acquainted with the taste of hot tears and heartache. Prayer for the revival pioneer is not only a means of fresh direction, but also a supernatural out let for the burden of a broken heart. The pioneer is repeatedly tormented by the growing crisis of a powerless Church in the midst of a lost and sin-sick world. Religious wastelands and deep valleys filled with sun bleached bones mock and challenge his hopes and dreams.

Yet, strangely enough it is these same bleak and threatening spiritual conditions that keep the pioneers of revival praying and pressing deeper into new frontiers of the Holy Spirit. For them to stay and settle in such places would mean the death of their ministry and vision.

For those truly called to be a pioneer, revival is not merely another church growth trend or some spiritual luxury. Revival is a reason for being, a created purpose and divine destiny. Though at different times many young pioneers try to deny the vision and hope for revival, they can’t escape it! The tears and intense longings forrevival always return. This passion and burden was part of their spiritual inception and new birth. They have become RUINED for anything less than genuine revival. The pioneer can’t rest or give up until God’s revival glory is released in the Earth. They would rather die than miss or abort the coming visitation of God. These young pioneers are driven to continue to pray, weep and believe for revival.

Though at times, they grow fainthearted and discouraged in their heavenly pursuit, they always finds themselves rising again to cry out for God to rend the heavens and come down.-(Isa 64:1-4)

You’re NOT Crazy!

Has this divine heartache ever made you wonder if you were goingcrazy? Many of the early pioneers that pulled up roots and moved west often experienced similar emotions before leaving the safety and comfort of their established homes. In spite of the fact that they enjoyed and valued their property and neighbors around them, they still somehow felt as if they didn’t quite fit in and belong. Ashard as they tried, they couldn’t seem to shake a growing hunger and burden for something more. The pioneer spirit deep within them as driving them to keep moving and looking west. In much the same way, today there are thousands of young revival pioneers who share these same intense and sometimes bewildering feelings.

I am talking about something born of the Holy Spirit, a divine discontentment that will not let you settle for anything less than the manifest presence of Jesus Christ.

Unfamiliar with God’s revival process, some young pioneers seek to escape the touch of God upon their hearts. Over and over again, they struggle to fit in with the Church’s most recent "cutting edge"agenda. Yet, lasting relief seems to never come. Even in the midst of renewed and vibrant fellowships, the young pioneer often times still feels like a spiritual misfit and outsider. While others in the Church seem completely satisfied, the revival pioneer in the exact same setting fights to hold back the tears and hunger for something more. Do these disjointed feelings and uncomfortable emotions sound familiar? Is your hungry heart confused and puzzled over where you fit in the house of God? Perhaps God has not allowed you to "FIT" in!

Often there is not a hearing for the pioneer’s prophetic message until after a fresh work of God has begun to be realized. Therefore, young pioneers should not be surprised when they are accused of being idealistic and impractical in their message and methodology.

Such criticism and misunderstandings are often a part of God’s training process in becoming a spiritual forerunner. These trials help to deepen the work of endurance and humility in the pioneer’s heart. Though at times they are slighted and even harshly rejected, the true pioneer learns by trial and error, how to bear it all in meekness, patience and love. Nevertheless, let each pastor and spiritual leader take care that they don’t too quickly dismiss a young pioneer’s sincere passion and zeal as simply the critical spirit of an immature rebel.

To Be Continued with Part III