Article "Revolution"
AUTHOR: Pastor Andrey Shapovalov

     The theme that I wanted to share with you today, I named, "Revolution." The word revolution, means a change in thought, laws, dominant influences, and in life as a whole. Many people appear to be Christians for many years but have nothing with which they can be praised for. People try to fit into something new without first taking off their old clothes, without first becoming completely naked before their Creator. We all want to experience something pleasing in our lives without first going through a period of transformation and change in our life and consciousness.

     Right now we are planning a trip Ukraine to carry out the encounter. I have currently received calls from there with people notifying me that my fellow acquaintances and preachers, that claim to have the same authoritive affairs for people, are trying to destroy all of our plans to go. Yesterday, I was crying out to God, 'what have we come to? To what conclusion have we come to Jesus? My brothers, pastors whom I respect and love, are breaking down your work.' My beloved, we fight against each other and in the meantime, the devil is robbing our nation. He is robbing us of our families, our children, and our teenagers who have practically disappeared. As I was laying on the floor, sobbing, I called out, 'Master! When will the understanding come into our lives? The understanding of the fact that we do not have any enemies except the devil himself!' I ask again, who are we fighting against? The pastors and leaders are not our enemies. The Pentecostals, Baptists, Charismats, they are our brothers and sisters. I was shouting, 'Lord! When will this nation get on their knees? When will those people who perceive at least some of what is going on around, people who serve to save lives, will finally understand that our churches are not enemies but that our churches are made to save lives?

     From this pulpit you will never hear a name of any preacher who would be disgraced or offended. On the contrary, I bless all pastors. What ever they say and do, I bless them. We are all brothers accomplishing one task. The Lord told me yesterday to share this with you specifically, that we are all the children of our Father and He loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for us. Unfortunately, when the world should be drawing to salvation and apprehending Jesus Christ, we instead are nagging and destroying each other.

 Denomination is destroying another denomination because somebody is not wearing a head covering or behaving in a way that is not accustomed in their congregation. The problem with this is that everyone considers or claims to be correct, and at the same time, everyone wants to receive something from God. In the scripture it is written that how can you love God Whom you do not see and hate your brother whom you do see? Your brother is a part of God! Oh how much we need mindful people who will grow out of this childish stage and take up the cross upon themselves. Not the cross of destruction, but the cross of bringing forth the gospel and salvation into people's lives.

     There are people whom I have always admired and always will no matter what. I believe that God will bring in to order our relationships, and we will worship Him together. But currently, these pastors are condemning that which is God's. They condemn what we do, the people that we pray for, and that which we do in general is all condemned by them. Jesus is more concerned about the fruits of your life and not the image. He did not say that by there clothes, appearance, or by the way they talk will you know them. On the contrary, he said that by the fruits of the Spirit will you know them. If in this church people are changed, saved, freed from demons, and heeled from sicknesses, how can somebody open there mouth and condemn this? How is it possible to condemn people and the church, no matter how they may appear? Every time when another attack flies toward me I think, My God! Where is it coming from? I turn around and see that the strike is coming from my brother in Christ. And my sister in Christ is inflicting a defeat against me as well! God, just yesterday I was praying about them! To the world I am no one. In fact, unbelievers respect us and even like us. For this reason it is more difficult for me when I feel another stab in my back because I know that a Christian caused this wound. I ask God, 'Bring those people up who will leave their lives, their ambitions, and who will search You for who You really are!'

     Every denomination thinks that they have perceived God. My dear people, we have not perceived anything, we do not even know anything! If we would have perceived God, we would have already died on the cross for the first sinner we meet and who we would have liked to see saved as well. Isn't that so? If we were able to look like Christ, we would have had a heart attack by now as we look at the world degrading around us. How can people destroy their brothers in Christ and then pray for the salvation of others? How can they desire to demolish and destroy that which God is doing? The devil cannot heal and he cannot bring back families together. His job is to steal, kill, and destroy. Sometimes I wonder: God, if we, Christians, will not save our nation, what is the point of  living in this world? Is it just for another conference or get-together, or maybe for another concert? Oh no! I want to see my nation on their knees! My dear ones, God will never be able to give much if we are not capable to receive much. God cannot give much if we are not able to fit different denominations, churches, and bless everyone equally. Jesus did not just die for Russians or Ukrainians. [For God so Loved the World] John 3:16. He did not love Christians or pharisees. He loved the whole world. The world... everything that is impure, fallen, and cared about nobody. He fit everyone. He loved everyone. He accepted everyone. If we are children of our Father, how can we not accept our brothers and sisters in spite of our differences? When will we stop living for ourselves and start living for God?

     Sometimes we may think that the moment we receive our anointing, we will be accepted. Because we will be doing something for God, we will be accepted by everyone. We will expect people to listen to us while we stand behind a beautiful pulpit, on a beautiful stage. But in reality, when God starts using you or myself, many people will not understand us even though it is a desire for an individual to feel accepted.

     The paradox is that the more you draw nearer to Christ, the further you part from the world. Jesus said that the world hated Him. Those people who He came to did not accept Him. His own did not accept Him. I would like to warn you that in the Kingdom of God there is a rule that as soon as you reach the center of His will, you will be known by everyone. Not because you became accepted and loved by everyone, but because the whole dirt that could ever be present will be on you. Everything and anything that the devil can pour upon you, he will.

      I assume that you have heard and know about the dirt that has been said about me, this church, and the attendants. Please note that we never hear about the churches that don't do anything, but the place where God is working, there is like an activation of demons. That is the specific target that the devil tries to destroy. You may ask anyone who hates us, and they will not be able to give you a reason because it is the spirit that is trying to stop the awakening. 

      People say, 'we will not give up what our ancestors have passed to us.' But what did our ancestors pass to us? What? Thank you for the Bible, amen. What next? From the pulpit you can say what ever you want, but where are your children? Where is your generation  which sees you everyday? The first people to rebel against these kind of people are their wives and children because they see a fake generation of attendants. More than often, these people lead double, even triple lives covering up with a mask of righteousness. Those who say that you cannot watch television have one in every room of their home. Those who say you cannot drink beer have a storage room full of wine.

     "You will tell the truth. You will be hated, but you will continue to say the truth."

     "Because I need people who will not be afraid for themselves, but who will say the truth."

     I made up my mind. I decided for myself that it is better to seem unholy to people but to be righteous in the eyes of God Who has chosen me. I will not care about what others will say or think about me. I will say everything that God will tell me to say. Whatever virus people may call you, it is your mission to say the truth as well. To me, this truth has cost me everything.

     The reason why people do not want to accept us is that even if we say the words of God, they do not want to agree, because they know that if they agree, they will have to transform and change, and no one wants to. For this very reason the Jewish leaders of tradition hated Jesus and eventually killed Him. Not because He heeled and showed them many miracles, but because He told them that they were sinners and they knew that He was right.  If they were to accept the truth, they would loose their power and respect from the people. This is why they killed Him.

     No matter how much good you do, how much you pray, never depend on the acceptance of other people. I remember a few prophets whom God sent; Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Daniel. After their instructions from God they admitted that the people will not accept them and kill them. But God told them that no matter what the circumstances were, their mission was to go, because that was His will.

    I believe that God raises up people of strong will and people who will not be afraid. People who will love others and not denominations. People who will love individuals, families, and our falling generation. These kind of individuals will not divide people into categories. Whomever I meet, the first question I am asked is, are you Baptist, Pentecostal, or Charismat? What church do you attend?" When I tell them that I am a Christian, they cannot comprehend it. I tell them that I am a Christian who drives demons out of people in the name of Jesus Christ, and I just do everything that the Word says to do.

    I am a Christian. Everyone is equal to me no matter what they wear or say because I know that If Jesus has taken me out of the filth, then He is capable of doing it to them as well. Is it not so? God just needs someone to say that He is alive and to be our own selves. Yes, it is true that I am hated by many. In Washington I am called an epidemic, a virus that needs to be "neutralized." But I know that to this kind of epidemic there is no vaccine because it is an epidemic of the Holy Spirit!

     I can meet a person with whom I can talk about anything. He just sits there, sips  on a cup of tea, and just as the conversation starts about a business, he explodes, his eyes catch on fire. This is his life! Another person can be excited about something else. When people start telling me about the salvation of our nation and as soon as I hear words such as awakening, youth, family, revolution, I explode! You can always have my attention with this! I am still young, just a little over thirty and I will have time to do many more things for Jesus. God will not allow this to be trampled on and stopped because we are praying for our nation. We are doing what Jesus did. He not only prayed for His disciples but for all who will believe through them. (John 17)

     Do you have a goal? Is there something that can ignite you? Yes, people call me a virus, but they know what I do. When people say your name, do they know what you do? Solomon said that a kind name is worth far more more than riches. What do people say about you when you are not around? Steve Hill, a strong evangelist, Maybe some of you have heard about a great wakening in California, a great awakening that has captured many people. In just a few years, millions of people have passed through his not-so-large church. When he was asked by other people about what can be done to have an awakening in their churches and nation, he answered,

     And the elderly women did. This looked sad and at the same time silly  when the church consisted of one and a half thousand people but the prayer of only six to eight people. When the handful of people began the prayer, soon there were more and more people coming to pray, many people, and it got to the point where it was impossible to stop them. Then the prayer started taking place twice a week, then three, then four, five, six, and all seven days! The sunday service, youth meetings, different programs-everything discontinued because there were a few elderly women who stood up and said that fire will come upon their church, city, and state. The prayer took over all other services! This is what prayer can do.

     My God, give us devoted hearts! My God, give us people who will not pay attention to those around but who will look beyond to the results lying ahead! Give us people who will have a dream that could not be altered! Master, raise our generation!

     We are all brothers, we are all friends, and we will all have to stand. What a time we are living, my dear ones! The devil is doing everything he wants to. The only solution, the only structure that can stop satan is the Bride of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not going to do it, He has already sentenced him and took his strength away and now the church needs to make the verdict come to pass. I repeat again. The only identity that can strike satan and clear him from our cities save their nation, is the Bride of Jesus. During this time, when the Bride is suppose to be praying, she is destroying herself. Someone said, 'I will find five people who will die faster for the Bible then read it from start to finish.' Yes, religion will probably make you die for the Word of God that you do not know rather then consume It and live by It. To die for Jesus is simple, but to live for Him is a challenge. It takes great effort to stand in prayer daily for our nations, to believe that the time will come when people will take the Word and start using it to spread the gospel instead of using it to destroy each other. 

     My dear people, the time when our nation will awake will depend from us. The faster we awake and take our places, the faster our brothers and sisters will awake. They attack us not because they are bad but because someone is using their lives. But when we will start this war and when we will overcome the spirit of slavery and religion, then the eyes of these people will be opened and they will say, what have I been in before? Our battle is not against flesh and blood do you hear? Why do churches fight against flesh and blood all life long? The pharisees said that if it is not God, then it will destroy itself. But I say, if it is from God, be afraid to disapprove  His work because you will not be able to destroy it. By the way, many  people are mistaken by thinking that attacking someone makes them weaker.

     To make this revolution happen my dear ones, we need supernatural hunger. We need to become people who hunger to change themselves and to change everything around them. We have already taken a two week fasting period and a twenty four hour prayer. God did much during that time. He made a serious cleaning and many received a break-through. Starting this week we will be going into another week of fasting and will be a prayer marathon. I am dreaming of the time when we will be able to do a never ending prayer and fasting. Can you imagine what will happen to our state when we will stand in break-through for it? I plea to God and dream so that fasting and prayer will never end in our church. By this I mean that one group will will start, the next will take over and so on. I am dreaming. This dream has been in my heart for so long and I believe that someday, in our church, prayer and fasting will never cease. For right now though, we will start with one week.

  ["For I will give you abundant water for your thirst and for your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit and my blessings on your children"] (Isaiah 44:3).  Again, thirsty and parched. I have already said, 'Lord, I am so hungry. What other way is there for me to dry so that something great can start happening?' The level of anointing and awakening is measured by your thirst. How much you are thirsty is how big of a bottle God will give you. I think God has a whole bucket for us because how much longer can this really last? I believe it is going to be waterfall! God will open His faucet, I'm telling you, be ready to receive all! Do not pay attention to the age, way of thought, denomination, clothing, etc. because they are all people for whom Jesus died.

     ["Say there, is anyone thirsty? Come and drink-even if you have no money! Come-take your choice of wine and milk"] (Isaiah 55:1). In other words, you cannot buy the awakening because it will only come for one reason...hunger. Such hunger that you cannot satisfy with anything. If you can satisfy your hunger with a four bedroom house, you are not worthy of the awakening. If you can satisfy your hunger with a thriving business or marriage, you are not worthy of the awakening either. I see so many people who are hungry, they seem to be digging the ground and just as they come back from the encounter with all the blessings that God has given,  suddenly, Good-bye. 'Where?' I ask. 'We have signed you up for the army of the Lord!' And an answere in return, 'What army, life is just beginning brother! What war? I have health now!'

   I have a dear person to me whom God healed, and because of that, he became hungry for his own business and who is no longer with us. All of his internal organs were completely healed. The doctors checked him and said that there was nothing present.  He simply though that if everything is gone, he can open a business. I think to myself; God, how many are there of us who receive theirs and leave? We can think that we are "thirsty," but it is only when we have a need. What happens if you do not have a need? Business is good, you have money, family is in order, the church you attend is okay as well, and what then? Here is where the test comes.  Where brother, where? No time, is the answer. Too healthy. God, please, raise up people who will have thirst that cannot be quenched.

     ["Happy are those who long to do be just and good, for they shall be completely satisfied"] Matthew 5:6. God said that to be hungry- is to be blissfully happy. Hundreds of people have passed through me with tears in their eyes pleading for God to heal them and free them, and He did. But then, they ended up being farther away from Him than they used to because they have finally received freedom in their lives. Some say: God, give me money. Where will you be if you do win the lottery which you scratch, scratch, and scratch? Stop scratching. Where will you be when you will have millions? Where? In church? Why of course!  You will have to give a tenth back. While you scratch, you are ready to give even twenty percent but when you do win, it is difficult to give even a dollar back from the tenth. 

       In Revelation 21:6 God says: ["It is finished! I am the A and the Z-the Beginning and the End. I will give to the thirsty the springs of the Water of Life-as a gift!"] The Bible has many more places that agree to this verse. All that God does is ignite us with fire and gives us thirst. All that He likes to see is thirst. He does not like beggars. Some people ask, "Why do I ask and not receive?" The answer is because you have not really wanted what you asked for.

     I met a person who wanted to buy a car at an insurance auto auction. There is a good car but like always, he does not have enough money for it. This is the way our nation is. Instead of getting a little Toyota, we want a Mercedes or a BMW, minimum. I have also seen how an individual who was desperate for a certain car. He stands there and waives his little number, sees that his pocket does not allow him, hides his number and goes off to look for something else. That is how desperate he is for this car. Another may not know what to use to waive with. He uses his number, legs, ears, and whatever else he can come up with. He got it! He got it with  excitement but without knowing how the whole process works. When he is told how much it will be with this and that, plus the third, the poor guy is sick and starts calling all of his friends. He scrapes every dollar he can from any person to pay off this looted car, and all because he wants it so much. He does not care how much it costs and what others think. They say, 'You are in trouble,' but he disagrees even though he knows that he is in deep trouble. He just wants this car! And so he calls and calls some more. I myself have received many calls like this from people saying, Pastor, you know, I need money. Why, I ask. Well, you understand, I just need them, is the answer. When people want, they get it, do you understand? When people want something, they will do anything to get it.  The price of your awakening is hunger. Hunger.

     We have that which we have hungered for. This is our level of hunger. During this week long marathon of prayer and fasting, I would like us to sincerely ask God for a supernatural hunger upon our nation. I want to ask that God would do something that did not happen before. I am hungry for a revolution! I am hungry for a change! I cannot look at our dying families. I look at these people that attack me, our church, and I know that they need help as well. As Jesus dying, He prayed for those who hammered Him to the cross. He prayed for those who hung beside Him as well, and all He wants to do is find those people who will do His will. For this to happen, we need fire, structure, and leaders. We need people who will grow out of the level of  confuse, discomfort, and childishness.

     In what way does God give hunger? He lodges the human in a surrounding which the person alone will understand, in an environment from which he will be in need, depriving him of everything so that the person will understand what will be the most important for himself. A good example of this is about Jesus in the wilderness. Some people say: 'I am passing through the wilderness.' Do you really know what that is though? It is when God wants you to thirst for Him. Some people also say that they have been in the wilderness for one or two years already. These are fake difficult times which people have made up themselves. The wilderness lasts for a certain period of time. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. When  you are in the wilderness, your body becomes dehydrated or in other words, the water evaporates from your body and you start to thirst. What is the wilderness? It is not written that Jesus was lying on the sand in depression, crying, moaning,... it does not say that. It is written: [For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry] Matthew 4:2. In other words, He could no longer withstand the hunger. He was thirsty and wanted to eat. God will keep you in the wilderness until you will become hungry. In other words, until you become hungry and say, I cannot stand this anymore!

     Spend a day in the wilderness and you will only thirst. Spend ten days and your thirst will take up a new character. History has facts about people who paid with gold for water. With Gold! The reason for this, is because when they were dying, the gold was not worth anything to them any longer. Some people gave everything away just for a gulp of water! And so I say, Lord! Give us such thirst! Give us this thirst for which we will give up everything! Everything! I am so thankful to Jesus that He is opening this up to us and that He can hear these words that will change us. I am certain that from this day, your service will not be the same. I am also certain that you and your surroundings will start transforming.