“The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.” (Acts 19:17,20 NLT).
The preaching of Paul and the apostles and the story of how demons acknowledged the name of Jesus and even of Paul, caused a solemn fear of God to come over the city of Ephesus and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. A spiritual awakening took place in Ephesus, one of the largest cities in Ancient Rome with a population over 250,000. Paul labored there for three years, meeting daily in the Hall of Tyrannus to preach and teach. The revival spread from Ephesus to the whole region, so that the good news about Jesus was spread widely.
What would revival look like in our city? We’ve been praying that God would pour out His Spirit in our city. How would we know that God is answering? What would it look like?
One thing we know is that God doesn’t do encores. So we shouldn’t look for a specific experience, but we should pray and seek God’s presence. Yet, regardless of how the Spirit moves in our city, we can pray that the effect might be similar to the effect He had on Ephesus. We can pray that the fear of God might descend on our city and that the Name of our Lord Jesus might be greatly honored.
PRAYER: Lord, we’re praying for You to pour out Your Spirit on our city. We are praying that you start with us. Begin with the people of God. Revive us, we pray. Fill us afresh with Your Spirit and anoint us with boldness to speak Your Word. Stretch forth Your hand to open the eyes of the spiritually blind and unstop the ears of the spiritually deaf. Raise the spiritually dead to life. Move in our city, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.