For decades, Dutch Sheets has carried a conviction that God intends to bring another Great Awakening to America—and that young people will be at the center of it.
Have you taken your place on the wall?
During a message shared at IFA’s July 4 Rededicate America event, Sheets shared the remarkable story of how that conviction began nearly 40 years ago and how, shortly afterward, he received a confirmation so specific that he says he has never forgotten it.
Sheets recalled that in 1990, while speaking to a gathering, he suddenly experienced a vision unlike anything he had experienced before. Instead of seeing the people sitting in front of him, he saw a stadium packed with tens of thousands of young people passionately worshiping Jesus and interceding.
Then the scene changed.
Sheets saw the young people leaving the gathering and returning to different parts of the country. As they went, he said, “balls of fire” began springing up across America—representing revival spreading throughout the nation.
According to Sheets, the Lord then told him, “I’m gonna send a third Great Awakening to America,” and that it would “begin with the youth.”
At the time, Sheets assumed fulfillment might be just around the corner. Instead, he would carry that promise for decades.
About a month after receiving the vision, Sheets traveled to Washington, D.C., during the National Day of Prayer. While there, he learned about an event called Biblethon, where participants took 15-minute shifts reading Scripture aloud near the U.S. Capitol. Readers simply continued wherever the previous participant had stopped, progressing from Genesis through Revelation before starting over again.
Sheets was assigned the 2 a.m. shift.
Beforehand, however, he says God told him that the passage he would read would confirm that the earlier vision had truly come from Him.
Sheets wrestled with that promise. He knew how badly he wanted to believe that awakening was coming, and he feared he could interpret virtually any passage as a confirmation of revival.
So he made an extraordinarily specific request.
“The only way that I would know for 100% sure … that it’s you confirming that vision to me,” Sheets recalled telling the Lord, “is if when I get there and get to read, I get to read either the Book of Haggai or Habakkuk.”
When Sheets arrived the following night, the Bible reading was nowhere near either book. With only minutes remaining before his assigned time, the person ahead of him was still reading from the Gospels.
Then something unexpected happened.
The woman overseeing the event approached Sheets and told him he was next. But instead of telling him to continue where the previous reader stopped, she gave him a choice:
“You can either read the book of Haggai or the book of Habakkuk.”
Sheets was stunned.
He later understood the moment as an emphatic confirmation of what he believed God had shown him: “I’m going to send another great awakening to America. And it will begin with the youth.”
Nearly four decades later, Sheets is still carrying that promise.
For intercessors, his testimony is also a reminder that God’s timing rarely conforms to ours. We may pray for years—or even decades—before seeing the fulfillment of what God has placed on our hearts. Yet Scripture repeatedly calls His people to persevere in prayer, refusing to lose heart while we wait.
Awakening is coming, and God’s confirmation to Sheets is proof. The Lord is doing mighty things in America, especially through the youth. Let’s continue to pray into His plans and purposes, and let’s continue to pray into revival!
You can see Dutch Sheets share this story in the embedded player below.
This story is only a small portion of Sheets’ hour-long message. On today’s Pray with America’s Leaders, we’ll share the full talk, giving intercessors an opportunity to hear the rest of his message and pray into what God may be doing in this generation. Click here to watch the webcast once it’s live!
Are you praying for another Great Awakening in America? Share your prayers and scriptures below.
(Photo Credit: Intercessors for America)
