Black Gold

[Denise]

BLACK GOLD
By Pastor Tony Cavener
(First published in 1996)
As a son of Oklahoma and Texas I grew up hearing oil referred to as "black gold". The "black gold" of oil in Oklahoma and Texas was the source of those two states greatest wealth. I believe our Lord has also deposited a great wealth in our nation, a glorious deposit of "Black Gold", black men and women who will be the "oil" in the cities of America that will fuel revival as the Lord's fire falls in our land.

The Lord gave me a picture of His hand gathering and preserving for Himself a remnant of "Black Gold" from Islamic Africa over 300 years ago....this remnant became acquainted with the "fellowship of His sufferings" and knew the lash and of slavery. In their affliction they sowed fields in America that, when ripe, would be "White for the Harvest", (in the natural fields of cotton).

Through their affliction they developed a rich history of faith in Christ, they were gifted with rich songs of hope, and a dignity born out of trial and suffering, a history that saw emancipation in the 1860's and liberation in the 1960's with the emergence of a gifted and prophetic leader in the Reverend Martin Luther King. No matter how modern church historians record his life, he truly was a man raised up by God for a crucial hour in the history of this nation.
Now 30 years later it is time for us to intercede and pray for God to raise up the anointed, broken, humble, and gifted black men and women who, through His hand, will ignite the "Black Gold" in the cities of America!

A Wind of Mercy

We have seen the "Black Gold" ignited by the enemy through the torch of hatred, agony, and prejudice, when we watched Los Angeles burn with hatred after the Rodney King trial in the early nineties. I believe this past October; (at the same time the hurricane Opal blew from the Gulf of Mexico into Canada in 24 hours!) a wind of mercy blew from the throne of God with a "not guilty" verdict in the O.J. trial. Regardless of anyone's opinions (and that's what they are, for there is only one Judge, and let's leave judgment in His eternal hands), God had mercy on this nation and kept the fires of "hatred" at bay!

Time to Intercede!

Let's seize the window of opportunity that the Lord has graciously handed us and pray for the fire of God's revival to ignite the precious "Black Gold" that he deposited in this country over 300 years ago. Some precious people, white and black, have been called to leave all and pour out their lives in caring for the poor of the inner cities but they tend to be in the minority. However the black community as a whole is still un-impacted and I believe will be until we repent of our arrogance and pride as seeing the white church as the equippers of the blacks and cry out in prayer and intercession for the Lord himself to raise up anointed black men and women, to be leaders and equippers of the church. Broken, humble, black leaders filled with His Spirit,

Cont'd