While many people decide to stay away from church Roney Lemes believes God wants to move in this generation in a powerful way. We lack one thing in particular: a value for the local church. Roney is the worship pastor at Zion Church in Lisbon. The church plant, from Brazilian organization Dunamis is growing quickly.
Waves of revival
According to Roney, they are experiencing signs, wonders and an unusual unity in Portugal, a great move of God. ‘I might be biased, but every time I fly back to Lisbon I feel the spiritual atmosphere is very open. Something very special is happening here. People from all over the world are coming here to surf, our country is known for having the biggest waves. I believe this is prophetic: God is bringing people to Lisbon to experience a big wave of revival.’
Last summer Roney was part of the mobilization team for Dunamis greenhouse. People from all over Europe came to Lisbon to experience Revival. Roney emphasizes the power of God is not only for those serving in church, it is for everyone. ‘Revival needs to be brought to the 7 mountains of society. We need anointed lawyers and doctors full of the Holy Spirit to bring transformation. I lost count of how many people got baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit at Greenhouse.’
What do you mean, when you speak about a move of God?
‘When I think about a move of God I think about the book of Jeremiah. When king Josiah died, a new king ruled who didn’t fear the Lord, which resulted in a land turning back to idols. What happened here is that the priests didn’t let revival go to the people, since the prophet Jeremiah was banned. Israel didn’t come to repentance. I believe we need to let revival leak to the people, it cannot stay in the walls of the church. It is supposed to go out’
Roney gives two features for a move of God. It needs to be released from the church and there needs to be a unity in and among churches. He sees a supernatural unity happening happening in Lisbon. People from different churches are gathering in living rooms and on the streets to pray and worship.
‘I believe we need a generation that values the church and gets plugged in. We need to honor our pastors and our leaders’
Roney LemesRoney mentions the book of Acts chapter 13, in which we find the apostles being sent out by the church. Growing up as a pastor’s son, Roney wasn’t always so excited about the church. ‘When my parents got divorced, I fell astray. I was about to make a very bad decision when the Holy Spirit spoke to me about John 4, the story about the woman at the well. Holy Spirit spoke to me about how I spilled living water and gave it away, but hadn’t been drinking it. Radical transformation happened after this moment. I started gathering people to share about God wherever I could. I started housemeetings, life groups and worship nights. I was very excited to preach the gospel, but I did a lot of things out of my own excitement. My passion for the church started when I realized I needed to be backed up.’
‘The presence of the Lord brings people to Christ, but also Christians who are bold enough to preach. the Holy Spirit is available for everyone and it is time for Europe to believe we can reach this continent together.
Roney lemesI recently got a tattoo and spoke to the tattoo artist. The man had devoted his life to Satan and spoke with demons. He had many weird spiritual experiences and manifestations in his house. When I told him about Jesus He said: ‘I don’t know if this is going to kill me, but I want to try it’. He gave his life to Jesus and got delivered, His body was shaking. At the same time the headache of his friend resolved and his girlfriend was in tears. She knew her mom had been praying for them to receive Jesus.’ Roney hugged the tattoo artist, who told him it had been a long time since he felt so loved.
