In 1950 a group of students fasted and prayed for God to move on the Asbury College campus in Wilmore, KY. The college had a long tradition of God moving powerfully among students and faculty dating all the way aback to 1905. They wanted to see God do it again.
He did. For 118 straight hours the service did not end. It began as a routine chapel service one bitterly cold morning on February 23, 1950. The Spirit of God came in settling on faculty and students alike. Classes were canceled. For the next five straight days, students gathered in the auditorium to pray, confess sins, worship, and watch as God saved many of their classmates. People ate little and slept little during those days. The altars remained continuously crowded for those 118 hours. The services started on a Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. They went on uninterrupted until the following Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. 118 straight hours.
Word of the revival spread outside the campus. Townspeople flocked to Hughes Auditorium. No one had to advertise what God did. Newspaper reporters showed up and spread the story far and wide. It is reported it was the second leading story across the nation second only to a coal miner's strike. People reported being overwhelmed by the presence of God when they stepped into that auditorium. A local radio station approached the school leaders asking for permission to broadcast the services live over the airwaves. This was unsolicited by anyone from the college.
Students started traveling and sharing the testimony of what God at Asbury. In just two short weeks over 5,000 people were converted in these meetings off the campus.
After five days of the revival classes resumed. There were still anywhere from 1,000-1,500 who gathered nightly in the auditorium to keep meeting with God. In those services every foot of the altar was covered nightly with people seeking salvation or Christians repenting of sin.
Such stories seem incredulous. Like they were made up. Eyewitnesses testified to the truth. This move of God was not fueled by emotionalism. There were tears of brokenness. There was no emotional exuberance to try and keep the move of God worked up. God started and sustained the work.
The question before us today, can God do that again? Not that we are seeking the signs of revival. Can God move powerfully in a community again drawing people to Himself without great advertising campaigns? Is there even a hunger for God to move powerfully in our midst these days? A hunger to the point of extensive prayer and fasting? Our focus must not be on the accompanying results of revival. Our earnest attention must remain on seeking God to have His will and way in our midst.
Matthew 6:10 (NASB)
10 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
This is the point of revival. That what God wills be done will happen on earth just like it does in heaven. Holiness would increase. Worship would intensify. God would be magnified. His fame would spread. We should long to see God work powerfully to make little deposits of heaven in our homes, churches and communities. Not to ask for 118 hours of an uninterrupted service. It is not the signs we are after. We are after God to have His will done on earth. Let us not forget that focus in these days of preparation.
- Describe the level of your hunger for God to move in and around you.
- What is the status of your prayer life currently?
- What would God's will being done on earth as in heaven look like?
- Do you long for the signs of revival or for God more?
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