nlr.revival

Anything related to God and His purposes in the earth and among His people MUST come from the Word of God. God's eternal Word MUST be the final authority for all that we believe. Human opinion on the subject of revival in the Church and among God's people is of little significance and means absolutely nothing. What we believe about revival must has it's origin in God's Word.

If all is well in the light of God's Word then let's go on just as we are. On the other hand, if we are not living up to God's standards or are not experiencing all that Jesus' blood purchased for us in the "here and now" then we need a genuine Holy Spirit revival, a spiritual awakening which incorporates
God's eternal principles.

Even a quick read through the Gospels, the book of Acts and the Epistles reveals that things today are very different than they were in the early church.

With our present "user friendly" mentality about Church in North America we've become afraid to offend the ungodly and unsaved. Because the Church presently uses the worldly standards that "Bigger is better, and "Bigger is best" we're afraid to preach the truths as the early Church did. It's as though we want "big churches" at all costs. Some even suggest that "big" is a sure sign of God's blessing. It seems that we're quite impressed with the "mega church' concept. Oh ya and one of the perks with this concept is all the money we get to play with.

One of the most vivid pictures displaying our present need of revival is the love issue.
Jesus said in John 13:34, 35 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples." What is the proof to an unsaved world that Christians really are God's people? Love for each other! Presently, in North America, there are as many broken marriage relationships inside the Church as outside. The reason? Well I don't love him or her anymore. Maybe it's because there's been unfaithfulness! Why is that? God's love isn't unfaithful! If we love as God loves we'd never think of being unfaithful. If we're honest about it we must conclude that there's just too much self seeking going on. Rom 12:10 says, "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." Clearly we're not loving each other as we should and therefore need to be spiritually revived. We need to be reawaked to to the truth of God's love.

Another very distinctive difference between what we read in the New Testament and our present day Christian experience has to do with the manifest power of God. The manifest power of God to heal the sick, give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf are inseparable from the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus and the early disciples. Some have suggested that all the manifest power evident in the early church was merely God's way of "kick starting" the Church and that it was all apart of it's immature beginning. WOW! Where does this kind of thinking come from? It's certainly not from the Word of God. But it's amazing how many choose to believe it.

The prophecy John the Baptist gave concerning the Lord Jesus Christ declared very bolding that He was the One who would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Mt.3:11; Lk.3:16) When was this to happen? What would this look like? Jesus said in John 7:38 "Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart." The following verse gives some insight as to what Jesus was referring too. Jn 7:39 (When He said "living water," He was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.) Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit was not and would not, in fact could not come into the world until after Jesus was glorified.

Just prior to His accession into Heaven, Jesus said this to His followers in Luke 24:48, 49 - You are witnesses of all these things. 49 "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as My Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." Jesus made it very clear what He wanted His people to do and what He wanted them to receive. He wanted them filled with power, filled with God's power, the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2 records the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit and what event it was. It shook the city of Jerusalem to its very core. Following this dramatic experience with God's Holy Spirit the disciples went out duplicating the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Acts 17:6 says in the NASV "they upset the world". The KJV of Bible says "they turned the world upside down". This they did as a result of being baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Manifestations of healing and deliverance, identical to those of Jesus ministry were common among the early followers of Jesus. Is this the case today? If not then we need to revival. What is the truth regarding this? We need to hear from Jesus all over again. "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. (Jn. 14:12)

When the Holy Spirit was initially poured out on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 people heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind and saw what appeared to be tongues of fire coming upon all the people. These early believers had just been baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire exactly as had been prophesied by John the Baptist. Luke 3:16 - John answered their questions by saying, "I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am-so much greater that I'm not even worthy to be His slave and untie the straps of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

What's with the flames of fire? What's the significance of such a dynamic manifestation of the super natural? Clearly it's spiritual! This fire was definitely from God and was for Christ's followers. It was a very important event and a very important experience. Everything God chooses to do is important. because of this we should be purposing to give diligence to understanding and embracing the "fire of God".

The Scriptures inform us that our God is a consuming fire.(Heb.12:29) Fire does that! It consumes things! It burns things up! It cleanses and it purifies. In the future God will use it in His final judgement on a Christ rejecting world. (2Thes.1:8) As Believers this aspect of God's fire is not our lot. There is however a fire from God's Holy Spirit that when ignited and fanned will purge out the dose of our old sin nature preparing the way for a greater release of Christlikeness. The result of such divine purging fire is "Holy Spirit holiness" which in turn effects true Christian revival. What does this burning fire of God within the heart of the Believer feel like? It feels like a burning passion for Christ, a burning desire for His Lordship, a blazing zeal for God and the things of God thrusting into fervent service for Jesus and seeking to share the Gospel with the lost at every opportunity.

Our hearts cry should be, "bring on this heavenly fire Lord and let it effect the deepest recesses of my being. Let its divine purpose be fully realized in my life for Jesus sake. Let it purge out the dross and purify a cleansed vessel prepared for the Master's use. "

Ultimately spiritual growth is the responsibility of the individual. No one will be called upon to stand in for us on judgment day. We all must give an account to God for our own life. Rom 14:12 - Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. What this tells us is that we are help personally responsible for how we respond to God's grace and love. When we're confronted with personal spiritual need how do we handle it? What steps do we take to initiate the change God is encouraging us in?

If we really appreciate what Jesus has done for us then we will be desirous that no drop of His precious blood will have been shed in vain on our behalf. We will be desirous to live our life as a perpetual Thank Offering". We will desire to have the fire of God's Holy Spirit consume all that is Adamic about our life! We'll want the purging flames of God's fire to make us vessels of pure gold glorifying His name. Our heart will cry out to God, "fan into flame that passionate first love God is looking for in my life". (Rev.2:4) When we are confronted with our sin of apathy we will seek God's forgiveness through true and sincere repentance.

I'm reminded of the true story of a young pastor who asked one of histories great Revivalists what he needed to do to experience revival in his church. This was the instructions he received. "Go home and with a piece of caulk draw a circle on the floor of your living room, then stand in the middle of the circle and pray, God please revival everything inside this circle."

Revival in a local church or even a nation is made up individuals who have chosen to receive fully what God has purposed for His people. 2P. 1:3,4 - By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.

Just as Canaan Land was there for the nation of Israel to possess so Christlikeness is there for New Covenant Believers to enter more fully into. It can happen! Revival can happen in you. It can happen in Canada as God's people choose to allow Him to fan the smoldering embers into full flame. (Mt.12:10) We have to want it though! God isn't going to force Himself upon us. We need to be seeking and inviting the Lord to bring personal revival into our life.

When the Holy Spirit was initially poured out in Acts 2 it resulted in some controversy to say the least. The sceptics said that the people were all drunk! When you stop and think about it, it have sounded quite chaotic with a variety of different languages all being spoken at the same time. To properly pastor this would have taken more than human inelegance that's for sure. Let's remember this was a God encounter. This was how God chose to pour out His Holy Spirit upon the people.
On the day of Pentecost of various languages were in Jerusalem and they each heard God being praised and glorified in their own native tongue.

Act 2:7-11 - They were completely amazed. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are-Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!"

Nothing has changed over the many years since God first poured out His Holy Spirit. Church history proves this! Whenever God moves in with His various manifestations of His presence there's always controversy. It was no different in Jesus' ministry. All He ever did was good yet the sceptics and unbelievers did their best to condemn His acts of love and mercy. One of their favorites was to complain about Jesus healing the sick on the Sabbath. The records of every genuine Holy Spirit revival confirm that nothing has changed. Unbelief will always find things to criticize, condemn and complain about. Proverbs fourteen, verse four has a powerful and revealing message for all since God seeking hearts. Pr.14:4 - Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox. Where there is no manifest presence of God in Holy Spirit power power our church will be relatively clean and easy to manage but when the power of God hits there will always be a mess. Why? Because even the most spiritual among us still live in bodies of human flesh. We need to have this issue settled in our hearts. When the revival truly begins to be manifest in Holy Spirit fire there will be controversy and things that require cleaning up.

With revival comes controversy but we must remember that the Lord Himself must believe its worth it. The miraculous shouts with the loud voice of the super natural. People are quite capable natural phenomena but when a physical body is instantly healed, or a blind person instantly receives sight, or the crippled walk it has away of focusing peoples attention on a power beyond human. With Jesus and the early disciples this kind of ministry was normal and it proved very to be very effective. Not only were the temporal needs of people ministered to but so was the eternal. 3000 people gave their hearts to Christ on the day of Pentecost after Peter's preaching.

When the Holy Spirit's revival fires begin burning in the hearts of people we can expect not only miracles in the physical realm but also the spiritual. God's people will pursue Holy Spirit holiness. They will be zealous and fervent in spirit towards the Lord. This is a deep heart work done by the Holy Spirit. This is what revival is. It's a spiritual awakening to the things of God. Spirituality and Christian maturity become the order of the day.

History records many periods of spiritual awakening in Christianity. These vary location, intensity and duration. They also vary the unique manifestations of God's power and presence. The last major revival in the USA and Canada started in the very early 1900's. This revival brought with it the fresh revelation, understanding and experience of Pentecost. Today there are numerous branches of Pentecostalism that trace their roots back to this very powerful move of God. With this Pentecostal awakening came renewed manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Similar to the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 the manifestation
of God's Holy Spirit causes controversy, criticism and what to some seem like confusion.

I personally have no doubt at all the revival which is coming will very manifest the various gifts of the Holy Spirit as described in 1 Cor.12:7-11. One thing is clear throughout Church history and that is, "God is not in the habit of going backwards." God always moves forward and any genuine revival of
Holy Spirit awakening is for the purpose of moving the Church forward, not forward to were is was
BUT to were it should be. We need to understand that the Church is still growing and still maturing
in the earth.

We should be settled on this in the coming revival that we have to deal with excessiveness in the
realm of Holy Spirit manifestations. I certainly don't pride myself in it but I've personally been involved
in a local church that was very much into excessive Spirit related things. In fact I was the pastor. Wow, what power! So much so that I feel that as mere flesh and blood people we simply couldn't or maybe chose not to handle this power very well. If I could relive it I certainly would at least try to do things differently. Maybe that's why I'm choosing to mention this here! This I know, there will be no future
move of God that is void of God's manifest presence. Another thing I know with the next revival there
will be mess, it will be criticized and even condemned by some.

How should we prepare ourselves? The answer is very basic and fundamental. It is also available to everyone. We MUST place a personal emphasis on the written Word of God. I would like at this time to draw our attention to the words of George Whitefield one of God's revivalists during the 1700's he said, "If we once get above our Bible and cease making the written Word of God our sole rule both as to faith and practice, we shall soon lie open to all manner of delusion, and be in great danger of making ship wreck of faith and good conscience. Our blessed Lord, though He had the Spirit of God without measure, yet always was governed by,
and fought the devil with, "It is written"."

The late Lester Summeral is quoted as saying, "God's Word is the essential element in every revival. There has never been a spiritual revival in all human history that did not have its roots in the Word of God." It was Jesus who said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free". The greatest manifestation of God's Holy Spirit is when He reveals the truth of God's Word to the human heart. This is when freedom really takes hold in a persons life.

The inspired Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Thes 5:20 that we are not to despise prophecy which is one of the Holy Spirit manifestations spoken of in 1 Cor. 12. From personal experience I know only too well the dangers that lurk in the darkness of Scriptural ignorance. It's amazing how some people (some very good people to will run after prophecy and seek after a so called prophet to speak into their lives and yet they push their Bibles away as if it were an out dated novel or something. What can I say? We MUST never take from the Scriptures the authority that Jesus places on them. Preachers must remain Bible preaches, prophets MUST remain Bible prophets. God's Word never changes, revival come and sadly they go. Then what? What are we left with? Hopefully a better understanding of God and His Word so that we live lives that glorify Him.

The history of Israel in the book of Judges spans about 300 years. It records well their spiritual roller coaster ride. There were times when they seemed to be more spiritually on top of it and other times when they needed to be spiritually revived, to be brought back from the edge of the spiritual abyss.

The Israelites were God's redeemed and set apart people. They were people who were called by His name. Other nations of the world identified Israel with the God Jehovah. It was through these people that Almighty God had chosen to reveal Himself to the rest of the world. Well, that's definitely all history now, however, the Church, God's "called out" and "chosen" people of the "Now" are in great need of being brought back from the edge of the abyss. For quite a while now the Church has been steadily moving away from intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and presently is heading straight for a huge "black hole".

Many of God's people are totally oblivious of their great need. This is the only Christianity they've ever known. No one has taught them otherwise. Their own Leader are blinded, and as result the blind are leading the blind. This needs to stop! We need a powerful move of God's Holy Spirit AND we need hearts prepared to listen to the voice of God!

God often uses His still small voice and I think it's the most preferred by God's people yet church history verifies there are those times when God's voice seems to thunder from heaven. John the Baptist was one such voice. A voice that "CRIED OUT" with spiritual dynamics demanding attention! God was reaching to people through that voice but would they listen?

Mat 3:1-3 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. " 3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, "He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the LORD's coming! Clear the road for Him!'"

Right now the need to hear God and respond in "love obedience" isn't to simply point the finger at others. We all need to listen as never before! There are so many "voices of the world" crying out for our attention. Voices of wealth, purpose, power, prestige! There are political voices and great religious voices today endeavoring to overpower us with their worldly influence. It's time however to rise up in Jesus' name and personally brush these voices aside so we can hear what God is saying today.

Do you think God is speaking to you today? Do you think God is reaching out and seeking to be heard in our generation? He most certainly is! The world is on the verge of absolute disaster and increasing chaos! It doesn't take a great theologian to understand this anymore. This truth is in the hearts and on the lips of an increasing number of God fearing people. THERE IS HOPE!

The time for revival is now and the place it must begin is in your own heart and life. If you're starting to hear God, if you have questions about the present state of the church or find yourself questioning some of its practices then you need to respond to God. Don't wait for the Church! Don't wait for your own local church! Don't wait for leadership or even loved ones! Revival MUST happen in the hearts of individuals. The call is to repent! And repent we must. We must repent of everything and absolutely anything that presently interferes with our relationship with God. Jesus Christ must be allowed to be Lord of all. Don't hesitate!
Don'' put it off! Do it now!

Since the end of the Second world war Christianity in the west has not only been threatened with worldliness (the pursuit of the things pertaining to this life) it has been seriously overcome by it. The latest extremes of the "Prosperity doctrine" has helped to fuel this by giving supposed God approval for material pursuit. God knows the basic needs we have to honor Him in this world and it is He who has told us to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Mt. 6:33) The time has come for us to return to the One who purchased us with His precious blood, to One who suffered bled and died that we might know the blessings of sins forgiven and the joy of eternal life. Is Jesus, presently your only reason for living? Is He the reason you do what you do? It's time to allow Him to ascend to the throne of your heart.

The message preached over two thousand years ago by John the Baptist is once again extremely relevant. "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand". Why repent? Because Jesus is coming with the Kingdom of heaven. Yes some will laugh at this message, we're told they will. That however, only goes to confirm what God said would happen in the day prior to Jesus coming to establish His Kingdom on earth. Are we ready should the savior come today? The time for playing Church and merely living as a professing Christian are over. It's now time for the true saints of God to come out from worldliness and halfhearted surrender to Jesus. It's time to give Him everything, to have Him reigning in our heart.

2Cor. 6:17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. (NASV)

Why do we want revival? What is it we're looking for? We want revival because to desire that Jesus be rightfully honored among His people and in the world. We want revival because we are not will that one drop of Jesus' blood would have been shed in vain on our behalf in this generation. We want revival so that God's people will be the right spiritual environment for God to add multitudes of new believer to His eternal family. Souls, souls for Jesus! Souls that will rather die than give in to sin. We want revival because it result in holiness, without which no one will see God. Heb 12:14 - Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

Should Jesus come today what would He say to you? Would He say come My faithful servant or would He say, Go away I never knew you?

As long as it's still called "Today" it's never too late. God is always open, willing and ready to forgive us and to cleanse us. He is ready right now! He will not turn you away. He will change and transform your life. You can know the blessings that will make you spiritually rich and add no sorrow at all to your life.

"Look, I am coming soon, bringing My reward with Me to repay all people according to their deeds. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. 15 Outside the city are the dogs-the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie. (Rev 22:12-15 )