"...Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life..."
Revelation 22:1

• Our hearts and our homes
• Our friends and our families
• Our churches and our culture
• Our neighbors and our nation.

Our world is parched by a spiritual drought, barren of eternal fruit, and fatally wounded by sin. I myself have at times felt desperately thirsty for the "water of life"-for personal revival. That need has drawn me back to Jesus, and Jesus alone.

And so, for the past few months, the same apostle John who saw with his own eyes the life - giving, healing flow of the River from the throne of God, has directed this AnGeL to that same River. It flows, not just in heaven, but from the pages of John 's Gospel account of the life of Jesus.

In the last several years, we have been flooded with books about Jesus. His likeness has been on the cover of every major secular news magazine. He has been

• romanticized
• sentimentalized
• fictionalized
• criticized
• idolized
• modernized
• popularized
• trivialized
• visualized
• and scrutinized!

But there is a very important and often vast difference between what people say about Jesus , and what He says about Himself. Therefore, inspired by the same Spirit that lived within Jesus, the apostle John wrote an eyewitness account of His life which is, in effect, what Jesus says about Himself.

Several years ago, Andrew Morton wrote a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales. In his publicity tour for the book he said his information was based on conversations he had with some of her closest friends. His book sold thousands of copies. After Lady Diana's tragic death in a car accident in Paris, Andrew Morton's book was re-released. This time he revealed that the source of his information had not been intimate friends of Diana's, but Diana herself. He then produced hours of taped conversation with the Princess as proof. And his book sold hundreds of thousands of copies! It made an enormous difference to his readership when they knew the book was in essence, not hearsay, but what Diane had said about herself.

God is so good! After taking the step of faith to commit ourselves to the Just Give Me Jesus revivals for the next year, God immediately confirmed our decision by bringing us Leigh O'Dell as our national director. Leigh comes to us from Focus on the Family where, for the past two years, she has been responsible for their Renewing the Heart arena events for women.

All through the centuries, beginning with the first one, people have been hungry and thirsty for Jesus. One reason John wrote his Gospel was to meet that need. His motivation for writing is expressed in a brief letter he penned at the end of the first century to the churches under his leadership. Although an old man at the time, his passion for Christ ignites every syllable as he writes:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us."

Following the resurrection of Jesus at the garden tomb, the angels asked Mary Magdala why she was crying. She responded despairingly, "They have taken my Lord away and I don't know where they have put Him." Today, we can hear that same heart's cry from within the church. "God, You used to be in my life, but where are You? I long to be near You I long to know Your presence and feel Your love, but they have taken You and I no longer know where to find You. In Your place I am offered musicals and entertainment and programs and activities and empty stuff! Just give me Jesus, PLEASE!

While John's motivation for writing his eyewitness account of the life of Jesus was his overwhelming, passionate love for Christ, his purpose in writing was out of his love for you and me. The desire of his heart was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

How did John know that at the end of the twentieth century, going into anew millennium,

our lives would be so busy,
our schedules would be so crammed,
our focus would be so divided,
our bodies would be so tired,
our minds would be so bombarded,
our families would be so attacked,
our relationships would be so strained,
our churches would be so programmed,
our society would be so depraved,

that we would be desperate for the simplicity and the purity, the freedom and the fulfillment, of "life in His name?"

How did John know that with all the "stuff" in the church with which we would celebrate the two thousandth birthday of Christ, we would be thirsty for the Living Water and starving for the Bread of Life? I don't think he did know. But God did. Which is why He just gives us Jesus. It is obvious that the thrill of knowing Jesus never fizzled out of John's life, but remained vibrant until his faith became sight. With all my heart, that's what I want. I don't want to burn out, I want to burn on-and on and on and on! I want to be abundantly fruitful! I want the inner healing of His peace and joy and love! I want to be filled with all the fullness of the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ! I want to be saturated in the River!

Won't you join this AnGeL for a swim? Then ask God to use you to direct the attention of others to the River of the water of life.

In His Joy,

Anne Graham Lotz

Revival

Often God uses a need in our own lives to get our attention and make us aware of that same need in the lives of others, leading us to do something about it. Thus I believe God has given me a heart's cry for personal revival because it is the need of so many others, also. As I work this next year to offer arena events for the purpose of revival, the compulsion to do so comes from within, and I believe, from above. And so we have stepped out of the boat" in answer to what we have heard by faith to be God's call.

In the past, when God has called me into service, He has brought someone alongside to help in the work after I proved my obedience by taking the initial step of faith alone. So it was, that the week after I "stepped out of the boat" and shared the news of our revival events with you through this newsletter, God brought to us a very capable young woman to be our national coordinator. She is an attorney from Montgomery, Alabama who has been leading the Renewing the Heart events for Focus on the Family Her name is Leigh O'Dell. There is no way to adequately describe the blessing Leigh has been already because she has offered her services to AnGeL Ministries as her gift to God with no financial obligation from us. She has been a wonderful confirmation that God is with us. And we have rejoiced as we have discovered in her a kindred spirit who shares our desire to glorify God by working for the revival of His people. To God be the glory great things He has done!

Our first three revival events are scheduled in response to invitations from leaders and churches in Dallas, Texas, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Kansas City, Missouri. Historically and biblically, the main ingredients that God has seemed to honor with revival are prayer, the preaching of His Word, and the exaltation of Jesus. Therefore, although the program for our events is still unfolding and has yet to be refined, these key elements are already in place. The even will begin on Friday evening with musical worship and an expository message that lifts high the cross of Jesus. Saturday will include worship led by Fernando Ortega, an hour's Bible study led by Kay Arthur, an hour of prayer led by Jill Briscoe, and two meesages of biblical exposition that exalt Jesus, delivered by me. We are earnestly asking for you to support us in prayer as well as to direct others to the River of Living Water that we believe will flow to those who attend these events. We have named these events, Just Give Me Jesus. A Heart's Cry for Personal Revival. "Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you?' "For this is what the high and lofty One says- he who lives forever, whose name is holy. 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'" "After two days he will revive us..."

Women today are still "crying." The high rate of divorce and drug dependency, of abortion and alcoholism, of immorality and therapy, reflect the tears of a generation of women who are looking for Someone. These women are a few of the more than six hundred who gathered for a luncheon in Dallas, TX, in order to share in our vision of revival.

In order to offer the Just Give Me Jesus Revivals free of charge, advanced contributions are sincerely welcomed. Any gift for the revivals can be sent to AnGeL Ministries and is tax deductible.