Are We Ready?
02-02-2020
This is a question I’ve been asking myself since December. Are we ready for revival? Are we ready for what revival will bring? Are we ready? If you find yourself saying, “Well, I think I am, but I’m not really sure!” Then you’re not ready. For as long as I can remember I have heard the church crying out for ‘revival’. We’ve seen little ‘revival’ spouts pop up here and there but there’s been nothing long lived. Do you ever stop and ask why? I do, because I want to know! When we want to know, then we need to stop and seek!
I will tell you this… no where in the Word have I actually found that there is any such thing as a ‘revival’. I have read where there will be an outpouring of God’s spirit upon all flesh and blood, but hasn’t that already happened? So, this has become my new question.. DO WE REALLY EVEN KNOW WHAT WE ARE CRYING OUT FOR? Do we truly know what we are asking for? Before we can be ready, we need to know what we are truly asking God to prepare us for…
Let’s look at the word revival…
Revival: (dictionary.com) an improvement in the condition or strength of something, a reawakening of religious passion, the restoration to bodily or mental vigor, to life or consciousness… (merriam-webster.com) a renewed attention to or interest in something, restoration of force, vitality, or effect. Synonyms: rebirth, regeneration, renewal, resurrection, revitalization…
I began to search through the Word for anything I could find on revival. Like I said before, I found nothing… but I did come across REVIVE!
Revive: (dictionary.com) to activate, set into motion, take up again – renew; to restore to life or consciousness! Wow.. that sounds a bit like revival to me! Check this out:
[Psa 119:37, 40 NKJV] 37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, [And] REVIVE ME in Your way. ... 40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; REVIVE ME in Your righteousness.
[Psa 143:11 NKJV] 11 REVIVE ME, O LORD, for Your name's sake! For Your righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.
The more I study the more I realize that revival is to be restored, renewed, regenerated, REVIVED! If you will notice in the above scriptures they are saying… God, REVIVE ME back to Your righteousness, Your way, back to You God! To experience revival is to experience an inner work that results in LIFE TRANSFORMATION!! But first we have to recognize we need it and get on our face before God! Check this out:
[Isa 57:15 NKJV] 15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name [is] Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy [place], With him [who] has a contrite and humble spirit, To REVIVE the spirit of the humble, And to REVIVE the heart of the contrite ones.
When we humble ourselves before our God and say… God, I know that without You I am seriously nothing! Search me, know me, break me and make me into the image You created me to be! REVIVE ME back to YOU … He says, ‘now this is one I can use for My kingdom. Let the reviving process begin!’
Now I know that we’ve always looked at revival as a huge, religious event that thousands of people come through the doors in order to experience God in a powerful way. That’s all good. I know many lives are usually touched but I’m not sure how many actually live that out. So, let’s set the big crowd revivals that the church is currently looking for aside for just a minute. Do we really think we are ready for that? If we ourselves aren’t experiencing God at this level then I have to say no. I believe the Church needs to take some time to get humble before God and search within themselves. We are crying out for something that, as we’ve seen in the past, can’t be sustained because the ‘C’hurch is not ready! We are so far off and it’s time to get back on track! It’s time for an internal, heart changing, flesh eradicating, reviving fire from God to come in and burn away the things we hold so tightly to, the things that are keeping us from experiencing God at this level. Guys, this is the remnant God is looking for! This is a remnant that lives in that revived state at all times. There’s no need to travel somewhere to get an experience because we’re living it. In my heart I believe that’s true revival.
In the midst of studying the heart posture of revival I began to ask God, “What has happened? Where did we go so wrong?” I know for some it seems like everything is just great, but for some of us it’s not. For those who have a heart for true revival, those searching to find the answer to those two questions… we can’t settle for the way everything is right now because it’s not ‘just great’. There’s great work to be done!
You see… we went wrong when we stopped loving as Jesus loves. We went wrong when we began to concern ourselves with those we may offend and stopped teaching the way Jesus taught. We went wrong when started focusing on growth in the sense of church numbers instead of growth in the sense of maturity in the Church. We went wrong when we started allowing it to be okay for the Church to be more intimate with the world (in the name of grace) then it is intimate with the Creator. We went wrong when we started including our own agendas and stopped asking God, “What do you want?”
When you read the book of Acts you can see that the Church started off full of authority, powerful, flowing with signs, wonders and miracles; they were growing in numbers daily; Christianity was taking over; life transformation was happening on a regular basis… How did we get from there to here? What on earth happened? Religion, division, chaos, unbelief and lack of love therefore becoming a Church that is powerless, immature, selfish and lukewarm. What has happened? We’ve created a Church that looks more like the world then Jesus Christ! What has happened? We’ve created an immoral, loveless, bride and expect Jesus to be okay with it! Guys…. I’m sorry but it’s not okay! It’s time to get humble before our God!
You may be wondering why I keep saying ‘we’… I know you and I may not have been the ones with our actual hands in the act of all the negativity in the Church today … but many of us haven’t stopped to really look at it and say… wait a minute, is this truly the bride Jesus will come back for? We have allowed ourselves to conform to the culture that’s been built without a second thought, that makes us partakers in it. I think about James 4:17 “If anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” If you KNOW the Father, KNOW the Word and are truly intimate with Him .. then you KNOW how a disciple of Jesus Christ should be (the good they ought to do) and if you look around the church of America today… many have lost what it means to be a disciple and yes, ‘we’ have done nothing about it, that makes it wrong for us! For many it’s not that we have meant to not do anything about it, I believe it’s been innocently overlooked because most of us of have been raised in this culture and will not know better until we know our Father better!
I think that’s why it’s so heavy on my heart. I have been one of those who just took for granted that I was saved, a hard core follower of Christ and life was good… UNTIL! Until I began a true, intimate relationship with Him through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the WORD! The more I’ve read the more my spiritual eyes are enlightened. The more I am seeing how many mistakes I have made as a friend, family member, parent, wife, pastor and teacher. I have sought God for revival for years and wondered why I’ve never seen it or experienced it… until now!
Friend, before we can truly experience this ‘revival’ the Church is crying out for… we first must become revived! The lost are not going to be drawn towards a people that look and act as lost as they are. They aren’t going to be drawn toward fruit as rotten as theirs.
I will ask one more time… Are YOU ready? If so, let God do His work IN YOU so you can do His work IN THE WORLD!
Father, I repent for myself and for those who have gone before me. God, so much has been so messed up for so long that many of us have just become comfortable in the mess, not even realizing it was a mess, please forgive us. I repent for not living a life of daily revival with You. A life so totally sold out in the fullest surrender. A life humbled and contrite before You. Father, I thank you that you are a God of grace and when we mess up you are so very quick to forgive. I want to be a conduit of life transformation in the lives of others so Father, just as David prayed to You, I pray… Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and REVIVE ME in Your way and in Your righteousness. REVIVE ME and let Your revival fire burn in my life. I know it starts in me, so here I am God… have Your way! In Jesus name, Amen.
Am I involved in a huge ‘church’ tent revival with thousands of people gathering to get a feel good moment, some possibly a total life change that will last a lifetime, and some that are just onlookers? Nope… it’s what I call an internal revival. A revival of passion for my Father, a revival of purity before my Bridegroom, a revival of Holy Spirit revelation that has revived my God given power and authority. It’s a revival that MUST happen within each of us if we want to be the Church of purity, holiness, having no spot or wrinkle as described in Eph. 5:27. That’s the Church (the Bride) Jesus is coming back for.
Are we ready? I do not believe so, we are so far off and we have so much to do to prepare!
2 Cor 11:2 NIV “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”
God wants us to be pure before Him. This is a process of making ourselves ready and others ready. Not only do we have to prepare ourselves, but we are called to be disciple makers, that means, reproduce ourselves! This is God’s heart!
What does it mean to be pure?
It means to be properly cleaned, modest, mature, chaste, innocent … a most holy thing, a saint … It all falls back to holiness and living a life that is aligned fully with the heart of God. Do we all fall short? ABSOLUTELY, but I tell you this, God’s grace is so sufficient for us. When we are walking hand in hand with Him and we trip, He pulls us up, dusts us off and we keep going. We just do not choose to trip up on purpose, the Word says that those who are IN HIM there is no SIN IN THEM… in other words, they have no desire to sin. Our desires become His desires for us!
Again, Are we ready? Let me ask it this way…
Are YOU ready? Are YOU ready for a revival within yourself? Are YOU ready to see life transformation within yourself and those around you? You will be known by your fruit… What you produce or reproduce… make sure that fruit is healthy, pure and ready for harvest!