Disturbed in Detroit : Warning dream

Detroit is on the clock—will revival pass by this desperate city?

I had a dream last night, and as I woke from it I was so shaken that I had a hard time falling back to sleep.

The dream was very short, but it shook me powerfully. I was in a large public area, most probably downtown Detroit, and it was late at night. I wish I could describe the feeling of the atmosphere, but it’s tough. It felt incredibly cinematic—apocalyptic—and everything was dark and colorless.

Suddenly, the most terrifying, threatening and urgent alarm sounded in the streets. It was an air raid siren. People started running everywhere. This next part is a bit crude, but is significant to understand what God was communicating. I personally didn’t feel any urgency at all to respond to the alarm, but I did decide to go into a public bathroom. I didn’t really have to go, but thought it might be good to take care of business in case things did in fact get bad.

I was treating the entire situation in a casual manner. I felt the alarm was false, or at least not as big a deal as everybody was making it. The urgency of alarm should have resulted in immediate action, but I decided to focus on what was commonly necessary, though in reality I didn’t really have to do that. I could have, and should have waited. The situation was more fearful than I realized.

In warning dreams in the past, I have been a representative of the church. The same was true in my dream of being dragged to Hell (documented in my book The Terror of Hell). In last night’s dream, I (the church) was convinced that the alarm wasn’t important and that other demands of life, cares of life, should take precedence.

WILL REVIVAL PASS DETROIT BY?

I have been terribly disturbed over the last month or so at the slow response of the church to the alarm that has been sounded. Significant prophetic warnings and instructions have been given in Detroit, and the response has been casual at best. We simply have to understand that the outpouring and transformation that’s assigned to Detroit will pass us by if we don’t respond en mass! God wanted the Israelites to enter the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses, but instead of experiencing freedom, life, milk and honey, they experienced death in the desert! They were assigned breakthrough, but their lack of response invalidated that assignment.

Now, I must say that there is a very impressive remnant that has been responding in amazing fashion. You all are a blessing!! I’m amazed at your faithfulness and your constant, immediate response!

Brian Simmons recently asked, “If revival in Detroit depended on your prayer life, how close are we?”

The type of fire that was ignited in Dearborn Heights in February was so special and rare, and the instructions were clear and continually communicated that we must gather nightly to steward it. I have to admit, I can’t imagine hearing about a revival fire being lit and treating it casually, and focusing on other typical ‘demands’ of life.

Joel 1:14-15 (ESV) 14 Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

This rare fire should have grown into a revival that would have shaken the entire world if we simply would have gathered. The call was for the pastors of the city (elders) and all of the inhabitants of the land to gather and cry out! Do you realize, we could be in heavy, miraculous outpouring RIGHT NOW if we would have responded rightly!

We have to understand that the fire most probably won’t ignite in our local church. Statistically, with the number of churches in this region, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack if the revival did in fact launch from our own ministry. So, it’s imperative that we keep our eyes open and get ready to commit to serve in the place where the flame is found.

Will revival now pass by Detroit? Well, due to the fact that I received that warning dream, and that a remnant is still sensing the need to pursue revival, my guess is that we still have a chance. However, it’s been said that if Detroit doesn’t respond, God will move his focus to Chicago. We can’t allow that to happen! When is the deadline? Do we have another week? Another month to respond? We can’t risk waiting another minute!

I’d encourage you to re-read my article from last week—10 Threats to Revival. Ask yourself how you’ve changed since that prophetic message was released. What’s the call? What can be done next?

Two videos : A Casual Approach : Prophetic warning

Watch two brand new videos—theLab vision explained AND a teaching on prophetic warning and a casual response.

Amos 3: Will a trumpet sound and the people not be afraid?

Last night at Revival Church rocked us.

As a prophetic center of revival for the region, and as a ministry that has our finger on the prophetic pulse of the nation, God is starting to release key strategies to us.

Watch TWO VIDEOS that deal with this issue.capture-00000497

First, head on over to www.revivallab.com and check out the new video on the sidebar where I explain the critical prophetic mandate for the pastors, leaders and intercessors in Detroit to gather together every Friday at 10pm.

Then, watch the teaching on A Casual Approach to a prophetic warning from last night’s service.

You can watch that teaching at media.johnburton.net.

You can also subscribe to the RSS feed at http://media.johnburton.net/rss.

The teaching notes are also there for you to follow along with.

I’m alarmed : Hungry yet sleepy, scattered and distracted : The core call for Christians in this hour

This prophetic analysis is specifically for the Detroit region, yet I’m confident it has impact in cities around the world.

[Don’t miss Aaron Crider Sunday night at Revival Church! This is most definitely a critical weekend as we gather together and advance toward revival!]

Aaron Crider was sharing with us at dinner after an amazing night of worship about the lifestyle to expect imagewhen revival breaks out in Detroit.

For six years he and his wife were invested in the Brownsville Revival. They would be at the church by 5pm each night and wouldn’t leave until after 1am… EVERY NIGHT except Sunday and Monday! Then, he’d wake up after 3-4 hours of sleep to get up for work by 6am. Work would finish at 11:30am and he’d go right to school. After school it was time for another revival service.

He said that every day 2,000 people would line up at 7am—for a service that started at 7pm! Every day!

This type of investment, of this level of focus is will become the norm for those involved in revival in Detroit.

Let me continue with a simple statement: The core call for Christians in this hour is to gather. To be together. Continually. We must daily build the house of God with fiery devotion.

When I arrived in Detroit a year and a half ago I immediately discerned an atmosphere of extreme hunger. The feel of breakthrough was in the air.

My guess was that it would be easy to sound the alarm, call the hungry to gather together in pursuit of the meal of a lifetime (revival) and the masses would quickly unify, come together and pray. I envisioned a movement of builders, of blue collar zealots who would lock arms and work with passion, together, day after day until the foundation for revival was built.20 Elements of Revival Box

2000 years ago, in a historic moment of desperation, a key event unfolded. The disciples were about to experience the rocking of the Earth by the Holy Spirit as revealed in Acts 2, but they had to do two things in order for this to happen:

  1. Gather together
  2. Pray

It was a similar call that Jesus had for the disciples in the garden. Stay awake, gather together and pray.

It’s the same strategy for us today.

I’M ALARMED

There are hungry people in Detroit, but I sense that hunger is being overcome by a sleepy, scattered and distracted people. Let me say this clearly: Right now, the mission of revival in Detroit absolutely has to be primary for every Believer in the region!

We must be together—continually. We absolutely have to pray.

The new reformation that’s coming to the church that will result in a Brownsville style 24/7 level of participation must be introduced now. We must rearrange our lives around the mission, and build.

The first two elements in my book 20 Elements of Revival are:

  1. Agreement
  2. An extreme devotion of time

As we’re locking arms, building together, praying in the Spirit and developing a new culture of daily participation in the church we’ll find revival rushing closer at warp speed.

ALL OVER DETROIT THE CHURCH MUST GATHER

It must become normal, very quickly, for churches to be filled to overflowing as people gather to pray several nights a week. It’s time to resist the urge to scatter. We can’t be distracted by lesser things. We must wake up and understand the magnitude of the mission. This is an all hands on deck all the time season!

I’M ENCOURAGED

Yes, I’m alarmed, but I’m also encouraged. That alarm is sure to wake up a ready remnant that will break through the religious system and build up the walls of this city with passion.

If you are one who is ready for reformation, you call is simple. Be in the church every time the doors are open. Contend for the doors to be open even more than they are! Then, pray and build the House of the Lord.

If we can begin to see a pattern of daily gathering and fervent prayer through the region, we’ll actually be able to watch the wave of revival come crashing over us.

REVIVAL CHURCH PLANS

The dream is clear—we want to see an army of people explode a movement of night and day prayer, facilitate regional, large scale prophetic events, raise up a team of revivalists to take the fire to other cities and initiate the culture of revival as we help establish the 24/7 city church.

Can you give 10-20 hours a week to this vision? Contact us. We’re ready to see revival come, and we need the laborers to handle the harvest.