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How Revival Will Come
"This is why the American
Church is consumed with the study of Bibical principle and process at the expense of Biblical purpose and passion."
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The Current Reality We are a nation of self-worship. Every hour commercials proclaim our deserving of a particular product. Sports
athletes dance around the throneroom of their own hearts and say: Worship me. Everyday there is a new award ceremony invented
for some category we have never even thought of to reinforce our value. Like the SNL guy staring into the mirror who declares
his value to himself repeatedly; We're trying to psyche ourselves up as a culture with clenched fists pounding again and again
that "God loves me!" Again and again we pound and angrily scream we are of value, but never notice that within our
collective clenched fist is a hammer and that we have pounded nails into the wrists and feet of a Friend pleading our case.
Look again as the anger leaves your soul and body; You are truly loved. Even within the
world of so-called "prayerless" public ministry, which often is more of a profession than a life given in surrendered
prayer, people are more drawn to the microphone, the TV camera and pulpit, than they are the Throneroom or the Heart that
sits on the Throne. How do you know this? Because so few are rallying people in corporate worship and prayer and too many
around what they have to say about God. It is the same old Pope-acracy of the heart. Like the John Nine Pharasees, we claim
to see, but self-sufficiency keeps us blind to the love staring us in the face. We have mental concept of the Gospel,
but our hearts remain religiously hard. How do you know? Because somehow a heart like this needs fancy buildings, Christian
media, pizza parties and Christian comic books to interest the masses in Him, or so we have come to believe. We need Christian
personalities and celebrities - and kings like Israel of old. "Again and again we pound and angrily scream we are of value,
but never notice that within our collective clenched fist is a hammer and that we have pounded nails into the wrists and feet
of a Friend pleading our case."
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The Call He calls us to seek, not because seeking in itself warrants anything, but because in seeking
we will eventually see what is right in front of us. A Heart on a Cross pleading our case as we kill Him and counting Himself
blessed for gaining the reward of our company. He's the kid who came along to play to enjoy being near us, only to be kicked
out and left for nought. He became such the reject as we cruelly blamed Him for all our problems and even then was willing
to take the blame just to be blessed by our company. It's insane and holy at the same time. The Least is the Greatest. It's
Nature before power and position. He is nothing like us. Nobody has a heart like
His. When we get our eyes off trying to bring moral and societal reform; When
we give up trying to fight the culture war; When we give up trying to make our mark in this world in His name for value's
sake because we are seeing that there isn't anything more that could be done to demonstrate that we are of value;
The Cross. When we give up thinking that Christian media, Christian politics, Christian Comic Books, Christian Breath Mints
and Christian Reality TV Shows will save the day and just seriously seek the Lord to open our eyes, we will worship and worship
and worship; Why? Because He is so loving and loving and loving and the power of God will come with such force it will shake
the heavens over souls. Pastors will cease to be professional comrades in the public institution of so called ministry and
share in worship bathed, prayer bathed and foot of the Cross friendship instead. There will be an open Heaven for a season.
We will fellowship heart to heart, instead of socializing facade to facade. "...and
the power of God will come with such force it will shake the heavens over souls." American Christians have become builders of the Towers of Babel, seeking to "make a name for ourselves"
in His Name, yet we've come up empty. Years ago, the Lord dealt with me on segregating myself from the brethren through brand
name ministry. I don't see Bret of Way FM. I see Bret and Melanie. Or Allen, at His Radio; Just Allen and Nelline. Or Pastor
Carl and Ms. Jo Anne of WKCL. And if my heart is inconsistent, the rebuke from God comes in prayer as He shows their hearts
and His love for them.
"We will truly know the Holy Spirit is moving when the attention
is brought to Jesus, the Person; Not His power, but His heart."
Some pastors have prayer meetings
where the subject of the prayer meeting is assigned and petitions are made; Nothing wrong with that, but thats as far as it
goes. There will be no seeking and laying before the Lord all night to find His leadership. There will be no seeking for an
encounter and change of heart. Control will remain with the church leader and one man's agenda. This is why
the church is consumed with the study of principle and process at the expense of Biblical purpose and passion.
And because we don't know the purpose and passion, we suck at the execution of principle and process. We teach covenant living,
men's ministry, evangelism classes, financial management, prophecy, leadership and disfunctional family ministry. We touch
lives, rather than change them. There are a zillion different so-called outreaches on every level. We have so called niche
ministries for every demographic and subject while wearing brand name labels as entrepreneurs of something we call ministry.
But we have no real power! The simple purpose and
passion of being with Him is seldomn experienced; Pleasing Him even more rare. The Lord and
His heart have become boring. Sporting events, award ceremonies and special competitions are more exciting. Everyday
we exalt someone as having overcome, but we do not see that a ceiling still exists over their heads. A Super Bowl winner or
celebrity is still a prisoner to their own selfishness and vanity. And yet in Jesus we have Someone outside the system who
sets us free from a hell deserved, a suffocating world system and greatest of all, He sets us free from our own hearts. He
made a way through because of love. |
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Love So Hot The sincerety...the purety...the love of God's intentions are so deep, so vibrant that without the Cross making
it possible for rebirth - which makes it possible for His nature to grow inside us, that this very same nature, so humble,
so loving and so giving - would zap us like a bug if our flesh ever came into contact with it, which is exactly why a negligent
hand on the ark of the Covenant cost a man his life. He touched Real Love Himself and ZAP!!! Better that the Fire burn inside
us in this life than burn us from the outside in the life to come. In other words - God is pure,
unadulterated, white hot love to His core and throughout every part of His being. And we and our selfish, proud behinds would
melt if we got too close. This is why rebirth is so important...literal rebirth. "...that
nature, so humble, so loving, so giving would zap us like a bug if our flesh ever came into contact with it, which is exactly
why a negligent hand on the ark of the Covenant cost a man his life." It is why
when revival really comes, the Person of the Holy Spirit is in the air and people come to Christ en masse. Now
here is a question. How many people, who are led by prayerless church leaders, to come to the church altar and parrot the
sinners prayer, sign a card and get dunked on Sunday night ....are truly reborn? Why do so many so quickly backslide?
Are we really producing prayerful Christians or recruiting proud church actvists? |
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The
Center of Attention When
revival comes, the Heart of the Lord will be front and center. Ears and eyes will be opened.
Hearts will hear and see that they are loved beyond their wildest imagination. And Jesus will gain the company of
those people forever because they see that He actually believes and feels He is the better for it when the truth of it is
that it is He Who was wronged from the beginning; We do not deserve such a Friend. This "mad man" is truly
Love Incarnate. And the Father, Who loves the Son, knows and sees to it that "Joseph" gets His proper place as the
King of their hearts. He sees to it that such Viture is lifted up and that such Virtue gain the rightful reward of His suffering:
Insanely it is us; His murderers and enemies become His valued friends. This One deserves our lives and so much more. All
power, all glory, all honor! It's why we will throw our crowns before Him because we won't want them in the face of such humility
and love!!! Let Our Pretense Stop! The
most damnable Devil from Hell, other than Satan, is the one that flows through the western Body of Christ which pretends to
know these things. The John Nine Pharasees wanted to see themselves as in the know and wanted others to believe it too. They
trade their souls for a temporary security in the religious world for the amazing grace of God and His kingdom of heart. It
is a religious spirit that won't admit the Emperors are naked. It's the spiritual gatekeepers who want to be in charge, but
do not insist that their parishioners seek God for our hearts' woes. They do not lead and call for God's House to be a House
of Prayer. They want to see themselves as doing something, but it is a grand delusion. We will truly
know the Holy Spirit is moving when the attention is brought to Jesus, the Person; Not His power, but His heart. All the correct
doctrine in the world will never cover this disobedience. All the marketing strategies for preaching attendance will never
hide this disobedience and until a church leader obeys, the real power of God will dimish in their midst, whether they have
5,000 attendees or just five. "The most damnable Devil from Hell, other than Satan, is the
one that flows through the western Body of Christ which pretends to know these things. The John Nine Pharasees wanted to see
themselves as in the know..."
If the Gospel is primarily
fire insurance for you in the afterlife, then worry, because it won't be. In order to be saved, we must see the Heart of the
One behind the event and be taken with His heart. The story is more than the Cross. The story is about the Heart on the Cross;
A Heart that could not be held in the ground. A Heart which literally desires to live within ours. The Greater Reality Increasingly I am believing in
Him. I have days in which I doubt because of the mountain of my own selfish heart. But no longer am I one trying to do great
things for God; I will do things for God not because I self-will something or because of a desire for greatness, but
because of the great love already shown which lives and leads the way; Because that love is seeping into my own heart. He
will not abandon me unto my selfishness. And nobody can stare at the Cross for any length of time and not want others to know
Him. And I don't believe all that my eyes see in the natural. I do not believe that this world can come close to competing
with a Heart like His. I believe there is a time coming when we will once again proclaim this Heart in the public square and
people will come running to the altar; That career ambition, self-glory and personal dreams will take a back seat and even
be crushed for the sake of Another's Dream. I don't just believe it. I know it - more and more. And it is no credit
to me to knowing it. Eyes can only see if they are opened by Someone moving through somebody else's prayers. The issue is
not even that I know it. The issue is that God's love is true. What happened at Calvary is true. It's true! And
nothing can stop the Heart behind that most important event. Nothing. How will
revival come? When we can admit to God, ourselves and each other that we are blind to this love and follow through by seeking
God to open our eyes to it. When our eyes are opened, then everything will change. Everything. Like revivals of old and for no apparent reason, people will begin to encounter God and be drawn to Him.
His company will be its own reward and the heart will long for Nobody else to receive credit. None
but Jesus. |
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