Do You Really Want Revival?
Do you want the people in your area to be saved? Do you want your family and
loved ones to know Jesus Christ and walk with Him? Do you want the Spirit of
Revival to come upon this land? Do you really? Let us take a look at
the book of Acts so you know what you are asking for.
Thousands are praying, "God, do something," but who loves Christ enough to
tell people about Him? Most are praying that God will send them to a carpeted,
air conditioned church somewhere while millions go to a Christless eternity.
Don't pray to go somewhere else to minister. If you don't stand up for Him at
home you won't elsewhere. Are you praying for God to send you? I'll show you
1000 times in His word where he has already commanded you to go. Don't pray any
longer!
When Christ came in the flesh He told us He would never do that again. My
flesh and your flesh are the only flesh Jesus is going to use to minister to
people anymore. We must come to the place where we stand before God and say,
"Yes! Lord, I'm willing to be your minister and to fill up in my flesh the
sufferings that are lacking in the body of Christ." It's a sad thing when
millions are going to a Christless eternity and we're having a bless me party.
That's not right and that's not God.
Do you know why people don't want true revival?
Revival is to wake the dead and in order to be revived,
you have to admit that you are dead.
In Acts 13:1-3 God says, "In the church at Antioch there were prophets
and teachers... While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy
Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have
called them.' So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on
them and sent them off." They didn't go to the seminary to get their
degree; they were set apart by God. The church recognized it and sent them off.
God goes on to say in Acts 15:1, "Some men came down from Judea to
Antioch and were teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised according to
the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.'" Do you know how that
translates in 20th century English? Unless you're a certified member of a
denominational church you can't be saved - but Jesus is the same yesterday,
today and forever - and He isn't about to change.
Revival isn't some mystical thing that happens in the air. It is Christ
within you bringing you the opportunity to minister the crucified Christ and to
preach the foolishness of the gospel. Are you willing to do it? Don't pray
unless you are willing to accept or you will be in trouble before God. Instead,
admit you don't care whether the world goes to hell and ask him to give you some
faith, a vision of hell - something - that you might care.
If you are really willing to be used, understand what will happen. "As
soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea."
(Acts 17:10.) Do you know how many times Paul was lowered in a basket; how many
times the brothers told him, "Paul, as soon as it gets dark you better start
hot-footin' it out of town and run as fast as you can?"
What does the church say now? "That would never happen today. We must
maintain a good reputation." How good is the reputation of your church? When is
the last time they went to the tattoo parlor, the local bar, the hookers in
town? Didn't God lead the churches to point out the sin and go to the sinners?
Since when did Jesus die for "good people?"
It is God speaking to your heart, not me. Where have you been all these
years? You won't tell the people around you that they are on their way to hell,
but you tell your children, "I'm a Christian, I love Jesus and want the world to
know about Him, but not at the risk of anybody being offended by me." You can
pray until the day Jesus comes for revival, but if you're not willing to be
used, there will be no revival.
The Lord says, "When Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through
the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked
them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' They answered, 'No,
we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.' On hearing this, they were
baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. God did
extraordinary miracles through Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons that touched him
were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left
them." (Acts 19:1-2, 5-6, 11-12.)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. If God is moving,
people are going to be praying in tongues and worshipping the Lord. People will
prophesy. Miracles, healings and deliverances will occur. God hasn't changed.
"Some" say that God doesn't do that anymore. I'll say that in the case of
"some", that's true; God doesn't. When is the last time "some" fasted, prayed,
cried out to God and proclaimed Jesus? When is the last time that "some" went to
the jail to proclaim Jesus or were thrown out of the bar for telling them about
drunkenness? Do that and God will do great miracles. God is not a liar. God is
faithful and will do that which He has said.
Again, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. If you bring
revival, if you agree that Jesus can use you, if you're yielded to the Holy
Ghost to be used for revival, these things are going to happen. That's not
religion; that's Christianity.
Paul had been persecuting and murdering Christians but at the time of his
salvation he said in Acts 26:15-18, "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' 'I
am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 'Now get up and stand on
your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness
of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from
your own people and from Gentiles. I am sending you to open their eyes and turn
them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith
in me.'" Take note that when you persecute a minister of Jesus Christ, you
persecute not him but Jesus. Where did he turn them from darkness to light but
in the churches?
Many people are trying to earn their way to heaven by being spiritual, by
being 'good,' or giving up something. But God said if Jesus Christ isn't the
absolute totality of your faith, then you aren't saved. Anything that doesn't
come from faith is sin. It has got to be faith in Christ, not spirituality, but
that you are yielded to Christ.
In Revelation 1:1-3 God says this book is "The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He
made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to
everything he saw - that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those
who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."
Never has it been nearer.
If you call out to God and say, "God use me. I'm willing to fill up in my
body the sufferings still lacking in the body of Christ," God will use you. He
desires to use you mightily but not the way you thought. Ask others who have
been on the road for a few years. You are going to run into persecution
everywhere and the book of Acts is going to be fulfilled in your life.
God is going to give you the words to speak to set the people
free. Proclaim the year of liberty and you're going to pay dearly for it. Not
everyone is going to come and shake your hand and smile as you leave. This is
the Christ who hung on the cross. If you go into His service you're going to
pick up your cross and follow Him. You may leave everything you now have behind
but you're going to be with Jesus. The work is hard but the reward is eternal -
now and forever.
TRUTH
"They received the word with all readiness of mind, and
searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11
"His Plan For Me" |
When I stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ
And He shows His plan for me,
The plan of my life as it might have been,
Had He had His way - and I see
How I blocked Him here, and checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will.
Will there be grief in my Savior's eyes,
Grief though He loves me still?
Would He have me rich and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While memory runs like a hunted thing,
Down the paths I cannot retrace.
Lord, of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand;
Take me and break me and mold me,
To the pattern Thou hast planned!
|
Author Unknown |
Provided by:
Into the Light Ministries
www.intothelight.org |