Who Needs Revival?
Few believers feel they've already arrived when it comes to experiencing the fullness of God. In fact, the nearer we draw to the Lord, the greater our desire to see all the resource of Heaven unleashed on our weary and embattled world. For those willing, God reveals panoramic vistas filled with throngs of humanity enslaved by temptation and sin. Other times, like increasing the magnification on a Divine microscope, the Holy Spirit pinpoints our need to grow in sanctification. Know it or not, the truth is we all desperately need revival.
Can You See?
An honest and insightful overview of the history of mankind reveals millennia of entitlement in the face of want, greed in the face of poverty and injustice in the face oppression. Add to this the temptation, sin, and violence billions of are drowning in and the need for Divine intervention becomes obvious.
Seen in this light, asking the question, "who needs revival" is like asking a colony of lepers, "who needs healing" or the blind, "who needs sight?" Perhaps a better question is why is there still such suffering on a planetary scale? Scripture suggest the primary reason is a cosmic war raging in eternity that likely began before the creation of our Universe. A war caused by the original sin of an Adversarial arch angel who incited a rebellion in Heaven that has overflowed to engulf the entire Earth.
Given such temporal and eternal realities, asking "who needs revival" could also be seen as asking occupied France during WWII, "who needs military assistance and freedom?" The answer is everyone! Sinners need revival that they might see their way to freedom from the "god of this world" who has "blinded the eyes of men" and "taken them captive to do his will." The Church needs revival to be converted and empowered to the point of obeying Christ's command to "make disciples of every nation" including formerly Christian ones!
Simply put, revival's a "win, win" scenario for everyone. Yet, if everyone needs revival then why don't we have it? The answer to this all important question may be the same as why even Christian prayer so often goes unanswered. The Lord's half brother James explains:
"What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?" James 4:1-5
The bottom line of why "revival tarries" is because the unregenerate don't want it and the regenerate don't want it enough to seek it diligently. A sad yet historic fact in this regard God seems to only respond to desperate prayer, and modern Christianity is anything but desperate. As if to make the point, a couple of decades ago the Spirit repeatedly moved a well known Christian recording artist to implore the Church to wake up, see the need and rise to the challenge of our times. Here are the lyrics and Youtube links to two of many such song:
Asleep In The Light by Keith Green
(Click here for Youtube video)
Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down? Don't you care, don't you care, are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb, not to care if they come, You close your eyes and pretend the job's done.
Oh Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know it's all I ever hear. No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear. But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds, and He cares for your needs. And you just lay back and keep soaking it in. Oh, can't you see it's such sin?
He brings people to your door, and you turn them away, as you smile and say, "God bless you, be at peace" and all Heaven just weeps. Jesus came to your door, you've left Him out on the streets.
Open up, open up, and give yourself away. You've seen the need, you hear the cry, so how can you delay. God's calling and you're the one, but like Jonah you run. He's told you to speak, but you keep holding it in.
Oh, can't you see it's such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark, that the church can't fight, cause it's asleep in the light!
How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed? Jesus rose from the grave,
and you, you can't even get out of bed. Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed!
How can you be so numb, not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job's done.
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done. Don't close your eyes, don't pretend the job's done.
Come away, come away, come away with Me, My love...
Come away, from this mess, come away with Me, My love...
A Billion Starving People by Keith Green
(Click here for Youtube video)
I find it hard to turn away, a billion starving people. But what can one do, I've heard you say - you can't save someone's life. I want to save a life today, I want to get someone close with my Father.
Feed them the bread of life today, I want to help them get stronger, help them last longer.
And give them a chance to see Jesus.
I find it hard to just ignore, the murdered unborn children. Yes times have changed, but still God warns, "you shall not take a life." I want to save a life today, I want to keep one alive for my Father. Who will avenge the blood!
Of weak and helpless ones someday. Whose lives are spilled out like water, lambs in the slaughter.
And each one is handmade by Jesus.
I find it hard to turn away, a billion starving people.
A billion starving people...
Other Keith Green Videos
Jesus Commands Us to Go
Sheep and the Goats
To Obey is Better than Sacrifice
My Eyes are Dry
Open Your Eyes
Soften Your Heart
Jesus Takes Care of the Rest
So You Want to Go Back to Egypt
I Can't Believe It
Dear John Letter to the Devil
Your Love Broke Through
The Victor
When I Hear the Praises Start
Oh Lord You're Beautiful
I Can't Wait Till I Get Heaven
Make My Life a Prayer to You
Wise Enough?
It seems we have somewhat of a quantum dilemma. On the one hand, if the Bible's inspired by God and is His authoritative word to humanity, and there's a growing mountain of compelling scientific and prophetic evidence that it is, then by definition genuine Christians are the wisest people on Earth. One the other, this raises a serious question. If the church is wise enough to believe in God, why is it and the world Christ commissioned it to save, so full of rebellion and sin?
With all the spiritual and worldly resources God's provided His people to meet the needs of humanity, why are billions suffering so terribly? Two millennia after Pentecost's outpouring, providing believers access to all the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, why is modern Christianity faltering at best? Why is living faith, prayer and Bible study on the decrease and temptation, worldliness and immorality on the increase?
Is it possible that the wisest people on the planet aren't wise enough to rise to the challenge of the glaring spiritual and physical need all around them? Could it be that our cunning Adversary and the deceitfulness of sin have conspired to deceive God's anointed into believing that seeking God and the salvation of our families, friends and neighbors are worth less than our best effort? Does the lack of due diligence on the part of Christians suggest we aren't truly convinced of such looming Biblical realities as God's justice and judgment, not to mention the eternal ramifications of Heaven and Hell?
Is it faith or presumption that inspires record setting levels of apathy and sin inside and outside of the church? Have we forgotten Christ's admonitions to the seven churches and/or church ages in the Book of Revelation? Could we, like Laodecia, be convinced we are spiritually and physically "rich, wealthy and in need of nothing" without considering and heeding Christ dire description of our actually being "wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked..." Like Jesus' parable of the Five Foolish Virgins, might we have failed to notice that while we've been sleeping our oil's been running out and our lamps flickering against the encroaching darkness?
Hopefully Christians will become wise enough to admit the truth when we hear it and respond appropriately before it's too late. But many will ask how? Only an unprecedented global revival can bridge the gap between God's inexhaustible resource and the full extend of humanity's need. What is needed are brave hearts willing to storm the gates of Heaven on behalf of 6,500,000,000 souls currently at risk. We need courageous souls refusing to take "no" for an answer as they preserver in deep and serious repentance, powerful and lengthy intercession and if necessary willing to do the hard work of wrestling with God for the blessing He desires to give. The question is how many prophetic Christians will continue to ask, seek and knock until that the 21st Century experiences it's own Pentecost with a global yield of about a million upper rooms?
Jesus bemoaned the lack of vision in his day by pointing out that laborers in the harvest were few even though the fields were ripe for harvest. Let us ask God for eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to comprehend the crises and opportunity before us. Let's research and learn from great revivals of the past and present, employing their methods and strategies to entice an outpouring of God's Spirit. We should set our minds to understand the strengths and weaknesses of those experiencing prior moves of God being wise enough to chew the meat and spit out the bones.
By all means when it comes to receiving the resources need to fully engage and overcome the Enemy, let us be like the impertinent woman of whom Jesus spoke, giving God "no rest day or night." May Jesus be able to happily say of our generation as He could of his own, that "the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force..."
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