Message: THE ANCIENT MANTLE OF REVIVAL

Text: Ezra 9:8 NKJV, 2 Kings 2:8-15

Ministering: Pastor Dr. Raf Otono

Date: 27th August 2023

THREE WEEKS AGO, WE STARTED OUR REVIVAL AND FLOOD ACTIVATION SERVICE!

And I started by saying that for there to be a revival there must be a quenchless thirst for God.

John 7:37 – If any man THIRST,

1. THIRST – We said every revival begins and ends with a THIRST

John 7:37 – If any man thirst, let him COME UNTO ME

2. COME TO JESUS – Take a step and come to Him fully and willingly

John 7:37 – if any man thirst, let him come unto me and DRINK

3. DRINK: – To drink is to be totally submissive to His will

The following week, we dealt with the rivers and established two things:

1. Every spirit filled believer or born-again Christian is a mobile river!
2. Many believers are not manifesting today because they are carrying a non – flowing river.

Last week, we dived a little deeper and began to see the triggers and characteristics of this end time flood of revival

1. It shall happen when men, women and the church of Christ come together in agreement, unity, love and one accord to pray – Acts 1: 13-15, 2:1, 4:24,31
2. It shall happen suddenly- the gate and revival flood shall open suddenly – Acts 2:2
3. It shall happen only to the prepared and expectant.

Today we are dealing with ancient mantles of revival ie the spirit and mantles of men that have stirred revival in the past – there are ancient mantles of revival that are hanging in the atmosphere looking for the right candidates to capture them.

WHAT IS REVIVAL? – Ezra 9:8 NKJV

• Revival is the outburst and the outpouring of God’s Spirit in diverse measure to effect a drastic change and His will on earth
• Revival is the outbreak of Godliness triggered by prayer and hunger for God that changes a community, nation or generation
• Revival does not only affect the people in the church but people outside the church.
• Revival is what changes communities and nations and bring men to their knees!
• Revival is the cure to survival mentality and suicidal thoughts

WHY DO WE NEED ANCIENT MANTLES OF REVIVAL?

To understand why we need mantles of revival, we first need to understand what a mantle is – so WHAT IS A MANTLE?

• A mantle is a dimension of God or depth of God trapped in a man (How much of God they have experienced and trapped in them)
• A mantle is the spirit and frequency of God a man has been able to interact with and captured
• A mantle is the identity of a man of God in the realm of the spirit – 1 Sam 28:14
• It is the spiritual inheritance a father leaves behind for his children– The mantle only fell when Elisha switched to father – son relationship! (My father my father – 2 Kings 2:12)

Listen: With a teacher you have instructions, but with a father you have inheritance – 1 Cor 4:15 NLT

• A mantle is a man’s authority and statue in God – (That’s why Elijah said you have asked a hard thing)

That means when we contact ancient mantles of revival we begin to function in the same authority, statue and frequency of the people that had it! We can command the same result and revival they commanded and even more!

Listen: When you contact ancient mantles, you start from where they ended – Elisha’s first miracle was Elijah’s last miracle – 2 Kings 2:8,14

So, why do we need ANCIENT MANTLES OF REVIVAL?

1. To operate in the same or higher dimension as they did to introduce God to our generation (This generation will not hear our gospel until they see Power – there are too many options and distractions)

HOW DO WE GET THESE ANCIENT REVIVAL MANTLES?

1. By placing violent demand for it through connectivity – 2 Kings 2:9-10
2. By digging the wells of ancient revival – Heb 12:22-23 (Spirit of Just men made perfect)

Sir/ma there is no need asking for fresh mantles when there are so much unused mantles in the realm of the spirit. If we are not seeing the revivals our fathers saw then their mantles are not in use.

Listen: Isaac didn’t dig new wells, all he needed to do was to re-dig his father’s well – today we are re-digging the ancient wells of revival and we are placing demands on their mantles – LET THE MANTLE FALL!

1. Compassion for souls – Every revival leads to soul winning and every carrier of ancient mantles had compassion for men and to win souls.

Listen: If you don’t have a heart and compassion for souls, God cannot give you a revival mantle. When Peter got it 3k men were saved and added to the church.

You cannot carry a mantle for the battle that does not bother you. 

4. By strategically positioning ourselves spiritually – Luke 24:49 (Tarry ye in Jerusalem)

Why Jerusalem? Too many spiritual transactions have happened there!

Listen to me: There is something called spiritual portals of revival – when you position yourself there you must drink from the ancient waters of revival which translates to mantles!

Anywhere revival has happened before it can happen there again if men can locate the spiritual portals!  QUES: HAS REVIVAL HAPPENED IN EUROPE BEFORE?

THE GREAT WELSH REVIVAL (1904-1905) – This was spearheaded by a guy called Evan Roberts in Wales.

He was just 26years old when the revival broke out. It is recorded that he prayed for 14years for revival and had a burden to win 100k souls to God – He would pray – GOD BEND ME!

For 3 months- the spirit of God would wake him up from 1AM and talk with him till 4AM.

During and after this revival –

• Over a million souls were saved globally
• Diverse healings and spiritual manifestations
• Beer parlors became empty
• Crime rate dropped drastically that the police had to cut down their employees
• Judges went to court only to discover there was no case to try
• The dark tunnels echoed sounds of prayers and hymns instead of wails of crimes
• Bibles were sold out and several years after the revival the demand to print more bible increased!

It was this great revival that gave birth to the popular Azuza street revival in 1906 headed by William Seymour.  According to history- Fire would cover the building and fire service were called several times to put it off but they couldn’t.

A woman walked in with cancer of the lungs like a skeleton (she couldn’t breathe)- the moment she came in – she began to breathe and gain over 40pounds in the meeting without eating. All she did was to breathe in the glory of God in the atmosphere.

When she went back to the doctor he couldn’t believe and asked her what happened- she told him and he came to see for Himself. When he saw the power of God, he stopped practicing medicine and started a ministry called ‘WINGS OF HEALING’ 

This was the same revival that gave birth to people like Maria Woodworth- Etter of Foursquare. It was said that when she is about to minister people will be falling under the power of God 50-100 Kilo meters away. One day she was ministering and a man began to mimic her and she said stand still and the man remained there for 24hrs!

Guess what? This same revival fire also spread to Holland then

In 1906, a Dutch man by the name Gerrit Polman caught the fire when he heard about the Azuza street revival and what God was doing. He became very hungry for God and he set apart a day for prayer and Bible study and him and his wife were baptized with the Holy Ghost and a revival broke out!

They had a church hall with about 100 seats, but it was packed every evening, that people had to hang around, the sick were healed, demons cast out, souls saved and other manifestations of the power of God were given.  They later bought a bigger building in the city Centre and from Amsterdam, the revival spread to other places, in Haarlem, Rotterdam, Hilversum, Utrecht etc. The revival continued till in 1919!

This same Holland that has also become like Sodom & Gomorah, that has been officially tagged a Godless nation, NO! NOT WHEN WE ARE HERE! REVIVAL IS COMING BACK AGAIN!

Time will fail me to talk about Pa Elton, DL Moody, Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, Smith Wigglesworth, William Booth of Salvation army, Kathryn Kulman, Apostle Babalola and Arch Bishop Benson Idahosa

Do you know why I am mentioning these names? I am provoking their mantles in the spirit! – The spirit of just men made perfect – a cloud of witness – They are here right now! which one do you want?

But in order for this to happen, for us to get their mantles- there is one condition required: – Heb 12:1-2

• LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT OF SIN

RISE ON YOUR FEET! – Sing Mantles are falling!

PRAYERS:

• Father, I lay aside every weight of sin that will hinder Your move in my life today in the name of Jesus
• Father, bend me, break me and use me in the name of Jesus
• Father in the name of Jesus – I place a demand on ancient mantles of old today – let the mantle fall now!
• Pray for Mission covenant partners

ALTAR CALL!!

• Operation 120, Relationship & Marriage Service 3rd Sept
• Let there be Light Conference – 22-24 Sept (AND GOD SAID!)
• New Comers Acknowledgment
• VGC Light declaration
• Grace
• VGC Slogan
• Record video for Let there be Light conference advert