Sunday, March 20, 2016

Praying For Revival

It's quite obvious to most Christian folk that we need revival in our land. I really don't have to go into great detail because the signs are everywhere. If you have lived at least 30 years you can see from where we have fallen.

Yes, we need revival in America. But revival won't come to America unless it first comes to the church. Let me be clear about the church. I'm not talking about church buildings and the organized part of what we call local churches. When I say the church, I am referring to what the Bible calls the body of Christ. One person, truly born again is part of the church I'm talking about...whether they belong to a certain organized church that meets regularly in a building or not.

Revival is bringing life to the dead. For the unbeliever it is being reborn (born again) by the Spirit of God. It is God breathing life into the spirit of a person. That spirit which was dead to God is made alive to God through trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior!

For the believer, revival is a renewal of the spirit of a born again person that has grown cold. It is a genuine re-infilling of the Holy Spirit. It is when God's Spirit fans the embers of a born again spirit causing it to burst into raging flames again! Revival for the believer brings a new boldness and confidence in God. Revival brings change in the heart and life of any believer. Oh how the church needs revival and renewal! When the church changes, the land changes.

Revival won't happen in our country unless it first happens in the church. But can you see the need for renewal in the church? Are you satisfied with the way things are? Are you comfortable with the status quo in the church, turning off those who would be hungry for God? Do you genuinely see the need for change? If so, will you do anything about it?

How does revival come? How does it start? Contrary to what many have taught over the years, revival is not simply a sovereign move of God. Revival and renewal will come when the church positions itself correctly with the sovereign God. When the church is in the right position, God will move in miraculous ways through His church. You are a good example. As you position yourself correctly with God, He uses you in awesome ways! As long as the church is out of position, the world is cut off from God's move, and wickedness prevails. Let me ask you again. Do you see the need for revival in our land?
 
To truly pray for revival is to truly present yourself to God. "Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom. 12: 1- 2)
 
You must understand. To pray for revival means YOU must be willing to be revived. You must be willing to change. It begins as you present yourself to God as a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable to Him. Are there things in your life that you know are not pleasing and acceptable to God? You must be willing to sacrifice those things as you present yourself to Him. This is not only prayer for revival...it is also repentance. Repentance is our willingness to change in order to facilitate God's move. A commitment to pray for revival must also requires from you and me the commitment to change.
 
I truly believe revival is coming to America and the rest of the world in these last days. This is not just something I'm hoping and believing for. I'm changing my ways so as to position myself before God to be an instrument of revival. I wonder if you are willing to do this too? If so, present yourself to Him as a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable to Him. In the process you will have to give up things you know you need to release. Do it! Allow Him to reveal things to you that perhaps you were not aware of until now. But then...expect God to move in and through you. And remember, it's not just about God moving through you. It's about revival coming to His church and to the nations.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

My Choice For The Election

Is God In This?
I know I will ruffle some feathers by this post. But I feel it's something I have to do. We are at a very critical point and God has given us the answer. Please read this with an open heart, and an open mind.

Let me be clear in saying this. The United States of America needs revival more than it needs your favorite candidate to be elected. Revival (beginning with God’s church) is the only answer to the decline of our nation. And those of us who have lived long enough can clearly see from where we have fallen, and how far we’ve fallen. Our nation truly needs a spiritual break-through, and it won’t come through politics or legislation. It won’t come through the controlling party. It won’t come as a result of electing a man (or woman). It will come through prayer and repentance which brings about a change of heart.

It's bad enough to see and hear the mud flying throughout our nation from the candidates. But peruse social media for just a few seconds and you see Bible believing Christians caught up in the same hideous rhetoric! Is our God in this? I think not!

What is wrong with this picture? The very conduct of those running for office in our land proclaims our need for revival! These are the ones vying to be our leader! And yet do we see it? Do you see the need for God to move in our land? The move of God will only come through prayer, repentance, and revival of hearts!

I’ve heard it a million times, “Yes we need prayer, but we also must take action.” How true that is. But we’re not praying! Prayer births action. However action in place of prayer is all man…not God! The truth is, the church is just as politically divided (possibly even more) than those who are not a part of the church. I’m talking about God’s church, the body of Christ.

For the last few decades, political season has produced nothing but division among our fellow Americans and sadly between brothers and sisters in Christ. The current political season is no different. In fact, it is the worst I have experienced in my life. The nationally televised debates could be billed as the latest “trashy, scummy” reality shows! These debates are nothing more than mud-slinging, character-destroying bash sessions designed to put down the other candidates in effort to promote self. How un-scriptural is that! And we church folks think a Godly, Christian President will be raised up through that? Here me clearly…God is not even remotely close to these tactics!

Godly leaders come about as the result of Godly people praying. We don’t manipulate God by prayer. We position ourselves, as well as those we pray for, and the situations we pray for to facilitate the moving hand of God among us. If we’d just let God move! How do we do that? Pray! Did I mention we do that by praying?

Don’t ever forget. God is bigger than any political party. God is not a Republican or a Democrat. He won’t fall off His throne if your party is not elected. And truthfully, God could care less about political correctness. It is all about His Word, Scriptural correctness. (Just thought I'd throw that in.)

Some say that Christians should be involved in politics. I totally agree. But the Christian must stand true to the Biblical principles he/she stands on…and NEVER compromise those principles. Never! You will never change things by compromising God’s principles for “the party”. Remember, what America needs is incredibly bigger than "the party". And only God can deliver it....through prayer, repentance, and revival.

Let me encourage you...vote. Vote your convictions. But the election process is not the answer. The answer is prayer, repentance, and revival in our land. Yes, it seems too simple...but still...it's the answer, thank God! 

America needs a spiritual break-through. America needs a Spirit break-out! This will come only as those who can perceive this truth do something about it…pray. What will you do? It’s not too late.

Oh yes, my choice for the election....prayer.