The Seventy Returned With Joy
On April 10th our IHOPU students returned from a significant ministry trip. Several months after the initial outpouring of the Spirit here in Kansas City, the Lord began to speak to the IHOPU leadership team about New England. Specifically, we felt an invitation from heaven to target college campuses in that region through forty days of strategic prayer, fasting and ministry. Historically, New England has been the birthplace of the greatest revivals this nation has experienced – the First and Second Great Awakenings. In the beginning of 2010 the Lord spoke to numerous faculty and students with the same message: it is time to ask for a third Great Awakening in this nation and to see revival break out in New England again.
The dates we determined for the fast and ministry trip were March 1st – April 9th. Just after the decision was made, we heard from Lou Engle and from the House of Prayer in Boston:
Bethany Temple, the leader of JHOP Boston, felt an urgency to call all the New England universities to 40 days of fasting, but she needed confirmation. A young man gave her the following dream: Lou Engle was on a stage praying with a drummer behind him. The prayer that was being prayed was “Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest field.” Suddenly, the drummer interrupted Lou with what sounded like the voice of the Lord, declaring, “Now has come the salvation of God! And it will begin on April 9th, 2010.”
Obviously, such a dream with a date must be carefully weighed before the Lord, but April 9th is the anniversary of the Azusa Street outpouring. All of this coincides with a prophetic word given by William Seymour, the Azusa Street pioneer. In 1909 he prophesied that in 100 years another great outpouring of the Holy Spirit would take place.[1]
After this incredible confirmation, our entire student body committed to the forty days of fasting and prayer. In addition, we sent our advanced students to Boston for the same period of time to pray, evangelize and minister to believers on college campuses throughout New England. During the last week of those forty days, over 300 underclassmen traveled to Boston to join those already there. April 4th – 9th the universities and colleges of Boston were inundated with the message and the power of the gospel.
In Luke 10 Jesus commissions His disciples and sends them out on their very first ministry trip:
1After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. 3Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. 5But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. 7And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. 9And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11‘The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.’”
This is an unusual marketing strategy! After connecting the disciples’ hearts with the urgent need for prayer, Jesus tells them that they will be the answer to their own prayers. They will be the very laborers sent out by the Lord of the harvest. Then Jesus pronounces the banner over their ministry trip. He does not tell them that they will prosper or that they will have great impact; rather He tells them that He is sending them out like lambs among wolves. They are carriers of the most antagonized, hated message on the earth: the gospel. On account of the gospel they are about to discover how dark and hardened fallen humanity has become – they will truly be lambs among wolves.
Why did Jesus share this particular message with the seventy? First, He wanted to free them from all self-reliance and false motives. By calling them lambs among wolves, Jesus shifted the disciples’ thinking away from the pursuit of glory through ministry and towards the reality of the cosmic battle they were about to engage in. In His kindness, Jesus alerted them to the fact that their individual desire for greatness would not sustain them through the challenges and persecution that lay ahead. Not only that, but their financial resources and personal charisma would not sustain them – Jesus did not allow them to take any money or to speak to anyone on the road! He methodically stripped them of all reliance on themselves as He gave His instructions for their journey.
Second, He wanted to reveal His faithfulness. His instructions exposed the two greatest fears of any kingdom laborer: the fear of lack and the fear of failure. By not allowing them to carry money, Jesus forced them to discover that He provides for those He sends out; and by not allowing them to speak to anyone on the road, He eliminated the opportunity for them to talk one another out of the ministry they were called to. (So often we will talk ourselves and those around us out of great exploits because we see each other according to the flesh rather than the spirit.) The seventy were set up to discover the faithfulness of God; they were positioned to discover that they were made to follow a trustworthy Savior and to be entrusted with the greatest treasure that Savior possesses: His heart for those He loves.
Luke only gives us a single sentence to describe the outcome of that first ministry trip: “Then the seventy returned with great joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name’” (Luke 10:17). I have often wondered what that joy looked like. The disciples’ declared “even the demons are subject to us” – what miracles must they have witnessed? What was it like to be in the company of seventy men and women completely filled with the joy of the Lord? So great was their joy and their victory that it caused Jesus to rejoice in the Spirit (Luke 10:21). Jesus could not contain Himself because of their joy!
On April 10th, IHOP experienced a taste of that same joy. Our students returned from Boston, filled with the revelation of God’s faithfulness, the joy of the Lord, and testimonies of the great exploits they had seen and performed. Gabe, one of our freshmen, encountered a man with a bandaged knee and a cane on his first day out ministering on the streets. He approached the man and asked if he could pray for healing. The man, a believer, said yes. Gabe prayed, and the man began to move his knee without pain. He then asked Gabe to pray for his ears – due to a condition affecting his eardrums, he had severe hearing loss. Gabe prayed for his ears, then backed several feet away and whispered a phrase. The man jumped up excitedly and repeated the phrase: he had heard it perfectly! Before he left, he gave his cane to Gabe because he no longer needed it.
Crystal is a senior who was leading a team of underclassmen during the last week of ministry. She and her team finished open-air preaching one afternoon and then decided to speak to four young men standing at a distance. Crystal walked over and began to preach the gospel. She was joined by another student who began to prophesy the secrets of each one of their hearts. They began to cry and their hearts opened up. Crystal asked if they would like to receive Jesus, and all four said yes. They prayed right there on the spot. Suddenly a fifth young man – a friend of the four – walked over and wanted to know what was going on. Crystal looked at the four new believers and said, “Tell him what just happened to you; share the gospel with him.” So the four shared with him, our students prophesied over him – and they all led that fifth young man to the Lord.
In the intercession meetings during that last week, we asked God to release notable miracles that would travel all over the Harvard campus. One day an IHOPU student encountered a Harvard basketball player on crutches in the middle of the campus. He asked if the basketball player would like Jesus to heal him, and the young man responded, “Yes.” After praying for a moment, the basketball player reported that the pain had decreased significantly. The student prayed again, and the young man, amazed, reported that the pain was completely gone. He turned and walked off, carrying his crutches under his arm. Soon, our IHOPU students were receiving phone calls from Christian students on campus: “The word is out all over campus that a basketball player was healed by those Jesus people who have invaded our school!”
“The seventy returned with great joy.” Is there any greater joy than to stand before God in the place of prayer and worship, to be filled with the wine of the Holy Spirit and the fire of His love and the wind of His supernatural power; and then to go out in weakness and fear, speak weak words, and watch God use those words to save lives and heal bodies? This is the joy of our students today: they have encountered God in the place of prayer, received the revelation of His love and the filling of His Spirit, and now they can testify to His faithfulness and provision. They have witnessed firsthand the power of God to impact a region.
[1] Lou Engle, “The 40 Day University Daniel Fast,” http://www.louengle.com (accessed April 15, 2010)
