John Bevere - God's Presence Manifests as WIND in Brasília
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Let me tell you, when I first learned this back in January of 1997, I was asked to go to the nation of Brazil to speak at a national conference. I was so excited because it was my first trip to Brazil. I remember flying down there; it was in the capital city. It was a national conference, and people were coming from all over. I landed Friday morning, prayed all afternoon, and that night they drove me to the arena. I remember before we even got to the packed parking lot; there were cars parked on the street for blocks away. I remember pulling into that reserved spot. When I got out, I could hear the worship and the crowd from the outside of the building because the arenas down there have about a six-foot gap between the ceiling and the upper wall to create air ventilation, and I could hear the worship that was going on inside. I was so excited.
Now, back in those days, let me tell you something they did that I’m so glad they stopped doing: they sat us ministers on the platform. Okay, so they ushered me in and put me right on the platform. This is so weird when you’re worshiping God in front of everybody, right? I’m like, let me sit in the front row. But anyway, I remember, you know, I’m on the platform, I’m excited, first time in Brazil, the arena is jam-packed, and the presence of God is nowhere. Now, I’m talking about the manifest presence of God, not His omnipresence, and I remember closing my eyes. I’m in shock. I mean, you think just the energy in the room, right, with that many people, and I closed my eyes. I said, «God, where’s Your presence?» When I opened my eyes, it was like I started seeing people, and I saw people during worship standing there like this, looking around with their arms crossed, while others had their hands in their pockets, looking down. There were people talking to one another, and some were walking down the stairs of the arena to go out to the concession stands to get something to drink before coming back. I thought, this will stop.
So, I went through the whole worship, and then one of the leaders of this massive Church Network down there came up and began reading from the scripture. Because there was no music, you could hear the little mutter of people whispering to each other. I thought, what is going on? Now I’m getting quite upset, and I hear the Holy Spirit say to address this. So, they introduced me, and I remember walking up and putting my right elbow on the podium. My translator is right next to me because I’m sitting there thinking, how do I get these people’s attention? I remember just going up and standing there and staring at them. I wasn’t saying a word.
Now, when you’re the Friday night speaker at a national conference in Brazil and you’ve been introduced, standing there staring at the people will get their attention. After about 50 seconds, the whole place goes quiet, and every eye is on me. When I knew every eye was on me, these were the first words I ever spoke in the nation of Brazil. I did not say, «Hi, it’s nice to be here. Here’s my family. Let me show you a picture.» I didn’t do any of that. The first words that came out of my mouth were, «I have two questions. Question one: if you’re talking to somebody sitting across the table, and the whole time you’re talking to them, they’ve got their hands in their pockets, looking around, their arms crossed, looking down, or whispering to somebody beside them, would you continue to talk to them?»
They said nothing, so I answered it. I said, «No, because I’m a little angry right now.» What if every time you go to your neighbor’s house, this is question number two, and you knock on the door, and when they open the door, they go, «Oh, it’s you again,» and turn around walking into the house? I said, «Will you continue to go?» No. I said, «I have been in this auditorium, this arena, for over an hour and a half, and there’s not an ounce of the presence of God in this place. Why? Because God will never come into a place where He’s not held with the utmost respect.»
I said, «If the president of your nation had walked onto this platform tonight, you would have given him ten times the respect you gave the Holy Spirit.» I said, «If Pelé, your greatest soccer player in the history of Brazil, had walked onto this platform tonight, you would have been on the edge of your seats, anticipating every word.» I said, «You’ve given no respect to the spirit of God.» For the next 75 minutes, I preached on the fear of the Lord. After 75 minutes, I said, «All right, you’re in here; you say you’re born again. This is a believer’s conference.» They all said they were Christians. I said, «You say you’re born again, but you lack the fear of God, and if you’re willing to repent, stand up.»
Three-fourths of the arena stood up. As they stood up, the presence of God filled the arena, and people started crying. I thought, «God, we didn’t even pray.» I remember later Him showing me that the father ran to the prodigal son before the prodigal son said any prayer of repentance. The presence of God filled the place; it was just wonderful, people weeping, and I’m finally like, «Finally!» in the last three minutes, and the Holy Spirit said, «Lead them in a prayer of repentance.» So I led them in a prayer of repentance. After the prayer of repentance, another wave of this presence came, and it was even stronger, and now it was just beautiful, simply amazing. I heard sobbing all over the arena. In the last three or four minutes, it lifted, and the Lord said, «Son, I’m coming one more time.»
Now, there’s no way I can ever do this justice, but I want you to imagine standing in a forest and about a 25-mile-an-hour wind starts blowing through that forest. That kind of violent, whistling wind came blowing into that arena. When it did, the people started screaming. Can you imagine thousands of Latinos screaming? How loud that is? Yet the wind was louder, and I remember I was standing there right beside the pulpit, and I was petrified in a good way. I mean, I know it sounds weird, but there were goosebumps on top of my goosebumps. There was such an authority that came into that arena; it was like Daddy didn’t come in; the king came in. I remember standing there, and all that was coming out of my mouth was, «Oh my God, oh my God.» I remember the thought going through my mind, «John Bevere, you say one wrong word or make one wrong move; you’re dead.»
Now, would that have happened? I don’t know. It did with a couple in the New Testament when they brought an offering and were more concerned about people perceiving that they were giving sacrificially, and they fell over dead. In that kind of atmosphere, Peter walks out, and everybody that’s sick gets up. That’s like Pastor Steve walking through one of the hospitals here and emptying the hospital. That kind of authority was in that room. He’s not only Dad; He’s called the consuming fire. He’s not only Dad; He’s called the King, and He came in. I was standing there; I had never encountered anything like this in my life, and I was sitting there thinking, «Oh my God, oh my God.»
This wind blows for 90 seconds; it gradually subsides. It leaves in its wake people collapsing over the seats in front of them, people weeping. I thought, «God, what do I do? What do I do?» The Lord said, «I’m through with you.» So I looked at the leader and said, «It’s all yours.» They whisked me out to the car, and they put me in the car. Then, they put the national solo singer that night—a well-known female soloist in Brazil—and her husband got in the car. She goes, «Did you hear the wind? Did you hear the wind?» I said, «Maybe it was a jet aircraft that flew over the building.» Oh my gosh, did she get mad at me? «What are you talking about? All around the building!» And right then, I thought, «Oh yeah, yeah. These Brazilians are passionate.»
So her husband calmed her down because he’s a little calmer. He goes, «Sir, that was an airplane.» I said, «How do you know?» He said, «Because there were security men and policemen all around the outside. They’re union men; most of them aren’t even saved. When the wind started blowing, they came running in and said to our leaders, 'What in the world’s going on? '» He said, «Secondly, I was at the main soundboard because I was making sure my wife’s volume was right for her singing. The decibel meters were at zero the whole time the wind blew. John, not one ounce of that sound came through our sound system.» And, my God, take me to my hotel room. I remember just sitting on my balcony until 1:30 in the morning, worshiping.