Did the revival continue after those early days of God's powerful presence? Yes, it was amazing. In the years following the initial work, revival blessing came in waves.
But I still wasn't being revived myself! I was frantic - there was a coldness in my heart. I was saying the right things, doing the right things and being the right things, but somehow I was outside all that was happening.
So how did that change? I spent a long weekend crying out to God. There was little of victory in my life. I was frustrated, hurt and empty, knowing the right answers but getting nowhere.
On the Saturday night I went to one of the pastors and his wife and said, "Please help me!" His response was clear although he was very gentle - "We can see so much Helen and we can't see Jesus. Everything revolves around your vision, your work, what you will do."
I knew he was right. That was all he said, but somehow Jesus was there. I spent the following ten days in the presence of the Lord, broken. It was wonderful.
Rebel soldiers frozen
What else was special about the effect of God's workings in those days? One example. There were a number of what we called 'fixations'. During the rebellion of 1964, three rebel soldiers came to my house. The middle soldier was the commander and the one on the right had a spear and the other one had a gun slung over his shoulder.
They demanded money from me and when I refused, they got mad and the commander told the one on the right to strike me down. He raised his spear to drive it through me and I just put up an arm to ward off the blow.
Suddenly I realised that nothing had happened. The man's arm was raised and he was standing there a yard away from me with real hatred in his eyes - I've never seen such hatred, wanting to kill me. But he was rooted to the ground and couldn't move! The three were 'fixed' to the spot.
I said to them that my God in me is greater than their god in them. I then backed through the door and crumpled in a heap. But I pulled myself together and made them coffee and took them some John's gospels and talked to them about Jesus. They listened and then left.
The fire that wasn't a fire
And there were other miraculous signs and wonders? Yes. I remember one time I was visiting the sick wife of one of the evangelists. I was driving through a dirt track and came to the top of a hill and then suddenly saw this forest fire.
The fire was at the village where we were going and it lit up the whole sky. We walked the last few miles but as we got closer I was struck that there was no noise! That was strange. Forest fires have an enormous roar, louder than a plane.
As we got closer there was also no heat! As we entered the village one house was ablaze which was the pastor's house - but there were no people about. Again that was strange because everyone would have been out to beat the fire.
Suddenly, there was this terrifying sense of awe. We went into the 'blazing' house with flames everywhere but nothing was burned.
The people inside were praising the Lord as the pastor's wife had died and gone to be with Jesus. The Shekinah glory had truly come down on them.
How did the rebellion in 1964 affect the movings of the Spirit? The rebellion came twelve years after the revival first hit us. It was a terrible and appalling time when a quarter of a million people were murdered out of a population of 15 million. Many of them were Christians. The revival made us ready for all this and carried us through the suffering. We didn't mind what happened to us because our hearts were so rooted in Jesus.
What do you feel caused the fervour of revival fire to cool down? I think over the years the effect of western materialism was damaging.
We lived a very simple lifestyle. All the money that came to me as gift money I divided equally between the team - it made no difference whether it was my house boy who cleaned the house and cooked my meals or me who did the surgery and cared for the women having their babies or the motor mechanic who kept the ambulance. We were totally equal servants.
But when they got radios they found out how the rest of the world lived and wanted more. Also, salaries with differential scales came in with independence.
Any big lessons for us to learn out of all this remarkable visitation of God? You can't live forever on the mountain top. You have to come down into the valley to do the work. You must never look back on the blessing - you must always look on. We contain the treasure of the Lord Jesus. It doesn't matter about the beautiful thin china ware or the cracked old earthen pot - what matters is the treasure within. The key thing is that God and God alone is glorified.
In a recent conversation with Jesus Life, Helen Roseveare added these few reflections on the revival, 40 years on:
"The revival was wonderful: I hope that I still live in the joy of it and that it burns for ever in me. It's true that the manifestations were there, even that they shocked us and changed us. But the lasting effect of revival was not to make us seek for more manifestations, but, rather, a deep desire for a holy life.
"Revival gave us all an urgent desire for, a hunger to seek the fruit of the Spirit (rather than merely manifestations). The Spirit taught us to be more gentle, more patient, less judgemental. He worked in us a deep desire to manifest the fruit (Gal. 5:22) in our lives, and so to be more like Jesus. The gifts, in comparison, were a bit on the periphery."
Revival Fires
FIXED AND FIRED!
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