The Lord provoked this series on the Great Awakening to encourage us that we are moving according to His pace both in the natural and the spiritual Awakening. The proof is found in the reality that three weeks ago, Mom could not have come on and given a message on the Awakening. She was too weak and frail from the stroke. God Awakened her mind to participate! He is healing both her mind and body as a sign to us! We should be incredibly encouraged!

The fight is great, but the reward is beyond anything we can imagine!

Two weeks ago I spoke on “Preparing the ground for Revival.” Mom spoke on “Awaken Us” last Thursday and Darrell spoke of “Recognition, Reception, Reward” last Friday. You can find them on the Prophetic and Intercessor’s Training Ground page of our website. Then, last night, we were blessed with a rich message of what the Lord is calling His people to walk in through the Beatitudes. That’s the heart and soul of the Lord’s workers.

The purpose of this series is three-fold:

We always look to the Word for examples to encourage us and tonight, I’d like to go clear back to Genesis. We can draw from examples of an Awakening that served as a catalyst to birth the spiritual revelation of Who God is, as well release the Government of God in the earth. The Lord was setting the stage for a nation to be as Matthew 5:14 says, a light unto the world, like a city set upon a hill that cannot be hidden.

We will look at Abram who was awakened to God, Moses who was awakened to God’s government, and Joshua who was awakened to the execution of God’s promises. We’ll focus our attention on Abram because it’s foundational.

Abram was called out of darkness. Then, in Genesis 15, God, in a mighty display of Who He is, demonstrated to Abram what was, what is, and what will be. Abram, who would be renamed Abraham, was the only man who, in the New Covenant, was called the friend of God (James 2:23). God showed him the Covenant from beginning to end, even revealing the ultimate sacrifice of the Son of God to His friend, Abraham.

The following is a pivotal moment in the several encounters that Abram has with the Lord, Genesis 15:12 is our key, but let’s read the majority of this chapter for context:

Genesis 15:1-17

This statement, “an horror of great darkness fell upon him” is a key. This refers to an enveloping fear that prepared Abram to hear the centuries of affliction that would come upon his descendants, while assuring him of God’s sovereign timetable. This holy fear of God becomes a prerequisite for grasping God’s redemptive promises. This is something we as a church and as a nation need desperately. I’ve experienced this three times in regard to our own nation, and this is why, no matter what, I never give up the fight.

This moment forever changed Abram as it prepared his heart to enabled him to hold onto the promises of God for a nation that was yet to be born. Before he could father that nation, before he could be called the friend of God, Abram needed to experience and walk in the fear and admonition of an Holy God. This is Covenant. The precepts of God’s will and His ways would be taught to Isaac from the time he was just a boy to when Abraham took him up the mountain to lay him on the altar before the Lord. Isaac would ultimately come to understand the fulfillment of that Covenant was in the Son of God. He would then teach it to Jacob, his 12 sons, and their sons even as they went into captivity to carry them through the time of affliction. The message of the fear of God was to course through those words as they were spoken. The fear of God keeps us on track and/or helps us get back on track when we go astray. The fear of God is our shield and our exceedingly great reward.

2) Moses—the deliverer—returned and brought the Hebrews out of Egypt, they would see the Covenant promises begin to be fulfilled before their eyes. Yet, when their moment of testing came at the base of Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:18-20:21, the fear of God was so profound, none but Moses remained in His presence. Within days, because they stood a far off, instead of falling on their faces before Him, many of them fell to idolatry.

At Mount Sinai, Moses received the revelation of the Government of God. A nation unlike any other was to come of this revelation and while their unbelief kept them wandering in the desert for 40 years, God used this season of wandering to instill the government of God into the next generation. Those who would ultimately take the land. This would be the generation from which His Light would shine. They were a nation set apart; they were refined, tested, purified, and sanctified as they wandered in the desert. This period also served as a season wherein God would envelope the occupants of Canaan with the fear of the God of Israel (Joshua 2) this played a significant role in their victories.

2) Joshua-the executor—Joshua served as the executor of the Covenant. He was developed under Moses and throughout the book of Joshua, we see the testing, the sanctification, and the execution of the Government God promised to Abram centuries ago was being realized. He was swift to move when the Lord commanded, obedient to execute justice, and faithful to the end.

These three had pivotal encounters God used to equip His people to be His light, and their enemies to fall. We learn through their testimonies, how God refines those who are destined to walk in and reflect His light. He will envelop us—just as He did with Abram, Moses, and Joshua—with the fear of God to keep us from sinning against Him and insure we remain on the path set before us.

To review: Abram was awakened to God, Moses was awakened to God’s government, and Joshua was awakened to the execution of God’s promises.

Let us translate this to today. The Church is to Awaken people to God. America is called to awaken them to the Government of God. Wherever possible we are to be the vessel through which His promises are executed in the earth. These are things that should consistently be prayed over. Remember, we bring hope, truth, and liberty.

This commission has not changed and if we look to the founding of our nation, we see how the 1st Great Awakening accomplished this in both the spiritual and the natural realms.

The Awakening encompasses much more than we realize. It is beyond revival; it is a revival of the heart of man toward God. It spreads like wildfire across the land and lasts for decades. It transforms the way you think about God, your fellow man, and your destiny. There are those trailblazers who pave the way, developing and training those who enter the work of the Lord, but the Awakening stirs up the heart with a fire and a passion none can explain! You can go to Bible college and learn about the Word from cover to cover and love the Word with all your heart. Yet, when the Awakening grabs hold of you, the fire of God pours in and through you to stir up and captivate the hearts and minds of the hearers. It ignites the Light of the Living God into your heart and soul and that light courses through your veins to enable you to fulfill your God-given destiny regardless of the cost! It’s the fuel in the fire God places in you! I would encourage you to pray and ask God to give you this fire every day.

What does this look like? We saw the stirrings of the Awakening 400 years ago when men, Awakened by God, climbed aboard ships to dedicate this nation to God. Between 1607 and 1770, nearly one million sailed to our shores to arrive in the new land. Only 33% were provoked by God. The other 66% came as indentured servants, slaves, or criminals. We can debate the injustice of this all day long, but the truth is, God chose each one knowing their descendants would, through trials and tribulations, ultimately inherit the promises of freedom America provides and the opportunity to experience the Awakening first hand.

Like Abram, men were awakened to God and those who came to the New Land were to be part of what God was doing in the earth. They were ignited by the Spirit of the Lord!

Like Moses, men were being Awakened to the Government of God. Pastors and Revivalists gave fiery messages every year to call the political to repentance, to righteousness, and to a place of purity as they legislated on behalf of the people.

John Wesley, the great reformer, was a significant part of the awakening that birthed America! He was saved from a near death experience in a house fire, then spent his life preaching the message of the Gospel to those society chose to forget, the prisoner, the penniless, the debtors, why? To give them eternal hope, freedom and liberty found only in Christ. He fought for justice rooted in Biblical holiness. Wesley also called the Church to fasting, prayer and political repentance. He wrote open letters blaming national corruption on greed and called on the Church to be salt and light in the public life! He called upon the Methodists to vote, and the Church to preach against national injustices. Wesley was seeing a government, by the people, for the people!

George Whitefield spent 30 years riding like the wind to preach in the center square, the highways, and the byways the message of liberty and Biblical equality. His messages sparked within the hearer both the temporal and eternal message of deliverance from bondage and oppression. Men were enveloped in the fear of God yet stepped into the fullness of the freedom found only in Him. Whitefield’s messages continuously provoked a sense of unity under our Creator, and their messages instilled the Light of God in the heart of the hearer.

The Wesley brothers, Whitefield, and preachers who we call the Black Robe Regiment, stirred in the heart of the colonists, these indentured servants, commoners, and unrefined individuals, a sense of true freedom. When the French and Indian War left the British government on the verge of financial ruin and they put the burden of their debt on the colonists through taxation, the Spirit of the Lord rose up within them, they had been Awakened and this was the last straw, nothing was going to stop what God was doing! It was time to cut the ties that bound them.

Throughout this season, the government was being formed by people who were living under the anointing and the messages of the Awakening and like Moses, they established a unique government “by the People, for the People”. They had never seen a government established that would be run by its citizens, and as long as people walked in the fear and admonition of the Lord, this Republic would stand the test of time!

Like Israel’s formation, the precepts were unheard of in the earth. Since then, others have tried, but none have succeeded. The closest one is modern-day Israel. God used the Revivalists to instill in our Founding Fathers the revelation of the Government of God operating in the earth. This was to be One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All!

America continued to be filled with what Brittain called “rejects, debtors, indentured servants, and commoners. Nobodys who didn’t have a chance against the Naval forces of the British.” The Crown saw them as “insignificant, disposable, and incapable of governing themselves.” Yet, these men were spurred on by the Revivalists who preached a Gospel of love and freedom that they could understand and embrace. They were ignited by faith of those who endured persecution to preach the Gospel to the poor, the second-class citizens, all of whom were not welcome in the Church of England.

God brought those rejects of the world here, at this time in history, because they were about to become the representatives of God’s light in the earth. After the Declaration was signed, like Joshua, Washington would have the opportunity to execute God’s plans in the earth! God was preparing a place of refuge for His people, and it was the United States of America!

America was birthed by God as a gift to the Church. The catalyst was the Luther Reformation, the fuel was the intercession of the saints, and faith was the seed that compelled the Pilgrims, the Moravians, the Founding Fathers, and the Revolutionaries to climb aboard ships, leaving their old lives behind, to embrace the new life in a new land!

Here we are 250 years later, the 3rd Great Awakening is here and revival is spreading, what are we doing to do about it? We’ve been weeping and sweeping for years, following the path of repentance and intercession the Lord has shown us to clean up this nation. Now, how are we going to retain and maintain what God is doing?

First, we need the Fear of God. We cannot experience His holiness nor the fulness of the Awakening without the fear of God. Somehow, in the message of grace, or through the watered-down Gospel, we lost this, we need it back. It keeps us from sinning against our holy God. I believe in this hour, just as the wilderness wanderers grew up circling the entrance of the promised land learning how to walk in the fear and admonition of the Lord, God is teaching us to do the same today and as He brings the Hammer of Justice down on the land, we will see this spread even into the secular realm.

Second, we need to continue praying. We are a people who are called by His name to humble ourselves and pray, and I believe He is working to bring us back under the revelation of His holiness so we can step into the fullness of our destiny in this Awakening! This is it, this is THE outpouring we’ve been fighting for nearly 27 years. This is what will truly transform our nation.

Third, we need to understand the Awakening that we might pray effectively for its expansion. That’s what makes Mom’s own Awakening so timely, the messages she brings will help develop the nature and character of the Lord’s worker.

Fourth, we need to recognize the work of the Awakening in the natural realm. Remember, this is not simply a move of God, this is a transformative revelation of God in the earth. This kind of move births nations and brings the government of God in the earth. It impacts the natural and the spiritual realms. It brings forth the Joshua generation.

(Vision October 31, 2024)

I had an open vision in which we were pulling this nation toward a goal. We were very close to reaching it, and the atmosphere felt urgent, as though we were approaching the finish line of a race. At first, it seemed that America was running alone; no other nations appeared beside us.

The fight was hard, and movement was slow. We were exhausted, yet, still driven to complete the task set before us, there was no chance of stopping us.

When we neared the finish line, the view panned out. That is when I saw the other nations behind us. They were not racing, in fact, they could not move on their own, America was pulling them along behind us. It was as though we were a large vessel, and the other nations were dinghies or small ships being pulled by America.

The intercessors were pulling America, and America was pulling these other nations. Yet, it still seemed we should have been moving much faster toward that finish line. I kept wondering why we were working so hard yet moving so slowly.

When I looked to the Lord for answers, He pointed to something at the back end of the nation. I followed the direction He was pointing and saw the chains. I couldn’t believe I didn’t notice them right away, but there were extremely old chains that were connected at the very back end of the nation. Hanging from the chains were giant anchors. Some of the chains had links that were partially open, I knew this was the result of intercession; it would not be long, and these anchors would be gone!

Suddenly, the Lord went to the back of the nation with all of us following close behind. He had a sword in His hand and raised it to sever the links in those weakened areas one by one. After the last chain was severed, the nation was thrust forward! The ropes pulling the other nations behind us were still intact and they were brought along as well.

As we neared the finish line, an explosion occurred, and we were catapulted forward. The explosion rippled across the land like it was moving through gelatin! As the ripples of the explosion flowed outward, light replaced darkness. (It was not until this moment that I realized the nation had been shrouded in such darkness.) The ripples continued building and extended to the end of the nation, then rippled across the ropes and into the nations we were pulling behind us. They too received light. The momentum from nation to nation was incredible! Nothing could stop it! Anyone who even tried was knocked clean off their feet!

I was pulled back to see this event from a great distance and saw the nation split horizontally. The explosion was the Awakening. As Mom has shared many times, the Awakening began January 29, 2023. The Awakening impacts both the top and the bottom layers. The top layer was the spiritual layer-this is the portion of the work done through prayer. The bottom layer was the natural layer-this always follows the work of intercession. This is why it can take months or even years to see the fullness of our intercession.

In the top layer or the Spiritual side, we see the repentance, the intercession, the warfare, all inspired by prophetic revelation. We often see powerful and revelatory preaching and teaching in connection with this element. People get saved, healed, delivered and ignited for Jesus just like on Pentecost and the revival that followed.

However, what we see in the bottom layer, the natural side, is the product of what occurs in the spiritual realm. It had scaffolding quickly erected alongside beaten and battered buildings and the restoration process began. With the completion of each building, a light would turn on and cause it to glow. Then, the scaffolding would be taken down and quickly erected alongside another building.

This is where I saw it… the buildings being restored were ancient buildings. The iconic representations of our nation. The Supreme Court, the White House, The Congress. The Lincoln Monument was polished and shining brightly, the Library of Congress was purged and restored to Truth.

I wondered in my heart what was happening with these buildings and what it meant when the light came on. The Lord impressed upon me, that with each light that turned on within a restored building, He was giving it His stamp of approval. As the approval went out, the false narrative about the individual or era they represented was broken, and truth prevailed. The light was the Lord’s marker that this building, or what it represents, had been: “Purged of deception or corruption, and restored to Truth.”

The Ecclesia grew and expanded at this point, some running for key offices and having favor of both levels because they represented life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

There was a merging of ideas, not a compromise but a merging of righteous ideals surrounded by light. They bounced between these two realms, the top layer and the bottom layer, and I saw them expand as they moved back and forth. When these ideas reached their optimum level, they burst open and poured out over the land as liquid gold causing the restoration process to speed up!

The vision ended…

This was October 2024. Today, what are we seeing in the natural realm?

• The Government is being rebuilt.
• The Monuments are being restored.
• The judicial system at the highest level is being restored-this will trickle down.
• Justice in the War on Fraud. Thursday, I learned that another 324 individuals have been arrested by the “War on Fraud” task force for filing approximately $14.6 Billion in fraudulent claims.
• Media is crashing and the New Breed of Journalists are rising.

What about the Spiritual realm?

• Men are returning to Church, this is where it begins, with the restoration of the head of the family to God, he then leads his family back to God.
• Revival is sweeping the nation.
• The divide between the Church—the house of prayer and the secular church is widening as people return to the Word.

This is just part of the Great Awakening. The truth is, the first Great Awakening teaches us about the fire of God that coursed through the messages of men like the Wesley’s and Whitfield and how their words, straight from the Bible, stirred the heart of men to God and literally gave birth to our nation.

In a time wherein they are trying to silence Truth and suppress Biblical teachings because they lack inclusivity or are too controversial, God is about to rain down on the nation with the Baptism of Fire and reveal Truth in powerful and profound ways, much like He did in the 1st Great Awakening!

God is moving in the natural, we see it in the spiritual, will we, the intercessors, embrace and pray into the fulness of the Awakening? Will we lift up our faith and stay the course in prayer? Will we allow it to transform us from within, we will be those vessels of light in the earth? Will we be like Abraham, and seek to receive the true revelation and fear of God? Or Moses, and be part of releasing the Government of God in the earth? Or perhaps even Joshua, will we pursue the fulfillment and execution of God’s promises for the next generation?

Most importantly, will we continue to keep our eyes open to see what God is doing in this Awakening? This my friends, keeps hope alive and does more to prepare us for the great Awakening than we can realize.

Blessings & love,

Ricci Johnson Wilson