Over the last few years I have met many Christian folks that have moved into North Idaho that really don’t know why they have come to this area. They have for some reason or another ended up here. Many of those folks have tasted visitations where God has moved dynamically in their lives, and they still hunger for more.
My husband and I came to this area to pastor a church that hungered for revival. During the six years we were pastors of that church we saw several stirrings of the Spirit of God, but there wasn’t revival and awakening in the area. After our pastorate ended we remained in close to help care for our oldest son, who was dying of ALS. After Nathan passed away we prayed for direction, and God sent us one confirmation after another to stay put.
During the 2 years we helped care for our son we visited many local churches, which was something we had never done before. We settled into a dynamic church with precious loving people while waiting on God for clear direction. About a year ago God began to stir within us a deeper desire to be part of a visitation of God again. Still there was no direction to move.
During the last six months God has put an increasing prayer burden in my heart for North Idaho and the local pastors. In January of this year, while meeting with a prayer group, a clear word from God settled in my spirit. The Lord said, “I am going to visit this area with a great move of My Spirit. It will be something that has never happened before. It will be a spiritual Tsunami that will begin in the rural area churches, and even in home churches, and will flood the whole area.”
Revivals are visitations of the Holy Spirit that renew the fire and love for Jesus Christ and the Bible. Awakenings are when the lost are divinely awakened to new life in Jesus Christ. The churches are again filled with new believers, baby Christians.
Many visitations of the Holy Spirit have followed patterns in the past. There have been visitations that come in waves like the 1970’s awakening known as the Jesus Movement. On the heels of the Jesus Movement came the Charismatic Renewal. That renewal or revival touched many Christians with a new fire to win the lost and to dig deeper into God’s Word. Our whole family was touched deeply during that time. My mother, 2 grandmothers and my grandfather gave their hearts to Jesus, and my husband’s parents and a brother also came to the Lord. I was healed of a chronic kidney disease instantly when prayed for in a meeting.
There have been visitations of the Holy Spirit that came like a bomb and took over the whole area such as the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival engulfing the whole country. The country was so taken over by the Spirit of God, and there was so much change, that the police had to form singing quartets because there was no police work to do.
There have been visitations that touch down like a tornado that hit the area and scatter Christians to other nations in the aftermath, such as the four Great Awakenings and the 1906 Azusa Street revival. Many denominations came out of those visitations.
Then in the 1990’s began what I call the spreading revival, something like an egg that is cracked and spreads out. God’s visitation upon the nation of China is still spreading out throughout that nation. It has been happening for the last 15 years, and still is the largest awakening the world has ever known. Over 30,000 people a day come to know Jesus Christ in China. I have been blessed to be part of that great visitation.
Now it is time again for America to experience a great visitation that will turn our country back to God, in a way that no human being could ever do. If a large area is completely soaked with the Holy Spirit our whole nation will be changed. A visitation that is like a tsunami would be something that has never happened before. I cannot even imagine what it would be like. That is exciting to think about, and even more so, to think that we possibly could be part of it.
In the natural realm I know that great earthquakes trigger tsunamis. Huge earthquakes usually shake up the land and disrupt the whole area. Before the land is settled, the tsunami wave comes and covers the land with a huge wave that goes far inland.
In past visitations there has been a spark minister or even ministers who are used in the general area where the visitation breaks out. Something like where the earthquake epicenter is.
Evan John Roberts was the spark minister for the Welsh Revival. He was a young man who was well known to be a man of prayer. I don’t know whom the spark minister or ministers are for the North West, but I do know that God has His plan for that job and it will be a believer or believers who know how to pray and walk with God.
We were blessed to be part of the Charismatic Move in California following the Jesus Movement, where thousands of hippies gave their hearts to Jesus. It was a lot of work even though we had a trained church. It took everyone doing their part to keep up with the baby Christians whose lives were being changed. Throughout the California region we joined hands with other pastors in the harvest field.
Pastors joining hands with other pastors in the harvest field will be essential for healthy baby Christians who will be born during this visitation. In Holy Spirit visitations doctrinal barriers fall to the dust. What stands is helping the lost find Jesus Christ as their Savior and helping them find their place in the body of Christ as a living church member.
Many times we sent baby Christians to other churches where they would fit in better, and other times we were sent baby Christians from other churches because they fit in with us better. The lines of competition fell to the ground during that time. The important part was each of us taking hands with other believers in the harvest field.
The Bible tells us first in the natural and then in the spiritual things happen. In the 1990’s, God spoke to me about a large earthquake that would happen in the North West. I heard the words, number 9 on the Richter scale. Since that time I have prayed for the North West. Until I heard those words a few weeks ago about a coming tsunami visitation I had not connected that prophetic word with a possible happening in the natural that would usher in a great revival coming to the North West.
When the visitation comes there will be a huge need for Christian workers. It is no coincidence that He has gathered Christians in the North West to be workers in His harvest field. With that thought in mind for those who haven’t known why they are in the North West, you might consider that God has you in the North West for such a time as this. Let us be faithful to pray and be His workers.
.