Revival For Canada

Should We Expect Revival In Our Day?

2009-03-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

God is the only One who can make a spiritual awakening (revival) happen! Jesus is the Head over all things to the Church His spiritual body (Eph.1:22) and it is He who said, "I will build My church and all the power of hell will not conquer it." (Mt. 16:18)

Revival is the result of God's divine intervention upon human hearts. How this works is so clearly pictured for us through Lydia's salvation experience in Acts 16:14, "As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying." We don't see it but that's the way it happens for everyone who receives Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. True Holy Spirit revival is not the result of personality, hype or emotionalism. It's a Sovereign move of God resulting in a powerful spiritual awakening in peoples lives.

In this Blog Spot I'm purposing to show from Scripture that what we call revival is what God sees as "standard" or "normal" for the Body of Christ in the Last Days and especially in the days just preceding Jesus' return to earth in power and great glory.

There are varying views of the "End Times". Our understanding of the events leading up to Jesus' return can affect our "faith level" as it pertains to experiencing a genuine, Holy Spirit initiated, revival in this generation.

I firmly believe that what God envisions for the Body of Christ can be experienced if we embrace that vision and through "Holy Spirit empowered obedience" personally move into the "Promised Land". I want to encourage you to prayerfully consider the truths presented here and then ask yourself if you're willing to fully embrace God's purposes for Christ's Church today.

I've purposely numbered and arranged the Blog entrees in sequence. If you have any questions or would like more clarification about something you read here please don't hesitate to email me at: newliferealities@gmail.com

1) Christ's Kingdom

2009-03-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

To mention revival presumes spiritual need. To suggest the need for revival in the Christian circles I ran in, over thirty years ago, basically tagged you as "critical". Not so today! Today there's revival prayer groups from coast to coast. Many are recognizing the great spiritual need we have in our nation.

The spiritual climate of any nation will be determined by the spiritual climate of the Christian church. You certainly don't need to be a prophet to recognize how serious worldliness has become in the Body of Christ today.

There's no help for alcoholics until they personally recognize their need and understand that they must seek serious help. The same is true with spirituality. For there to be revival, whether personally or corporately there MUST be a full recognition of need and an inner desperation for change.

When Pilot was seeking Jesus' true identity he ask Him, "Are you the King of the Jews". The answer given establishes a few fundamental facts, facts that we need to revisit. He said, "My kingdom is not of this world". Clearly Jesus' was focused then, as He is now, on "spiritual life". In our land of great plenty are we able to hear what Jesus is saying today?

Revival in Canada, as with any other nation, will never happen until revival happens in you and me. I'm reminded of the story of a young pastor who approached a revivalist in bye gone days and asked him how he could get revival happening in his own church. This very seasoned servant of God looked the fellow right in the eyes and said, "When you return home I want you to go into your living room and with a chalk draw a four foot diameter circle on the floor then I want you to step inside the circle and pray this, 'God revive everything inside this circle.' Revival is extremely personal.

What should we expect to happen as we seek for personal and nation revival? A major portion of the answer to this question is found in Isa 9:6 & 7, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,"(ESV). When we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior Christ enters our life. He begins His to reign on the spiritual throne of our heart. It is a growth process for sure, a process that should be ever increasing. The increase of Jesus' government and peace has the potential of never ending. The beauty of it all is, "the government is on His shoulders".

Jesus knows how to rule and govern our life. After all He is the King of kings. There's not an awful lot of sense in me expecting God to rule the nation if I'm not prepared to let Him rule my heart! One day, down the road, Jesus will return and God's Kingdom will be fully revealed and established on earth. The promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be fulfilled but until then Christ's kingdom reign is in the heart of New Covenant Believers.

What hope do we have for personal revival? God is the God of all hope. I'm a firm believer that God's not so interested in where we've been or even where we're at. What He's interested in is where we're going. As far as the Lord is concerned personal revival is wide open. If it's what we want then that's exactly what He'll give us. Be sure of this, it's not Him dragging us down. He's in the business of forgiving, of lifting, of encouraging, of empowering. Mt. 12:20 - a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, (ESV)

Our potential in Christ is nothing short of awesome. Pr. 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. (ESV)

2) God's Today Vision

2009-03-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

Everything Christians believe and the reason they believe it isto be founded upon God's Word. The Bible is God's heart expressed to us. Opening its pages and reading Scripture allows us to gaze into the very heart of God. We can hear His heart beat. We see His likes and dislikes. We learn to see our world through God's eyes and embrace His vision. Oh yes, God has vision! He has vision for this world, His Church and your life.

Embracing God's vision has not always been easy for His people. The nation of Israel is a perfect example of this. They had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years and it was now time for God to honor the prophetic Word He gave to Abraham (Gen 15:13,14). It was time to set His people free and give them a place they could call their own.

God had a very specific vision for His people. He purposed to take them "up out of" Egypt and take them "into" Canaan, the Land of Promise (Ex.3:8). God knew exactly want He wanted for the people He loved. He wanted to bless them and yet the first generation of "exodus Israelites" refused to move forward into God's vision for them. They simply refused to believe that God would be so good to them (Heb.3:19).

What is God's vision for the Body of Christ today? Right now we're going through a major spiritual crisis in the Church. It seems to me that we've become so "user friendly" that it's becoming increasing more difficult to differentiate between the so called saved and unsaved. If the moral failure we're experiencing in Christian leadership is any gauge (and it is) of what's going on in the congregations then we're definitely experiencing the low end of God's best for us.

Only Joshua and Caleb chose to look at things through the promises of God. Today this is how we must look at the spiritual potential God has set out for the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we're going to be considering now is, "God's Today Vision" and we need to look at it through the promises of God not through the limitations of human understanding. Unbelief today results in the same thing that happened to the Israelites. When we balk in unbelief at God's Word we're left to wander in the spiritual wilderness of doubt, fear and unbelief.

Let's look at God's Word and find what He is speaking to us. Rev 2:7 - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (ESV) I firmly believe that in order for genuine lasting revival to solidly take hold it will require that we fully embrace "God's Today Vision" with a determined resolve to move in that direction, trusting the Lord for the strength and faith to accomplish His purposes for the Church.

The Scripture that I feel reveals God's heart for the Church is found in Ephesians chapter one.

Eph 1:16-23 - I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.(ESV)

How does God see the Body of Christ? To Him the Church is the "FULLNESS" of Christ. The Amplified version enables us to understand the concept of "fullness" a bit clearer. Eph 1:23 Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself]. The same word for "fullness" is used of Jesus being the "fullness" of God. Col 1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, The fullness of the godhead was in Christ, meaning, God was fully in Jesus. To this agree Heb 1:3 - He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. When people saw Christ on earth they were seeing God exactly. They were seeing the fullness of God in human, bodily form. The point is; God envisions the Church on earth as the fullness of Christ. As Jesus expressed God exactly so the Church is to express Jesus exactly. Is this what the Church is presently doing? When the unsaved world looks at the 21st century Church are they getting a exact representation of the Lord Jesus Christ? No they're not. There's a lot of room here for revival.

Are we prepared to embrace God's vision for the Body of Christ. God's vision of His Son on earth was that Jesus would represent God exactly. Did He do this? When Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father Jesus said to him in, Jn.14:9, "if you have seen me you have seen the Father". The Church has the spiritual potential of fully representing Jesus. Through the promises of God are we seeing this as a very real possibility? Do you believe we can walk into this promised land with God's grace, strength and faith?

NOTE:

There's another portion of Scripture in Ephesians chapter four that projects the same truth as Eph.1:23 confirming God's "Today Vision" for the Body of Christ, the New Covenant Church.

Eph 4:11-13 - And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

GOD'S VISION FOR THE CHURCH TODAY?

"THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST"

3) Divine Dynamo

2009-03-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

As with every genuine revival recorded throughout Church history the Holy Spirit is the Divine Dynamo. This shouldn't surprise us as this was the Fuel, the Fire that initiated the "first generation" New Covenant Church. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that came down upon the early disciples as they waited in obedience to the Lord's command. (Lk,24:49 & Acts1:5,8) Scriptures makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit not only came "upon" the Believers but also "filled" them. The fire of the Holy Spirit ignited an all consuming passion for Christ in the hearts of God's people. This is what is needed today!

It's the "being filled" with the Holy Spirit that enabled the early disciples to be Jesus' witnesses in the earth and it's this same "being filled" that will enable Christians in the 21st century to glorify the Lord.

Jesus told his disciples that they would receive "power" when the Holy Spirit came upon them. When you read the books of Acts it's becomes very clear that Jesus' disciples lived and ministered through the "power" of the Holy Spirit. The word used here for power is "dunamis" from which derives the English word dynamite. Jesus promised His people power, ability that would enable them to live for God in their generation. And they did just that! In fact, Scripture tells us that they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). In the first century the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ was powerful in spreading the Good News, working all kinds of miracles (Acts 5:12-15) and also effectively living for Christ (Acts 5:13).

It's very interesting to notice Luke's opening remarks to his friend Theophilus in Act 1:1 "In the first book, (that's the Gospel of Luke he's referring to Lk. 1:3) O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach", (The accounts recorded in Luke's Gospel are ONLY THE BEGINNING OF JESUS MINISTRY)

The acts of the Apostles as recorded in the book of Acts is the continued ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, on earth through His anointed and Holy Spirit filled disciples. The actions of these early church Believer's clearly fulfilled the promise given by Jesus in John 14:12 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." The "greater works" referred to here certainly doesn't mean "quality". Jesus wasn't talking about more complete or perfect healings however there's no where in Scripture where people were healed as His shadow pasted over them. This did happen through Peter though. (Acts 5:15) And there's no record of handkerchiefs that Jesus had touched being taken and placed on the sick they were wonderfully healed. This did, however, happen through the Apostle Paul. (Acts 19:12)

I feel it's important for us to understand that Jesus' purposed for the Church , His spiritual body, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to carry on His ministry. I think it's also very important for us to realize that Jesus' ministry was to accurately represent His Father on earth. Twice Jesus heard these words from heaven, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Mt.3:17 & Mt.17:5) .In the light of this any future revival MUST involve God's people living to please the Lord in thought and action. Anything void of this is simply not fully embracing what the Father envisions for the Church today. 1 Jn. 2:6 - Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.

Is this too high a standard? Is it out of reach and unrealistic? It's what the Lord envisions for us and therefore is possible through the power (dunamis) of the Holy Spirit. It can happen and it can happen in our generation.

God's Revival Tool Kit?

2009-03-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

When it comes to enlightening the human heart to truth and personal need it takes the Lord. With this in mind let's consider what God has in His "Revival Tool Kit". What tools and procedures does Jesus use to fix His Church?

Throughout the 2000 year history of the Church there's been numerous occasions in which the Lord has performed heart surgery on the Body of Christ. Records show that revivals can be confined to a particular local church, a town, a region or even an entire nation. The important thing in all this is to understand that ever revival, small or large, effects individuals. Small revivals are made up of few people, large revivals simply effect larger amounts of people.

There are two portions of Scriptures listing the Revival Tools of God, The most familiar is 2 Chr. 7:14 - Then if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

1) Humble ourselves

2) Pray

3) Seek God's face (not His hand)

4) Turn away from sin (live in obedience to God's Word)

This is God's "Revival Formula". Clearly the tools listed require deep personal involvement. I feel it's important to mention here that as individuals we aren't in control of other peoples decisions. We have, however been given control, by God of our own decisions. Ever child of God can experience personal revival regardless of what others do. Be encouraged, no one is capable of stopping you from your own spiritual awakening. When we take and consistently apply God's "Revival Tools", with an honest and sincere heart we will walk in personal revival, enjoying intimacy of fellowship with Christ and fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit.

There's another list of "Revival Tools" in Joel 2 that I feel is more directed to Church Leadership.

Joel 2:15-17 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritagee a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

This part of God's "Revival Tool Kit" addresses the corporate need of God's people in a local church setting. Clearly there's a need for local church prayer meetings, a time for a consecrated fast and a solemn assembly. A time set apart for no other purpose than seeking God's face in humility for the need of a spiritual awakening among God's people that will restore credibility to Jesus name as well as Christianity in general. If there was ever a time in the history of the Church that we need this it's today. Over that past few decades there's been so many moral failures, so many broken marriages, so much questionable behavior! Are the unsaved able to look the Church for better way to live? When light looses it's brilliance how can it show us the path when there's darkness all around?

The common denominator in genuine Holy Spirit revivals is prayer and the prayer meeting. It shouldn't really surprise us. Jesus instructed His disciples to wait for the power of God from heaven. They responded by gathering daily in prayer. It was on day ten, the day of Pentecost when the "mighty rushing wind and "fire of God" filled not only the place these disciples had chosen to meet in but it also "filled them". The book Acts records the affects of this incredible encounter with the Holy Spirit. Why not today? Why not here in Canada? It can and will happen if we choose to use God's "Revival Tools" as He has purposed.

I want to suggest that if you have revival in your heart, if it`s something you really have a passion for, then God has already begun. Share your vision for revival with your local church leadership (be sure you do this in a Jesus pleasing way). As far as local church goes I convinced that in order for revival to happen in a local church it`s essential for leadership to embrace and carry that vision and then too pass it on to the congregation. This is what I see as pictured for us int Joel 2:15-17.

The Word of God is the authority for what we believe and why we believe it! There`s such a powerful Word of encouragement following Joel 2:15-17. One that is meant to encourage us today. Joel 2:18 & 19 - Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. 19 The LORD answered and said to his people, "Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. Clearly, if God is stirring our hearts to revival and we faithfully do our part then God will do His. He`s looking right now for hearts through which His will can be accomplished. He hasn`t put revival hunger and passion in your heart to frustrate you but to prepare you for His will to be realized.

I`d like to conclude this part by reminding us that a revival consisting of 100 people is made up of 100 revivals. A young pastor is said to have asked a well seasoned Revivalist how he could get a revival happening in his church. Here`s the answer he got, `I want you to go back home and upon entering your living room take a piece of chalk and draw a meter and half circle on the floor. Then I want you step inside the circle and pray this prayer. ``God revive everything inside this circle``. Revival in my family starts with me. Revival in my local church starts with me. Revival in Canada starts with me.

4) What Part Do We Play In It?

2009-03-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

God has chosen to work with people. Rev. 3:20 serves as a perfect illustration of this. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me". (ESV) God has a will, a purpose, a plan, a vision and it involves us. When God knocks we must choose to open the door. When God speaks we must choose to listen and once we've heard we must choose to respond in obedience. God had a plan for the first generation of "exodus Israelites" but His plan would only be fulfilled as IF they responded in faith, obeying Him and moving forward step by step, not looking at their own inabilities and inadequacies but looking to God to do for them what they could not do for themselves. They like us were exhorted to follow the Lord.

For the New Covenant Believer following the Lord definitely looks different than it did for the nation of Israel. While theirs was, in general a physical journey, our is spiritual. Their enemies were physical ours are spiritual. Their swords were physically held in their hands, ours is God's Word spoken through our mouth. Though our journey differs in many way it has this vital similarity, we're required obey God's commands.

For the New Covenant Believer our journey of following Jesus requires that we become personally involved with the "work of the cross' in our own life. This is an area in modern Western Christianity that we're not too familiar with. The overemphasis of the prosperity doctrine has all but totally blinded us to reality of this vital truth. A truth, by the way, that MUST be understood and fully embraced if we are to see any kind of lasting spiritual revival.

Here's what said to His disciples and here's exactly what Jesus is saying to us today. Mar 8:34-36 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What does this "cross bearing" look like? How does this involve us today? Jesus' cross is where He was physically put to death. Our cross is where we choose to nail our old sin nature when we're being tempted to yield to desires. Notice what the Apostle Paul says in Col 3:5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world (NLT). This "putting to death" of desires that come from the old sinful nature is the work of the cross in our life. The cross is an extremely "suffering death". Some things that are generated out of the our old sin nature are not that easy to say "no" to. It can be a real spiritual battle to nail unforgiveness to the cross. It can be hard love the unlovely, to refrain from speaking evil about someone who has just slandered you. The list goes on and on. Make no mistake though, if we're talking genuine spiritual revival then we're talking about "taking up our personal cross and following Jesus along the pathway of the Father's will.

Let's for a minute, voluntary put our self on the scales. Where are we at in comparison to Gal. 2:20- My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (NLT) and Gal 6:14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world's interest in me has also died (NLT). .

Personally I'm fully convinced that Jesus' call upon our lives to "daily take up our cross" is in agreement with our calling to suffer for Christ. Ph. 1:29 - For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, (ESV) Peter identifies the inner suffering that occurs when we choose to resist the temptations to sin. There is a battle that rages when ever we choose to have the "old sin nature" die and the "new life" to reign in us. Notice here what Peter says in 1P. 4:1,2 - Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. The cross Believers are to take up on a daily basis is to be spiritually applied to the old sin nature. Of our own free will and in obedience to Gods Word we choose to crucify the old nature every time it seeks dominion over the ways of the Lord Jesus.

In concluding this section I want to draw our attention to Rom 6:11-14 - So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What I feel is important to see from here is "perspective". When we are saying "no' to sinning we are also saying at the same time "yes" to the resurrection power of God. We're believing that sin has lost its hold on us and that we are victorious through the power of the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence in our heart. The enemy often tries to keep us focused on the "no" making appeals to old sin nature to start feeling sorry for ourselves as though we're so hard done by. It a trick all right, one that I'm afraid works all too well far too often. When we're saying "no" to temptation we're at the same time looking Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

When we are saying no to sinning we're at the same time calling upon the Lord for His power to be released in us. Heb 4:14-16 - Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.