We are pleased to bring you this mid-June 2021 edition of IPC Connections.  

As we have transitioned from an amazing, busy month of Prayer during May for GO MONTH and several partner prayer and mission activities under the Hope of Harvest banner, we have so many reasons to be thankful!  Despite the challenges that we are all facing with the pandemic, we are seeing a great move of God across the nations as huge numbers have been coming to faith in Jesus Christ.   We are collating testimonies and feedback from each continent that we will share with you in our July edition, but we are sure that you will want to give thanks with us for prayers answered and souls saved.

In his Editorial article entitled: Gospel Explosion in the Nations, Dr Jason Hubbard takes us on a journey that deepens our understanding of what true biblical revival is about.  He shares this point – ‘“What would it take to see a genuine move of God initiated and sustained in a geographic area?” It is not enough to just see revival, we want to see transforming revival in communities, cities and even whole nations before the return of Christ!’

We are grateful to Mike Bickle, Founder and Director of International House of Prayer, Kansas City for allowing us to share with our prayer partners his recently written article entitled ‘Five Reasons We Value Studying the End Times & Four Pastoral Challenges’ which we believe imparts some valuable truths and teaching for such a time as this.

We continue our series of introductions to the IPC Council members with a profile of our friend and colleague, Liz Adleta. Liz is based in Texas, USA and has been associated with IPC since we started.  She now co-leads our ‘Praying for Unreached Peoples’ focus team.  She brings a wealth of knowledge, giftings and experience to IPC. 

Thank you for continuing to partner with us in mobilising and informing united prayer across nations, denominations, movements, and generations for the fulfilment of the Great Commission.

May we express grateful thanks to Andy Page and the IPC Editorial Team who put this email together each month.

Every blessing,

Jason Hubbard - Director
International Prayer Connect

Please use this link if you would like to sow into IPC’s ministry with a donation

Disclaimer… The views and opinions expressed in IPC Connections and the articles on our website are those of individuals and our partner organisations. They do not necessarily represent the policies or views of IPC or its individual leaders.
We aim to respect the diversity within the prayer movement and yet embrace our unified calling to mobilise prayer for the nations. (2 Chron 7:14)   If you wish to discuss the appropriateness of any articles, please contact us.

It’s our desire to see a massive full-scale revival and awakening erupt in the nations of the earth!   We have been asking for another historic move of the Holy Spirit to sweep across our land and awaken a generation to wholehearted love and surrender to Jesus! 

It’s all about a Christ-awakening, where the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to reawaken God’s people back to God’s Son for all that He is! 

We want to enter into the power and pleasure of being obsessed with the magnificence of Jesus.  He is the dominating personality in this age and in the age to come!

We are longing for a Gospel Explosion, a tsunami of revival to come crashing in on the beaches of the nations for the spread of his fame, for the extension of his reign, for the increase of his gain and for the honor of his claim! May the slain Lamb receive the due reward for his sufferings.    

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14).

God is truly bringing us into a ‘decade of harvest.’ One of the goals that we launched in 2020 was to see 100 million in united prayer for a ‘billion soul harvest.’ During the month of May this year millions were praying and sharing their faith around the world in partnership with the Go Movement. Since the global pandemic, ministry leaders have reported to us that more people have been coming to Christ than at any time they have seen previously. In both 2020 and 2021, IPC partnered together in prayer with RUN ministries, a disciple-making house church movement based in regions around the world of massive remaining unreached peoples. They just released this incredible report to us below:

“First in 2020, by God’s grace, and with an increase in prayer and focus on evangelism tied to church planting movements the Lord blessed us with tremendous growth. Although the data is still being reviewed, the preliminary reports are that more than 20 million souls from the unreached world were added to the Kingdom! To God be the Glory! We are now a family of movements totally approximately 3 million house churches and 60+ million Jesus followers!

In the 2021 month of prayer we were able to mobilize 64 million believers to pray and encourage one another to share their faith and begin discipline relationships with family, friends and loved ones.  Our estimation is that the average would be each person sharing their faith with 5 people.  This would be approximately 320 million people (of course there could be lots of overlap with this number, right).  So the most important number is that we were able to inspire 64 million Jesus followers to pray and share their faith during this season” – William J Dubois

A key question that we like to ask is this, “What would it take to see a genuine move of God initiated and sustained in a geographic area?” It is not enough to just see revival, we want to see transforming revival in communities, cities and even whole nations before the return of Christ!

George Otis Jr. describes a transformed community this way …

• A neighborhood, city or nation whose values and institutions have been overrun by the grace and presence of God
• A place where divine fire has not merely been summoned, it has fallen
• A society in which natural evolutionary change has been disrupted by invasive supernatural power
• A culture that has been impacted comprehensively and undeniably by the Kingdom of God
• A location where Kingdom values are celebrated publicly and passed on to future generations

Samuel Davies reminded us from his vantage point of the Second Great Awakening, “there are eras when only a large outpouring of the Spirit can produce a public general reformation.” He witnessed first-hand how revival and awakening brought a cultural change that nothing else could accomplish. The pastor of St. John’s-Wood Presbyterian church declared after the Welsh revival, in which 100,000 people came to Christ in nine months (1904-1905) that “the mighty unseen breath of the Spirit was doing in a month more than centuries of legislation could accomplish.”

The Power of the Gospel

We are convinced that transforming revival is first and foremost about the glorious gospel of Christ heralded and proclaimed among the nations in this generation!  God is calling his church to embrace the gospel again, living grace-addicted, truth-filled, Jesus-exalting lives! The Gospel is the good news that God’s kingdom power has entered human history through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

As John Piper writes,

“The Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous King, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy!”

Daniel Montgomery shares three helpful aspects of the gospel, the kingdom, cross, and grace…

• The gospel of the kingdom is life with God under God’s rule.
• The gospel of the cross is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus by which God accomplishes our salvation, rescues us from his wrath, incorporates us into his people, and inaugurates his reign in the world.
• The gospel of grace is the wonderful news that God accepts us, shares his life with us, and adopts us as heirs of his kingdom not because we have earned it or deserve it, but because God chooses to give all of this freely at Christ’s expense.

The gospel is news not advice.  The gospel is not what God requires. The gospel is what God provides! The gospel is not an imperative, demanding things you must do. The gospel is an indicative, declaring things that God has done. The gospel is not about human action. The gospel is about divine achievement. The gospel is not a moralistic Do. The gospel is a merciful Done! The gospel should inform, control, and energize all we do in worship, prayer, family, discipleship, community, and mission— all are the fruit of the grace that God has given us in Jesus. 

The gospel is the center of the Bible, and it ought to be the center of our lives, homes, churches, ministries, spiritual disciplines, songs, parenting, marriage-everything! The Christian life is formed by the glories of the gospel - it’s patterned and powered by the gospel of grace in all of life - for the rest of life! We don’t worship the gospel, we worship the God of the Gospel, Jesus Christ! The gospel is God’s act of turning scoundrels into saints, turning sin seekers into people who know and find their utmost satisfaction in God! Dave Keesling put it this way, “the gospel’s simplicity is its ability to, in a moment, change literally everything”

• We worship Jesus because “he is the radiance of the glory of God” (Heb. 1:3)
• We focus on the gospel because “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21)
• Our hope is wrapped up in the truth that “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and by his wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:5)
• We center our lives on Jesus because “we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him” (Rom 6:9)
• We sing, pray, sacrifice, and follow Jesus because, “there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5)
• We have confidence in life, and death because of Jesus, “who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever! Amen” (Gal 1:4-5)
• We walk with joy and no condemnation because, “he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin, and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (I Peter 2:24).
• Jesus is our great reward and love because, “in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7)
• We go on gospel mission because “the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’” (I Tim. 1:15)

May this gospel, this great good news of Jesus EXPLODE in every region of the world!

Hunger

As George Otis reminds us, “the process of transforming revival in the nations is triggered when our appetite for God’s presence trumps all other hungers.”  This hunger is ignited and fanned into flame through the gospel of God’s glorious grace!

As Leonard Ravenhill wrote, “The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it.” 

He was famous for exposing our idol-driven lives when he stated, “Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?"

True revival experienced by many throughout human history has always been accompanied by extraordinary conviction of sin, fear of God and his judgment, revelation of God’s love and mercy, confession, deep repentance and people inquiring, as on the day of Pentecost, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 2:37)

God is especially attracted to an environment of humility, brokenness, desperate spiritual hunger, repentance, grace-empowered obedience, and urgent united prayer. Duncan Campbell, the great preacher during the Hebrides revival of 1949-52 summed up revival well when he wrote, 

“Revival is when men in the streets are afraid to speak godless words for fear that God’s judgment will fall!  When sinners, aware of the fire of God’s presence, tremble in the streets and cry out for mercy!  When (without human advertising) the Holy Spirit sweeps across cities and regions in supernatural power and holds people in the grip of terrifying conviction!  When every store becomes a pulpit, every heart an altar, every home a sanctuary, and people walk carefully before God!  This, my beloved, is truly REVIVAL FROM HEAVEN!”—Duncan Campbell

Revival is Jesus-centered! It is gospel driven! (Acts 19:10, 17).  Revival challenges the status quo and changes the spiritual atmosphere until a community is ‘Saturated with God.’

Extraordinary Prayer

It goes without saying that prayer is the incubator and furnace of revival. As AT Pierson wrote,

“There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.”

Revival is preceded by extraordinary prayer.  As Matthew Henry remarked,

“When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing he does is set them a-praying!”

Edwin Orr, one of the great scholars of revival was asked once,

“Does prayer make revival happen?  He responded, ‘No… but it does make it possible’”

As A.W. Tozer wrote in an article entitled, “There is no Limit to Revival,”

“There is no limit to what God could do in our world if we would dare to surrender before him with a commitment that says, ‘O God I hereby give myself to you, I give my family, I give my business, I give all I possess. Take all of it Lord—and take Me! I give myself in such measure that if it is necessary that I lose everything for your sake, let me lose it. I will not ask what the price is. I will ask only that I may be all that I ought to be as a follower and a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Let’s position our minds and hearts before the bonfire of God’s all-consuming Son, the Lord Jesus, asking for greater revelation of Who He is, where He is headed, what He is doing and how He is blessed.  Let’s ask for a glorious Gospel Explosion to erupt for His renown in the nations!

Steve Hall one of my good friends wrote an excellent prayer, asking for an outpouring of the Spirit of Christ upon the nations. You can pray it for your specific nation and for all nations.  

“COME, LORD JESUS” (Rev. 22:20)
PRAYING FOR AN OUTPOURING OF CHRIST UPON THE NATIONS

The “Come, Lord Jesus” prayer in Revelation 22 sums up all the prophecies, promises and prayers of the Word of God—by imploring Christ to (one day) physically return to earth in all His power and glory.  Yet, we also desperately need an outpouring of ALL of Him (through His Spirit) right now too!  The prayer below is meant as a starting point for all followers of Christ to unite in urgently praying for Him to “rend the heavens and come down”… (Isaiah 64)—upon our families, our congregations, our cities, our leaders, our nations—all people!

Dear Father,

I/we Rejoice (believe unconditionally) that the Lord Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead and of ALL Scripture.  He is the Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of all heaven and earth.  He is Lord of ALL!  In Him is all LIFE and HOPE.  All hail King Jesus!

I Repent that I and many other believers across our nation have failed to continually exalt Christ’s unlimited supremacy, and to put every part of our lives and the world around us under His authority and will.  We have lost our first love.  We have become unresponsive to the vast hope we have in Jesus.  Please create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us.

I Resist all the ways the powers of darkness have been keeping believers from seeing Christ for all He is and all He offers—and from living victoriously in all of Him.  Please cover us with the blood of Jesus, and deliver us from the evil one.  Help us to put on Your full armor and to stand firmly against the devil.

I Request an outpouring of Christ upon me and upon EVERY BELIEVER across our nation.  Reveal His fullness to us—so we will become fully awakened to Him!  Revive our love for Him, our devotion to Him, and our witness of His Gospel to the world.  Oh, how we need to be following only the Good Shepherd—in Him we will not be in want.  Consume us in Him as our preeminent “Hope of glory.”

I also Request an outpouring of Christ upon our WHOLE NATION—upon all men and women, young people and children, of all ethnicities, among all our citizens and immigrants.  Release the whole Jesus upon ALL our people.  May He be their Way and their Truth and their Life!  Reform (transform) them by the renewing of their minds.  Redeem them out of the kingdom of darkness into Christ’s glorious light.  May righteousness exalt our nation! 

I Recommit myself to living in the fullness of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to urging other believers to live in and pray for a sweeping Christ Awakening throughout our nation.  Please put an unquenchable flame for Christ in all of us—no holding back, no turning back—consumed in Him and poured out for Him.  For His is the kingdom and the power and the glory, now and forever!  COME LORD JESUS!

I pray these things in Jesus’ life-giving name.  Amen.

For the Supremacy of Christ in all things,

Dr. Jason Hubbard – Director
International Prayer Connect