Greater than Azusa Street!

8/23/23

Because Sid Roth and Torrey Harper spoke on the Azusa Street Revival in Blows from the West and Blows From the West ~ Part 2, I thought I would remind you of the event.  I don’t recall how I first heard about Azusa Street, but I know it became more interesting in 2010 and months after the miracle of Oil in the Closet, when I had two successive visions.  The two visions were of rain falling in my closet and the other was of a man’s arm growing out under his white shirt.

Here is a summary of the celebrated revival: “The Azusa Street Revival was a historic revival meeting that took place in Los Angeles, California.  It was led by William J. Seymour, an African American preacher. It began with a meeting on April 9, 1906, and continued until roughly 1915. The revival was characterized by spiritual experiences accompanied with testimonies of physical healing miracles, worship services and speaking in tongues. The participants were criticized by some secular media and Christian theologians for behaviors considered to be outrageous and unorthodox, especially at the time. Today, the revival is considered by historians to be the primary catalyst for the spread of Pentecostalism in the 20th century.”

In 2011, spurred on by an interest in Azusa Street, I bought a book titled “Azusa Street ~They Told Me Their Stories”.  Though the book is filled with miraculous stories from the revival, I was taken by three in particular.  The first was about the cloud that filled the Azusa Street warehouse for almost three and a half years.  In the book, they refer to the cloud as the Shekinah Glory of God.  One of the children present said it was like ‘breathing pure oxygen from heaven’.

The second wonder that fascinated me were stories of the fire of the Holy Ghost. People actually saw fire on the rooftop of the building and called the fire department many times. The fire trucks would arrive but the building wasn’t burning.  It was said that when standing at a distance from the building, you could see fire coming up from the roof of the building and fire coming down from the skies to meet the fire from the building!

And the last occurrence that enveloped me was when a man’s arm grew back into his shirt.  In essence, Rev. Seymour slapped a man’s shoulder in jest and the arm actually grew out.  Of course, I was fascinated by this miracle because months earlier, I saw it happen in a vision while praying in my closet before I read the book!

The cloud and the fire remind me of Nehemiah 9:10-12 (abbreviated): You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh…So, You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day…Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, and by night with a pillar of fire…

As I prayed and pondered Azusa Street, I received another verse, Isaiah 4:5: “Then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering.”  It represents what I perceive in my mind took place in that warehouse over 100 years ago (the Shekinah Glory of God).

By the way, Rev. Seymour prophesied in 1908: “In about 100 years or so there would be an outpouring of God's Spirit and His Glory that would be greater and more far reaching than what was experienced at Azusa.”

Further confirmation of the Lord’s words on the coming revival through Torrey Marcel Harper: “Another wave of an Azusa Street Revival but greater than what we saw that day.  The Greater Glory Revival coming.”

I have said before that the coming revival is not going to look the same.  Imagine though that what happened at the Azusa Street revival will not be duplicated but it will be quadrupled to a new effect!  As He spoke to me before, the end-time revival that is coming will be like no other.

Now, Lord…grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.  Acts 4:29-30.

On a side note, the city in which I spent my adolescent and college years was located next door to Azusa, California!