This past week at the Dream City Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, I heard a compelling message titled "There's a Freak in Your Future" from a friend of many decades, Denny Duron. I found myself crying, jumping to my feet and shouting throughout the powerful sermon, but one phrase has been echoing in my spirit since Denny said it: "Mountaintop experiences make a difference."
What a powerful statement of truth. Mountaintop experiences with the Holy Spirit indeed make all the difference, because they are the key to awakening revival and transformation not only in individual lives, but in communities and nations.
Denny knows what he's talking about. Years ago, he was a part of a revival that changed his life, changed a university and birthed a passion inside of him that has never gone away. His fervor at the conference made that abundantly clear. His life is the evidence why it is so important that we speak under the influence of the power of the Spirit and usher people into Holy Spirit encounters of their own.
When we do, the impact immediately spreads outward like ripples in the ocean. All it takes is one single drop of living water, one single personal experience with holy fire, to change everything.
Almost 80% of the people I speak to every week are under the age of 40, and they all have one thing in common. No matter where they are from, no matter where they are living, no matter the size of their church, there is a hunger to experience an adventure into the heart of God, one that will mark them forever and propel them to be an agent of spiritual awakening in their community and circle of influence.
The question is, how to we help these men and women reach the top of the mountain? How do we help usher them into the presence of God so that the Holy Spirit can shake up their life and set them ablaze for Him?
The way I see it, we can approach these questions one of two ways. We can either choose to believe God will use us in a spiritual awakening, or we can remain silent or even criticize this move of the Spirit because it will not look like what God has done in the past. If the former, we must enter into the prayer of agreement that this generation will have their own life-altering mountaintop experiences. If the latter, we should do absolutely nothing.
To me, doing nothing is never an option.
The first key to starting and accomplishing anything is prayer. We must patiently wait in prayer, hungry and expectant for the spiritual awakening that our country so desperately needs. We must pray for a shaking that is not labeled Democrat, Republican, Pentecostal, evangelical, Protestant or Catholic, but instead, that brings spiritual unity that will awaken men, women and children to an awareness of the presence of God.
And last, we must pray that there will be a supernatural loosening of bondages and bitterness that create tension and fear in our lives and neighborhoods, so that the world will see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
As we pray and believe for this great awakening that God has prepared, let us plant our feet on the mountaintop and give others a hand climbing up themselves. Let us never forget that movements begin with individuals who encounter the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Let us never forget that mountaintop experiences make a difference.
You're beautiful. I see Jesus in you.
Have a great week! 
Mikel French has challenged spiritual awakening all across America, where many celebrations extended into multiple weeks, and has conducted celebrations in France, Sweden, Russia, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Germany, South Africa, Malawi, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Haiti, Japan, Singapore, India and Thailand. He conducted an outreach celebration in Manila, Philippines, reaching 200,000 teenagers with the book of hope. Through the generous support of partners, he has presented the message of Jesus Christ to millions of people in the nation of Russia through televised citywide soul-winning celebrations. Mikel considers it an honor to assist in conducting the annual pastor's conference, where thousands of pastors from Russia's 11 time zones come for training, teaching and equipping. Mikel and his wife, Marsha, reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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