While visiting several new cities in Peru last week (new to me anyway) I found myself handing the mic to our Peruvian co-worker, Alex Bustamante, to close my message with an invitation to the people. Alex is a pastor whose primary gift is evangelism so it’s no surprise that many people came forward to give their hearts to Jesus.
But then God did so much more. Alex also called people who were Christians to rededicate themselves to the Lord. And then Alex would sing, “I have decided to follow Jesus…no turning back, no turning back.”
The response was tremendous. In every church we went many people, at times most people, would recommit their lives to the Lord. You could see the conviction on their faces as the invitation was given.
This trend emerged everywhere we went. People who were already saved were repenting. Many came forward to demonstrate their public rededication to Jesus. Many others just stayed at their chairs, quietly weeping. All sang with gusto, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back; the cross before me, the world behind me”.
Many people testified later that they had grown cold in their walk with Jesus but the message and the songs impacted them to recommit all their efforts to serving the Lord. They decided, once again, to love God with all their hearts and souls and minds and strength. Mark 12:30
This same pattern emerged in all 4 cities we went to, cities that were hundreds of miles apart. Even this past Sunday we experienced this trend of rededication back in Lima, Peru’s biggest city. And it happened in a peculiar way.
During the service I recognized the worship leader and remembered her from many years ago as someone who had a strong prophetic gifting. I told her in front of everyone that I thought she had a prophetic word for the church and she should get up and share it.
She was horrified to be called out, but after a while she reluctantly came forward, gathered her wits, and told the church, “The word that keeps rolling over and over again in my spirit is Obedience!” She went on to explain that she was sure that the Lord was calling out the church for it’s lack of obedience to Him in many different areas. Once again, we saw a strong move of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and people – almost the entire church – stood up to publicly proclaim their repentance over their lack of obedience to the Lord. Wouldn’t it be nice if this was evidence of a new, emerging trend all over the world? Get encouraged, because the times are changing for the better! “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,” Acts 17:30 ESV.