SHILOH MESSENGER - September 2019
















PASSIONATE PURSUIT OF JESUS’ HEARTBEAT, BEING CONFORMED TO HIS IMAGE

“ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,” Phillipians 3:10

It had once been a Church. It was so rundown, and ram shackled it had been used as a livery stable. It had dirt floors and was in the middle of the black ghetto of Los Angeles, but it could hold over seven hundred and fifty people and it only cost eight dollars a month to rent. They needed it for what happened. They called the street of this old barn like building “Azusa”; It became a legendary site of divine visitation. The Name “Azusa” comes from one of those gracious “coincidences” that mark God’s mercy. The name originates from a lovely tale about a Native American girl, Coma Lee, who had a prayer healing ministry. When her prayers restored an ailing Shoshone Chief, he renamed her “Azusa” … Shoshone for “Blessed Miracle.” Azusa triggered the most powerful missionary impulse in human history. More people became Christians worldwide in the first fifty years of the twentieth century than all the fruit of the first nineteen hundred years of Revival and Evangelism put together. William Seymour’s Apostolic Faith newspaper appeared on September 1906, with an initial printing of five thousand copies and increasing in later editions to fifty thousand copies. Papers passed from hand to hand until they fell apart. By 1908, just two years later, the surging moment had taken root in over fifty Nations. News spread rapidly across the United States and internationally. Visitors arrived daily from as far afield as China; the Azusa Street Mission became a pilgrimage to tens of thousands over its millennial days of power likened by its admirers to the “humble stable of old in Bethlehem.” Seymour did not live to see the completion of his dream but fully expected the renewal to accomplish it. Within weeks, an ever-growing stream of ardent heaven touched missionaries began leaving for virtually all points of the compass at home and every major continent abroad. Some were seasoned missionaries, others simply domestic servants of washerwomen. Even today the effects of that miraculous outpouring go on. The dominant Churches and Missionary movements in the world today are usually rooted in the visitation of Azusa.

William J. Seymour (1870-1922) An Evangelist, & leader of The Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, U.S. A. God called this black, middle aged, one eyed man “Willie Seymour” to bring vision and joy to the world. At a time when America’s deepest racial prejudice hurt the Nation. Seymour’s humble leadership was God’s trigger to release one of the greatest manifestations of God’s unifying Spirit poured out on all flesh. It is said that over eighty percent of world Missions today can trace their spiritual roots back to the 1906 Azusa Street Revival. William J. Seymour was born in Centerville, Louisiana, the eldest son of freed slaves. He grew up in extreme poverty and spent much of his early years traveling throughout parts of the United States to obtain work. While in Ohio, he had a near fatal bout of smallpox, which scarred his face and left him blind in one eye. Seymour was converted in a Methodist Church but later joined the Holiness movement in 1905. The thirty-six-year-old heard of The Pentecostal movement led by Charles F. Parham in Houston, Texas. Parham liked him and allowed him to attend his state-segregated Bible School, letting him sit outside the classroom door (left purposely ajar) The two men enjoyed a brief but friendly and productive association. In mid February, before finishing the course, Seymour left for Los Angeles to Pastor a small Holiness Mission congregation. He was so hungry for more of God that he prayed for five hours a day for two and a half years, when he got to Los Angeles the hunger was more intense, He prayed, “God what can I do?’ Holy Spirit led him to pray the more. He increased his prayer life and The Power of Holy Spirit met him with love and Power.. He got what he had asked for but was rejected by the congregational lay leader and founder who disapproved of his enthusiastic Power of God emphasis. Only a week after his arrival they padlocked the Church door against him after his first sermon on Acts 2:4. Seymour was left without a mission, without acceptance, and without approval. Undaunted, Seymour formed a predominately Black home prayer group at Richard Asberry’s home on Bonnie Bray Street, which met regularly until Easter. During three climatic days in Holy week from April 9-12, 1906, in the midst of a ten day fast, Seymour and the others found what they were seeking: MORE OF GOD. This was the beginning of the most influential movement for missions in the 20th Century and what we now call the Azusa Street Revival. ***The above material has been shared from The Revival Study Bible.

WHAT MUST WE DO FOR TRUE UNDENIABLE REVIVAL TO HAPPEN AGAIN? It starts with a heart crying out for more of God and then the cooperation to do what Holy Sprit says. More Intense Hunger for HIM, Prayer and Fasting. HE indeed takes the weak and despised of this world to confound those who are prideful and have what seems to be in the natural everything going for them. Do you want more of HIM? ASK Fervently and be willing to obey and count the cost. Do you want Nations changed? Do you want to lay billions at Jesus’ Feet? Are you expecting more? There can be no Revival apart from The Holy Ghost. HE is The Author of every Heaven scent Movement. Revival brings back a Holy Shock to apathy and carelessness. Are you willing to Yield, Repent, to Fast, Pray, and seek HIS FACE for another Great Revival for this Nation and the Nations?

 

 


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for allowing the use of his painting, "The Prodigal", for our header.
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