I believe that the double whammy crisis we are now in—the COVID-19 situation and the civil unrest—will lead to the next great move of God on the earth. This will come about not because brilliant men will by their intellect convince atheists of the existence of God. Nor will it come because legislation will help quiet the unrest. It will not come because vaccines put an end to the coronavirus crisis.
The next great move of God will come when ordinary people by the hundreds are convinced that people need to be saved—that the gospel is the only hope—and are unafraid and unashamed to say this to anyone.
I wish it were not true, but the only apparent result of the double whammy at the moment is fear. Great fear. Fear of illness. Fear of dying. Fear of violence. Fear of economic downturn. Fear of change.
America has not learned her lesson yet.
Paul said to Timothy, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7, ESV). John said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). These two statements are either true or they are not. Because they are true, there will be those who are unashamed of the gospel and will be filled with love for people, no matter their race or political views; they will have a genuine love for the gospel and whoever needs to be saved. Such people are a vital part of the key to bringing about the next Great Awakening.
The Most Dangerous People on Earth
You will recall that the people of faith in Hebrews 11 did great things on earth because they had their eyes on heaven. It will likewise be people today who have their eyes on heaven and are unafraid to die who will do the greatest good on earth and who will be leading the way in seeing people saved during the next great move of God. My friend, Josef Tson, used to say to me, “The most dangerous person in the world is one who is unafraid to die.”
Are you unafraid to die? Are you dangerous because you are a threat to Satan? Or are you like those people who thought casting out demons was a fun game—until a demon leaped on you after saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15). The demons in hell (Gr. tartarus) knew about Jesus; they knew about Paul. But most of us are not known in hell because we are no threat to Satan’s interests. I want to be known in hell; I would prefer to be more famous there than on earth.
God is not looking for people whose aim is to effect political change. He is not looking for those who merely want to return to their comfortable lifestyles. He is looking for those who are willing to go outside their comfort zones and obey God. I believe that what will bring about the next Great Awakening is hundreds and hundreds of people like this—people who are unashamed of the Bible, who will fearlessly share the gospel wherever they are, and who are unafraid to die.
How soon and how quickly will the next Great Awakening take place? It is my opinion that it will happen soon and suddenly. Whereas sometimes God works gradually, as He did in the first Great Awakening (Jonathan Edwards preached for several years—beginning in 1733—before the zenith of the New England Awakening came in 1741), at other times He moves quickly. America’s second Great Awakening came suddenly—on August 6, 1801—and lasted less than a week! But its impact spread all over the South in a very short period of time. The Holy Spirit fell “suddenly” on the day of Pentecost. That is what I expect to happen now.
I see a day coming when there will be undoubted conversions by the thousands of university students. There will be conversions by the tens of thousands of millennials. There will be conversions of hundreds of thousands of African Americans. There will be millions of Muslims converted. And the conversions will cause the jealousy Paul envisaged that would lead to the lifting of the blindness on Israel (Rom. 11:14).
Furthermore, I expect to see high profile people—those you would least expect to be slain by the power of the Spirit—to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior openly. If God could strike down Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus by the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:4), he can save anybody. After all, if He could save you or me, He can save anybody.
What I see coming, then, is equal to the walls of Jericho falling in Joshua’s day. Yes. And do not forget that the nations to God “are like a drop from a bucket” (Isa. 40:15). America’s turning to God by hundreds and hundreds of thousands is our only hope. But I believe God will bring it about because with Him all things are possible! {eoa}
Excerpted from Chapter 12 of We’ve Never Been This Way Before by R.T. Kendall (Charisma House 2020).
L.A. Marzulli