Are You Ready for Revival?

By Pastor Jeff,

Esther 4:14, “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

“For such as a time as this” we no doubt are living in the last days, in a short time Israel will be celebrating it’s 70th anniversary as becoming a nation which clearly as noted by the book of Matthew would be the last generation. The question is, will there be one more revival among the Gentiles to usher in the seven year tribulation or will the Church be quietly called home?

I for one desire one more Revival but we must remember Revival does not come about as we have special speakers and worship leaders come into our church and stir us up for a short time. I for one have witnessed moves of God that soon turned back to regular services after these people left. Revival must begin with an intense hunger for God and seeking Him humbly on our faces. Great hunger and sincere repentance was always present during any revival. You had the Wesley’s, Finney’s to name a few.

I studied much on the outpouring during the early 20th century for on New Years day 1901 a little group in Topeka Kansas we witness the pouring out the baptism on a young lady named Agnes Ozman under the tutor ledge of Charles Parham which soon started a fire throughout the world. We first witnessed an outpouring in Wales Scotland in 1904, then soon in a place that has been called the Azusa Street Revival under a one eyed Black man named William Seymour in 1906 which lasted for three years with services at least three times per day. I wonder if our modern day Christians would be able to endure this type of move of God?
Frank Bartleman who was at the forefront on this and other churches in the early 1900’s clearly proclaimed that deep prayer, humility, unity, and sacrifice of oneself was the only way that true revival could occur. Jesus Christ is waiting on us and if no one answers the call will come for a church that is weak, defeated, with no real purpose other that going through the motions of weakly services that pump us up and send us on our merry way to face the world. James 5:7, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

One thing I noticed when studying revivals is that they were relatively short, a couple years at most. The greatest attack on revival is always from within as most leaders don’t know how to get out of the way and try to control what the Holy Spirit is wanting to do. When someone who is desperate for more of Jesus, others get offended, they look at you as weird, even out of order with how the “Church” in their limited view should be.

If we want true Revival, the best thing we can do is to GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Jesus is coming soon and He desires His house to be full, let’s humble ourselves, Pray and then with the power that comes from the Holy Ghost do as he commands us in Luke 14:23, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

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