I will never forget the transformational moment. At the time, I was getting ready to lead a large corporate prayer meeting. The church was going to intercede for revival in America. Suddenly the heavens seemed to open before me, and I saw a vision of the nation covered in deep impenetrable darkness.
 
Then, looking closer into the dark sky, I saw homes begin to light up where families were passionately praying and fervently praising God together. All at once, homes everywhere across the nation exploded with light as families were magnifying the Lord. The light streamed from these homes into the streets and neighborhoods—this spread like wildfire until the entire nation was ablaze with the presence and power of God. I could only stand in awe.
 
In the days that followed, the Lord began to speak to me that He is coming to visit families across America and around the world. He showed me that as families worship Him and invite His Holy Spirit into their homes, He will revive them—bring them back to life. His presence and power will fill their lives and households, igniting a passion and hunger for God that will spread to those around them.
 
This would not be the first time God used family prayer to ignite a revival. This happened in the Hebrides Revival in Scotland in 1949-1953. It started in the small cottage of two elderly sisters who gave themselves to prayer for revival to come to their village.
 
At that time, churches in the region were spiritually dead. Not one young person was in church. Yet Peggy and Christine Smith spent hours in prayer daily, sometimes from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. As their intercession intensified, others began to pray alongside them from homes across the island.
 
Soon the fear of the Lord gripped almost everyone on the island. Witnesses report that one morning at 3:00 a.m., they found men and women kneeling along the road, crying out for mercy. Every home had its lights on—no one could sleep! The awareness of God was overwhelming!
 
Churches began to fill up as people returned to God. Those approaching the church would fall silent, in awe of the Lord. As they were seated, they would begin weeping. Some from an overwhelming love of God, others from conviction.  
 
No one wanted to go home when the services were over; they would linger at church or go into nearby homes for more worship. This would often go until 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. People were supernaturally able to function with little to no sleep.
 
The Hebrides Revival, sometimes called “The Cottage Revival,” lasted four years, and 90 percent of the island was saved in its wake. It was a young-person phenomenon. Many teenagers and those under 40 were converted.
 
In the times in which we are living, God is calling His people
once again to light the family altar—to establish our homes as places
to regularly meet with and encounter Him. As God’s people respond to this invitation, I believe it will usher in an unprecedented move of Holy Spirit, filling households with healing, restoration, and a renewed love for God and one another.
 
I hear the Lord’s urgent call to His Church today, “Get ready! Get your house in order and make room for My Spirit to move with power.” In fact, in my vision, the Lord showed me “fire from Heaven” falling on families, spreading to the family of God—a concentric move of God that starts in our own hearts and homes and moves outward as we prepare a welcoming place for Him. This will awaken the nation spiritually like nothing before it.
 
There are things the Lord wants to say to our families and us during these extraordinary times. I feel a strong, weighty urgency of the Lord to draw near to Him—to get off the proverbial hamster wheel of our everyday lives, to get quiet long enough to hear His voice. If we are running ahead too quickly and not listening to the Lord’s voice, we will miss what the Lord is saying and what He wants to do in and through our households. We must pay attention!
 
The Lord is sounding a clarion call for us to get ready for an outpouring of Holy Spirit that will fill and overflow our homes, bringing in a great harvest of souls. This is not the time for the Church to hide in our homes; it is a time for the Church to arise and shine, as the prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you” (Isa. 60:1 ESV).
 
In these times of cultural crisis, it is possible to make our homes a storehouse of His glory. People will be looking for those who know how to touch God on their behalf. As the revival spreads, new believers will need more of God’s Good News—the “basics” of the Bible. This is why the Lord is calling us to be prayerful and prepare our homes to be a habitation for Him. Nothing is more effective at drawing people into the Kingdom and discipling them than nurturing friendships in a warm home setting.
 
The Lord is calling us to reach out to friends and neighbors—to invite them
into our homes for times of Spirit-filled worship, prayer, and sharing testimonies of
God’s faithfulness. He wants His Holy Spirit to be like a fire burning in our homes so that everyone who walks through our front door will encounter His tangible presence. As our families become saturated with God’s heart and filled with His hope, joy, and love, we will reignite in others that which was reignited in us.
 
Imagine what might happen if families all across the nation began to pray together every day. What if we regularly invited God’s presence into our homes and prayed not only for one another but for our schools, workplaces, and churches? What if every time we gathered to pray, we asked God to send another Great Awakening to our land? I believe we would see families restored, prodigals coming home, and revival fires ablaze, with a multitude of people coming into God’s Kingdom. 
 
I hear the Lord’s urgent call, even a promise, to our families and the family of God today: “If you will build an altar, I will come—with awakening and revival fire—
to your family and to your nation!”
 
Pray with me:
Father, we ask You to ignite a revival fire in homes across America, a fire that will spread to every sphere of culture in our nation. And, Lord, we pray that this would not end with our generation but that our children and our children’s children would keep the fire on the family altar burning— that the generations to come would put their trust in You and not forget Your faithfulness (Psalm 78:6-7).
 
Our decree:
We decree, in Jesus’ name, that a movement of family prayer and worship is being ignited that will set the nation ablaze with the power and presence of Almighty God!
 
Cheryl Sacks contributed today’s post; portions of the message were taken from her new book, Fire on the Family Altar: Experience the Holy Spirit’s Power in Your Home, published by Destiny Image, Shippensburg, PA.

You can learn more about Cheryl and her husband Hal’s work at bridgebuilders.net and prayersaturated.life.
 
 

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