Revival Stirrings in Little Rock

The Spirit of God is moving in an incredible way right now in Little Rock, Arkansas. The following is an account from Pastor Bill Elliff of The Summit Church about what God is doing there in that congregation, community, and city.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Some of you have heard that the Lord graciously visited us the past few days in one of His remarkable "mercy drops." In our services Sunday, the Lord came in great power. I couldn't finish my sermon in the second service because God had spoken deeply to us about quenching the Spirit and despising prophetic utterances.

Normally when God speaks, our tendency is to ignore it. "Great sermon, Pastor," but we "despise," i.e. bring to naught, ignore, marginalize, minimize, what GOD HIMSELF HAS SAID TO US by not making a single change in our obedience. When we do that, we quench the Spirit. God wanted to move through us, but we aborted that.

As I paused in my message, a man stood up and said, "We must do this right now," and made an impassioned plea. As we went to prayer, I stood by a microphone on the floor and encouraged the people to do EXACTLY what the Spirit of God was telling them.

For the next three hours, there were waves of confession and brokenness. The altar would fill up, and groups would go to prayer all over the room. Someone else would come with confession or testimony, and the altar would fill back up. It was quiet, sweet, joyful, convicting, genuine.

One of the most amazing things was a C-130 pilot, a leader in our church, who came to the microphone and said, shaking, "No one knows this, but I have never been baptized, and God has convicted me about it constantly. I have quenched His Spirit, and I want to be baptized RIGHT NOW!"

We agreed, so he took off his shoes, walked straight into the baptistery, and we baptized him. Four other people followed in beautiful, spontaneous obedience—Sunday clothes and all! It was so right. We later thought together that his simple act of obedience—not "despising" what God had said, not quenching the movement of God's precious Spirit—opened the door for the Spirit to move in others.

What could be more wonderful than my obedience opening a window of grace for others? What if 1,000 people did this? 10,000? 100,000? What if there were not one believer in a community who was resisting or ignoring God's instructions?

God wants to flow through us like rivers of living water. We think we are waiting for Him, but it may be that He is waiting for us to simply listen to the exact word He is telling us—right now—and follow Him promptly.

By the providence and plan of God, the next night we had a regularly scheduled "First Monday" of prayer that we started in January—meeting the first Monday of the month, just as those in Great Britain and America did during the second Great Awakening. Around 50-75 people had attended the first three "First Mondays."

That Monday, over two hundred people showed up! What followed was one of the most amazing times of intercession—wave upon wave led by our people—that I've ever seen. Again, I tried to close the meeting  three or four times. I would think it was over, but someone would come to me and share from the microphone, and another wave of intercession would erupt over very distinct and specific issues.

We felt led to extend the prayer meeting one more night. Last night, the crowd grew by a third. Over 275 people gathered for another three-plus hours of even sweeter, more intense intercession and worship.

Children have been sitting quietly, watching their parents meet God. One of our elders has a five-year-old son who he thought was somewhat oblivious to the surroundings. After about an hour, the boy leaned over and said, "Daddy, I need a Savior," and was graciously brought to Christ.

Later, his eight-year-old sister was weeping over abortion as a wave of prayer erupted—intense travail like I've never heard our people pray—that God would eradicate the final throes of this corruption from our city. At one point last night, dozens of children gathered around their parents, laying hands on them and praying down the heavens for them.

A number of college students showed up from a college an hour away (Ouachita Baptist); they stayed till 10:30 and then went back to their campus praying that God would erupt in prayer meetings at their school. (Would you pray that God would visit that school?)

Other students from UCA in Conway were there. Several colleges were represented as the Lord led us to pray, through one man's passionate call for God to bring home the prodigals, that God would protect and equip and empower college students and bring revival to campuses across our state.

I became aware through conversation with one of my best pastor friends that last Sunday, as he preached on baptism in his church of over 350, eighteen people spontaneously came forward THAT MORNING and went directly to the baptistery to be baptized. He said, "I have never baptized eighteen people in one service in my life, and never spontaneously in a service!"

Could it be that God is about to send the wave of reviving that we all have longed and prayed for? That we would begin to hear reports from across our city (and yours) of "the gospel becoming almighty and carrying everything before it," as Samuel Davies reported in the second Great Awakening?

I have no idea, but in this corner of His earth, the Lord has graciously opened our eyes to realize that JESUS HIMSELF is speaking to us personally and corporately, and we must pay more careful attention to the One who is speaking so we will not drift away (Hebrews 2:1). This is a "mercy drop."

God woke us up Sunday so that we would pray like we should have been praying all along. We are seeking to take a day at a time, to give HIM all the glory, and to cooperate with His movement. If it stops tomorrow, it is more than we deserved ... but I have a deep sense that this is not His intent.

I cannot describe the sweetness of these moments. Not bizarre, just RIGHT. I have no idea how many nights we will meet, but I know that God has told us to gather again tonight and, I am sensing, the remainder of the week.

Can I make an impassioned plea? I am weeping as I write: WOULD YOU PRAY FOR LITTLE ROCK?

• Pray that God would graciously awaken His church so that we would humble ourselves and pray
• that He would again mobilize His army
• that His kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven
• that this brief visitation from Him would grow and continue in every church in our city (I believe God has been getting us ready for this for the past fifteen years in Little Rock)
• that we would hear reports beyond our city of thousands being set free and then speaking the Word of God with boldness, "gossiping" the good news to thousands of others
• that the Lord would awaken the church in our city and beyond, and visit us so that His great missionary purposes could again be accomplished across the world
• that He would make His name famous
• that we would give Him the glory, obedience, honor, and dominion that He deserves

It would not surprise me one single bit if we began to hear similar reports around the country. Lord, make your ear attentive to our cry, and be merciful to us!

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