I thought about and hoped
for Revivals.
I read of Revivals long ago with Charles G.
Finney. How glorious they sounded. I started searching for in-formation
on Revivals. At Bible School, I went to the library and bookstore in
search of literature on Revivals. I found two small books. For such a
glorious event, I was surprised to find so little written on the
subject.
Outside of books, I snatched references to Revivals such as
hearing a radio preacher say the congregation needed to deal with a
particular sin before Revival would come. I saw churches regularly have
evangelists come to help start Revivals.
From what I've read and heard, Revivals are something most
view as, "a fervor for the Lord that comes and goes. It can't possibly
be hoped to be sustained. It's an emotional influence. A stirring of
sleepy emotions."
Looking back to that radio preacher, my heart broke when I
heard him comment, "until that sin was dealt with, Revival could not
come".
Our Desperate Need!
What does 'Revival' really mean? The 're' means 'again',
and 'vival' means 'alive'. The very word necessarily means that if
Revival is possible, death or slumber must be present. This is a
serious situation. Many look forward to the Revival of their
congregation, which is good, but it's also horrifying. It's horrifying
since it means that, at present, they're walking as either lukewarm or
cold:
16 So then because thou
art lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Revelation 3:16 (Jesus speaking)
A church can't continue under such
conditions. A church's
ministries are to be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. Unless we're
Revived in Him, this can't be done. Ministry done without His power are
works of fleshly power. They ultimately bring no fruit to life. That
which isn't Revived, generally cannot Revive another. If a church isn't
Revived, it had best set aside all and I mean all other works,
ministries, services, etc. and seek nothing but Revival until it comes.
A church that isn't Revived and doesn't seek Revival would be better
off just closing the doors and forget coming together. Any people
persuaded to join such a dead or lukewarm church would be blind led by
the blind. The works done by a church must be works led by the Spirit
and empowered by the Spirit. This requires total consecration. A
hungering and thirsting after righteousness:
6 Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6
Jesus promised satisfaction to the truly
hungering heart,
but let's not fool ourselves. Are we truly hungering or is it just a
mild appetite? To the truly hungering, Jesus promised satisfaction.
With a true hungering comes our consecration to set aside all
interferences in our quest for God, and go all out after Him, come what
may. In a state of total consecration, for the Christian, there's life
(Revival) because He's all and His is the life that lives in us. This
life is not our own. Ours only brings lukewarmness and slumber.
Commitment In The Heart or Emotions?
Is Revival a stirring of emotions? Yes! Emotions are to
follow, however, not lead.
I know a man who decided to stop watching evil TV programs.
A little later, he began to waver in his commitment. When he was
reminded, and chastised, he turned off the show mopily saying, "Yeah, I
know that isn't good to watch." He moped about having to do what he
knew was right before God! This indicates a state of spiritual
luke-warmness or death. The original commitment was due to a stirring
of emotions. Emotions die, and so does the commitment based on them.
When the commitment's in our heart, not our emotions, our commitment
won't tend to just vaporize like those on emotions. The scriptures say
a Christian is characterized by delight:
17 For the kingdom of God
is not meat and drink; but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 18 For he that in
these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of
men.
Romans 14:17,18
If we delighted in the Lord, we wouldn't
mope about doing
what was right. We delight in His ways. We're not distressed about the
things we don't get to do anymore. It's our delight to put them away:
7 But what things were
gain to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ,
Philippians 3:7,8
Do you have this same mind that was in
Paul?
Revival - It Can Be Yours Today!
It's your decision. Do you mope about not getting to have
the 'dung' anymore? Something's seriously wrong if you do! I'd call it
perverted!
If you're one in desperate need of Revival, start where all
good Revivals start, with repentance. Hunger and thirst, He'll do the
rest.
Copyright 1994 Darrell Farkas
All quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
For more pertaining to this see "Wake Up For God" in the Library.
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Free to Copy under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND3.0 License by Darrell Farkas