As I was asking questions to the Holy Spirit, He told me to say the Lord's Prayer. I was a bit like: why? But anyway I started saying it. "Our Father ... deliver us from evil..." There He stopped me and said: "I promised you I will deliver you from evil but I never said you were going to have a trouble free life".

MY GOD DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!

In fact -He went on- your troubles might bless you. Say what? Look, I know you are the Holy Spirit and you know everything, but unless you explain this I cannot swallow it. He then pointed me to Hosea 2:14 where I read things that totally prove that we serve a God that does not make sense. My God doesn't make any sense!

Just in case you did not see it when you just read it I will tell you. God says he will "allure her into the wilderness and ... speak comfort to her". Come on! Comfort in the wilderness? Then He said that He "will give her vineyards from there" Really? Just in case you do not know the valley of Achor where God says He will give "her vineyards from there" is a desert in the middle of the wilderness! Another name for it is the "valley of death". Vineyards? And to top it all He said that the valley of Achor "will be your gate of hope".

Don't you see it? Said He. I don't, I said. Look again. Lord, I just don't get your point. And He shouted to me:

YOUR TROUBLES CAN BE THE GATE TO YOUR BLESSINGS!

How could that be? The Holy Spirit then said: stay with me and I will show you where lies the hinge over which the door revolves from troubles to blessings.

He then took me to 2 Kings 19 where we read the story of Jerusalem surrounded by the Assyrians with Sennacherib at the head. The siege was long, and the heathen King even blasphemed the Lord. King and nation were in dire need, and they were facing certain death. Then Hezekiah went into the temple and call Isaiah to a prayer meeting. There Isaiah made intercession for Hezekiah and for the nation. And the answer came.

BECAUSE YOU PRAYED

The Holy Spirit then made me note that God will never ever answer a prayer that has not been made! Only "because you prayed" you will have deliverance.

And surely as daylight deliverance came. You read the story, almost 200,000 enemy soldiers killed by the Angel of the Lord and the rest fled with Sennacherib their king heading the flight!

But I was still thinking about how troubles can be a blessing. I thought here the blessing was actually the deliverance from trouble, but the trouble itself did not look to me like a blessing; if it was a blessing in disguise, I have to admit it was the master of disguise!

And the Holy Spirit pointed me to some history, particularly the history of ancient warfare. In ancient times an army like the Assyrians would go out on campaigns that lasted months or even years. In many cases they would conquer and subjugate a city or nation, and instead of going home they would simply continue to the next city to conquer. This seems to be the case with Sennacherib as it shows when he is boasting: It seems he was riding on a highway of victories, leaving behind conquered lands and subjugated peoples.

AFTER YOU PRAY: GATHER!

I said: what do you want me to gather from this portion of history? And He said: "gather" just that. Oh, right! What? My head was already spinning, as it usually happens when I get into a direct talk with the Holy Spirit. He gives me peace but He makes my brains smoke!

He said: Look, the Assyrians were in a conquering campaign and they had already submitted quite a few nations, and they surely took big spoils and tribute from them. Where was the gold and silver they took? Where were all the valuables they took from the conquered peoples? They did not send boxes of gold via UPS ground, and FED-EX did not have planes as they had not been invented yet. They had all the goods with them; they were carrying it all with them!

THEY LEFT THEIR GOODS AT THE GATES OF JERUSALEM AND FLED!

This is our God! This is the God that does not make sense. Only one such God can allow the then mightiest army in the world to come and siege Jerusalem, then God himself kill a big chunk of them, cause the rest to flee in absolute terror, leaving behind their possessions. I said: Lord the Bible does not say that they left all the gold there. Oh my! I should by now know better than teach Bible to the Holy Spirit. He simply asked me: "Do you think that the Assyrians in all their terror, those left of them, would take time to gather their gold when they were running for their lives?" No, they left all the stuff behind so that the people in Jerusalem could gather it all. And it all happened "Because you prayed"; that's the hinge!

OPEN YOUR GATES, NOT THE GATES OF HEAVEN

So many times we keep crying to God to open the gates of heaven and send blessings, when we could simply open our gates and gather the blessings God has already caused to be left at our gates when we prayed! But this takes action, we need to act, open the gates, step out in faith, and believe God!

Nothing will happen that you do not pray for; but many times the blessings you prayed for are already at your gates. Because you prayed they were sent to you; because you prayed, blessings were stored at your front door; because you prayed He came with deliverance; because you prayed He came with provision.

God will never answer a prayer that has not been made. But then again, God will never answer your prayers by sending quail flying into your camp already roasted!

Be blessed and be a blessing!

J. Conrad Lampan

The way it happens - the details and some particulars of each and every revival might come as a surprise - but there is no such a thing as a revival that was totally unexpected. If anybody dare say that some revival in history just happened when nobody at all was expecting it, then they will have to say also that those who were praying for a move of God did not believe that God would really answer their prayers.

Nobody Should Expect A Harvest Without Sowing First

Randy Clark was used of God to spark a move of God in Toronto; however, long before that night, the church was praying - they had been praying, seeking God's face, tilling the ground, and sowing - and many tears of hunger and desperation watered the planting until at the right time God sent His vessel.

In 1904 a revival, that some consider to have been the greatest ever, hit Wales. Evan Roberts was the instrument God used to spark it. There was a great harvest of souls, in the line of about 100,000 souls. But this was not unexpected. The intensity of what happened still marvels us, but nobody can say it was unexpected, for there were many places that I would call pockets of prayer where Christians were crying out for God to move in their nation. Evan Roberts was one of them who actually prayed for 100,000 souls! And God answered.

The Apostles Had No Idea What Would Happen!

Back to the book of Acts, the disciples did not have in mind any past revivals to learn from. Everything was new to them. They did not know exactly what was going to happen. They did not know what, or when, or how it was going to happen, but they were together; they were praying; they were waiting. They were surely surprised - they must have been because of all the wonderful things that happened when the Holy Spirit came. Surprised, yes. Unaware? No sir - they were prepared.

Waiting on God. Yes sir, that's it.

They were not about their business. They did not go home to wait, while comfortably sleeping in their own beds. They were not about planning strategies or programs. They were not even about revival!

They were waiting on God.

He was found standing in a puddle of his own tears...

In the fifties, Tommy Hick an American evangelist was used by God to spark a revival in Argentina. Unexpected? For many people, yes, it was unexpected. But for the students at the Bible College that had suspended their classes and were spending their time in prayer 24 hours a day, no sir for them it was not unexpected. One of those students was found one day facing a wall, standing in a puddle of his own tears as he prayed for the nation.

Revival unaware? No such thing.

We should not expect any Randy Clark, or Evan Roberts, or Carlos Anacondia, or any other anointed servant to come and start a harvest where we have not bothered to sow.

J. Conrad Lampan

It was the fifties, when in Argentina the Evangelicals were looked upon like unworthy of having a friend outside their circles, leave aside the Pentecostals which fell under a rather unnamed category.

Dr. Miller, a missionary from the USA, and by all means a visionary had just planted a new Bible College, one of the very few we had in those years. Great efforts were made to teach a group of just 20 students; the needs were many, and the need for preachers of the Gospel was desperate, and so there was a sense of desperation as well about using the time to prepare those workers as best as they could.

And then it happened, the students began to pray. Not that they did no pray before; they did pray, but this was different: A Spirit of Intercession overwhelmed them all and they began to pray. And pray they did. So much that soon they would miss classes because they did not want to miss a beat of what the Holy Spirit was doing, although they did not quite know at the time what it was.

Dr. Miller was a man of purpose, and was concerned about the students missing classes; however, he was also a man with a close relationship with the Holy Spirit. His own intimacy with the Holy Ghost brought him to the realization that there was something unusual, not only in the way the students were praying but in what the Holy Spirit was about to bring to the nation.

So, all classes were suspended.

And the Holy Spirit was at work.

Students were now praying 24/7. Staying awake for as long as they could and taking turns so that the ongoing flow of intercession was not cut for any reason. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit was busy stirring up the heart of an Evangelist in the USA to come and preach in a then unknown place for him. An unknown evangelist, we must admit. Not a big name. Not one who everybody wanted. No sir, one that had not been a success; but one who was about to be made significant by allowing the Holy Ghost to take him into the unknown.

One student was found against a wall, praying intensely while standing on a puddle of his own tears.

Evangelist Tommy Hick was on the plane toward his Divine assignment in Argentina when the Holy Spirit told him just one word: Peron. Uhh? Lady, can you tell me what this word Peron mean? The stewardess giggled as she told him that it was the last name of the President of Argentina, the country where God was bringing him with a purpose.

He knew then.

He had to see the President. And he went to see him at the government house. This is quite a story in itself so I will write it separately. Suffice here to say that the President was healed of cancer, and as a result he made all the stadiums in the country available for this no-name, no-body, unknown evangelist to preach the Gospel.

The crusade brought more than 200,000 people to salvation. Countless were dramatically healed of a variety of diseases. The last few weeks saw the stadium packed to capacity, while well over 200,000 crowded up the streets surrounding it. They could not make it in, the only technology available were some speakers broadcasting outside the arena; however, the Holy Spirit was at work also outside and miracles were happening by the thousands.

It took 20 students.

And the Holy Spirit working together.

Sure there were many others praying, and all those prayers added up to the move of God. But it was those 20 students, caught up in a Spirit of Intercession that sparked, kicked off, ignited one of the biggest fires of revival to hit Argentina.

20 prayed.

200,000 were saved.

Written by J. Conrad Lampan with information from first hand witnesses.

Never before have we been so constrained about time, so much to pray for and so little time, we could say. The Lord is just about to come and we know that before He comes there will be a major move of God in the world -not just here or there, but worldwide- like this world has never seen. We can already smell the rain, and we see the Holy Spirit manifesting in ways that can only be an announcement of things to come.

Why then the watches? Why the emphasis on time? Because a move of God is just at the bend, we can already see the approaching glow round the corner, praise God! He is coming! The watches are a reminder to us of the short time we have, and the very word "watch" point to the fact that we are watchers on the wall!

So many promises are about to come true all at once! We have to admit that we do not have the silghtest idea of what it means to have the Holy Spirit poured upon "all flesh". We have never seen it! Like the disciples waiting in the upper room, they were waiting in obedience but until the Holy Spirit came and they truly experience Him they were not quite sure exactly what they were expecting, for all they know it was the "promise" Jesus made before leaving.

Like those disciples, we are waiting for the promise; the promise of revival; the promise of a great move of God, which we believe will be the last one before the return of our Lord. Can we see the reason why so much emphasis on time? We have not much time left, for this is truly the last minutes of the eleventh hour.

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Be Blessed
Conrad Lampan
Wales