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Revival that ignited along the West Coast will now burn to the East Coast as Lou Engle takes Azusa Now to Rick Joyner's Morning Star Ministries in South Carolina.
Called AzusaEast, the movement will feature Joyner and Engle with Dean Briggs and Ryan and Nina Landis.
"After decades of prayer by millions of Christians, the Lord is answering our collective cry for revival. We dare to believe that a new Jesus Movement is upon us! So let us maintain a relentless posture of prayer, yes, but let us also transition to bold faith and bolder action. Our vision of God must be expansive, not myopic. What if the next great move of heaven is already unfolding right before our eyes? So ... what's next?" according to a release.
And like the original Azusa Street Revival, a prophetic blueprint leads the way for Azusa East:
We believe the natural progression of the history of Azusa gives us a prophetic template for the present hour. Among several who journeyed to the Azusa Street Mission in 1906, one who was greatly touched by the unity of the brethren was a man from Dunn, North Carolina named G. B. Cashwell, later called "The Apostle of Pentecost to the South." After witnessing the evidence of love in the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Azusa, where it was said, "the color line was washed away in the blood of Jesus," Cashwell knew that the unity of the brethren was in direct contradiction to the racial prejudice of his beloved South. He repented of his racism and was filled afresh with the love and power of God. When he returned to Dunn, the anointing of the Azusa Outpouring followed him, and revival broke out in the Carolinas, which eventually spread all across the Southern states. This came to be known as Azusa East.
Interestingly, the original royal land charter for the Carolinas given by King Charles II extended coast-to-coast, from the Carolinas to Southern California, including the region of Los Angeles, where the original Azusa Street Revival began in 1906, and which spilled over to the Carolinas in 1907. We believe this is our model.
In 2016, once again, we stand at the 110th Anniversary. What began in the West must come to the East. A new hope for a Third Great Awakening has gripped us to the core. Revival strategy is unfolding, city to city, gathering to gathering, prayer upon prayer. The favor, power and love of God are coming to America again! It is not about names, ministries and agendas. It is about the presence of God, the unity of His church, and the salvation of the lost.
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!
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On Friday Night, May 27th, I was traveling on an 11 hour overnight flight from Tel Aviv to JFK airport. I had just co-led a 10 day prophetic tour in Israel and was completely exhausted flying back home. As I went to sleep on the plane, I had a very powerful prophetic dream from the Lord that came in audible message form. The Holy Spirit spoke to me as I was asleep and when I woke up on the plane, I had an indescribable urgency to get out my computer and immediately type out all that I had heard from Him in the dream. For me personally, I have been having these non symbolic, very literal types of prophetic dreams since I was 12 years old and have published many of them concerning President Obama and Hillary Clinton in one of my books called, “Chronicles of the Unknown Dreamer 2013“.
CHARLOTTE, NC AND THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES
This is what I heard in the prophetic dream on the plane and what I wrote down:
Charlotte,
“My eyes are upon you in this hour. Though the birth pains and complications have been great in recent years as gross darkness and immorality has tried to cover the land, so I Myself will deliver this Isaac that I have promised to you. I, the Lion of Judah am roaring in Charlotte, who can but prophesy? Can you hear My roar sons of men? Gather the elders of the land, call a sacred assembly, and fast together, for Charlotte shall be a flashpoint for awakening and revival on the East Coast of the United States. What happens in Charlotte will touch Washington D.C. There is a divine connection between Charlotte and Washington D.C. that will shake the nation. Tremors of glory will be felt in Washington D.C., but only as a foreshadowing of what I will do in Charlotte” says the Lord.
He continued on, “I call forth My Daniel Company on the East Coast! I say to My prophets and intercessors: because you have chosen not to feast upon worldly pleasures, but rather dine with Me, I will give you unprecedented favor to move the hearts of kings that sit in positions of authority on the East Coast. There is a trumpet of holiness that shall be sounded. I am releasing prophetic messengers of repentance and consecration that will challenge the Nebuchadnezzar’s to bow their knees to My righteous decrees. Yes, the knees of some governors and even congressmen and women will bow as My prophetic messengers release righteous decrees that will set the people free.
You must recognize that Governor Haley from South Carolina is my Esther of the hour! My body on the East Coast must stand with her, for the time is now! Open up your arms to her and do not be blind to the anointing and favor that I have placed upon her life for such a time as this. From Jacksonville, FL to Washington D.C., there will be a divine window in June through September where strategic planning for awakening on the East Coast must take place. During these months, many of My servants will be visited by an unusual wind of grace to heal, restore, and refresh them. Yes, even some physical storms are coming as a sign in the natural realm that My glory shall be released in the spirit realm.
Lou Engle, call the huddle and assemble the team. The prophecies of Bob Jones and Bill Bright will not fall to the ground!” says the Lord.
May the Holy Spirit use His words to encourage, strengthen, and comfort the body of Christ in this hour.
Jeremiah has a very dynamic and unusual ministry because he not only travels nationally and internationally as a prophetic minister , but also planted and is on the eldership team at Heart of the Father Ministry in Lakeland, FL full time. (www.hotfmlakeland.com) This is a thriving community of believers committed to revival, awakening, and character transformation on a daily basis.
The Nation-Shaking Prophetic Download I Got at Azusa Now
Dutch Sheets and Lou Engle pray during Azusa Now. (Facebook/Dutch Sheets)
Jennifer LeClaire is now sharing her reflections and revelations through Walking in the Spirit. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
The winds blew and the rains fell on TheCall Aszua Now, but that didn't stop tens of thousands of people from weathering the storms at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the same venue where Billy Graham preached the gospel to over 134,000 in 1963.
If anything, the adversity intensified the determination of the masses to cry out to God in what became for 15 hours an outdoor house of prayer in the heart of California.
"William Seymour, the catalyst of that great revival, prophesied in 1913 that in roughly 100 years another revival far eclipsing Azusa would come," says Lou Engle, founder of TheCall. "The fulfillment of Seymour's word is overdue ... or right on schedule. Let us therefore "pray for the rain in the time of the latter rain." Who knows? Maybe like those who were baptized in the Spirit in the original Acts 2 upper room, we will say, "This is that which was spoken by William Seymour the prophet!"
Of course, Seymour wasn't there and Graham wasn't there, but Christ for All Nations' Daniel Kolenda preached the gospel and, instead of George Beverly Shay, a new breed of worshippers—including Bethel Live, Eddie James and Roy Fields—lifted up praises to Jesus. Although the final count isn't in and the stadium wasn't full because of the miracle rain that drenched a city in drought, some say there were between 60,000 and 75,000 people at this historic event that aligned with the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street outpouring.
Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of Generals International, released a prophesy that caused a roar from the stadium stands: "This is that which the prophets foretold. I'm getting ready to open up the greatest generation of young evangelists the world has ever known."
Dutch Sheets, the founder of the Appeal to Heaven Movement, took the stage to tell the world—multiplied thousands were watching the live stream on GodTV—that God is not done with America. He told the story of how God revealed a new strategy for prayer that is sweeping the nation. "Today's 15-hour gathering to worship and pray was epic. Lot of great moments from Asuza Now gathering in Los Angeles."
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Indeed, social media were ablaze with the #azusanow hashtag as praying believers found inspiration in gathering together to literally act out 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Sean Fuecht, founder of the 24/7 Burn movement, insists "history cannot ignore this sound."
"The course of my life was changed at 16 while lying face down, weeping in the grace on the Mall in D.C. during the first Call gathering. I've joined with many others in this dramatic storyline ever since," he says. "A movement was born in my heart that day. I believe the same happened for countless thousands ... on the 110-year anniversary of Azusa. Let it begin."
Jeff Jansen, founder of Global Fire Ministries, says he believes Azusa Now was one of the most significant events of the past few decades.
"As we were driving on Interstate 5 to the Azusa Now event on April 9, I saw a large, gold angel standing over LA," Jansen says. "The Lord said, 'Just as the 1849 gold rush drew people to California ... So 4/9 2016 will mark a new gold rush of divine proportion that will once again draw the nations into revival."
Joshua Mills, a recording artist, author and revivalist, says he witnessed the ignition of a worldwide move of God. "I saw healing miracles happening and lives being changed by simply the hand of God resting on entire groups of people," Mills says. "I believe Azusa Now was the beginning, and now it will continue to unfold for those who were touched by that moment of glory."
So where do we go from here? I'm declaring right now that awakening is here, and it's coming. Azusa Now wasn't the only prayer event on April 9. United Cry gathered 30,000 pastors in Washington, D.C. There was an Azusa event in Houston and thousands of people watching, praying and agreeing in churches, prayer rooms and homes across America. Reset America will gather tens of thousands on the Mall in D.C. to cry out to God again.
I believe April 9 was a day of demarcation in America. It was a show of desperation and unity in the church. Prophetically, it was a shot heard around the world. Will we immediately see the impact of this historic, or as many are calling it, "epic" event? Probably not, but something shifted in the spirit in the City of Angels on Saturday. If you could pull back the curtain on the realm of the spirit, I believe you would have seen an intensified war in the heavens—and we're winning that war.
On April 21, 2007, the Lord woke me up at midnight, and I sensed Him offering this prophetic word:
There is a great awakening coming to this nation. For I have heard your cries, and I long to heal your land. I am a covenant God, and I will not forget the covenant I made with your Founding Forefathers. Yes, there will be a shaking, but the foundations will not crack, and they will not crumble. Only those things which can be shaken will be shaken that the sin in the land may be laid bare.
Repentance. I require repentance from My people who have through the generations allowed the enemy to take ground in this nation. I require repentance for the abortions and for the prayerlessness. I require repentance for the apathy and for the idolatry. You shall have no other gods before me. I am indeed the God of America.
Yes, there is a great awakening coming to this nation. I am the Author of it and I will bring it to pass. Just turn from your wicked ways and humble yourselves. Stand in the gap and make up the hedge. I am the Lord and I am a Warrior. I will not leave or forsake this country. I will fight through you and with you to regain what has been lost.
Be encouraged now, because as you go forth boldly with My Word and My Spirit, there will be the sound of truth and it will prevail in the land. Speak boldly and clearly and watch as the mighty men arise to take their positions on the wall and in the churches and in the marketplaces. For I am raising up deliverers and reformers in this generation who will not shrink back at the challenge that is coming in the days ahead.
Yes, it will grow darker before My light shines brightly from this nation again. But the light has not been extinguished and will not be extinguished. The time to rise up is now. I am calling you to war. I am calling you to repentance. I am calling you to My side. I am the captain of the hosts. I am calling you to victory. I am calling you to destiny. Will you answer?
On April 9, I believe we answered. And I believe we are standing at the door of transforming revival in America.
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LOS ANGELES -- Tens of thousands of Christians filled the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles over the weekend to pray for a spiritual revival to sweep across the nation.
Sponsored by The Call, the Azusa Now rally was strategically held on the 110th anniversary of the 1906 Azusa Street Revival, which broke out in Los Angeles and had a worldwide impact.
"I just knew in my heart that I was meant to be here. I was meant to experience this and that this was going to be an historical event," said Yuba City, California, resident Cameron Clark.
San Diego resident Lisa Baker remarked, "I believe that there's such unity that is opening the heavens. I really believe that we've opened up the gates and the doors so that the King of Glory can come on in… it's so exciting."
Tanya Zodulua traveled from Raleigh, North Carolina, to attend the event.
"I'm just here being totally engulfed in His presence and just believing for miracles," she said.
"So you've been praying for revival back in Colorado?" CBN's Wendy Griffith asked Colorado Springs resident Glenn Vasaturo.
"We just labor in the prayer room for our nation, for two years just praying in this room," he replied. "And it's like it's just happening... It's happening."
Lou Engle, founder of The Call, has been calling the nation to pray at strategic times for the last 15 years. He says the Azusa Now event was birthed from a dream that an even greater revival than the one that broke out at 312 Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles in 1906 is about to break out again.
"I believe we're at the threshold of a third Great Awakening," Engle told CBN News.
"And if stadiums can be filled, and now evangelism coming, I have to believe that no matter how dark it is, what the political climate is, Jesus is going to keep His covenant and He's going to show us a great wave of awakening. I'm excited about that," he said.
Azusa Now kicked off with a series of prayers of repentance and forgiveness, beginning with the American Indians.
"Make us one in your son...Awaken the Native American! Awaken in Jesus name," one Native American prayed.
That was followed by prayers for Israel, the Jewish people, and for Jews and gentiles to unite.
"When Ruth and Boaz unite, when Jew and gentile unite in Messiah, it's going to release the greatest sound of revival the world has ever seen," Malibu, California Rabbi Jason Sobel said.
And just like the original Azusa Street Revival, there was a focus on racial reconciliation.
"If we want to be reconciled with men, we have to first be reconciled to God and that means our histories must be reconciled to God," one attendee said.
But most of the day felt like a huge celebration, with lots of worship, dancing and many people receiving healing miracles.
"When they prayed, they said for healing, my right ear opened up… and they snapped and I could hear it," Greg Gephardt, from Orland, California, said.
The celebration continued well into the night with worship from Bethel and an overall feeling that something big took place in the heavens that could soon be felt on earth.
Jeff Jensen speaks to the crowd at Azusa Now at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Jennifer LeClaire is now sharing her reflections and revelations through Walking in the Spirit. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
History was made in Los Angeles on Saturday as Lou Engle, Mike Bickle, CIndy Jacobs, Jack Hayford and other generals of the faith gathered at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Azusa Now.
Jeff Jansen, founder of Global Fire Ministries, told Charisma News he believes it was one of the most significant events of the past few decades.
"Amidst the worship and intercession I believe something highly significant has shifted in the spirit and that we have stepped into a new timeline of revival in the Lord that will result in revival fires burning in nit only America but the nations of the earth," Jansen says.
"Most already know that I am now co-hosting the Fire and Glory Outpouring in San Diego with good friends Jerame and Miranda Nelson. An outpouring of Glory and Power has been burning there for 75 nights now and people are coming from around the world to get a fresh touch from heaven. Wild miracles marked by tangible power and Presence of the Lord are poured out every night and all are excited in this fresh outpouring."
Jansen reminds that Azusa street revival of 1906 changed the course of world history as many new denominations were birthed through the raw supernatural power and Glory of God. So now 110 years later another fresh move of God is now being birthed and fresh revival fires will burn in many cities in the nations of the earth.
"As we were driving on Interstate 5 to the Azusa Now event on April 9, I saw a large gold angel standing over LA," Jansen says. "The Lord said, 'Just as the 1849 gold rush drew people to California ... So 4/9 2016 will mark a new gold rush of divine proportion that will once again draw the nations into revival."
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When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is to set them apraying." Those are the oft-repeated words of the 17th-century Welsh minister and author Matthew Henry.
Little did Henry know when he uttered those words that perhaps the greatest revival in the earth's history—the Welsh Revival that took place from 1904 to 1905 and, many believe, is the root of every great revival in the world since—would break out in his homeland.
Indeed, the Azusa Street Revival, which is widely considered the birthplace of the modern-day Pentecostal movement, was inspired by intercessors who saw or heard how God was moving in Wales and prayed for the Holy Spirit to sweep over their city. And in 1906, He did.
Over 100 years later, our merciful God has set His people apraying once again—and Lou Engle has been partnering with Him to issue calls for massive intercession over America for more than three decades. Lou is a modern-day revivalist; a prophetic voice who has inspired a generation of youth to fast and pray for God's mercy and labor for social justice.
When God called me in 2012 to make prayer my life's work, I looked to the likes of Lou, IHOP's Mike Bickle and Dutch Sheets—along with history's intercessors such as Daniel Clary and Father Nash—for inspiration. What I discovered was that there are many different ways to pray for a nation.
You, for example, can walk out 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 will forgive their sin and will heal their land." You can execute strategic Spirit-inspired prayer assignments in your city. You can launch a house of prayer, as I did four years ago. You can gather the masses at stadium prayer events that unite generations to cry out to God—or work on many other initiatives.
Lou has done all that and more and is pulling off perhaps his biggest, most pivotal prayer event ever April 9 at TheCall Azusa at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It was thrilling to interview Lou for our March cover story hear about how God called him to intercession for revival and learn about plans for what could be, prophetically speaking, a historic prayer meeting in America.
On the same day in Washington, D.C., pastors will band together to make an appeal to heaven. Meanwhile, Dutch Sheets, who birthed the Appeal to Heaven movement, has launched an app that encourages every Christian in America to pray for the nation 15 minutes a day—and equips us with the tools to do it.
When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is set them apraying. I've never before seen so many believers rallying together to pray—and crossing denominational lines to do it.
From The Response prayer events in strategic American cities to prayer rooms in revival centers and churches across America, God is uniting believers to pray for a nation in crisis, invading the seven mountains of society—arts and entertainment, business, education, family, government, media and religion—with the Word of God that promises not to return void but to accomplish that which it was sent to do.
As I wrote in my book The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening, God is not done with America. He wants to bring a Third Great Awakening to the nation. I believe it's a Great Awakening that will spill over into the nations of the Earth, just like Azusa Street.
For all the doom-and-gloom prophecies over America, there is yet a rising cry from respected voices from various streams of the body of Christ who sense God's heart—and God's hope—for America even in the midst of discipline. Despite the reality that a degree of judgment has come to America—and that we may continue to reap from the wicked seeds we've sown for a longer season—many agree that God is not done with America. There is hope.
As Lou once said, "Now, many look at the state of the nation and are deeply discouraged, but I am filled with hope. I have read history; most great moves of God erupted in the darkest times of crisis and were preceded by years of intercession. Today, I have more expectation for the Great Awakening in America than I ever have had."
Jennifer LeClaireis senior editor of Charisma, director of the Awakening House of Prayer, a senior leader of the New Breed Revival Network and author of many books, including Jezebel's Puppets: Exposing the Agenda of False Prophets. Visit her online atjenniferleclaire.org.
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Lou Engle at TheCall, Washington, D.C., August 2008
Jennifer LeClaire is now sharing her reflections and revelations through Walking in the Spirit. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
Sixteen years ago, Lou Engle started asking the Lord how he could be part of turning America back to God. This John the Baptist-style prophet and intercessor discerned the perils facing our nation before 9/11, before the Great Recession, before this new wave of racial tension—and before the rise of an Islamic terrorist group that is beheading Christians and threatening to "strike America at its heart."
Lou's humble question birthed TheCall, a prayer movement that has gathered hundreds of thousands of believers to stadiums in America for solemn assemblies in the spirit of Joel 2. TheCall is a summons to prayer, fasting, repentance and sacrificial worship that does not advertise bands or promote speakers—but exalts the Lord Jesus Christ.
On April 9, 2016—the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street outpouring that essentially birthed the modern-day Pentecostal movement—Lou is taking this holy prescription to the Los Angeles Coliseum. The goal is to unite believers in urgent, humble fasting and prayer, seeking the Joel 2 promise that God will pour out His Spirit again. It's noteworthy that this is the same venue where Billy Graham once preached the gospel to 140,000 souls.
TheCall Azusa Now could be the most pivotal of all prayer meetings for Lou, who found Christ during the Jesus Movement—and was mowing lawns and sweeping basements for a living when he says he heard the voice of the Lord speak these words clearly in 1975: "I've called you to be an instrument of revival."
"I began dancing in the room—and that began my journey. That call became more clear in 1984 when I was reading a book called Azusa Street by Frank Bartleman, who prayed and fasted before the Azusa Street Revival. His wife thought he would die," says the 63-year-old revivalist. "I went into days of fasting and one night cried out to the Lord to give me the mantle of Frank Bartleman."
Marked for Prayer
It seems God took him up on his petition. As Lou tells the story, the very night he was crying out for Bartleman's mantle, his friend had a dream in which he saw a big black book with the title "revival." In that dream, his friend opened the book to the inside cover and there was a picture of Frank Bartleman—and his face turned into Lou's face.
"From that moment on, I knew my calling was revival and I was an intercessor for revival. My calling is to fast and pray," Lou told Charisma in his characteristic rough voice. "I am a fire starter in prophetic intercession who calls people into fasting and prayer for breakthroughs with the end goal of seeing the spirit of revival."
Lou entered full-time ministry when Ché Ahn, founding pastor of HRock Church in Pasadena, California, set him in place as his intercessor in 1984. Ché, who is also the founder of Harvest International Ministry and international chancellor of Wagner Leadership Institute, describes Lou as "one of the most amazing prophet-intercessors I've ever met."
"TheCall and mobilizing prayer for revival has been historic," Ché told Charisma. "There has been a turning point. Even though laws haven't changed, the number of abortions is declining almost every year—especially since 2000, when abortion was the primary focus of TheCall D.C. that saw 400,000 people crying out to God."
Ending abortion has been a burden on Lou's heart for decades. In 2004, he founded Justice House of Prayer DC, which is committed to pray for national leaders and seeks spiritual transformation and cultural reformation from the government gate of our nation's capital, and Bound4LIFE. Both ministries were birthed after 50 days and nights of 24/7 prayer and fasting that led a large group of prayer warriors to Washington, D.C., to re-enact a prophetic dream one of the intercessors had during the fast. On Oct. 4, 2004, they stood in a silent siege (Ezek. 4:1-3), wearing red tape with the word "LIFE" written over it, praying for an end to abortion.
This Bound4LIFE grass-roots movement, which seeks to exalt Jesus, see an end to abortion and contend for a great awakening in every sphere of society, has spread like wildfire in the pro-life community, even finding its way to the cover of TIMEmagazine. Although Roe v. Wade still stands, pro-life laws are passing across the nation and a recent Associated Press report reveals abortions have dropped by 12 percent nationwide since 2010.
"Lou has pioneered for a whole generation the reality that we have to stop abortion," says Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of Generals International, a prayer-based organization that works to change lives and transform nations. "History will say Lou was a major voice that was the impetus for abortion to be stopped."
40-Day Fast and a Dream
Perhaps the king of 40-day fasts, Lou is known for fasting as much as he is for prayer. His ministry is marked by prophetic dreams and visions God uses to lead and guide him on each step of his journey. One of those dreams came in 1996 during a 40-day fast inspired by Bill Bright, the late founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as Cru). Bright, who also wrote The Four Spiritual Laws and was the visionary behind the Jesus film, realized that evangelism efforts were not bearing transformational fruit. He called 2 million people to join him in his annual 40-day juice and water fast. Lou responded to the call.
"I had a dream, and I was supposed to be giving a letter to a little boy named Joel. I lost the letter and I was looking for it frantically," recalls Lou, who says he was raised on Derek Prince's book Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting. In Prince's book, the late Bible teacher declared the only answer in the last days would be united fasting and prayer. "I woke up and the Lord just spoke to me: Don't lose Joel's letter. Call the youth of America to fasting and prayer, the book of Joel. Little did I realize I would be calling solemn assemblies."
On Oct. 4, 1997, Lou watched in awe as Promise Keepers, a men's ministry on a mission to ignite and unite men to become warriors who will change their world, assembled 1.4 million men on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In a subsequent meeting with 600 young people, Lou started proclaiming from Malachi 4:6 that the hearts of the fathers would return to the children, and the hearts of the children would return to the fathers. He says he saw in the Spirit a corresponding move of young people—a John-the-Baptist, Nazarite generation—who would go to the National Mall and fast and pray as the older men had. When that day came, Lou declared prophetically, it would be a sign that America is turning back to God.
Then it happened. In 1999, a woman asked Lou if he had ever considered putting young people on the National Mall like Promise Keepers did two years earlier. When he told her about his proclamation and prophetic insight, the woman wrote him a check for $100,000 to fund what would become Lou's first major solemn assembly. TheCall D.C. hit the mall Sept. 2, 2000, shortly after a dream Lou says he had in which he was overwhelmed with the possibility of America turning back to God.
"In that dream, a scroll rolled down before me, and I read Luke 1:17 to go on before the Lord in the spirit of Elijah and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the rebellious to the wisdom of the righteous," Lou says. "I woke up, and the Lord told me, 'What I'm pouring out is stronger than the rebellion.' I knew TheCall was a John-the-Baptist, Nazarite movement. If TheCall is truly a John-the-Baptist movement, you can bet there's a Jesus Movement coming."
Mike Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, got to know Lou when he was at IHOP for five years. Mike told Charisma Lou has a gift for national assignments that galvanize thousands of intercessors and mobilize them to action in a key day. Lou has held TheCall at over 20 sites in America with strategic focuses. For example, TheCall D.C. focused largely on abortion. TheCall Nashville in 2007 focused on the church renewing her marital covenant with the Lord, to repent of her tolerance of Jezebel and to pray for a new Jesus Movement to sweep the nation. TheCall Detroit focused on uniting races and ethnicities to pray as one unified body.
"Only people with these values gather to Lou's voice—people who are desperate for breakthrough and are confident it's coming," Mike says. "Some people are desperate, but they are not confident. Some people are confident, but they are not desperate. Lou brings thousands of desperate, confident people together, and they are encouraged because they are not alone. They see there's an army out there."
Facing Down Goliaths
Lou's ministry moves in a prophetic swirl of sorts, but he's had plenty of spiritual warfare along the way. He's tackled principalities such as Baal and Jezebel and wrestles with the spirit of mammon. In fact, he says funding has always been one of his greatest challenges: "It's hard for people to lock on to funding prayer, but it happens." But he says his feelings of personal failure and weakness are the greatest challenge. Indeed, Lou Engle says his greatest challenge is Lou Engle.
"It's the challenge of having faith when you can't see results," Lou says. "You don't even know people are coming. The enemy lies and says, 'You can't do it.' And yet we have fought through and seen hundreds of thousands gathered. That in itself is a miracle. People say God is not answering the prayers. People criticize prayer rallies. Prayer rallies of 100,000 or 400,000 or 40,000 are the answer because it is the birthing. Prayer has always been the birthday of the great awakenings."
Lou points to the Bright 40-day fast in 2000 as the catalyst for the greatest harvest in America's history to date. After that, day-and-night prayer exploded around the world, the Global Day of Prayer was born, and TheCall was established. Lou believes God has answered Bright's prayers and fasting with a massive proliferation of prayer that's preparing the way for an explosive worldwide outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And Lou's going to keep praying and fasting—and calling others to join him—until he sees it.
"People say we don't see immediate answers to prayer," Lou says. "I tell you, bowls have to be filled, and it might take years until they overflow. Think of the 70 years of people crying out for release from communism. In one moment, the Berlin wall came down. Everything shifts. Give us one moment of revival. God will change everything. I think God is bringing a massive prayer movement as part of the answers to our prayers."
Dutch Sheets, an internationally recognized author, teacher and conference speaker, says he has never met anyone who lives what he preaches and teaches more than Lou, particularly with regard to prayer and fasting. "There's no one more committed to the cause of the Lord, and more specifically, the causes that God has put on his heart: the pro-life issue and awakening and revival," Dutch told Charisma. "Those things have made him so powerful and flow out of who he is. You'll never find a more passionate person than Lou Engle."
Mobilizing Intercessors
Lou will go down in charismatic church history as a general of intercession who mobilized the church to pray; a John-the-Baptist-like prophet who called the nation to repentance; a pro-life leader who understood that the blood of abortion is on our hands; a spiritual warrior who refused to tolerate Jezebel; and, hopefully an instrument of transforming revival.
"What releases the spirit of prayer is the spirit of prophecy," Lou says. "When I tell the story of Azusa, bones start rattling, movement occurs, people begin to pray. I am convinced that the problem is not that there isn't enough prayer. The problem is there's not enough prophetic unction to create the spirit of prayer, or it's the unbelief of the church, (who) won't believe the prophecies until she sees."
James Goll, president of Encounters Network, international director of Prayer Storm and founder of God Encounters Training, compared Lou to Kentucky Fried Chicken—he does one thing and does it right. "Lou Engle is not a show horse—he's a trained racehorse with God-given blinders that hems him in to see the finish line," James told Charisma. "Lou keeps his eyes on the prize to pay the price no matter what the cost. The prize is Jesus."
Lou not only has his eyes on the prize, but he has inserted himself into the storyline. He's standing in the gap and making up the hedge. He's positioned himself as a watchman on the wall. And he is encouraged by what he sees: a growing number of churches across the nation holding 21-day, 30-day and 40-day fasts every year. He's encouraged because he hasn't seen this since Bright led the charge.
"The problem in the church isn't unmotivated people," Lou says. "It's that we're not listening to the right dreamers. When the Israelites were re-establishing the house of prayer when they came back from Babylon, the prophet Zechariah started prophesying, and it stirred the people. We've had 20 years now of storyline that's fueling fasting, fueling prayer. God is in this generational Elijah movement, and I think we're about ready to shift."
Brian Kim, director of the Antioch Center for Training and Sending School of Frontier Missions in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told Charisma Lou embodies the marriage of prayer and prophecy and called him a visionary dreamer in every right.
"I have seen him lead hundreds of thousands in prayer, and I have seen him weeping in prayer in the early hours of the morning when he thought no one was watching, seeking solace in the front seat of his 15-passenger van for lack of a proper prayer closet," Brian says. "I have seen him give literally all he has for the sake of the gospel—and not just one time, but on numerous occasions."
Significance of This Call
Indeed, Lou sold his house in Pasadena to fund Asuza Now, and he's hoping to fill the stadium for the glory of God. Beyond fasting, prayer and worship, Bill Johnson, senior pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California, is joining forces with TheCall Azusa Now to hit the streets with evangelism in the weeks leading up to the main event. The evangelism component marks a shift of strategy toward proclamation of the gospel with the signs and wonders Lou sensed prophetically in 2011.
Leaders in the prayer movement agree that TheCall Azusa Now is significant at a time when America desperately needs revival. God never sends revival without first stirring united prayer.
As James Goll sees it, TheCall Azusa Now is strategic in the life of Lou Engle, which makes it strategic in the life of the nation. "There's going to be grace, grace, grace, grace, and it's a turning point to turn the innie into an outie," James says. "TheCall is going to take us into a modern-day Salvation Army where we are not just doing prayer and fasting in rooms; we are taking it to the streets coupled with the worship and evangelists and gifts of healing and working of miracles. It is a turning point."
Dutch believes God has another outpouring in mind at the Azusa Street level and says TheCall is part of the prayer momentum toward that outpouring. "God wouldn't be moving so sovereignly if there was not hope for this awakening," Dutch says. "TheCall is very significant and will bring great hope."
Mike sees TheCall Azusa Now as important for several reasons. Beyond the 110th anniversary of Azusa Street, he's looking at Lou's 30-year history of blowing the trumpet and gathering people to prayer. "Lou is a class of his own," Mike says. "I don't know of another person who has his resume in the Spirit. That's what makes this significant. That's what gets my attention."
"We are not saying this event will be what brings revival to America," Ché says. "TheCall is one of a number of initiatives for revival. But gathering to humble ourselves and pray and fast and seek His face en masse is especially significant on the 110th anniversary of Azusa Street."
Lou is asking the body of Christ some serious questions: Can you believe with us that denominations will unite, that the races could come together, that God could make us one as the antidote to the terrific division in our day? Could you believe with us for stadium Christianity where signs and wonders are breaking out and mass evangelism explodes across our country—the Third Great Awakening?
"I don't believe that God will fasten our soul to a dead-end vision," Lou says. "I stand in awe of the God who has been faithful to His promises. He will come to us like the rain. Though darkness covers the Earth, the glory of the Lord rises upon us. I pray your heart burns with this faith. Can a nation be saved? I still believe!"
Lou may or may not see 140,000 people fill the Los Angeles Coliseum as they did in Billy Graham's day, but tens of thousands are likely to unite in prayer, fasting and worship, intent on turning America back to God. Cindy Jacobs told Charisma TheCall Azusa Now is one of those events that, 10 years from now, people will say "I was there" or "I wish I had been there."
Jennifer LeClaireis senior editor of Charisma, director of the Awakening House of Prayer, a senior leader of the New Breed Revival Network and author of many books, including Jezebel's Puppets: Exposing the Agenda of False Prophets. Visit her online atjenniferleclaire.org.
Watch the incredible story of how God prophetically orchestrated each step leading up to TheCall Azusa Now at azusanow.charismamag.com.
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