Not letting God's word fall to the ground
1 Sam 3:19
I am learning not to let God's words fall to the ground (like Samuel).
God is showing me what it took for Evan Roberts to impact a 100,000 people. I watched a video about the Welsh Revival in 1904-5. When you watch the video, you begin to realize that Evan Roberts was seeking God with such intensity that people thought he was losing his mind. He was up long hours in the night and everything else was being neglected as he cried out after God; even his studying to prepare for the ministry. There was a hunger for God that would not be distracted by anything. Once he had a word from God about what to do, he went to his hometown, had a special service, and began to help others understand how to be filled with the Spirit. It was not enough to have a great meeting, and then go back to business as usual until next week's meeting. No! Night after night he kept calling people to drop everything to meet with the Lord. This continued week in and week out until 100,000 people were saved in six months time.
There was the same kind of hunger that led Jesus into the desert. The Spirit brought Jesus to a place where there were no distractions and busyness. There Jesus and the Father settled on the front end of his ministry that he would obey the Father's will. Satan tempted Jesus with everything he had to offer, but Jesus resolved to obey the Fathers will. Jesus would not be distracted by anything the world had to offer.
This is the kind of desire for God that it will take to bring about revival. Praying, reading God's Word earnestly to hear a word from God and not getting distracted in intensely pursuing God and following His leading. I see in our lives that often when we get a glimpse of Gods leading and working, we start to do what Gods says but then usually let it fall to the ground as we get distracted by other things. God's word does not come to fruition because what God said does not get acted upon. Revival will soon come when we turn from sin, put aside all distractions that consume our time and keep us from prayer and doing God's will, obey the Spirit promptly in everything he says to us in the Word of God, and boldly bear witness to Jesus.
Labels: Revival
We are Free
So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11
God opened my eyes to this in a way that I never understood before. For awhile now I have been understanding that there is incredible potential for the Christian to do anything because of who God made us to be. To be a Christian is to be indwelt by the Spirit of the God (John 14:17, Rom. 8:9). Literally that means that God is living in the Christian and the Christian’s body becomes the temple of the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16). If God has taken up resident in our lives as Christians then God can do through us anything that he did through Jesus and greater things (John 14:12).
I have been learning that to walk in the Spirit is simply a choice by faith to allow the Spirit to fill us and lead us. When we are lead by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the old sinful life (Gal. 5:16). I have been realizing that the Christian life is impossible to live by our own effort, it must be the life and living presence of God flowing and working through our life. This is what I believe Jesus meant when he talked about our need to abide in him (John 15:5).
But it hit me in a way today that I had never grasped before. If Jesus is living in me by the Spirit and his life is at work in me, then I am dead to sin when I am walking in the Spirit. It has no hold on me. There is nothing that can hinder Jesus living in me. He is greater than everything, nothing can hold him back. I am completely free from sins hold… it has no power to control me or influence me unless I choose to give it the opportunity. This is what Paul was trying to say in Romans 6.
The mistake we often make is to interpret scripture based on our experience and reduce it to what we experience. We think that it is impossible to be completely free from sins grip in this life because we have never experienced life without the war of conflicting inner desires. But Paul was saying that we can be completely free because Jesus is living in us with all his power. It is no longer me living but Christ living in me (Gal 2:20).
This is the path to revival. Understanding who lives in us and all that he is able to do. When we choose not to hinder his working through us by choosing to sin, then he can begin to move in power through our lives and do anything he wants. Do not believe the lies of the enemy who will say that this cannot be so. Do not reduce the power of God to the limits of your previous experiences. Do not choose to love the pleasures and comforts of this life and quench the working of Gods mighty power through your life. Cast off the sins and things that so easily entangle us, and release your life to be used by God to accomplish incredible things for eternity in the years ahead. Reckon yourself dead to sin. Jesus has freed you by coming to live in you. Choose now to surrender all to him and let him guide you.
For more insight into how to practically release your life;
www.transferableconcepts.com.
Labels: Jesus, Revival, Spirit-filled
Counting the Cost
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
I have been reflecting on the beginning of Romans 5:3-5 this week. I have been taking a Spiritual Leadership class with Richard
Blackaby and he made the following observation. Success often develops pride in our lives whereas failure and trials drive us to our knees and humble us. If God wants to keep us walking closely with him, which would he send into our lives?
We want God to do great things in our lives and take us to the next level, yet whenever God brings a cross of adversity into our lives the first thing we cry out is, “God take this out of my life!” We have to decide if we want to be more like Christ or be comfortable.
Richards comment was that it is not safe to follow Jesus. The world needs courageous men and women, who are willing to die to do what is right, not legions of complacent followers asking for God to bless them and keep them safe. When followers of Jesus actively do things that establish justice (or righteousness; making things right), peace, and joy in our world … many self-serving agendas will be threatened. People who pursue their own desires for power, pleasure, and riches often do so at the expense of those they oppress, abuse, and steal from. People who are on fire with God’s passion for justice will be attacked in order to protect the status
quo. Consider Martin Luther King, Jr. as one of the most recent martyrs for opposing the status
quo of racial oppression and injustice.
This brings me to my reflections on Romans 5 over the past few days. Paul starts out saying Jesus Christ brought us peace with God. I did a study on the Hebrew term for peace; shalom. It’s meaning is far deeper than simply an absence of conflict or some inner tranquility. It has the meaning of completeness of life, experiencing the fullness of life, or wholeness (like a stone that never has been marred or cut… it is perfectly whole). This is God’s desire for us. We have lost the full and abundant life He originally intended for us. Sin has entered our experience and now we experience pain and suffering as people oppress, steal, deceive, abuse, use, hurt and attack each other. Jesus came as a King to reestablish a world order where selfish living is overthrown and people begin to obey God’s commands to love others and do what’s right. As people follow Jesus Christ as
their King, obeying his commands and doing his work will bring them in to conflict with the established social order. Suffering is
inevitable even for those committed to peaceful reform.
Affliction and suffering produces the opportunity to either give up or turn to God to call out for help. God has a long documented track record of delivering people who call on him for help. When people persevere into doing what is right when the pressure of affliction comes, it develops a strong character. A weak character gives up when pain comes because all that person wants is personal comfort and gratification. So they retreat from the suffering until the pain goes away. But the person of conviction will endure pain and loss to stand for what is right. They will also call on God in the midst of suffering and trust that God will help them to have strength to get through the suffering or to deliver them from the suffering.
I have noticed in my own life that when persistent afflictions come, it often initially
causes me to be angry at God because he does not seem to be answering my initial prayers. But then I remember the faithfulness of God through the past eighteen years and all that I know of Gods love and desire for our good. So I do not stay angry, instead the fire of my anger moves me to seek God with a fiercer sense of urgency. It is in those times that I meet with God in a deeper way than I would have in times of comfort and ease.
Labels: character, God, Jesus, Revival, suffering
Simplicity of Revival
Revival (a genuine encounter with God) is simple. We can draw closer to God at any time if we will humble ourselves (admit we have done wrong and are transparent) and pray and seek Gods face (with hunger and sincere desire) and turn from
our wicked ways (repent). 2
Chron. 7:14
God invites people to enter into a deeper relationship with Him. God wants to be a father to us as His children. He wants to guide us, provide for us, and protect us. He sends his Spirit to live in us to convict, teach, and draw us to Himself.
This is how the Spirit of God revives us:
- The Spirit convicts you of sin.
(The Spirit guides you in to the truth and reveals what is hindering you from having a close relationship with God.)
- You confess your sin.
1 John 1:9 - If you confess your sin, God is faithful and it is right for God to forgive us (because Jesus died to pay the death penalty sentence for everyones sin) and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- Repent
You turn from the sin and choose to obey God. Turning back to God and being renewed in your relationship with Him is this simple. The hard part for many is making the choice to love God more than the thing that has turned them away from God.
- You are forgiven by God and cleansed of all unrighteousness.
If you admit you are wrong in the current matter that God is convicting you of, God will cleanse you not only of that sin but will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. When God forgives you, he cleans the slate. He keeps no record of wrongs (1 Cor 13:5) and removes your sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Once you are forgiven, you are completely clean before God and can approach God with confidence because you are now made righteous in Christ.
- You are filled with the Spirit
God is concerned with the choices you are making right now; once you confess a sin and repent, God no longer remembers it (keeps a record of it). Once you confess and repent, you are restored to a right relationship with God enjoying full access to His presence and being filled with the Spirit of God... until the next time you choose to sin.
- Be accountable to not return to your sin and be enslaved again.
Once you have returned to a whole hearted relationship, the key is continuing in that relationship and not falling back into sin (selfishness). Many Christians experience times of closeness with God, but then soon fall back into long periods of living for themselves. When God has guided you into the truth and you see a pattern of sin (selfishness) in your life that keeps pulling you away from God, it is critical to ask others to help you keep from returning to that habit.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13
It is this willingness to humble yourself to admit your struggles to others that marks revival. When we come to the place where we are more concerned about doing whatever it takes to be right with God that we nolonger care that we may look bad to people around us, then we are in the place God can set our lives on fire with His Spirit.
Labels: accountability, God, Revival, Spirit-filled
