A Bridge to Revival
by Rick Joyner  (1997)  MP3    Romanian

In a vision in 1997, I saw the transition period between renewal (which works to heal and awaken the church) and revival (which results in the salvation of the lost and the empowering of believers to challenge the spiritual darkness of the times). In the vision, this period was portrayed as a bridge between two fields. The first field progressed from what looked like fallow ground, overgrown with weeds and littered with debris, to land that was plowed and sown. I knew that this field represented the work of renewal.
At the end of this field, a bridge was under construction, which was being built with different-size stones, from very large ones to those that were very small. The names on each stone represented a different movement or ministry—and in some cases individual people. This bridge was built without sides, making it a little precarious to cross, but this also enabled it to be easily widened to accommodate more traffic, which was constantly being done. The stones on this bridge were all different, but they fit together like inter-locking pieces of a puzzle. This made the entire bridge very strong. The under girding pillars were made out of what appeared to be pure light. However, this light also had substance. The pillars along one side had the fruit of the Spirit written on them. Those on the other side had the gifts of the Spirit. The interlocking girders had biblical truths written on them. I felt that these pillars were strong enough to hold any weight that could possibly be put on the bridge. In a strange way it seemed as if this bridge were holding up the earth—not the other way around.
The workmen on the bridge were a diverse group of people, from very young children to the very elderly, men and women, and seemingly from all races. Businessmen and women were working right next to those who looked as if they were homeless. I recognized artists, musicians, athletes, news correspondents, soldiers, and Policemen. These had been transformed into apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, administrators, those with gifts of helps and other ministries. They seemed to fit perfectly with the diversity of the stones they were setting into their place on the bridge.
As these people constructed the bridge, they were under constant attack from flies and from stones that were being thrown at them from seemingly every direction. Over them there were dark clouds that I recognized as spirits of depression. Regardless of the attacks, these workmen never stopped their work. In fact, they hardly paid any attention to the attacks. When one of the workers was severely wounded, he or she would be carried over the bridge into the other field. Then one of the workers from that field would take his or her place on the bridge.
The field on the other side of the bridge was composed of plants that were just beginning to sprout as well as those with an abundance of fruit that was ripe for harvest—all mixed together. Some of this field seemed to be tended very well, with the plants in straight rows and with almost no weeds. Other parts were so overgrown with weeds and other plants that they looked almost impenetrable. Yet, the abundance and quality of the fruit even there were extraordinary. One thing that stood out to me as I looked at this field was that I only recognized a few of the many different types of fruit.
Those who had been wounded while working on the bridge were quickly healed as they ate some of the ripened fruit from this field. However, they did not return to the bridge; instead they began tending that field. Where the faces of those working on the bridge were filled with determination and a certain urgency, the faces of those working in the field seemed more relaxed even though the fruit was ripening faster than they could gather it. This was not the relaxed attitude that comes from the peace of the Lord, but rather one that seemed to stem from an unholy casualness. Also, very poor co-ordination existed between those who were picking the fruit and those who were carrying it to the place where it was cleaned and packaged. Coordination also seemed to be lacking among the pickers. They wandered about, working where they wanted to. Then I noticed the faces of those who were cleaning and packaging the fruit. They seemed overly harried and were therefore dropping and losing more of the fruit than they were getting into the packages.
I could see bottlenecks everywhere that were devastating to the efficiency of the entire harvest. All the people just seemed to be doing their own thing with no supervision. More laborers were badly needed for the abundance of the harvest, but I knew that more laborers would only make the situation worse if there were no supervisors. One of the workers on the bridge then said to me, 'You must start praying for the apostles to come. We must have apostles.' It seemed as if every worker on the bridge turned to acknowledge the importance of this.
Then the same kinds of attacks that came on the workers on the bridge came on the workers in the field. Here the flies did not just harass them, they also started to devour the fruit. Then stones would come in waves, knocking some of the fruit from the plants and wounding some of the workers. I knew that the flies were lies, and the stones were false witnesses and accusations. Some of the workers kept working during these attacks, but most would stop, and some would even leave the field. Finally, some of those who had crossed the bridge formed teams to protect parts of the field. Workers then returned to those parts of the field. Some would try to gather the fruit that had been knocked from the plants by the stones, but it would rot very fast, and most of it was lost. Those who crossed the bridge immediately started harvesting the fruit. The ripe fruit was put into a great assortment of different types and sizes of baskets. Some of the workers harvested fruit that was not yet ripe simply because they did not recognize the fruit and could not tell if it was ripe. This created arguments between the harvesters. Finally, a supervisor appeared. His first directive was for the laborers to harvest only the fruit they recognized and knew was ripe. This brought striking peace on all the workers in that area. The resolve and confidence of the harvesters grew dramatically just because someone supervised.
Even though multitudes began crossing the bridge, it did not seem that there were nearly enough workers to keep up with the fruit that was becoming ripe. I saw the work of widening the bridge so that more people could cross to be one of the most urgent tasks. At the end of this vision, my whole attention was on the bridge. I was given time to study many of the stones. As I looked at each individual stone, I would start to know its strengths and weaknesses and the movement or ministry that it represented. My attention was especially drawn to the individual whose job it was to see that the different stones fit together, as I was impressed again by how the interlocking of these different stones was the strength of the bridge.

by Rick Joyner, 1997