1857 Global Revival.mpg

The Revival On The Isle Of Lewis - Awesome account of what happens in a ...

I Will Cleanse You (+playlist)

Stopping on the brink.

     God is present. You can feel it. He is speaking. Conviction begins to fall. Individuals come to the altar, others kneel in the pews.The church is not where God desires it to be, and Christ is now beginning to knock at the door. Perhaps this is it, the revival we have prayed for. We are at the brink again. Will we push through all the way this time? Then the time for announcements comes. It is time for the offering and special music. Everyone gets up,intimacy with God is forgotten for the time being. Church must go on. We stop right at the brink......

Standing in the holy place.

     Clean hands and a pure heart are essential for one to prevail with God.  God is holy, and requires us to be holy as well, if we are to dwell in His presence. Any sin held on to, will only serve to shut us out of fellowship with God.
     Clean hands are the result of a pure heart. A right heart will produce right actions, a wrong heart will produce wrong actions. Many come to God in prayer, with wrong hearts and wrong actions. There is a barrier between them and God that will only be removed when sin is repented of.
      A group of men met three nights a week to pray for revival. They would pray well into the early morning hours. One night one of them was impressed to read Psalm 24:3-5, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart." This convicted the men and led them to a heart searching and a fresh consecration of themselves to the Lord. This was the beginning of the Hebrides revival that lasted about three years. It was a powerful revival with deep conviction of sin followed by a very real and lasting repentance.
     The key thing was the fact that these praying men knew that if they expected God to hear them, they must approach Him in holiness and purity. The same goes for us as well.

Clean hands and a pure heart.

     Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
     Psalm 24:3-6 RSV

     

What if Jesus came to your church?

And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart from their borders.
God; ASV (2011-07-15). Holy Bible, American Standard Version (ASV) (Kindle Locations 29044-29045). Latus ePublishing. Kindle Edition.


     In the context of this verse, Jesus had just cast the demons out of two posessed men. The people feared these men, and had kept them in chains. Now these men were in their right minds. When the domons left the men, Jesus permited them to enter a herd of pigs, which then rushed into the sea.
     This caused a great deal of distress among the local inhabitants. Instead of rejoicing with the two men who had just been delivered, the people instead were very uncomfortable with what just occured. Perhaps they were upset about the pigs. Maybe they were uncomfortable about the deliverance of the demon posessed men. At any rate, the were uncomfortable with Jesus, and asked Him to leave.
     Sadly, we too can become complacent in our Christian experience. We like how church is done, we like how our lives are lived, we think everything is fine, and we want it to stay that way. We want things to go smooth, no excitement, no conviction, no upsetting visitors on Sunday,etc.
     What would happen if Jesus showed up during prayer time, and people were instantly, and miraculously healed of all manner of diseases? Would it make us nervous? Would we be uncomfortable? what would happen if people were suddenly filled with conviction, conviction so deep that some fell from their seats onto the floor where they lay weeping and crying out to God?  What would happen if some went forward and made public confession of sin? We never see this happen, but if you read about the great revivals of the past, it was a frequent occurence. My Father in law told of a pastor who announced to his congregation one Sunday, that he had been saved that weekend. His church promptly dismissed him! They were more comfortable with an unsaved pastor!
     The fact is, that when Jesus comes to church, things happen, changes occur, we are taken out of our comfort zones. The things that Jesus taught, the things that Jesus did,  are taught, and done. People are convicted of sin, people are healed of disease, people are set free from demons, people are set free from sin.
     Pigs are presented as unclean in the Bible. We may have unclean things in our lives that we hang onto, things that we do not want to see go. If Jesus were present, we know that like the pigs rushing into the sea, these things would have to go as well. It may be unbelief, sin, or worthless tradition, but it would have to go.
     Jesus came to give us abundant life. He came to destroy the work of the devil. He came to set the captives free. Let Him have His way with you.

What would it cost us?

     Every move of God has been birthed by prayer. From the 120 in the upper room prior to the day of pentecost, to the present day, you will find that someone somewhere gave themselves to prayer. A study of revival history will quickly show that individuals sought the face of God with passion and fervor, with fasting and tears, before the blessing came.
     It is my firm belief that God will call His people into the prayer closet. He will place a burden upon the hearts of those who respond to Him. In and of ourselves we have no ability to pray down a revival. However, God looks for those who will respond to Him. He speaks to  our hearts, often with a still small voice, longing for us to spend time with Him.
     It has been costly for the individuals who have followed the call of God to prayer. Real prayer is a hard work. It takes time and energy. It takes focus and dedication. While it can be a time of great joy, it can also be a time of great sorrow. That is why we must pray in the Spirit, with His energy and direction. That is where we get the strength to go on. Many get discouraged and give up, many are too easily distracted.
     Too many Christians in American live to be entertained. We have our tv shows and movies and video games, electronic devices of all sorts, internet etc. Too be sure, many of us watch "christian etertainment" no cussing, sex, or violence, clean stories to entertain us. You can get out of most church services by noon on sunday, and go home and watch football from noon to 11:00 pm. Then there is a couple hours of sports center to get us all caught up on all the sporting news of the day.
     In the midst of all of this there has been a still small voice that got smaller and smaller until it grew silent. what will it cost us to see revival in our land once again?

Full surrender.

     God is looking for the individual who will abandon all for the cause of Christ. He is looking for the one who will give up all dreams, plans, goals, agendas, self-will, and instead live only for the will of God. Posessions, position, and prestige, mean nothing to such an individual, only that Christ will be glorified..
     This is the call to do all for the glory of God. Whether eating, drinking, whether in word or deed, all is done in His name, for the sake of His kingdom, and for His good pleasure. This is the meaning of "Seek first His kingdom, and righteousness".
     This is the hungering and thirsting after righteousness that Jesus refers to in the sermon on the mount. This is the point that we must come to to be filled with all the fulness there is in Christ. This is Paul's heart when he says he has given up all that he may know Christ. This hunger drove him to do one thing only, to press on in his relentless pursuit of Christ. Only when one is truly empty can he be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. As long as we allow other things to satisfy us, we will never reach the place of true hunger. Just like a child spoiling his supper by eating junk food, we too can lose our spiritual appetites by filling up on worldly things, things that may not be wrong in and of themselves, but yet they stand in the way of knowing Him in a deeper way.
     Christ died, rose, and then ascended to the Father, making it possible for all to experience the total and full communion with with the Father through the presence of the Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus told His disciples that is was good that He went away. That is why He instructed them to wait until they received the Spirit. It is those, and those only, who live in the fulness of Christ, who are the most effective for Christ. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict and reprove, and He does it through those who are filled with Him.
     It was in the power of the Holy Spirit that Peter stood and preached on the day of pentecost. It was in the power of the Holy Spirit that Stephen stood before the Sannhedrin. It was the Holy Spirit who worked in and through the apostle Paul. The New Testament church was founded and advanced by individuals who were entirely devoted to Christ, filled to overflowing with the Spirit. It was not by human wisdom or strength, but by the very Spirit of the living God.
     Throughout the history of the church you will find souls who hungered for more.They began to earnestly seek God. They prayed and fasted and prayed some more until they were filled. They would then go out in the power of the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim what God had done for them. The fire would spread, and great changes would come to the church. Backsliders would return, complacent souls would catch fire once again. The lost around them would be convicted and saved. Sin would be put away. Drunks would give up drink, cursing would turn into praise, thieves would return what they stole, and then lead productive lives. The sick, just like in the days of Jesus, would be prayed for, and they would recover. There was a complete revolution in the life of the church!
     It takes a total consecration. A giving up of all, so that He may become all.

How to have a personal revival

Here is a link to an interesting article on repentance and personal revival. http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/2010/04/18/how-to-have-a-personal-revival/

Old time religion.

I love to read the accounts of mighty moves of God in times past. I have read about men such as Jonathan Edwards, David Brainard, John Wesley, Charles Finney, Dwight Moody, Evan Roberts, and the list goes on. I read the accounts of the great awakenings in America, that took place in the days of Edwards, and later in the days of Finney. I read about John Wesley, and how he would preach outside, attracting crowds of thousands without advertising. It is exciting to read about the Welsh revival, and the Azuza street revival that occured around the same time in America. I mention all this because these things stir something within me. I long to see God move in a similar way today. I long to see churches filled with people who are not just there for a service, but who are there to actually encounter the living God! People prayed down the Holy Ghost. There was a deep, very real conviction of sin. People experienced true repentance, and were very soundly converted. There was a public confession of sin, and restitution was made for past wrongs. All of these things come about when God is present, and working. Many of these preachers did not prepare sermons, they followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, letting Him do the work. They emphasised repentance, submission to Christ, obedience in everything, holiness of heart and life, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of prayer. I desire to see these things happen  again. I don't want to be content with how we so often do church in the same old regular way. God has so much more to offer, if only we will earnestly seek Him. We tend to allow things to grow stale without realizing it. That is the lesson of the wineskins, doing things the same way, letting tradition dictate, rather than the Spirit of God. Instead we need to abandon ourselves for His sake, letting Him have His way in everything. We are in desperate need of a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. We need His presence and power. We need life breathed back into our churches once again. Jesus must be all!

God works through us.

     Many Christians desire to see God work in their churches and communities. They want to see friends and families saved, they want to see people set free from destructive habits, they want to see lives transformed by the power of the gospel. Towards this end, many pray and ask God to intervene in the lives of those around them. this is good, and we should pray, but sadly this is as far as most people go.
     I firmly believe that we can pray all we want to for revival, healing, salvations, etc. but if we are not willing to be used by God, if we are not willing to go as a witness to the lost, if we are not willing to be used to stir up backslidden christians around us, we will see no results!
     This might seem like a hard statement, but I believe it to be true nonetheless. We are told that the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement. The kind of conviction needed to change a heart can only come from God. We in and of ourselves have no ability to do this. All our best efforts to convince others of  sin and salvation our futile. However God has chosen to use us as his witnesess. The Holy Spirit uses individuals who are yielded to Him. God wanted to save Cornelius, but He sent Peter to witness to him. God wanted to save the Macedonians, so He sent Paul. It is easy to just pray, but if we really want results we must go. The Holy Spirit convicts hearts through the effective witness of those who are filled with Him, ready and willing to go wherever He sends, and do whatever He wants done.
     If we want to see God move in power in answer to our prayers, we must be willing to go!