". . . the harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.. ." Matthew 13:39

Is Jesus referring to a revival at the end of human history in which angels participate? Seven years ago God seemed to speak to me from this verse, revealing His primary purpose for AnGeL Ministries.

I was preparing a message series on revival and my heart began to cry for it as never before - revival in my own personal walk with God as well as revival in the hearts of His other children. Christians today seem so saturated in selfishness, mesmerized by materialism, engrossed by entertainment and preoccupied by politics that we are in danger of losing the uniqueness of who we are. Increasingly, the "lights of the world" are dim, the "trumpet call" is indistinct, and the "salt" is savorless. We desperately need to catch the fire in our personal knowledge of God, our passionate love for Christ, our practical devotion to the Holy Spirit and our purposeful commitment to the Gospel. We need revival so that God is glorified, Christ is magnified, sin is crucified and the Church is purified, and the world is evangelized!

Historically revival has always been preceded by two dominant characteristics: the disintegration of society to its lowest level of disobedience, godlessness, immorality and secularism, and the degeneration of the Church into worldliness, apathy towards the lost, resistance to the authority of Scripture, and open sin. As I pondered these characteristics and applied them to our day, I became burdened with not only the need for revival, but the very real possibility of it. But I believe also that we are living at the end of human history as we know it. The signs Jesus gave, as well as other prophecies that indicate His return is near, are being fulfilled all around us. And the Scripture clearly says that in the last days, rather than revival, "men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

While I could not seem to reconcile my conviction that we are living in the last days with the promise of revival, I felt God was clearly calling us to work for revival as never before. In the years follow

ing, I have seen Him fulfill His promise of revival, not on a large national scale, nor even on a smaller citywide scale, but on a personal scale as one individual after another has been set on fire through our ministry. Many of you can give testimony that this is true. Praise God! We ourselves have been revived!

For the past year and a half we have been waiting on the Lord to clarify and sharpen our focus in AnGeL Ministries. As a board, as a staff, as a prayer team, and as individuals, we have prayed and fasted for direction and vision. One burden that we cannot seem to shake is the unique opportunity to reach people for Christ that the year 2000 affords.

During eight days in the United Kingdom, we gave 12 messages in 7different cities to approximately 14,000 people. We believe many lives were changed and the church was strengthened. To God alone be the glory! One of our venues was St. Peter's Free Church of Scotland in Dundee, Scotland, formerly pastored by Robert Murray McCheyne.  1 Matt.5:14 2 1 Cor.14:8 3 Matt.5:13 4 2 Tim.4:3-4

I was on my knees earnestly pleading with the Lord for His clear direction and call When I opened Daily Light for that day, the last phrase was: "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." When I looked it up in my Bible, this is what I read in the surrounding Verses:

"During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ' It's a ghost,' they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: ' Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.' ' Lord, if it's you ,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to you on the water.' ' Come,' He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus."

Although I immediately believed that God was speaking to me, bidding me to launch out in faith to put on these events, I asked for confirmation. The very next verses in my devotional reading were:

"The Lord said to Joshua… ' now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them…I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised.'" As I continued reading, "No one will be able to stand up against you…I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous; because you will lead these people to inherit the land…do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

After such clear confirmation, we felt we had no option but to pursue the vision for revival we believe God has given us. We have sent proposals to several cities that have hosted us in the past for women's events and have since persisted in their efforts to get us to return. The majority of these cities formed an exploratory committee to prayerfully assess God's will and the community's need. As of this date, we have received written invitations from committees that genuinely seemed thrilled to have this vision confirmed to them through their own prayer, by God's Word, by their community leaders and in their own hearts.

Our first day in London was spent from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at BBC and Premier radio stations doing interviews every thirty minutes for various programs throughout the United Kingdom. Without exception, we were able to present the Gospel each and every time.

Please accept our heart felt gratitude for your prayers during our Jubilee Year. It has been a soul - searching, faith-stretching time that has tested our willingness to lay everything down and go all the way in our commitment to bring glory to His Name. And pray for the harvest. It "is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."

As we prepare to go out into the field and step out onto the water, pray that this AnGeL will keep her focus on Jesus and be a faithful harvest.

In His Joy,

Anne Graham Lotz

We participated in two prayer breakfasts of similar size almost back to back this Spring - one in Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN, the other in Charlotte, NC (pictured). Over 1900 business and civic leaders gathered in each venue at 7:00 a.m. in the respective downtowns to focus the attention of the city on faith in God. It was our privilege as the guest speaker to exalt Christ as the Creator Who became our Savior.

The women's leadership conference in Cluj was the first ever planned and organized exclusively by the Romanian women themselves. While their country is worse off economically and politically than it was under Communism, God filled these precious servants until they overflowed- literally. As the "fire fell," so did the tears - and a piece of my heart will forever be theirs.