Derek Prince - God's Program For Revival
This is an excerpt from: The Secret Power Of Fasting
Let's turn to one final passage of scripture, Joel 2. This is the passage that the sister had in mind when she spoke about a Joel fast. Joel 2:15: Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babies And incidentally, in those days we had children and nursing babies in that meeting almost every morning.
And the little children were disappointed when their parents didn't wake them up to take them to the prayer. I mean, it was a real example of this. Let's go on. let the bridegroom go out from his chamber and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests who minister to the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, let them say, Spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your heritage a reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples: Where is their God? Notice there if you follow there are three categories mentioned. The priests, the ministers and the elders. And here is a responsibility of leadership in the church, it's to set the example, to take the lead. Do you know who leaders are? They're people who go in front. Sometimes the ministers are leading from behind. That's not leadership. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane took His disciples with Him and then He took three. They stopped and then it says He went a little further. That's leadership, it's to go a little further.
I heard a pastor once say, I have to run to catch up with my people. That's not leadership. Here's the responsibility of leadership. Now, listen to the final statement. We're in the same chapter, verse 28: And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Afterward. After what? After what? After God's people have met His conditions. Now I know that Peter quoted that on the Day of Pentecost and he said it shall come to pass in the last days. But that was not a total fulfillment, that was an anticipatory fulfillment.
That is very significant because in that passage in Acts 2, Peter quotes the Lord as saying, I will pour out of my Spirit. Some of my Spirit. And that began on the Day of Pentecost. But in this passage God says, I will pour out my Spirit. Not some of my Spirit but I will release my Spirit on earth on all flesh. Brothers and sisters, we haven't seen that. We've seen a sprinkling. There are about one billion Moslems on the earth that have never been touched by the Spirit of God. How are we going to reach them? What will release the Spirit of God? I tell you, if you've ever dealt with Islam, it's an impregnable fortress to any natural approach. You have to meet it with the spiritual means. What is God's program? Call a fast. Sanctify an assembly.
Let the elders, the priests and the ministers set an example. And God says in my time, when you've met my conditions, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. I believe that's the solution, and I don't believe there is any other. I believe God has shown us in scripture the way. Shall we just bow our heads before the Lord for a moment and I want to ask you that you'll ask God to show you if this is from Him. Ruth and I were with David, and Dale Garrett just recently in Hawaii, close friends of ours, and they very graciously, and wonderfully prayed for our meetings here. And they said they felt that God wanted to speak to New Zealand. I'm inclined to think this is God's message to New Zealand. Let's just quiet our hearts before the Lord just briefly for a few minutes.