God is wanting to pour out revival like we’ve never seen before. To do that it begins with individuals who are willing to pursue God in such a way as to get His attention. There is no question that the eye of God is continually searching for those who have a vision beyond themselves, but it is a view that comes from catching the heart of God for what He wants to do in the earth.
Ask the Lord for rain
Zechariah 10:1
In the time of the latter rain.
The Lord will make flashing clouds;
He will give them showers of rain,
Grass in the field for everyone.
We live in a world that is very consumed with the issues of self. As well, this has leaked into the churches. Even in those who pursue revival, a move of the Spirit, that is lasting there needs to be something inside of us that continually keeps the focus on the Lord rather than glorify what He is doing “in our church”and etc. When God is doing things the tempter will always try to move people into some kind of self-glorification of either a person or the church itself. Obviously we want God to do amazing things in our midst but let’s just give Him the credit for it, being grateful that He allows us to participate in His work.
Glorify Jesus
He will glorify Me/
John 16:14
The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. Without the Presence of the Holy Spirit it is impossible to glorify Jesus. The Spirit needs to be there. We can’t think for a minute that we can glorify Jesus with just great works apart from the Spirit. If there is no anointing on a person’s life there is no power to be a witness or glorify the Lord. This is why Jesus told His disciples to go and wait in Jerusalem until they were empowered with the Spirit. They needed the anointing to be a witness. It is just not possible outside of this.
Take the example of a pickle jar. You have a label on that jar that says “pickles”. But if I grab that jar and there are no pickles inside of it then I will just throw that jar in the trash because there is no purpose to it. We can say we have the Holy Spirit all day long but if there is no substance of His Presence within us then we are just fooling ourselves. We can say “Jesus” a million times with our mouths but it will not matter if our lives are not filled with the Presence of the Spirit. We need to be sincere in our devotion, separated to God without compromise to the world.
People cannot continue in a lifestyle of sin and be filled with the Holy Spirit. If we covet the ways of the world then we are drinking from a polluted fountain. Where do you spend your time? What are you looking at? Where your treasure is determines where your heart will be. Be holy for God is holy. Many people have seared their consciences where they don’t even know what sin is anymore. The basic foundations have been compromised. Don’t spend time trying to see what you can get away with. Find out how close you can live to Jesus. Everything in our society is geared to be quick, microwaved and catered to your self-satisfaction. But anything good and of quality takes time.
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
2 Corinthians 6:16-17
I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
Therefore “Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.
The word “repent” needs to become popular again. Instead of running to christian counseling as a first resort people need to try repentance from dead works and sin. It is time to stop looking for excuses to stay in sin. Repent and get back on track. God promises us a life of joy, peace and overflow in His Holy Spirit. Many people just want the “Spirit” and remove His first name. Repent from communing with things that are not holy. We are a peculiar people. That means we are different from the world. But the statistics of the Church do not reflect this difference. What does this mean? It means the Church is compromised to the world joining in on the very same things, doing the very same things that people in the world do. We are called to overflow with the Holy Spirit?s Presence out into the world, but the Church has allowed to world to overflow into them. Please understand what I’m saying. This is not about what we do but Who we commune with.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen
2 Corinthians 13:14
It is more about what we are not doing, that what we are doing. This is not about change happening externally, but internally. God changes us from the inside out. He speaks to us but we have to respond to His call. As we welcome the Holy Spirit into our hearts, as we follow His voice and Word, then transformation occurs in our lives where we become a reflection of Jesus to His glory. In most circles these terms have over time become more unpopular: power, anointing, faith, holiness. There may be more but we can start with these. Looking at the word “faith” it has really lost much weight in the majority of the minds of people. But realize that scripture says, “Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.”
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
What that means is that there is absolutely no hope that you are going to please God without it. I’m not promoting hyper-spirituality. What I am promoting is faith and believing that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. What He did then He does today. All the powerful miracles, healing and wonders that were performed in the Book of Acts through Peter, Paul and others including Stephen (Acts 6:8 – who by the way was not an apostle but someone who served tables) are still happening today and will explode at greater levels than we’ve ever seen before. Watch what circles you hang around in because you just may miss out or end up persecuting God’s move.
Faith is essential for us. For all who claim to be Bible-believing Christians – and I hope that is you – Jesus gave us the question, “will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He returns?” What a statement! We should give heed to this and pursue to have a heart of faith that believes God for absolutely everything that He has promised. Jesus told us that we would do His works and greater than these. Do you believe this statement? If not, it is time to start. There is hope for everyone who is still on this planet.
For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
2 Corinthians 13:4
Another word that you really don’t hear much anymore is “power” or “anointing”. God’s Presence is number one in my book and we never ever move away from that. But there is another element of power and anointing that is different. God’s power is something that activates supernatural gifting in our lives and brings a great threat to the devil’s territorial establishments.
But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 11:20
We greatly need a restoration of the power of God in our lives. Don?t be ashamed to admit that you need the power of God. Scripture says that we “live” by the power of God. This is another essential that we must have to do the works of Jesus on this earth. Abuses that have been associated with certain words that have caused church people to fear. Most people these days want to play it “safe” and are really are justifying their fears with controlling safeguards. There are many who seek God for revival but their actions contradict their very own words. Control will never open the door to revival. It is not containable.
The natural mind of man wants it to be because it feels obligated to do something to fix the unusual occurances that come with the territory. Are there challenges when revival presence breaks out? Yes. Yes. But it is something that has to be held very loosely if His glory is to remain and revival to continue. We are well overdue for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our congregations. It is going to take more than us just saying “Come Lord!” It takes us preparing our hearts, separating ourselves to God and having a desire to create a habitation for His Holy Spirit’s Presence in our midst.
There have been those associated with the “power” of God that have brought disgrace to the Church and to the Lord. But here is the deal about power. You cannot carry God?s power with any longevity without holiness.
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
Psalms 29:2
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
If you do not embrace holiness or desire a heart that is uncompromising to the spirit of the world you can easily fall, shame yourself, bring a disgrace to the Body of Christ and more importantly to the Lord. That is why holiness needs to become popular again. If there is not a hatred of sin it is a most likely scenario that a person will fall if entrusted with God?s power.(Proverbs 8:12) To seek God’s power and deny the holiness, not embracing holiness even as even more important that God’s power, is foolish.
Holiness combined with faith and believing is the solid foundation for power. Just as the disciples of Jesus, the 120, prepared their hearts seeking the Lord before the power fell at Pentecost so we should live lives that are continually prepared by the good Word of God digging deep into the motives of our hearts. We want to glorify Jesus. Yet there are many twists and turns of ways to accomplish this that are not the way of the Spirit but just man-made plans that have been derived more from fears and formulas.
Some people simply do not want to pay the price. Some have listened to bad teaching that is dry and sterile of life robbing them of any joy they might could have in the Holy Spirit. Oppression is never the Lord. Don’t hang around sad people. Help them if they are sincere about getting help. But if they don’t and just want to waller in self-pity then move on with your life. The joy of God is your strength. It cannot be forsaken as you will also forsake your very life and strength being of no purpose for the Kingdom of God.
Therefore the Lord said:
Isaiah 29:13
Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.
It is easy to have all the right words, but really have not substance. You can sit in some congregations and hear all the correct words but wonder to yourself, “where is the Presence of God?” Many churches are filled with the worship of intellect rather than the pursuit of His Presence. Our minds should be consecrated to the scriptures, not to biased doctrines or this opinions of men. We can only understand the scriptures through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wrote the Book. We need the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him which Paul spoke about in Ephesians. As John speaks to us in I John, you have many teachers, but not many fathers.
We need fathers who know the Father. Even John would not allude to teachers that were apart from the Holy Spirit, but those anointed of the Spirit. We need true worshippers, teachers with an unction that sets people free because the truth is alive and we need fathers that have a genuine heart of love for God?s people that can speak God’s counsel and wisdom.
In this day God is ready to amaze us with an unprecedented revival that will radically transform people from the inside out. ?Prepare your heart for the fire of His Presence allowing Him to burn away all that hinders that God may use you in this coming blaze of His glory!