Staying Revived
By Brett Jacobsen
The following are a few key Biblical points on how to see the life of God continue to flow in our midst after He as revived us.
Intro
I would like to start by saying that I, and probably God for that matter, don’t want a flash in the pan revival. In fact I’d rather have no revival at all than to have God so wonderfully move and then we gravitate back to our current state. I tend to agree with Smith Wigglesworth when he said "To live two days in succession on the same spiritual plane is a tragedy". How much worse is it then to go backwards in the things of God? I am not saying that everything has to be going good all the time. That would be a result based Christian perspective, which I think is one of our greatest enemies in the modern day church. I am however, talking about continually flowing in the eternal purpose and the life of God on a daily basis for the rest of our lives. Remember, it’s more about flowing in harmony with the Spirit of God, therefore being eternally fruitful, than it is about having a nice life.
What is revival?
So then, what is revival and what is God’s desired outcome of it?
Isaiah 55:10 says "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater."
The rain coming down to water the earth causes the ground to sprout new life and bud which gives the seed to be sown in the next harvest field.
The first piece of earth in this verse, sadly, is often times the Christian heart that lies barren, dry and unfruitful yet eagerly awaiting the refreshing presence of the Lord. It is common in revivals to hear of a few fanatical prayers that went out in front of the general assembly and prayerfully prepared the way of the Lord to rain His Spirit down on His people. When God pours Himself on those callous Christian hearts it causes the Word (seed) to spring up and bring forth fruit (bud) which in turn provides seed to be sown. We must know that God’s desired outcome from revival is the activating of the saints to take His Living Word and see the human race set free from sin and death. The other result of the new life (revival) in the Christians heart is "bread to the eater". This speaks of the generous blessing of the Lord that comes from a new found obedience and yielding to His person. God does want to bless us by His presence but He equally wants to activate us in the harvest fields.
Some keys for on-going Life in Him
Keep praying (it’s all about Him)
For many people God is just a big teddy bear to cling to when everything goes wrong, therefore they miss out on the most amazing thing going on the planet (or off the planet for that matter), that is an intimate prayer life with the one who is called Love. We must not forget that revival is bringing the saints back to the life of God or in other words, reviving the people of God to the place of prayer.
One of the reasons that revivals have subsided and lost the momentum of the life of God is that we don't continue in intimate prayer. It is one thing to pray fervently when we know we desperately need divine intervention for our situation; it is another to keep up the spiritual activity when everything’s going well. In Colossians 4:2 Paul says "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; The Greek word for continue in this verse is proskartereo, it means to be earnest towards, to persevere, be constantly diligent, to attend assiduously all the exercises, to adhere closely to, to wait on (continually). The word for watch is gregoreuo, it means to keep awake and be vigilant. Paul obviously realised the importance of fervent, enduring prayer in keeping in the flow of God’s Life. He also knew the practical principles of discipline needed to continue in a prayer filled life.
If prayer plays a big part in seeing God revive His people then surely prayer is essential in keeping that very life flowing.
Don’t name and claim things
There are many reasons why we want to put a name to the things that we do and even the things that God does. Putting names to the things that God has done through us is a product of our carnality (natural nature). It is our natural mindedness that will not let us "let go and let God". In first Corinthians chapter three Paul refers to the Corinthian church as carnal because of there envying (zelos-jealousy), strife (eris- contention) and divisions (dichostasia- disunion, dissension). He goes on in verse four to explain the root of this carnality to be there being "of Paul or of Apollos". We all want to be a part of something and the reality is for those who are in Christ Jesus we are also of Him. Continuing in the context of the chapter we read in verse eleven "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ". The foundation and name for every church (ekklesia-the called out ones) should only be Jesus Christ / Christian.
One of the main reasons for our naming things is that we want some recognition for all the work we have done. This is quite reasonable according to natural thinking, however, God’s eternal purpose is "to make known His manifold wisdom" not ours. We want the credit but it’s God who deserves the credit, seeing that we are only in this deal by grace in the first place. If, like in the early church and in many great moves of God, we don’t claim the kudos and name what’s happening, then God can do His thing outside of our containment and human limitations.
Another reason for our naming and claiming is that we don’t want other saints to make us look bad. If we are real with ourselves we will admit that the reason we want it clear that we are not a part of another group of Christians, hence the names, is because it makes us look bad. If a certain band of Christians, whether it's a church, ministry or anything of the like are in some way bad examples of Jesus, God gets disrespected whether we acknowledge them as brothers or not. I am in no way suggesting that we embrace true heretics and cults etc, just brothers who don't see everything exactly the same as us. Remember that the only scriptural reason for naming and division, apart from blatant, unrepentant heresy is geographical location. If we do have something that is biblically sound and profitable in our lives or our fellowships then the idea is that we will sharpen our brethren in love.
Chambers Twentieth Century dictionary defines the word denomination as "the act of naming, a collection of individuals called by the same name". With now over 50 000 denominations worldwide, as some statistics report, is it any wonder that God is restricted from moving through His body in the capacity that He desires to? Wasn’t Jesus clear in Mark 3:24-25 when He said "if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand, and if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand"? Yet His church has continued to be what Ezekiel would describe as a valley of Dry Bones.
Part of the reason why God was able to flow through people like Martin Luther, and so bring about great change, was because of their attitude towards this subject. Luther himself said "Let us abolish all party names, and call ourselves Christians after Him whose doctrine we have"
I am well aware that we need to legally register ministries with a name to them, however to name a church by any other name except one that is geographically based is unscriptural and extremely sad. It is also a clear reflection of the self sufficient striving (like Baal worship) that has plagued the modern day church.
Embrace a truly Biblical structure
God always seems to break out of the box of human tradition, grab a bunch of fishermen, hippies or whatever He can look good through, and touch society in a very powerful way. Whenever this happens there seems to be a bunch of Pharisees or professional clergy, who, despite the fact that their structure is usually only a mere shadow of the biblical one, feel the need to revile and persecute those whom the Lord is so graciously flowing through. This has often put a stumbling block in the paths of the people that God has breathed in and so caused them to either resist structure altogether or submit to the status quo.
A great example of this is the current, so called "out of church Christians". The statistics point to there being a large number of committed Christians that are outside the modern church structure. While many, including myself, see this as God moving on His people, it is important that these beloved saints don’t get stuck in limbo but continue to flow with the process of reformation and connect with a true biblical structure and oversight.
It seems that when God does some reviving that He also wants to reform and renew the church, usually by taking it a step closer to the new wineskin pattern of the New Testament church. Remembering that God "has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise" 1 Cor 1:27 He is continually on the look-out for empty vessels that will not fight tooth and nail to preserve the traditions of man. God’s ways are so much higher than ours and so we regularly gravitate back to structures that seem to cover everything when God doesn’t need everything covered by man.
Knowing that God does want "all things to be done decently and in order" 1 Cor 14:40 we must understand that when He revives His people there is a need for biblical structure to carry the presence of God not a controlling system to contain it.
In this prophetic season God is most assuredly, wanting to be known as King of kings. A truly new testament, biblical structure will remove man from being a mediator between God and men, "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" 1 Tim 2:5, and set up every believer to be a king and a priest unto God (Rev 1:6, 5:10). It will have leaders/examples that direct people to Jesus rather than making them co-dependant on man. It will not have a hierarchy of leadership as its authority, complete with leadership offices, but will recognise authority rooted in love, guidance and relationship by people who are graced to oversee and equip. The core values of a New Testament structure will be based around Matt 22:36-40, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind…. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself". It will promote community among the brethren with the Lord as the central focus.
If a new wineskin structure is applied to the revived saints, it will invariably continue to release the people of God into society with the living presence of God leading and empowering them. It will not heap people together around a man or woman and their pursuit of success. There are a lot of half truths out there in this transition stage so we need to be on-guard against anything that has "a form of godliness, but denying(contradicting) the power thereof", something that puts man on the throne in control of peoples walk with God.
Stick to the Word
In Mark’s Gospel chapter four, it is made quite clear that the Word of God is the necessary commodity needed in the heart of man in order for the Kingdom of God to exist and grow. It is when His word is sown and received into a "good ground" heart that Jesus can be the King of that kingdom.
Dr. Wilbur Smith said of the seven outstanding revivals in the Old Testament in addition to the one under Jonah, that "each revival rested on the Word of God, and were the result of preaching and proclaiming God’s law with power. As you flow through the New Testament you will also see that the Word of God going forth with power preceded any significant revival or conversion. According to Proverbs His Words are "life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh".
Indeed, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" John 1:14, the question is, are we going to let Him continue to dwell amongst us or are we going to slip back into our own understanding and natural mindedness? One of the most ardent enemies of revival and its ongoing life is reliance on our own abilities and natural, worldly thinking. It is all too easy to snatch back the reigns of our intellectual faculties rather than letting "the eyes of our understanding (dianoia-deep thought, imagination, mind) be enlightened" Eph 1:18 and allowing His Word to be "a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path". Surely we realise that without His Word we would be nothing.
So what did Jesus say about continuing in His Word? We know that "His name is called The Word of God" Rev 19:13 so when we read John 15 we can catch the flow of how He was intending us to live. Verse four says "Abide in me (the Word), and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me". The Greek word translated to abide in this verse is the word meno it means to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy) to continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain and stand. It is clear that God doesn’t intend for us to spend any time outside of His eternal living Word, the more we do the less we are able to bear fruit in the Spirit. We should keep in mind the purpose for God’s calling on our lives which is found in verse sixteen of the same chapter, "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain (meno): that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you".
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Thank you.
August 29th, 2005 at 5:50 am
Good one Bretto. Keep it up. My favourite part in context of what we do “in the meantime” about others that are not moving in the same way as we feel led..
“Another reason for our naming and claiming is that we don’t want other saints to make us look bad. If we are real with ourselves we will admit that the reason we want it clear that we are not a part of another group of Christians, hence the names, is because it makes us look bad. If a certain band of Christians, whether it’s a church, ministry or anything of the like are in some way bad examples of Jesus, God gets disrespected whether we acknowledge them as brothers or not. I am in no way suggesting that we embrace true heretics and cults etc, just brothers who don’t see everything exactly the same as us. Remember that the only scriptural reason for naming and division, apart from blatant, unrepentant heresy is geographical location. If we do have something that is biblically sound and profitable in our lives or our fellowships then the idea is that we will sharpen our brethren in love. ”
Let love, acceptance and forgiveness be the key to universal fellowship. “It may not happen overnight, but it will happen”…especially as we “speak in love, one to another” and trust that if the Lord is longsuffering with us in disciplining and guiding us, we can do no less with our brethern in other places and processes. The chief occupation when “they don’t see or understand?”…Prayer. Prayer. Waiting on Him. Prayer and then……..(repeat the above until something happens). If the truth be known, these are the very reasons why we can today, thank God for coming into our lifes. Somebody prayed, more than “sprayed” us with words.