Category Archives: Spiritual hunger

Thoughts on Revival

“Let our younger men, therefore, make quite sure that they have grasped the genuine mantle of our Elijah’s, and have caught the true vision which inspired us at the beginning—The Vision of the supernatural in Christian experience; the Vision of a Church returning to the New Testament pattern in all things; and, above all, the Vision of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Donald Gee

Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility. (Charles Finney)

We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from Heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again. (G. Campbell Morgan)

Revival is when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented that He shows Himself. (Leonard Ravenhill)

 

 

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You Need a Good Scrubbing

There are times when kids go out to play and you call them in for supper. You look quickly at them as say, “Go wash up.” Mainly, we mean, “Wash your hands.” (Which also means we will check them again when they get to the table and make them REALLY wash their hands.)

Then there are times when the kids are out playing and somehow found the mud pit in the middle of the desert. Your area could be in a drought and somehow those kids came back caked in mud. “Washing up” isn’t the phrase you use at that point.

Reading through the Old Testament prophets is like that second scenario. When I get through these tough words, I realize what I need in the presence of God is not some dainty little “touch up.” I need a good scrubbing. I thought I was doing okay and along comes some wild eyed guy from the Old Testament to wreck my perception!

Malachi is that way. Israel thought they might have a few “quirks” or “issues.” Malachi was there to say, “No… it’s called sin, and you are full of it!”

The way out wasn’t some nice little prayer. The way out was a good scrubbing.

Look, I am sending my messenger who will clear the path before me;
suddenly the Lord whom you are seeking will come to his temple.
The messenger of the covenant in whom you take delight is coming,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
2 Who can endure the day of his coming?
Who can withstand his appearance?
He is like the refiner’s fire or the cleaner’s soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.
He will purify the Levites
and refine them like gold and silver.
They will belong to the Lord,
presenting a righteous offering. (Mal. 3:1-3, CEB)

We need to realize there is a thing that is still called sin. God dealing with us is sometimes going to go beyond “brushing ourselves off” like we picked up a little dust from the windy day. We need the get scrubbed down. We need a fire lit to draw out the gross junk that has accumulated.

We too often think we’re doing “okay” when “okay” isn’t God’s best for us. He delivers the extraordinary to our lives… and we just settle in like we’re going for another walk in the park. We still insist on doing things our way, offending God, and then wonder why we just can’t seem to get going in our spiritual lives.

Maybe we don’t need to just “wash up.” Maybe we need a good scrubbing!

Wanting Revival Without Repentance

Our American Christianity has a difficult time reading God into bad news. Bad news is usually “our fault.” It’s not God trying to get our attention. “That is not the God I know.” (Or some similar line.)

We want the promises without the pain of getting rid of the junk we have in our lives. Reading through the Book of Joel, it’s obvious we like that last half of the book. Years ago we sang a worship chorus called “Blow the Trumpet in Zion.” We would worship like crazy.

Then, I learned that particular passage we sang was about the Lord coming in judgment. It was a call for the priests to weep between the porch and the altar.

We didn’t care to actually know the context of that song. It was too fun!

As Pentecostals, of course we love the last part of chapter two:

28 After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone;
your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
29 In those days, I will also pour out my
spirit on the male and female slaves. (Joel 2:28-29, CEB)

What we don’t want is the “crazy talk” of that first chapter! We don’t want to hear about having things “dry up” on us. We don’t want to hear about invading armies that come as acts of judgment.

Nope. Just give me the revival!

Or, we put the need for repentance off on someone else. Generally, it’s, “America needs to repent!”

But this is about the people of God. WE need to repent. WE need to realize we’ve been ignoring the ways of God.

There are tough things ahead if we keep ignoring the ways of God. Yet, God still calls out and gives the opportunity to repent. This isn’t a word you hear enough about: REPENT. It would imply we’ve done something wrong. For you to say that I’ve done something wrong is just mean. Don’t be mean!

But we need repentance. We need to see we’re off course. We need to understand we’re not listening to God very well. And if we don’t recognize it, then the threat of discipline just gets more ominous.

Yet, God still calls out. He asks his people to repent. He wants to restore. That is what the last part of Joel is about! Restoration.

But we need to realize we’ve lost something to understand the joy of having it restored.

There is no prosperity without pain.

There is no revival without repentance.

The Response of Silence

As I have been on this Blog Tour with the Common English Bible, I have enjoyed some of the interesting choices in translation. The past few days I have been in the Old Testament, so I am finding a few more word choices that intrigue me.

I am reading Tozer’s classic The Pursuit of God and the current chapter is on the Voice of God. (Which, by the way, HAS to be better than that show “The Voice.”) One of the verses Tozer references is Psalm 46:10.

Here again we find some interesting word choices:

NIV:
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

NET Bible:
He says, 33 “Stop your striving and recognize 34 that I am God!
I will be exalted 35 over 36 the nations! I will be exalted over 37 the earth!”

CEB:
“That’s enough! Now know that I am God!
I am exalted among all nations; I am exalted throughout the world!

The reference of “that’s enough!” takes us back to the previous verses. It is referencing the nations who rage. The psalmist is talking about God stepping in to stop the violence.

“That’s enough! Now know that I am God!”

There are times that should be our only response. Silence.

We come to the realization that God has truly stepped in. The HOLY has arrived, and our useless struggles are nothing. Our problem is we seem to want to talk through everything. We don’t “talk through” as in vocalizing to solve a problem. We talk through, as in, we don’t shut up.

God shows up, and we just keep on yacking!

To which we need to say sometimes, “THAT’S ENOUGH!”

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Abraham and Faith

One of my favorite passages is Genesis 15. The faithfulness of God is beautifully and powerfully demonstrated in his interaction with Abram.

One of the great verses is v. 6. Again, looking through different translations brings a wider variety of possibility than I imagined.

NIV:
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

CEB:
Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character.

NET Bible:
Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.

What a WIDE variety!

What Abraham did in that moment was CHOOSE to trust. He heard the word of the Lord and chose to take God at his word.

God speaks… we respond. It is radical, simple faith. Not easy. But simple. I love this passage.

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Scared Spitless

That means really scared.

Habakkuk had that experience. His small book is look inside his prayer journal. At first, he seems pretty ferocious. He’s upset with God. The wicked are getting away with murder, blah, blah, blah.

“I’m just going to give God a piece of my mind and see what he does with that!”

2 Lord, how long will I call for help and you not listen?
I cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you don’t deliver us. (Hab. 1:2, CEB)

“So, there! Take that!”

God seems unfazed. Imagine that. We wag our tiny little fingers at him and “rage” at him in our pipsqueak voices… (Come on, even Charlton Heston’s voice sounds like some tiny little mouse from God’s vantage point. Admit it.)

Habakkuk is just so enraged. And God let’s Habakkuk know he’s got this one.

His answer?

5 Look among the nations and watch!
Be astonished and stare
because something is happening in your days
that you wouldn’t believe even if told. (Hab. 1:5, CEB)

Translation: “Shut up and watch something.”

Does Habakkuk learn? Not yet. He rages on in the latter part of Chapter 1.

Then, in Hab. 2:2-3, God shows up.

“Habakkuk, just watch.”

Whatever Habakkuk witnessed in a vision was enough. In fact, it buckled his knees.

16 I hear and my insides tremble.
My lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters my bones.
I tremble while I stand, (Hab. 3:16, CEB)

This isn’t the warm and fuzzies. God showed up and let Habakkuk know what was about to happen and it scared Habakkuk spitless.

There are times we need to have THAT feeling come over us. There are times we need the realization that the warm fuzzies is not the entirety of God. We think WE see injustice? When God shows up and gives us HIS view, we need a sense of fear and trembling.

God is ready to do amazing things. But “amazing” isn’t going to necessarily be in our definition. But whatever God does, when he shows up, have a glass of water close by. You just might need it.

Do We Have What It Takes?

5 Those who put their strength in you are truly happy;
pilgrimage is in their hearts.
6 As they pass through the Baca Valley,
they make it a spring of water.
Yes, the early rain covers it with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength,
until they see the supreme God in Zion. (Psalm 84:5-7, CEB)

Life simply overwhelms us. The pace of life crushes us at times. The worry of finances. The concern over time. We rush to make things happen.

Do we have it in us to take up a passionate pursuit of the Holy One anymore? Are we so tired, so busy, so overtaken by… life…  we just can’t breathe?

We need prophetic words like those of A.W. Tozer to somehow reach deep down into our spirits and call us upward once again. We need to break away from the mundane all around us and take up the hot pursuit of the Holy One. We need to bust away from mediocrity all around us.

It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to biblical ways. But it can be done. Every now and then in the past Christians have had to do it. (Tozer, The Pursuit of God)

Do we have what it takes?

 

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The Rewards of Waiting

Hope in the Lord!
Be strong! Let your heart take courage!
Hope in the Lord! (Psalm 27:14, CEB)

No one likes to wait.

“Hope” and “wait” are ways to translate the Hebrew word used in Psalm 27:14. The NIV uses “wait.” What is communicated is this: What you’re seeking from God isn’t coming at the click of a mouse. There is a season where you have to have your eyes fixed on the Father… waiting… hoping… anticipating. We need that sense of longing once again in our lives.

The world moves to fast. We want results faster. We need more instantaneous results. The days of “slow plodding” are gone… or seem to be. There just doesn’t seem to be any need for waiting any more.

But that is the admonition of Scripture. Prophets are told to wait for the answer of a dream or a revelation. The church was told to wait until they were clothed with power from on high.

Our fast-paced world screams out to us to get the lead out! We move quick or we are run over.

And this wonderful call still comes from our Father.

Wait.

 

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Tenacious Waiting and Our Millisecond Attention Span

I will take my post;
I will position myself on the fortress.
I will keep watch to see what the Lord says to me
and how he will respond to my complaint. (Hab. 2:1, CEB)

We often think we are just THE THING when it comes to walking with God. We’re smarter, faster, more “spiritual”…

We certainly know better than the old fogies who’ve gone before us. While they “tarried” in prayer, we can get things done. Plug in the right marketing strategy and BOOM… instant church. Good stuff.

And even when God seems to throw us a curve ball, no problem. We’ll just lodge a complaint. We’ll even sit and wait for his response… as long as he gets back to us by the end of the business day. And we have a RIGHT to complain! There is injustice in the land! And we know injustice. We are trained professionals!

So, we lodge our complaint with God and wait.

And we think, “Let’s just see what he says about THIS.”

What if God just lets us stew there? What if we wait and five p.m. rolls around?

We may be good at complaining… but how good at we at waiting? And more still, how good are we at taking God’s answer?

He basically tells Habakkuk, “If the revelation lingers… wait.”

Habakkuk probably could wait. Some of the “old saints” of the Church could wait. That was the point of “tarrying.” They knew what it meant to “pray until.”

In our day… do we know what it is to have a tenacious pursuit of God? Do we know what it is to latch on and not let go until we hear from God?

There are times we truly need to hear from heaven. I believe we live in those times. We are suffering from extreme prosperity as an American Church and it is killing us. We just don’t know it yet. We are living in an anorexic lifestyle spiritually that is killing us. Yet, we are not wanting to hear from God… at least not yet.

We need to repent of our ADHD spirituality and get back to the call to WAIT for the vision God gives.

The Secret is in the Response

Come, my heart says, seek God’s face.
Lord, I do seek your face! (Psalm 27:8, CEB)

God wants everyone pursuing him. He is constantly pursuing each of us.

All He has ever done for any of His children He will do for all of His children. The difference lies not with God but with us. (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God)

We need a heart to pursue God. When he calls, do we respond? I look at the lives of those who lived in incredible blessing from God and then examine other lives (even my own). The difference, often, is those who knew the incredible presence and blessing of God were those who acquired a lifelong habit of spiritual response.

God calls. Does he just get our voicemail?

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