More

I attended revival services decades ago where God moved powerfully. I am not exaggerating when I write that thousands were saved in those extended services. The atmosphere was charged with excitement. People overflowed the sanctuary and had to be seated in other buildings on the church campus. Those people hungered for God. The presence and power of God permeated those revival meetings. 

One of the impressions I received on my visits there was seeing a large banner stretched across the front wall. It simply had two words on it.  They were a two word prayer. "More Lord." Having sat in those services I think I can interpret what more meant. It meant more of the glory of God coming down night after night in worship, preaching, and the response during the altar calls. It meant more salvations followed by more baptisms. It meant more of the power of God being poured out during those nightly services. It meant more transformation of lives. It meant more deliverance from addictions. It meant marriages healed. It meant God performing Ephesians 3:20 right in their  midst night after night. 

More Lord right here in Fritch, TX. I did a little math today. Since our building was dedicated and opened, there have been somewhere around 2,700 Sunday gatherings. I think back on those years. That is 53 years worth of worship services. I'm not even counting revival services or special conferences. How many were saved during that span? How many God encounters happened in those services? How many surrendered to preach? How many covenanted in marriage in that sacred space? How many were baptized? I would be so audacious as to ask God for more. More Lord. 

I think back on the first Sunday in  this building. All the excitement escalating up to that day. All the people gathered with wide eyed wonder to walk in here that first Sunday. I am sure the room was packed. Time passed. Good and bad times were endured. Pastors came and went. Most of those people who were instrumental in the building of this house of God are no longer with us. A few remain. All the excitement of that day is long gone. We show up routinely to a five decade old building. There is little excitement anymore. Why not? God is still here. He still longs to pour out His Spirit among us. He waits to be wanted. He longs to be longed for again. He is just as exciting as He has ever been. It is our attitudes that changed. We do not expect great moves of God like they did on that first Sunday. I cry out from my heart, "More Lord."

There is more work to be done. More souls to be won to Christ. More sinners to repent. More people bound in sin to be delivered. More troubled marriages to be rescued. More times to gather for worship and hearing the word of the Lord proclaimed. More opportunities to encounter God. More dedication of our lives in service and sacrifice. More that God can and wants to do. I want all of it. I don't want us to miss out on anything God has in store for us. 

Nor do I want this community to miss out. Nor our state, nation, or the word. More Lord all over the world. More deliverance from evil persecutors. More passionate preachers. More moves of God in large cities and close knit communities. More of His presence and power. May we all audaciously ask God for more. More Lord.