Repentance Precedes Revival
I had every intention of writing on something else today but the Lord woke me up with these words----repentance precedes revival.
You know, there is much talk today about revival, about the need for it, about it breaking out in various parts of the world, about former revivals and what happened to stop them. Revival is an interesting word that I believe has been misunderstood. What do you think of when you hear the word revival? I think most people think of this great sweep in their local church and area of sinners into the Kingdom of God. Actually, that is not revival. That is the result of revival.
Revival is for the church, the Body of Christ. In order for something to revive, or come alive again, it once was alive. That means it is dead or almost dead. Selah, pause and think of this for a few moments. The life of God, zoe life, is made available to every person on the face of this earth, particularly to those who are children of God, those who have been born again. And we have not understood just Who is in us and what He has made available to us.
God Himself, Zoe life Himself, Love Himself, Light Himself came to dwell in our mortal bodies in the person of the Holy Spirit when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, when we confessed with our mouths and believed in our hearts that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. In so many instances, people really don’t know how to walk in the fullness of the Life of God that is in them. You know that the Word of God says that my people perish for lack of knowledge. Knowledge of God and His ways is not just a fact that you acquire. Knowledge is becoming intimately acquainted with God. It is becoming intimately acquainted with His Life, Zoe life.
Vive means life. Revive means to bring the life back. God is calling us up as His children and saying: I want to bring My life back to you, My people, My body. He is calling us to Himself today like He never has before. Come back, He says. And you say: I never left. Perhaps you have not left Him, but maybe you have lost your fervor for Him and His way of life. Perhaps the cares and concerns of this life and the busyness of this world have caused you to become sidetracked from the #1 priority in your life. Perhaps disappointments and discouragement have caused you to step back from the white-hot fervor you had as a new believer. Where are you today in your relationship with the Lord?
I guess this teaching comes from my month of being set aside by the Lord to seek His face. And when I sought His face, I was surprised by what He showed me. He started the month by showing me areas in my life He wanted to deal with. And oh what a joy to be free and pure and clean. Don’t let pride stand in the way and say that everything is perfect with you and the Lord. As we allow Him to shine the Light of His Word on our lives, there are areas that He wants to deal with; there are areas we were not even aware of. We are told in the Word of God that our hearts can be deceitful. Yes, the hearts of the believers.
I know the Lord is calling us into a place of intimacy with Him, of seeking His face. Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us. John the Baptist made a very interesting statement in Luke 3:4: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And then Jesus made this statement in 4:17: Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
I believe these statements that John and Jesus made could be applicable to today’s scenario. Jesus is coming soon. It is much sooner than anyone thinks. It is so close that it is like the air you breathe. Repentance is to change one’s behavior and way of life. Repentance is not just going to a church altar and saying you are sorry for your sins. Repentance is changing your lifestyle to conform to God’s life in you. It is that quality of being willing to change to come into line with God’s Word. Some people say that it is difficult to change and therefore never attempt to change. I say that it is easy. God loves each of us so much that He never wants things to be hard for us. It becomes hard when we don’t yield to what He is calling us to do. What is it today in your life that He is asking you to change? That change is the very pathway to the Life of God operating at full capacity in your life.
You see, revival is about bringing the fullness of God’s life back in each of us in the church body and then as a corporate body that life of God will attract those in the world. They will want what we have because they will see that we are different. Why are we different? It is because we are expressions of the Love and Life and Light of God. We are the light of the world now because we have The Light of the world in us. We are the Love of God expressed to a world which is starving for the Life of God.
Yes, we must be willing to repent or change, for revival, the Life of God once more to be operating in its fullness in us, the Body of Christ. It only takes one and one and one and one. Do you want revival? Then you be the first one who is willing to change.
You know, there is much talk today about revival, about the need for it, about it breaking out in various parts of the world, about former revivals and what happened to stop them. Revival is an interesting word that I believe has been misunderstood. What do you think of when you hear the word revival? I think most people think of this great sweep in their local church and area of sinners into the Kingdom of God. Actually, that is not revival. That is the result of revival.
Revival is for the church, the Body of Christ. In order for something to revive, or come alive again, it once was alive. That means it is dead or almost dead. Selah, pause and think of this for a few moments. The life of God, zoe life, is made available to every person on the face of this earth, particularly to those who are children of God, those who have been born again. And we have not understood just Who is in us and what He has made available to us.
God Himself, Zoe life Himself, Love Himself, Light Himself came to dwell in our mortal bodies in the person of the Holy Spirit when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, when we confessed with our mouths and believed in our hearts that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. In so many instances, people really don’t know how to walk in the fullness of the Life of God that is in them. You know that the Word of God says that my people perish for lack of knowledge. Knowledge of God and His ways is not just a fact that you acquire. Knowledge is becoming intimately acquainted with God. It is becoming intimately acquainted with His Life, Zoe life.
Vive means life. Revive means to bring the life back. God is calling us up as His children and saying: I want to bring My life back to you, My people, My body. He is calling us to Himself today like He never has before. Come back, He says. And you say: I never left. Perhaps you have not left Him, but maybe you have lost your fervor for Him and His way of life. Perhaps the cares and concerns of this life and the busyness of this world have caused you to become sidetracked from the #1 priority in your life. Perhaps disappointments and discouragement have caused you to step back from the white-hot fervor you had as a new believer. Where are you today in your relationship with the Lord?
I guess this teaching comes from my month of being set aside by the Lord to seek His face. And when I sought His face, I was surprised by what He showed me. He started the month by showing me areas in my life He wanted to deal with. And oh what a joy to be free and pure and clean. Don’t let pride stand in the way and say that everything is perfect with you and the Lord. As we allow Him to shine the Light of His Word on our lives, there are areas that He wants to deal with; there are areas we were not even aware of. We are told in the Word of God that our hearts can be deceitful. Yes, the hearts of the believers.
I know the Lord is calling us into a place of intimacy with Him, of seeking His face. Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us. John the Baptist made a very interesting statement in Luke 3:4: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And then Jesus made this statement in 4:17: Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
I believe these statements that John and Jesus made could be applicable to today’s scenario. Jesus is coming soon. It is much sooner than anyone thinks. It is so close that it is like the air you breathe. Repentance is to change one’s behavior and way of life. Repentance is not just going to a church altar and saying you are sorry for your sins. Repentance is changing your lifestyle to conform to God’s life in you. It is that quality of being willing to change to come into line with God’s Word. Some people say that it is difficult to change and therefore never attempt to change. I say that it is easy. God loves each of us so much that He never wants things to be hard for us. It becomes hard when we don’t yield to what He is calling us to do. What is it today in your life that He is asking you to change? That change is the very pathway to the Life of God operating at full capacity in your life.
You see, revival is about bringing the fullness of God’s life back in each of us in the church body and then as a corporate body that life of God will attract those in the world. They will want what we have because they will see that we are different. Why are we different? It is because we are expressions of the Love and Life and Light of God. We are the light of the world now because we have The Light of the world in us. We are the Love of God expressed to a world which is starving for the Life of God.
Yes, we must be willing to repent or change, for revival, the Life of God once more to be operating in its fullness in us, the Body of Christ. It only takes one and one and one and one. Do you want revival? Then you be the first one who is willing to change.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 6:19 AM
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