Revival Village

On Tuesday, July 28, 2009, I was witness to and participant in an appointed time from God. A deeply significant day in which we connected with God’s divine purpose and heart for a nation, a region, a village, and our own lives. This day began at 7 am when our team walked together with Pastor Frank and Heribert and Andrea Binder into the forest to the spot where, in 1722 Christian David felled the first tree to begin building a place of safety for the religious refugees who would become the community of Herrnhut. In Cyprus, the Lord spoke to Norm Frederick about the pouring out of wine and oil as we ourselves are being poured out. We brought with us from Cyprus a local bottle of wine and a bottle of oil from our own olives on our land. In this spot in the forest so many years ago, Christian David performed an act of faith in obedience to God for a purpose deeper than he himself could know. And so we also took a step into a destiny wider than ourselves and deeper than our hopes. As we stood with our hands open and Norm poured out the wine and oil into our hands to flow onto the ground, we cried out for His oil of healing and anointing and His wine of new life and His precious blood to go deep into the soil, bringing healing to this land and a restoration of its purpose and destiny. Heribert shared with us from the story in Luke 10 of the Good Samaritan who, though he was a stranger, poured out wine and oil on the wounds of the man and brought him to a place of security and healing. Though we are strangers in this land (those of us who are not German) we want to pour out our lives and see God’s healing in this nation.




After a time of prayer, we walked back through the forest and got in our vans to take a day trip to the village of Pölzig. This is the village where 7 of the 9 Heidel children were born and where their father pastored for 35 years. There have been many, many seeds planted in this soil, and yet the harvest has been delayed. The Lord spoke many years ago that this was a “revival village,” and through the years of disappointment and lost zeal it became a place of pain. BUT, God’s words are true and His calling irrevocable. A few months ago, the Lord gave dreams to Norman, Ruben, and Joel Heidel, each about Pölzig and about what God still desires to do there. Deeply stirred, but unsure of what exactly they were to do, they planned to take a trip with our team just to be there and pray and see what God would say. A few days before our excursion, Norman heard from two of his sisters that they had heard we were going and wanted to come too. One of these sisters had also received a dream about this village where she had lived and ministered with her family for so many years. We all met up in Pölzig Tuesday morning without any real agenda other than to be led by the Spirit.

We first went to the place where the castle once stood. We learned that this village was born when in the twelfth century this castle was given as a gift to a count who had gone to Jerusalem to fight in the crusades. As we stood in this spot, we were awakened to the amazing goodness of God to bring things full circle. Long ago someone went to Jerusalem on a quest to bring salvation, but instead bringing destruction and devastation. Yet God will have the victory and has now sent out multiple missionaries from this same village to go to Israel in humility, love, and service. To show the people how they can receive their own Messiah and His salvation and new life. We stood on the castle grounds and prayed out blessings over Israel. We also learned that there is a connection between Pölzig and Herrnhut—two places that would seem to have no connection. We learned that Count Zinzendorf and the count at Pölzig were friends, and Zinzendorf used to make visits to Pölzig and have revival meetings with the count. The revelation Zinzendorf had regarding the Jewish Messiah and regarding the outpouring of the Holy Spirit overflowed in this friendship, and there has been a long history in this little village of seeds of revival and prayers for Israel. In those days, they were rejected by the church and the villagers and so had to hold the revival meetings in the castle with mostly people from outside the village participating; however, we know that there is still a revival to come that we believe will be birthed from within the village itself.

But it was not only for intercession for things yet unseen that God brought us to Pölzig; He had prepared a time of breakthrough in the here and now, in a very tangible way, for the members of the Heidel family who were present. The night before, the Lord put it in our hearts to cry out for 2,000 salvations in a day. And though we did not preach the Gospel and lead thousands in prayers of repentance that day, I believe that the prayers of repentance and forgiveness, and the healing that was received were such that unlocked the door in the heavenlies, and that truly 2000 souls will come to revival as a result of these events, not only of this day, but also of the years of sewing and watering and the centuries of faithful people doing the same. I want to share the testimonies of the two Heidel sisters who were with us—Marit and Claudia.

Claudia invested many years seeking revival in this place and she shared with me the reasons why she needed to go back to Pölzig and what the Lord was speaking to her for this place: “God is so full of love and mercy for the people there and is longing for them so much. He has called us to bless the people there and to release them into God’s purposes. God wants to receive His honor also in Pölzig. Isaiah 42:9 says, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” God wanted to open our/my ears there. And He gave me a new promise there: Isaiah 48:6b-7, “I have made you hear new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them. They are created now and not from the beginning; and before this day you have not heard them.” In Pölzig, God closed a part of my life story. Now I’m not walking in old paths anymore. He creates new things from now on, hallelujah!”
Marit is the 2nd oldest of the family and spent many years leading worship in the church in Pölzig. She also shared what the Lord did in this day: “I just can say, ‘thanks to Jesus,’ for He brought back what I thought would be all lost. All these years of my childhood and even all the time through my youth, I served Jesus in my home village— Pölzig. I invested as much as I could and expected a revival to break out; I expected God would do much much more than I could see at this time. After years I just gave up at this place. But on Tuesday God restored my hope. Nothing was in vain!! The hidden seed in Pölzig (and there is a lot of seed) will have fruit. And I am so glad Jesus knows every single hurt inside and does not stop until His work is finished. When we prayed in our old church, Jesus came to every single one of our family and comforted, healed and restored in a powerful way. He is God of restoration. Now I am once again in great expectation of what’s going to come. Thanks to God and thanks to everyone who was a part of it.”

For those of us standing along the Heidel family at this time, it was truly a great privilege to be witness to this time of healing and breakthrough. We could literally see years of pain and disappointment being wiped from their faces and replaced by fresh joy and faith. We are honored to stand alongside such a family of God and we agree with the Spirit that their time is not over, but this is a day of new beginnings and greater hope.
I am sure that everyone reading this blog has experienced some level of hurt and disappointment in their lives, and I want you to know that it is not too late. God placed seeds of destiny and purpose in each of our lives, and if we will turn to Him and allow Him to do a deep work in our lives, He will see to it that these seeds break forth from the ground.
Have a blessed day in the love of the Father,
Hannah for the GBI Germany team