Just under the surface
Just under the surface
Since my arrival into the lives and concerns of the fine folks in Hoke County, North Carolina and in Raeford, there was a growing awareness back in 1993 that something was just underfoot in those cotton fields and battlefields in the Sandhills. I received a call in 1993 from a member of the Robeson Baptist Association in Lumberton inquiring about my services needed in this town called Raeford.
It was said that there had been a growing convergence among the distinct races in that community and that someone was needed to be sent into that environment to be used of the Lord to bring additional health and healing into a melting pot of people that was seeming to be stretched at the seams.
The historic blending of these races came together in quite a unique fashion. Residents of that area founded the county in 1911 and named it after Confederate General Robert F. Hoke.
At its inception, it was formed from parts of Cumberland and Robeson counties. Adjacent to Hoke County is the Army base Fort Bragg, established in 1918 as one of three US training bases for the soldiers in World War I.
Robeson County had been established in 1787, from part of Bladen County and was named in the honor of Colonel Thomas Robeson, a Revolutionary War hero. A Native American tribe known as the Lumbees comprise roughly 38% of that county's population base.
For over a year the Robeson Baptist Association had been praying for the right man to come in and to become part of the spiritual solution of that county by planting a church within the community of Raeford.
Not very long after I arrived, the murder of a young man had taken place in the Scurlock neighborhood of Hoke County that set into motion an overwhelming number of mainly African-American ministers in Raeford to cohese and respond to the situation.
By this time, the early 1990s, the Hispanic community were well on their way establishing their strong presence in Hoke County as well. Throughout the years, the African-American population had grown, along with the whites of Raeford and the larger county of Hoke, to include the first people, the Lumbee Tribe. So this was quite the diverse community.
Upon my arrival, representatives of the original three races in the Raeford Ministerial Association, which I joined, were jointly involved in a concentrated effort of prayer and involvement to preserve the existing harmony and cooperative spirit of working and serving together in this small but unified group.
With the growing presence of multi-racial gangs on the rise, I became the face of those in the Robeson Baptist Association who would be sent prayerfully to be a small part of God’s solution of unity and peace. From birth, I have a multi-cultural and multi-racial background of being raised up among a plethora of military families. My demonstration of racial cooperation while serving in the RBA as a pastor for four years and as a member of the Black Forum while at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary seemed to be somewhat helpful in my latest ministerial assignment. Maybe it was simply my last name of Morales that might have been a benefit to those who might feel somewhat more open to a member of their ethnic background. I was there to evangelize in an unbiased fashion, and that is exactly was I set out to do. Souls of men, not colors of skin was/is the common denominator.
The above-mentioned single death of a teenager, however, brought more compassion, more brokenness, more outrage, and more unity than it seemed to me anything anyone had experienced in many, many decades in the community. So shortly after that time, I had the privilege to march with about 20 black pastors into the Scurlock community. We marched in that neighborhood with holy boldness, praying and preaching God’s love and His Word with authority, power and grace. It was a victorious time of spiritual momentum that, in my estimation, never really held traction and that seemed to diminish after a while. Yet a holy fire was ignited and forged a united body of Christ that the Lord would soon use for His Glory.
Several years later, I recognized the prophetic word given to us around the time of vicious, still unsolved murder near Raeford of a precious five-year-old girl named Brittney. There was a groundswell of the outpouring of brokenness and pain at this heinous crime, coupled with a tremendous demonstration of Christian love and spiritual unity among the Christian community. Rev. Dan Stanley, now Dr. Stanley, brought this prophetic insight to all of us during the time of that most solemn occasion.
It went something like this: “I sense that revival is just under the surface of the ground here in Hoke County. The ground is still hard and must be broken up before the revival God wants to send us will come forth!”.
Fast forward to 2020 and a whole new world reality: Pastor Stanley's voice and his words still resonate so powerfully within my spirit! Not just in Hoke County but also in these United States and in this place we call planet Earth.
I am an evangelist, and throughout my years of study and practice of evangelism my broken heart has brought me to my knees many times about the spiritual apathy in my own life and in our country and our world. His Spirit, however, has brought me to my feet and to raise my hands in praise to my God with the knowledge that the Lord changes individual and world apathy through spiritual surrender and revival. He alone breathes forth His life on a few and ignites them to in turn ignite the world around them about His unspeakable goodness, love, holiness, grace, forgiveness and of His holy Presence.
The following listing is but a sample of the noteworthy descriptions of how the Lord has moved in the past to bring His Presence and His Kingdom to the attention of the world. These supernatural manifestations are revealed in His divine timetable. They allow humanity to receive a glimpse of the eternal reality of God Almighty and how the Lord’s prayer can actually occur, living out His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
A pattern of God’s preparations for spiritual awakenings and revivals
the heightened spiritual awareness and a burden of lostness and a burden to pray as ones dedicated to seeing God move in their lifetime
the spiritual receptivity and heart condition of one or of a few
the lack of spiritual awareness in the masses
the unique Presence of God around a place or event
the unique life of one person or two who are utterly beside themselves about the things of God and what is most important to Him
the passage or passages of scripture that they cannot let go of
a vision of their own sin, a vision of the sin all around them, and most importantly a vision of what God is leading them to do about it, about his love-mercy-grace-forgiveness, and also of his judgment, if repentance of heart mind and soul are not are acted upon
an absolute sold-out willingness to be that person to say to the Lord, “Here I am, use/send me”
the unfathomable intricacies of God aligning people and circumstances in a divinely appointed manner to create the spark that burns down the entire forest of revival and jumps to begin to ignite other forests and other trees all around the world.
Could our virus introduce divine destiny,
the Third Great Awakening?
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST?
When the God of this universe revealed His Presence in such glorious and mysterious ways:
1. powerful sermons could be heard by thousands
2. preachers and evangelists traveled throughout the colonies preaching the gospel of repentance, salvation, rebirth and eternal life
3. among believers there was a great fervor of emotion in prayer
4. the ability of people to express their emotions more overtly in order to feel a greater intimacy with God
5. a renewed interest in piety and religious direction
6. in an environment of reduced religious convictions, a message on the need of being utterly dependent on God
7. the rising belief among the masses that God was disinterested in the worldly affairs of people
8. a stressing of one's personal relationship with God
9. the reality of redemption from one's self- directed life and lifestyle to God's plan for their own lives
10. the unexplainable sense of God's presence in a church or in the gathering of a few believers that continuously pours forth His love and concern for those present
11. people hungry for authenticity, hungry to place their hopes, dreams and aspirations into something or Someone that is real but also something or Someone that is transcendent
12. people open to hear the loving Creator God of the universe in a manner that is personal and real
13. people who were desperate to what to understand and how to come to know God personally and to experience His presence
14. people who wanted to be loved and wanted to know how to deal with their sin and shame and how to feel free from its guilt and feel connected to a holy God
15. people who want to hear for themselves about the gospel of God and to have certainty about their afterlife
16. people who wanted to experience the unmistakable presence of the Holy Spirit and bringing the presence and power of God into their daily lives
17. to experience the movement and presence of God in such a manner that it becomes a catalyst for families, organizations and institutions that have veered away from scriptural mandates (of morality, ethical practices, and a strong adherence to both the Greatest Commandment for in Deuteronomy 6:5 and the corollary Scripture known as the Golden Rule found in Leviticus 19:18) to make both a collective restructuring and individual restoration of their moral compass based on the Scriptures
18. a realization within the hearts of mankind that what they know about God and how they are not putting that knowledge about Him into practice has left them spiritually bankrupt
20. a newfound hunger within humanity to truly experience God in a life-changing manner and to have a personal encounter and a definitive transformation in their lives to become like Christ as the scriptures
Could this pandemic be used in God's economy for such a purpose? Is the current global outbreak to be the catalyst to prepare us to make our personal exodus out of our own Egypt, into the promised land of joining King Jesus and His Kingdom on earth today--beginning to live and die under God's rule and giving our remaining lives to his service for his divine plan, purpose and glory?
What would be the difficulty to take a moment and look on our phones, tablets, computers, or Brittanicas or Comptons (printed encyclopedias for those not in the know) and look up and learn from the historical events of two major occurrences in our human history on this planet?
First, Google a list of major pandemics that have ravaged this planet over the centuries. Read about them and study and learn about them. Some of these will include:
Plague of Justinian: dates- 541 to 542, 30 to 50 million dead
Black Death: dates- 1347 to 1351, 200 million dead
New World smallpox outbreak: 1520 on, 56 million dead
Great plague of London: 1665, 100,000 dead
Yellow fever: late 1800s, a 100,000-150,000
Spanish flu: 1918-1919, 500 million dead
HIV/AIDS: 1981 to present, 25 to 35 million died
…and more recently and well known, SARS/ MERS / EBOLA/ COVID-19…
Along with looking at the great pandemics in our global history, couple your study with looking studying and evaluating the great awakenings and revivals in our world history as well.
These outbreaks of the supernatural presence of God Himself have swept both nations and continents! Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of spiritually blind and lost humanity have come under conviction of their utter sinfulness in front of holy God. These tidal waves of repentance and restoration have literally changed the dynamic and course of human history!
While France, for example, was in the throes of a bloodbath during the French Revolution, God’s shekinah glory erupted in Britain and hit the colonies with a tsunami-like impact!
Other great awakening and revivals have had their own spiritual saturations among different groups in different historical contexts, but one thing always remains the same, and that is the Source. The origin of them all comes straight from the heart and mind of our Heavenly Father as He releases the Holy Spirit to lead men and women to all divine truth.
Bring these two side-by-side. Along with monstrous plagues there have been tremendous spiritual awakenings and revivals on planet earth that brought tremendous hope and certainty in a world gone mad.
The First Great Awakening: 1730s to 1740s
The Second Great Awakening: 1790s to1830’s
The Civil War Revival: 1861-1865
The Prayer Meeting Revival: 1857
The Welsh revival: 1904
The Azusa St Revival 1906
The Chinese Revival: to present
The post-World War II Revival: 1947 to 1948
The Wheaton College revival:1950
The Jesus Movement Revival: late 60s-mid 70s
The Ashbury College Revival: 1970
The Promise Keeper Revival: mid 1990s
Could the God of this universe be bringing these two unique phenomena together in our time?
Are they currently being connected in God’s economy?
Could Dr. Stanley’s prophetic word about “revival just under the surface” over 25 years ago again have global implications for a “time such as this?”
I think that it is worth prayerful consideration to look at our COVID-19-affected lives and consider the need for a global returning to our Creator a through a spiritual awakening of an unprecedented nature.
Christians have the answer.
His name is Jesus. He is God. He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world and before the entire universe was spoken into existence.
In closing, more than food for thought.
Remember what Christ said in the gospel of John chapter 6 verses 33-35,
“For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. “I {Jesus} am the Bread of Life.” {the Manna from heaven}
And in the book of II Corinthians chapter 6 verse 2:
“For He now says, “In an acceptable time I have heard you. And in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation!”
Whether a coming revival brings one person to their knees and/or it spreads to countless millions, God is still on His throne! Whether the contagious love of Christ continues to remain just under the surface of our hearts and tongues, or it is released upon planet Earth in an unprecedented manner yet to be experienced in human history, Christ’s grace, mercy and forgiveness, healing and restoration has already broken through from Him as His offer to all of us!
Sixty-six books written by, traditionally, 35 authors over a period of approximately 1,300 years and God-breathed (theopneustos), His living Word has broken through to all of us. We call it the Bible. It reveals His divine and eternal purpose, and plan for all His Self-created race of human beings.
Lastly, my point of this blog entry.
If you simply know of or about Christ, who He is and what the historical biblical record contains of his Person but do not know Him personally as Lord and Savior, consider these two verses among so many:
Romans Chapter one verse 20:
“Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Revelation 3:20 says:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone should hear My voice and open the door, then I will come into him and will sup with him and he with Me.”
Anyone with any questions about how to come to Christ, how to move from just knowing of Him or about Him and are wanting to know Him personally, please email me at: dallas@dmem1.org (dallas morales evangelistic ministries) and let’s talk.
In Christ,
Dallas
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