Whom Does God Revive?

This is the day of the Lord which He has made!  We live in an exciting time when God is restoring and reviving His people.

Isaiah 61 has the awesome promise of what the Spirit accomplishes through us.  "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; ..."  We are seeing a fresh move of God in many places today as churches, schools, prayer groups, and individuals have experienced a new wave of God's glory.  What is the key, besides God's fresh mercy and goodness, to this refreshing presence and leading of the Holy Spirit?

People have been led to wait upon and worship God for extended periods.  God inhabits His praises.  However, there is something more that opens the door of our hearts to receive from God.  Isaiah 57:15 states God's habitation well, "For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, 'I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"  When we take time to wait upon the Lord in worship, we allow the light of the Holy Spirit to expose the darkness in our hearts and revive us.  

A local church began to wait upon the Lord last Sunday and the morning service extended over 20 hours, as worship, prophecy, confession of sin, testimonies, and prayer flowed.  The Lord moved in powerful ways with healings, repentance, tears and rejoicing, dancing and times of stillness before a holy God."  Many of those attending shared testimonies of what God did (which can be seen on their YouTube channel).  One young man shared his experience and then wisely commented "I know two things for sure, 1) every move of God begins with repentance and forgiveness and 2) it will be awesome!"  

Truly the first words Jesus preached was "Repent for the Kingdom of God has come."  Of course, repent was John the Baptist's message, and the first thing Peter said to the people who asked, "What shall we do?" on the day of Pentecost, was  "Repent."  However, it takes the Holy Spirit's light to expose sin.  Do you recall what happened to Peter and his confession (in Luke 5:8) after they "threw the nets in on the other side" and caught the massive quantity of fish?  "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."  This incident confirms what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, that He would convict us of sin, of righteousness, and of eternal judgment.

Today is the day of the Lord.  Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not know the day of their visitation.  Do not miss what He is doing.  Take time to humbly seek Him and let Him search your heart.  Be obedient to whatever God leads you to do.  He desires to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, and to revive the hearts of the humble and contrite. Come into His presence with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, and humbly allow Him to lead you into repentance and forgiveness.  You will experience the fresh joy of His salvation (being whole) and His glorious presence.  Now is the acceptable time.  

Behold His Glory - Wake Up Time

It serves him right!  That is our normal reaction when we see justice in the world, someone who is causing harm gets the consequences of his actions.  However, God knows that our emotional state cannot handle that kind of anger and resentment, so "vengeance is mine" says the Lord.  God is perfectly merciful and always desires that people repent and accept His merciful forgiveness.  Because He is also is perfectly just, and He knows when the heart of man has rejected every attempt to receive mercy, there will come a time of retribution.  What a man sows He will reap.   God does not change, so everything He does shows His greatness and glory, even judgment. 

At the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the angels sang, "Glory to God."  John 1:14 describes this event like this, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."  We saw how great God is, and His nature of love, in being willing to become man and pay the supreme price for our sin.  We marveled at the glory of His mercy and willingness to give His all for us. 

Likewise, Revelation 4 and 5 show the awesome greatness of God's majesty and eternal plan for Jesus as King over all the earth,  Revelation 6 and 7 show the greatness of God in shaking the foundations of the earth so as many men as possible will repent and believe in Jesus, that He died for their sins. 

Jesus is the head of the body, so He does not do anything without first telling us and involving us in His perfect plan.  Recall that after the resurrection Jesus was waiting with breakfast for his uncertain disciples who had returned to fishing, asking "Children, have you caught any fish?" Then He instructed them to put the net on the other side and they caught a multitude.  Then He said to Peter to bring some of the fish "he" had caught. Jesus obviously could have had fish already on the fire, but He chose to demonstrate that His plan is always to work in and through us.

Now consider the Old Testament picture of God's response to the Israelites being slaves in Egypt and crying out for deliverance. God moved upon Moses to set His people free.  When Pharaoh didn't listen He had Moses call down plagues that caused much destruction designed to change Pharaoh's heart.  According to 1 Corinthians 10, Old Testament events are physical examples which provide instruction and warning for New Testament realities.  Being delivered from slavery by Moses compares to Jesus bringing salvation, the deliverance from sin and its consequences.  

In Exodus God uses one man, Moses to set His people free and destroy the power of the Egyptians.  This also is a picture of the plagues that come in the end times.  However, in Revelation, God will not use one man, He will use the glorious man, the body of Christ, that works in unity with the head, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 4 speaks of Christians growing up into "a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."  Believers will hear God's voice and through united prayer stand with Head Jesus to call down the plagues designed to wake up sinners into repentance.  Once again, an amazing display of God's greatness and His awesome choosing and enabling us to be one with Him in carrying out His ultimate victory, complete eradication of all that hinders love. Psalm 149:9 declares the honor all His saints have "to execute on them the written judgment."

As each of the seven seals of the scroll are released from heaven, the kingdoms of man and all he trusts are proven to be fragile and ultimately worthless.  These "plagues" are not meant to punish man, but rather to turn His heart to trust that which cannot be shaken.  This will be accompanied by the early and later rain, the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh causing a multitude in the valley of decision to come to Jesus.  No wonder all heaven rejoices giving glory and honor to God, because His judgments are just and He has vindicated those who lost their lives for Him.  Scripture declares all flesh shall see the glory of God.   

We have beheld and will behold His glory beyond what man can conceive.  Romans 5:17 as well as Psalm 8, remind us that we have been crowned with glory and honor which enables us to reign in this life.  Therefore, walk humbly with God repenting of sin and flesh desires, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform your thinking with God's thoughts from the Word.  It is time to wake up from sleep and press in to the glorious plan God has for each of us, and all of us believers together. 

Let him hear

“Did you hear what I just said? What did I just say?” the frustrated teacher responds to the disobedient student. Training children to listen and actually follow instructions is the challenge of every parent, teacher, or coach.
The amazing thing is that Jesus had the same problem with adults. He would state a life-giving truth and then conclude “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:9) He even quotes the prophecy of Isaiah (6:9-10) that states men will hear and not understand, see and not perceive, because “their hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes are closed.”
Why is it so hard for people to hear? The Isaiah verse Jesus quoted gives some pertinent insight. It points out that a choice is involved. The people have hardened their hearts, meaning they don’t want to be affected or corrected. Likewise, closing their eyes and becoming hard of hearing suggest that one deliberately chooses to refuse to see and hear, usually because it would require a change of attitude, thinking, and behavior. Man doesn’t want to change. Man wants to do things his own way, he wants to be God.
God calls us to repent. Repent means to change our inner heart and attitude, and then carry out this different way of thinking through deliberate different actions. God’s thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than our ways. He looks for the person who has “a humble and contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2) When someone humbly lays down his own thoughts and honestly seeks truth and life from God’s thoughts, then God is free to let His presence and power work mightily in that life.
How can anyone know what God is really saying? Jesus said in John 7:17 that if anyone’s will is to do the will of the Father, he will know whether the teaching is from God or man. The real question that determines whether we hear is not the volume of the words that falls on our ears, but rather the inner willingness to obey what is spoken.
So the point is, what are you willing to hear? Do you desire God to speak into your life? Have you taken time this morning to read His word with an attitude of wanting to let His thoughts and desires become yours? John Wesley always knelt down to read the word because he wanted to be in a position of surrender to God’s will. When you tremble before the majesty and authority of God’s word, your ears will be attentive and you will hear.