The Burden for Pine Bluffs

The burden for Pine Bluffs, WY really began here with a heaven-sent longing to see and know the power of God displayed…in the present tense. David spoke this way in Psalm 63:3, “To see (now) Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen (in the past)…” Our hearts began to grieve with the inescapable awareness that we are not seeing now, nor have we seen in our generation the power and glory of God fully manifested. How our hearts long for the full vindication of God’s glorious name in this sinful and adulterous generation!

Think of the picture painted in Ezra 3. There are two groups of people viewing the new temple foundation: the older generation who saw Solomon’s temple and the younger generation born in the midst of Israel’s captivity. The older generation cries out in disappointment while the younger generation shouts in victory. The first knew God was capable of so much more; the second was thrilled with the contrast of this victory and their long captivity. Sadly, my generation does not fit in either of these categories (yet)! When we pray for revival and speak of revival it is with a great deal of cloudiness, because we’re not really sure what revival looks like! What do we compare it to? We have not seen the old temple nor have we seen the new temple. We did not see the Red Sea split, nor did we see the Jordan split. How do we know and feel what we’re missing to produce the proper grief and agonize at the sting of our wretchedness? How can we say, “Oh that you would… like you did in the past!”?

Is this in any way the fault of God? Perish the thought! Is His hand shortened that He cannot save?! Is His power abated that He is not able?! No, one thousand times no! But our sins have hindered His desire to work. Yes, God can work if we will prepare our hearts to seek His face. Oh that each one of us would become convinced by the Holy Ghost of God that we are in real need of a fresh outpouring of divine power! Someone says, “Yes, but we can read about the great workings of God in the past; surely that is enough.” Surely it is not! It was not for David! It was not for Isaiah! It was not for the disciples in Acts 2! It must not be for us. “Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens…” in the present tense!

And this is where the burden began. Long before we had ever heard of a little city called Pine Bluffs in eastern Wyoming, God was planting in our hearts a growing dissatisfaction, a spiritual irritation, and a holy desperation. Desperate! Yes, positively desperate! How many times, whether in a right spirit or a wrong spirit, we have cried with Gideon, “Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of!” Through several years of near fruitlessness in revival meetings, personal soul-winning, and true inward sanctification, God began to work within us a passion to ask for more and expect more.

Then God began to move specifically in answer to our specific prayer; the burden began to take shape. I was traveling through Wyoming with a dear friend in May, 2007 and we stopped in Kimball, NE at a Days Inn Hotel. Because I was exhausted, I told my friend not to expect me up early; I was going to sleep in as long as I could. However, the Lord stirred me up early the next morning with a heavy burden. I climbed out of bed, put my clothes on, and climbed on to the roof of the two story hotel. Kimball, NE is the highest point in all of Nebraska (which isn’t saying much), so the view was spectacular from my vantage point. There on that roof, God allowed me to enter into His burden for this area. It wasn’t completely crystal clear that morning, but the general message seemed to be that God wanted to demonstrate His power in such a sweeping way as to draw multitudes of lost people to Him and awaken the slumbering faith of His servants. Through providential circumstances, the Lord directed our way to the next city west of Kimball.

We have become convinced that the Spirit of God desires to showcase His glorious power in the little city of Pine Bluffs, WY. In September 2008 we began to prepare for this marvelous work of God, tilling the soil with much prayer and fasting, planting the Gospel seed throughout the city, and circling the city with faith, prayer, and patience. We sense the clouds of God's mercy are gathering. A team of four men joined together in a small cabin for prayer and fasting. For three days we were graciously carried along by the Spirit to claim specific promises, stand in defiance to Satan's strongholds over the city, and seed the community with the Gospel DVD entitled "Somewhere Forever." None of us had ever been involved in such an intensive time of deliberately seeking God's reviving presence. How God moved in our lives during those hours of corporate prayer! There was a...

- Keen awareness of God's presence.
- Strong faith in the effectiveness of prayer.
- Deep conviction of sin (esp. the sin of unbelief).
- Sensed reality of the atonement.
- Joy resulting from being loosed from spirit-bondage.
- Brazen desire to speak of Christ with everyone.
- Strong unity of brethren.

It was sweet to sense the Spirit of God bringing us into agreement in our times of prayer. (He began to teach us how to pray for one another with true heart interest!) United prayer also produced an unshakeable confirmation that God was indeed orchestrating this work.
A week later a team of six returned to conduct evangelistic meetings in a high school building that we rented. We prepared our hearts with four days of prayer and confession of all known sin. God moved in a mighty way during the following four nights. While we began with an audience of one, we ended with an audience of 15. Five individuals were gloriously saved! The preaching was saturated with the Spirit's conviction! Sin was seen in its true nature! Tears followed conversions! We sensed that God had truly been glorified. Of the five saved, one was a high school student (Will), one a college student (Ericka), a Catholic married couple (Dave/Angela), and a Hispanic man (Pedro) from a neighboring town. All of them eagerly received the discipleship material that we provided. (FYI: I had the opportunity to visit with Will a few months after his conversion. He had been baptized and was eager to minister with me in canvassing the town with gospel tracts. What a joy to see him growing!)

Since this meeting, God has clarified two things by His Spirit: first, that we have seen a foretaste of His intended blessings, and second, that we must pray through on the ground of faith to receive the fullness of His marvelous plan for this little town. In light of that guidance, we are steadily praying for God's direction on a return visit, and planning for an exploit in Aug/Sept, '09. Please join us in prayer, and make plans to be a part of the second trip. We are confidently resolved that God has already given us this town for Christ, but we must through faith and patience obtain the promises.