Is the St Johns Bridge prophesying a spiritual revival to the Portland/Vancouver area?
I believe it is!
In this post I’ll tell you why.
Prophesying Revival
Before I get into the St. Johns Bridge and why I believe it’s prophesying revival, I first need to set the stage by giving you some context.
The Holy Spirit has been prophesying revival to me for a very long time. The St. Johns Bridge represents a more recent unfolding of prophecy that had it’s beginning for me in Pembroke Pines, Florida in 1987. At the time I was a relatively new Christian and it was my habit to go to a local park to pray. It seemed that on almost a daily basis God would speak to me about an extraordinary revival that would be coming in the future.
In 1987 God began to fill my heart with a glorious vision of a revival that would be worldwide in scope. I was given a profound sense of the magnitude and glory of it.
As is the case with most prophecy, there was a great immediacy about it, and I, of course, thought it would take place very soon! The fact that I am writing this 38 years later is a demonstration of the fact that timing is best left to God.
In 2018, while living in Vancouver, WA I was once again deeply impressed by the Holy Spirit concerning revival. Specifically, that the Portland/Vancouver area would be the epicenter of a great outpouring of the Spirit of God.
It is still my sense that the coming revival will be worldwide in scope, but I believe this locality will be strongly marked by an outpouring of the Spirit of God.
A Foretaste of Revival
God first began speaking to me about the revival that would come to the Portland/ Vancouver area by giving me revival in my own life.
I was living in Vancouver, Washington in 2018 and considered leaving the area because of a devastating event that took place in my life. Since things did not turn out well for me here it seemed like leaving would be the logical thing to do but I began to develop an overwhelming conviction that whatever I did I should not leave the Portland/Vancouver area because revival was going to break out here!
On January 1st, 2018 the Glory of God began to be poured out upon my life in miraculous ways. I began to experience the presence of God in extraordinary intimacy. Very deep and rapid healing came into every part of my life. A renewed sense of the holiness of God swept through my heart bringing great deliverance and deep repentance.
Deeply broken, on December 31st 2017, I prayed a prayer in the Salmon Creek Greenway. It was a cry of desperation. The very next morning, on January 1st 2018, miracles began to happen in my life.
There are many posts on my blog where I speak of it. It was truly the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me and was glorious beyond words, but I believe it was only a foretaste of the revival that is about to come!
During this time of restoration the Holy Spirit clearly spoke to me these words…
“I didn’t leave you here to die, I brought you here to live!”
I understood that out of the devastation in my life there was going to come the greatest glory that I had ever seen. This pattern of God bringing beauty from ashes is one of the most wonderful themes of scripture, and I was experiencing it in my own life.
I was in the Portland/Vancouver area for “such a time as this” and I understood that my devastation had actually brought me to the exact location where I needed to be for God to fulfill the prophecy of revival that He had spoken to me in 1987!
The God of Providence brought me to THE VERY PLACE where the revival He prophesied to me is going to breakout.
Not only did God bring me to the physical location where the outpouring of His Spirit is going to happen, but He used my devastation to break up the fallow ground of my heart to prepare me for this coming outpouring of His Spirit.
I cannot over emphasize the importance of that truth. My brokenness drove me to repentance, and out of that place God birthed in me a brand new life and love for Jesus.
This is precisely what The Bible teaches concerning revival. Consider this translation by Kenneth Wuest of Acts 3:19.
“Therefore repent at once, instantly changing your attitude, and perform a right-about-face in order that your sins may be obliterated, in order that there may come epoch-making periods of spiritual revival and refreshment from the presence of the Lord.” -Acts 3:19
I have told people after I was devastated and restored that it was “good that I was afflicted”. These words come directly from Psalm 119 and I can only say that I learned them through experience.
In my affliction I called upon the name of the Lord and repented and it was the beginning of revival in my life.
A Prophetic Dream of the Glory of God
Two years later on the morning of January 8th, 2020, I had a very profound dream where God spoke to me once again about a great outpouring of His Spirit. The following is an excerpt from the post that I made at that time:
A dream I had the morning of January 8th, 2020, concerning the coming outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the earth.
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” -Habakkuk 2:4
In the dream I was talking to somebody and we walked up to a picture window that was the entire side and size of a very large cathedral. (I was taken back to a prior period in history (early 1900’s) and the architecture and woodwork of the building was of that period.) As I looked out the window I could see rolling plains and pastures. I was drinking from a pitcher of milk. As I was taking in the landscape I looked up to heaven, and said to the person I was with, “John G. Lake was like any other man. He lived in a time when the Spirit of God was being poured out… and the Spirit of God came upon him!” As I was speaking I began to look intently up into the skies, into the heavens, and there was a diffuse light behind clouds, when suddenly a brightness of light broke through the clouds and the Glory of God came upon me with such weight and intensity that I could barely speak anymore. I could barely move my arms, or my mouth, and my body felt pressed down by the weight of the Glory. Under the weight of it I was saying, “It’s not about the man, it’s not about us, it wasn’t about John G. Lake… it was the Glory of God being poured out upon the earth in the day and time that he lived in, and he came under the power of it.”
In the dream I was speaking of John G. Lake who was greatly used by God in the early 1900s. This period in history was also marked by a time of extraordinary revival that spread all over the world. The Welsh revival began in 1904 with its most well known revivalist being Evan Roberts. The Azusa Street Revival began in Los Angeles in 1906 with William Seymour. John G. Lake began his work in Africa co-founding the South African Apostolic Faith Mission in 1908. He was used greatly by God in the area of healing and he often spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit as “the lightnings of God”. This was no ordinary time in the history of the church!
I do not believe it was an accident that God chose to use the early 1900s as the focal point of my dream to illustrate the worldwide revival that is about to come. The early 1900s were truly an extraordinary time in the history of the church where the atmosphere was electrified with the power and presence of God.
What God was showing me in the dream was that the glory that John G. Lake walked in actually had nothing to do with John G. Lake at all. He simply lived during a time when the glory of God was being poured out and Lake became a vessel of that glory. The important point that God was making to me is that revival is a sovereign act of God. It is never about the vessel, but always about the God of Glory.
“Not to us, not to us, but to your name give Glory!” -Psalm 115:1
God was showing me in no uncertain terms that we should be careful not to focus on human beings, but to get our eyes, our attention, and our gaze fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
The second point that God showed me in the dream was that the Church has adulterated the Word of God.
This is something that God is very serious about, and will not tolerate. The coming revival will expose the adulteration of the Word of God and call us back to the purity of His Word.
In the coming revival there will be great glory displayed. There will also be great purification and a strong emphasis on the purity of the Word of God. There will be a restoration of preaching THE WHOLE COUNCIL OF GOD.
You can read the original post I made about the dream here:
“The Coming Outpouring Of The Glory of God Revealed In A Dream.”
The St. Johns Bridge- Prophesying to Portland
We finally arrive at the purpose of this post- How God began to use the St. Johns bridge to prophesy to me.
In 2022, the Holy Spirit unfolded to me a greater expectation and anticipation of what He was originally showing me in my dream of revival. It happened while I was crossing the St. Johns Bridge on my way to church.
I was taking a back road to avoid Portland traffic on I-5. As I crossed the St. Johns Bridge I saw that the bridge had the same cathedral window that I had seen in my dream! (The St. Johns Bridge has giant cathedral window cutouts.) The whole bridge is actually designed around the theme of cathedral windows.
In my dream I was standing in a church building with a giant cathedral window talking about “JOHN G. LAKE,” and here I was a couple of years later driving across a bridge called “THE ST. JOHNS BRIDGE” and it had the same giant cathedral window that I saw in my dream!
Please understand: The St. Johns Bridge was not named to honor John G. Lake. Nevertheless, God was using the two elements that were in my dream (St.John and the cathedral window) to speak to me through the bridge.
Over many months I ended up taking the St. John’s bridge a couple times a week to avoid traffic as I traveled to my church and homegroup in Vancouver, Washington. Each time that I would cross the bridge and see the great big cathedral window shaped cut-out, I would pray about the prophetic dream that God had given me. Over time I believe I came into greater understanding.
As I crossed the bridge I would often pray about the glory that I had seen in my dream streaming through the cathedral window. It seemed that the enormity of the cathedral window in the dream and in the bridge was an illustration to me of how God intended to flood His Church with glory- not just the weight and intensity of His glory, but the extent of it.
The cathedral window to me began to represent the church-at-large. The vision that I saw was all-encompassing and would be experienced enmass among the people of God and not be limited by man-made denominational barriers and religious institutions.
The Holy Spirit was also showing me that the coming revival would be a grand and glorious visitation by God. The outpouring of His Spirit would be for the praise of His own glory.
On a personal level, He reminded me of the dream, and how it was that I was in the cathedral (in other words, I was together with the people of God) and that I would personally take part in what God was doing, but that His purpose in it, was not about me.
His vision for the outpouring of His Spirit is on a scope greater than anything that we can imagine and it far surpasses us as individuals.
The mindset that we should have as we pray about revival is the glorification of Jesus Christ and the edification of His people. Out of this place salvation flows to the ends of the Earth.
On another occasion, I crossed the St. Johns Bridge to visit a restaurant that looked appealing to me online. I did not know that the restaurant would be located near the bridge itself!
As I enjoyed my meal I had a wonderful view of the bridge and decided to take a walk afterward underneath it since it was so close.
As I approached the bridge, I saw a sign for “Cathedral Park”. Because I am not from Portland originally I did not realize there was even a place called “Cathedral Park” underneath the St Johns Bridge.
As I walked underneath the bridge God began to speak to me using the imagery of a cathedral to represent the Church.
As I came to the base of the bridge I realized how imposing and massive the pillars of the bridge are. The solidity and the weight of the structure is what impressed me most. It’s foundations sit on the land with a gravity and mass that can’t be denied.
The bottom pillars supporting the bridge also consist of large cutouts of a cathedral window and it was immediately impressed upon me how God has placed His Church on this land to carry the weight and glory of His Kingdom to the people who live in the Portland/Vancouver area.
On another occasion I returned to Cathedral Park with the intention of taking more pictures. As I walked around the base of the bridge I was struck by the gigantic, aptly chosen, “shields” that were carved into the foundation of the bridge.
It seems fitting to me that the shield is at the base of the bridge- Faith in Christ being the rock solid foundation on which the Church stands.
This kind of “faith” does not find its source in the heart of man. It is the sort of faith that God gives to His people as a gift, and therefore, coming from God is unshakable.
I do not mean to imply that the designers of the bridge had any of this in mind when they built the bridge. I only know that God was using it all to speak to me!
I did, however, come across a fascinating find concerning the chief designer of the bridge, Bernard D. Steinman. Just when I had thought that I had exhausted the revelation that I could receive through the St. Johns Bridge, I began to learn about the person behind the design.
A bridge designer leaves a prophetic legacy
I had recently acquired a small writing desk and thought that I would like to have some framed art on the wall behind it. My interest in the St. Johns Bridge caused me to look for images of it that I might use for that purpose. In a matter of a few minutes I came across a particular image that had a strong impact on me. It was calling my name, so to speak, and I felt compelled to purchase it.
As it turns out, the image ended up being an actual Christmas card from 1941 that the design engineer of the bridge, D.B. Steinman, had personally made to send out to his friends and colleagues!
Not only did his Christmas card of the St. Johns bridge capture my imagination, but I had a strong desire to research the historical record of Steinman. I knew that he was the designer of the St. Johns Bridge but I felt that there was something hidden that I needed to uncover about him. And so while I waited for the card to arrive in the mail I decided to do some research.
As it turns out, the chief engineer and designer of the St. John’s bridge was a strong, and often outspoken, believer in Jesus Christ. In his writings he called the St John’s Bridge, “A prayer in steel”.
Steinman engineered some of the most famous bridges in the world in his day, and of the bridges that he designed his favorite was the St. Johns Bridge.
We have no way of knowing all the thoughts in Steinman’s heart as he designed the St. Johns Bridge, but one thing we do know from historical record is that he was both a poet and a strong believer in Jesus Christ. It was his desire to express his heart in the bridges that he built. His colleagues at the time were not always happy with this and wished that he would be more “professional” and stick to engineering rather than poetry and faith in God, but Steinman would not be dissuaded from his poetic nature. Neither was he silent about his faith.
The following information comes from a thesis written by Garrett Brandon Nobbs called, “The St. Johns Bridge: a prayer in steel”.
“Deeply Christian, Steinman published books of his own poetry, including I Built a Bridge and Other Poems (1955) and Songs of a Bridgebuilder (1959); the cover and title page of the former feature an illustration of the St. Johns Bridge. The poems are significant for their frequent religious themes… the many Christian-themed poems and the religious tenor of some of his later writings indicate that his conversion was genuine and not one of professional expediency.”
In Steinman’s own words:
“In these days of conflict and strain, of confusion and doubt, we need something to anchor to, to serve as a guide, to strengthen faith and hope. And we find these things in the Faith of our Fathers, in the Faith on which America was founded, in the teachings and ideals of Christ, in the love of God. In the Sunday School, during our formative years, these ideals become a part of our character and our spirit—they become a Way of Life. Our way of life is assailed today by those who scoff and sneer at religion, by those who know not Christ, by those who seek to banish God. . . Instead of love of God, they worship an alien, twisted ideology. . . The Church and the Sunday School are needed today more than ever before in the history of humanity.” -David Barnard Steinman, “Thoughts at Easter Time,” Hudson Engineering Journal (Apr., 1946)
As well as calling the St. Johns Bridge, “A prayer in steel”, in his Christmas card depicting the bridge, he called it, “A poem over a river”. He expressly says that he designed the cathedral openings to show the beauty of God’s creation through it.
I’ve repeatedly made the point, and I’ll say it again- I am not inferring that Steinman intended to prophesy about revival. What I am saying is that the historical record shows that he built a bridge to the Glory of God and that I believe God is using his legacy to prophesy now!
For me anyway, God has used his “prayer in steel” to prophetically speak to me.
One of the interesting things for me on a personal level is the inspirational message that D.B. Steinman put in his Christmas card.
I felt that the Holy Spirit specifically told me that when I got the card in the mail and opened it up that the message inside would have a very personal application to my own life. As it turns out, it did!
Steinman printed this phrase on the inside of his Christmas card: Ad Asper Per Aspera
The phrase means “To the stars through difficulties “or “Through hardships, to the stars.”
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was personally thrust into the Glory of God after facing personal adversity and desperation in 2017.
Adversity, desperation, weakness and decline is the stuff that revivals are born out of!
Listen to the words of Charles Finney:
“A revival of religion presupposes a declension.”
In other words, the whole point of revival is that something has declined to the point that it needs to be revived and be brought back to life again.
But even if we were to achieve the pristine state of perfection that Jesus lived and walked in while on the Earth, it would nevertheless fail to negate that adversity is often the means by which God advances His people.
It was said of Jesus Himself that the prophets prophesied of “His sufferings and the glories that would follow”. (1 Peter 1:10) There is a principle in the Word of God that we actually do advance through adversity, and this theme is woven throughout scripture.
We are deeply in need of revival and I believe it is coming. It will arrive with great power and glory and eclipse anything you and I currently know of as the presence of God. This Heavenly Outpouring will light Holy Spirit fires all over the world. It’s going to be massive in its scope. If you are living in the Portland/Vancouver area as I am, let the words that I’ve written inspire faith. Ask the Lord to give you expectation for what is to come- AND PRAY INTO IT.
“For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants; And they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water.” -Isaiah 44:3
Sept, 2024 Update
In writing as I have about revival I’m certain to fall on the wrong side of those who would call themselves cessationist. All this talk about hearing from God and using symbolism and dreams is certain to bother you! On the other hand, what I’m about to write will likely make many other people who are continuationists unhappy as well. I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to please everyone, and in that respect it doesn’t really matter to me, because what I’ve written is my attempt to be obedient to God and to please Him.
I felt it important this year for the sake of my charismatic and prophetic friends to clarify a few things about what I’m talking about when I speak of revival. There are many different ideas of revival floating around the church right now, some of which I believe to be quite unbiblical.
I first began praying for revival seriously in 1987. Although I often speak of the glorious nature of it, there are some things I am NOT saying. Therefore, I think it may be helpful at this point for me to make a statement of my own theological positions concerning the supernatural and “revival”.
I do NOT subscribe to the revival teaching that’s going around the church today that preaches a sustained, never ending revival, with the world getting better and better until the time of Christ’s return. Nor am I under any illusion that the church has to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth in order to usher in the return of Jesus Christ. The church is not going to establish some great and glorious kingdom that we hand over to Jesus at His return. The scriptures speak of no such thing! The Kingdom of God will come in its fullness at the return of Jesus Christ and not a minute before.
My understanding of revival is that God in His graciousness at times pours out His Spirit to a much greater measure than what we usually see. It shouldn’t be surprising that God would do that as the days grow darker. That does not mean, however, that darker days are not ahead or that the world can somehow escape the judgments recorded in Scripture! Nor does it mean that there will not be a great falling away in the Church. It simply means that God in His love at various times and seasons chooses to bless His people by sometimes giving extraordinary visitations of His Spirit.
The primary evidence of revival is not supernatural manifestations or amazing miracles.
The history of revival shows that God comes in extraordinary power and I fully expect that these kind of things will happen, but that is not supposed to be our focus!
We’re plainly warned that in the last days miraculous signs and wonders are going to be performed by people who are not of God. This is reason enough to exercise discernment. The primary evidence of a visitation by God are changed lives marked by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Authentic revival brings a love for Jesus and a hatred for sin and worldliness. It gets our eyes off the world and on to heaven.
I do NOT subscribe to Latter Rain teaching or it’s take on revival, nor do I subscribe to Manifest Sons of God, Dominionism, the Seven Mountain Mandate, or Kingdom Now teaching. I caution you to beware of those who preach an overrealized view of the Kingdom of God and eschatology. Although the Kingdom of God is within us, and in a very real sense here now, in another sense it will not be fully realized until the return of Jesus Christ. To take spiritual truths that will only be fully realized in the future and expect them to be normal and part of our everyday life now is unbiblical! Many have gone into great error by failing to realize that heaven on earth will never be a completely fulfilled reality until the return of Jesus Christ.
For example, a very large segment of the prophetic movement is currently under the impression that it is “always the will of God to heal”. They’ve taken a truth that will only be fully realized in heaven and tried to apply it to today. Some are teaching that since there’s no sickness in Heaven there should be no sickness on Earth. These same people have seen family members die of sickness and church members who have not been healed, and yet they continue to persist in preaching a doctrine that is not found in the Bible and does not actually work in their own lives! Even someone as great as the Apostle Paul openly admits that he left someone sick and encouraged young Timothy to stop drinking only water and “take a little wine for his stomach” because of his “frequent illnesses”. (1 Timothy 5:23) The Apostle Paul was greatly used of the Lord in the area of healing and yet he did not have a hypercharismatic viewpoint when it came to signs, wonders, miracles or healings.
As wonderful and awesome as revival is it will not bring the spiritual utopia that many are expecting.
The point of revival has nothing to do with going after spiritual manifestations and experiences for their own sake. Revival is not about chasing after the supernatural. If that’s what you’re running after you’re missing the whole point!
An explanation of what revival is can be found in the word itself. From a medical point of view we revive somebody who’s in great weakness or close to death. This is exactly what revival is meant to accomplish in the spiritual realm as well. When the church finds itself in great weakness and decline God will often come with a fresh wind of His Spirit to revive us and bring us back to life again!
Repentance, holiness, and a renewed faith and love for Jesus Christ is what real revival is all about.
There’s absolutely nothing in the Bible that teaches us to run after manifestations and experiences!
Although I’ve personally experienced some extraordinary supernatural manifestations from God, I do not elevate the experiences themselves.
As far as I’m concerned, it is never about manifestations; it is always about Jesus Christ. I’ve never felt that God has ever wanted me to glory in an experience!
When we begin to glory in sensational and supernatural experiences we’re missing the whole point of what it means to have a relationship with God. My glory, my love, and my desire is in Christ Alone.
If you’ve been feeding your hunger for revival with a lust for supernatural experiences you may find my final recommendation to be rather boring, but I encourage you to get deeply into the Word of God.
Whether there’s a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit or not, our lives are to be built upon the solid foundation of the Word of God.
I have often said in the things that I’ve written that when something is overexaggerated it becomes a lie. Without the Word of God there is no solid foundation for the child of God to stand on. We are not New Agers running after spiritual experiences, we are the children of God who are meant to walk in truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. -3 John 1:4