- 9am – Tuesday, online only
- 3.8.23 – All City Prayer with the Asbury Team (registration required, spots limited)
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” Matthew 25:1-13
PRAYER GUIDE
When the Bridegroom comes for the Bride, whether at the end of history or in a season of revival, like the bridesmaids, we will have one job to do. Our job will be to carry a flame for Jesus. A torch that will not go out. The flame will be our burning love for him.
In past seasons of renewal, those God has used most have carried within them a burning love for Jesus. It infects those around them. It carries with it the atmosphere of heaven. It helps others to see Jesus, just as the flame of the bridesmaids illuminates the Groom in the parable.
The flame of love for Jesus burns on twin fuels – devotion and surrender. It is the love that flows out of this devotion and surrender to Jesus that God has used in past seasons of revival and will use when it comes next.
The Welsh Revival of 1904 was sparked by a seven year old girl named Florie Evans. After she was convicted of her need to surrender her life to Jesus, she looked for her pastor after church. He passed by her on his way out of the building and she wasn’t able to discuss the state of her soul with him. She finally couldn’t help herself, she walked over to his house later in the evening…walking back and forth in front of his house, hoping someone would notice her…and working up the courage to knock on the door. She finally was compelled to knock on the door and came in to see the pastor. Eventually, she shared with him her fear of fully surrendering to Jesus…what if he asked her to do something difficult. Her pastor said, “he will surely ask you to do something difficult, but he is worth following even so.” After wrestling with God, Florie gave her life to Jesus that week. The next day in Sunday school, the teacher asked the class what Jesus meant to them. Florie responded with eight words (in Welsh) that changed the course of a nation. “I love Jesus Christ with all my heart.” The room was silent. Then came sniffles. Then came tears. Then came the presence of God. These were simple words from a seven year old, but they were burning with devotion and surrender. The Welsh Revival went on to spark the Azusa Street revival and the Korean Pentecost and has reverberated throughout history.
Devotion without surrender is empty. It is empty to say Jesus, “I love you with all my heart,” but I’m holding on to this thing, or that thing, or the other thing. During the Asbury outpouring, many students had the sense of Jesus saying to them, “I want all of you.” There is a beauty, fullness, and integrity in our devotion flowing out of surrender to Jesus.
Likewise, surrender without devotion is empty as well. Jesus says to the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, that he appreciates their faithfulness, their perseverance for him…but “nevertheless I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first.” Many of us in our long obedience to Jesus, have lost the first love culture of our hearts. Jesus wants us to remember, and repent. The twin oils of our love for Jesus are devotion and surrender.
If our one job will be to burn with this flame of love on the day the Bridegroom comes, whether at the end or in revival. Our one job now is to secure oil. We cannot burn on someone else’s surrender and devotion. We must have our own oil. The oil is not scarce, by any means. God will supply it to us, as he did with the widow through Elisha in 2 Kings 4. Our job, as this desperate widow’s was, is to bring our empty jars to the Lord. Fasting is an empty jar. As is prayer. As is worship and scripture and confession of sin. The Lord meets us when we approach him in faith and hunger, presenting these empty jars to him. He supplies us with oil.
Though oil is never scarce, the time is coming when time will be scarce. If as we sense, revival is coming…we don’t want to wait until the cry rings out for the Bridegroom to go in search of oil. This is what the foolish virgins do in the parable. And Jesus doesn’t want us to repeat their mistake.
PRAYER PROMPTS
- For surrender and devotion to Jesus to increase in your own heart.
- For the courage to surrender everything to Jesus, whether it is sin, or good things that need to go to make room for more of God.
- For a restoration of first love in your heart for Jesus. For other loves to be dethroned and for a fresh revelation of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
- For our church and all churches in the region to be positioned properly to be used by the Bridegroom. For us to be ready for a wave of his presence to sweep in.
- For the All-City Prayer Event on 3/8/24.
- For God to have mercy on our region and pour out his Spirit and draw thousands, even millions, into the Kingdom of God.
In Our Time 