The ebb and flow of revival throughout church history has often been compared to that of the tidal flow of the ocean. The tide comes in and out with subsequent waves of activity in between. Such it is with God’s manifested presence and this wonderful thing called “revival”, “the move of God’s Spirit” and even “city transformation”.

This is an 18 year old man named Tyler. He grew up saying the sinners prayer but didn't truly know what that meant and so it had him on a road to hell. Thanks be to God for saving him!

You may have had things happen to you in the presence of the Lord that puzzled you, yet you could find where someone else in Scripture or history had had a similar experience. All of us have had an encounter to some degree. Yet, not one of us experienced what Mary did.

My prayer life was transformed when I discovered that prayer is the glorious adventure of an unfolding, growing, reciprocating relationship with the living God of the universe. Nothing excels the glory of burning with holy longing before a burning God who blazes with fiery passions for weak but lovesick worshipers.

The Crucifixion of Jesus. This is the story that will enflame the prayer movement. If you want to intercede with fervency, meet your King here. If you stare at Him hanging on a Cross you might just find yourself suddenly emboldened in love. He came this low, He wants to hear from me and I want to discover Him there.

What kind of King do we have? Imagine the prayers of all the people throughout the ages who groaned for a Messiah. Imagine their surprise at how the events played out.

I have joined myself to an Ocean, and I cleave to a world unseen. It is not only a joining that we embrace but a free-falling. In our descent, a drawn out cry comes forth as our last request, “Have Your way!”  I freefall with arms spread wide, holding nothing for myself and keeping not the slightest grip of ownership upon my life. My life is not my own. I have been bought with a price. And I have willingly surrendered to my position of hiddenness in Him—hidden with Christ in God. When He appears, I too will appear with Him (Col 3:4).

We have to understand both dimensions of the redeemed heart to understand the grace of God in a more complete way. There is a greater capacity for sin in our hearts than we comprehend. No one fully grasps the depth of the wickedness within the human heart. We have many unperceived areas of sin that lie undetected below the surface like hidden fault lines. On the other hand, the grace of God has helped us in ways that we do not fully understand.

“I suspect I’ve got more in common with Jezebel and Ahab than with Elijah. I’m working to build a tolerant, pluralistic society that respects other faith traditions. I’ve devoted ten years of my life to calling the church to repentance and transformation, on account of its homophobia and heterosexism, its narrowness and its prejudice. I don’t have any sympathy for the austere Yahwehism of the prophet Elijah and his quick to kill and “throw to the dogs” invocation of judgment and divine retribution. Elijah would have stoned me without a second thought. Jezebel was an enlightened woman – I reckon she’d give the likes of me a fair go.”

Dr. David Bromell

Pentecost Sunday Sermon, 1998.