Did you catch IFA broadcasting LIVE from Asbury University today? Click here to watch the video on the IFA Watch page. Please share your prayer for revival in the comments.
Friday, February 17, 2023
Lord, let worship tear down demonic strongholds.
Yesterday Rich Swingle, IFA Contributing Writer and Prayer Leader, spoke to a man who was a classmate of Jeannine Brabon, who was instrumental to the 1970 revival. The man made an interesting comment about the differences between the two outpourings. The 1970 revival was marked by testimony, usually focused on repentance, and then with worship. This current outpouring seems to be marked by worship, followed by testimony of repentance, healing, and deliverance.
Worship has always been central to spiritual warfare. Judah — the tribe whose name is linked to praise — was the tribe who disembarked first from the Israelite camp (Numbers 2:1-4, ESV). Joshua sent the priests carrying the ark of the covenant — representing the very Presence of God — first into the Jordan when the Israelites began to take the land (Joshua 3, ESV). The Lord ripped open prison walls when Paul and Silas worshipped in Philippi’s prison (Acts 16:25-40, ESV).
Further, the Bible tells us the Lord is enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3, ESV). Since that is the case, is not the heartfelt expression of worship going to bring the overwhelming power of the Presence of the Lord into our environment, circumstances, and community?
And given that the days are increasingly evil — seemingly more evil than those 50 years ago — the Presence of the Lord in overwhelming abundance is even more necessary to the clearing away of demonic strongholds. As the love of most grows cold, the fire of His Presence as He inhabits the praises of His people melts away the ice, burns away the demons, and creates a new ladder to heaven (Genesis 28:12, ESV).
The Lord is accomplishing His work today in Asbury and beyond, even as He did so in the ‘70s. Throughout the ages and across the globe, the Lord has visited His people to recover them to Himself through the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His wisdom, He chooses the means and expression of His visitations. We are left to revel in His goodness and rejoice with the saints.
As Joyce Swingle, IFA Contributing Writer and Prayer Leader, reflected on their days in Willmore, she told IFA that a spirit of humility is dominant. This was also emphasized by Student Body President Alison Perfater in an interview with Glenn Beck: “My generation struggles with pride and what we’ve seen here is a radical humility. Students are standing up and confessing . . . and they’re opening their hearts up not only to the presence of God but to each other and that is a very intimate thing. . . . There is that core of honesty that we are holding on to.”
Radical humility. Is that something you want? Please post your prayer in the comments.
Thursday, February 16, 2023
“Viral is not revival.” Joyce Swingle reports from on-site at Asbury University: We spoke to two professors. One mentioned that he realized he had assigned a group project for a Friday deadline and he thought it would be difficult for the students to get together to do the work. He queried his class and realized they were keeping up with the schoolwork. He also mentioned he and several of the professors were finding that the outpouring was not keeping students from their classes. Fewer were cutting than the professors expected. Seems this outpouring is not making the students indolent but industrious!
Much of this is related to the “selflessness” of the outpouring. I overheard many students saying that it was about “going lower” not higher. This may be one reason manifestations are not erupting with the frequency of other outpouring. I think many feel this joy (I do and feel I might bust at times) but know from the Spirit better than to draw attention to themselves. The leadership are very much underlining this because even in the most recent chapels, the online offerings are no longer listing the last names of people to try to keep the focus not on the person but on the Lord.
I discern the Spirit all over the campus. Our friend brought us into the control room from which the video for future documentaries, etc. archiving is being captured. They are deliberately not streaming. Said one person, “Viral is not revival.” The school is focusing on humility in stewarding this visitation.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Chapel on February 8 at Asbury University went long…and as I write it’s still going! In 1970, a chapel service in the same Hughes Auditorium went 185 hours. Ever since I heard about it circa 1987, I’ve been praying — as many of you have — for another revival to break out! I believe revival is breaking out.
The First Asbury Revival
Jeannine Brabon was a freshman at Asbury College in 1967 when the Lord put it on her heart to pray for revival. In an interview you can watch below, she said, “I never missed [chapel]. I was always there waiting for Jesus to come.” She got permission to use a room half an hour before chapels, and she said, “I put up a sign: ‘Come apart and pray.’” Her junior year she got a list of the more than 1,000 students and prayed for them by name. An overnight prayer meeting they announced to a group of 70 drew 120.
Among other things, they prayed 2 Chronicles 7:14: …if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. At about 3:00 a.m. she said, “I just felt the Shekinah Glory fall on that place.” The next morning Brabon said, “Chapel came and went, and there was no great move of God, and one of the students said to me, ‘Jeannine, nothing happened.’ I said, ‘You know Acts 1:7?’” It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you… She said, “He’s coming. When — I don’t know, but he’s going to come.”
Then Brabon invited 30 student leaders to enter into a version of John Wesley’s Great Experiment she adapted for college life. They would spend time in the Word, fasting, praying, and witnessing each week. They would meet in three groups of ten once a week to be accountable to each other. On January 31, 1970, they talked about the Experiment in chapel; 300 students signed up to take part! Brabon said, “God put in place a follow-up for the revival before it ever hit.” Four days later it did.
In 1975 Brabon was a missionary in Spain when she had a dream:
I was in the hospital, and they came to me with this newborn baby and put it in my arms. And…I’m thinking, “Why me? This baby doesn’t belong to me….” I wake up. So the Lord speaks to me….“Jeannine, you’ve seen the birth of a revival. Now believe for full maturity.” He spoke into my heart, and He said, “Jeannine, who sees the growth and development of a baby? When they’re first born everybody’s all excited, but who sees the growth and development? It’s the parents.” And the Lord said, “That’s the role intercessors have. They’re the ones that are going to see the move of my Spirit and my coming and believe for full maturity. Believe for…a major move of the Spirit of God.”
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
While working on an IFA article about Jesus Revolution, a friend sent me a text from Sylvia Cummings. She took her granddaughter Elisa, a high schooler, to visit Asbury to see if she’d like to attend. She had a very good impression! Cummings explained:
There is a revival breaking out at Asbury University! The 10 a.m. chapel service has not ended! Students and faculty are worshipping and many have not left at all while some have gone to classes and returned. There is no sign of this service ending! It’s growing! They are now being joined by students and faculty from Asbury Seminary across the street and from students across Lexington who are hearing what is happening and want to join them. GOD IS MOVING IN WILMORE, KY! Pray for this revival to spread and for lives to be changed!
Kevin Combs graduated from Asbury in December, but he’s been driving an hour each night to experience revival. As he approached Wilmore, in the interview you can see below, he said, “I was taken aback by this cloud that was over Wilmore….I get into chapel, and unprompted — they haven’t been outside — they started talking about…how the presence of God is felt in a cloud.”
Olivia Rogowski, an Asbury student, jumped on a podcast with her uncle, Andy Miller III. She told how, leading up to this, there have been many times that students have stayed after chapel is released to worship, but it usually ends after ten or 15 minutes. She was in class Wednesday afternoon when students burst in, letting everyone know what was going on. She described the chapel:
It’s like no other feeling you’ve ever felt. It’s just so much deeper than that kind of mountaintop feeling you get when you go to camp. Like you get that one night of worship where everybody’s like, “The Holy Spirit’s there,” but no, it’s deeper than that.
Miller invited Joshua Hallilan, Director of Discipleship at The Francis Asbury Society, onto the podcast. Hallilan said, “There there is no human controlling this. There’s no emotional games being played here. The Spirit is just having His way in people, and it is exciting to see!”
Alexandra Presta, a senior at Asbury, has been posting daily articles about it for The Asbury Collegian. On Wednesday she wrote:
I have been in Hughes Auditorium for almost twelve hours now without an intent to leave anytime soon. Peers, professors, local church leaders and seminary students surround me— all of them praying, worshipping, and praising God together….No one wants to leave. No one even expected this to happen. Not on a random Wednesday for sure. Yet, we sit and sing about God’s love pouring out and His goodness.
Carol McClain Bassett commented on Presta’s article:
I was a senior and in chapel that glorious day in Feb. 1970 when the palpable and “heavy” weight of the presence of the Holy Spirit fell on all of us….I had chills, recognizing The Presence in an unusual way. And when Dean Reynolds opened the chapel to testimonies, the deluge began!!! Who of us who were there that week even remembers when we left to grab a quick bite to eat (no food was provided in Hughes), or to sleep a couple of hours? We were compelled – totally captivated – to be in His Presence more and more. I was standing in the foyer the morning the news crew arrived….I asked the newsman, “What are you feeling right now?” He wasn’t able to answer. I told them, “Well, if you’ve never been in God’s Presence the way He is manifesting Himself in there (pointing to the doors into the auditorium) be ready to hold onto your equipment because your knees could buckle.” They stayed for several hours. And it was true – we had to hold onto the pews often as we walked. The weight of Glory!!!!
For Thursday’s update Presta wrote:
“We want more of you and less of us.” At the 32-hour mark, those words ring out across Hughes Auditorium as revival involving Asbury University and the Wilmore, Kentucky, community continues…. This revival isn’t about us. It’s not about trying to recreate history. It has been and will continue to be all about Jesus Christ. Because, in the words of Asbury junior Dakota Poole, “He is enough.”
Presta pointed out, “Testimonies and prayer have continued in between Spirit-led worship sessions.” About revival Brabon said,
There’s a conviction of sin and confession of sin…realizing where you are spiritually…the breaking down of pride and thinking, “Well, I can do it on my own.” That’s the key to revival — being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and opening up to…the fire of the Holy Spirit working in your life.
On Friday Presta wrote, “People are still wanting more. It’s like we’ve tasted His goodness and grace, and we don’t want it to stop.” She went on:
This experience is a true testament to show God’s timing. He knew when we as a student body and as a community needed a day like today. To confess, reconcile, heal and allow prayers to be spoken over us — He knew what we needed to do and helped us do it.
On Thursday Presta wrote, “As long as the Spirit calls for it, His children will remain here, allowing God’s overwhelming and holy love to fill hearts and touch souls.”
Brabon said in 1970, 500 students went forth to share what had happened, and indeed, in many locations revivals broke out there, too! Brabon prayed “that this will just be the beginning of a deep, deep work of You all over the world.” And she pointed out these students have something she and her classmates didn’t: the internet.
Please post your prayers for lasting impact from this fresh revival.
Rich Swingle has taught and performed in 39 nations on six continents, mostly with his own one-man plays. He’s performed in more than 45 film projects, and he and his bride Joyce Swingle, another contributing writer for IFA, have 39 screen children. The Swingles live in New York City. www.RichDrama.com
(Photo Credit: Sheldon Livesay)