Revival

After praying this morning and seeking the Lord, I got thinking about revival and how we all need a Spirit filled revival.  I have read and heard about great revivals, but I haven’t been privileged to actually be in a church when a mighty move of God took place, such as a real Holy Spirit led revival, the kind I have read and heard about.  I think I have experienced a revival within myself at times, which is always a super, great thing, and I believe we all need that at times, in fact to be revived daily would be a great thing.  I think every believer should be praying for a mighty move of God in the churches all around the world and in all the countries of the world.  It seems that every revival starts with a desire to be revived and then an urge to start praying for a revival to take place.  I wonder how many would say they need to be revived today and every day and I wonder how many are praying for revival?

I really think the day of the Lord is close at hand, the signs are all around us.  Just read what Jesus said in Matthew 24:3-14, “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’

And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

‘Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.’”

Anyone would have to be blind to not see these things unfolding today as well as other things that are talked about in the Word of God.  Oh, how we need another Spirit filled revival to take place before Jesus returns for His bride, the church, can you say, “Amen?”  I think there was a great revival on the day the Spirit was poured out, on the day of Pentecost.  What an amazing event that was.  How would you have liked to have been one of the disciples on that day? 

I think back in the Old Testament; there was a great revival also.  Can you guess where?  I think it was in Nineveh, among the Assyrians.  They were about to be completely destroyed, but God relented and had mercy on them and did not destroy them because they repented.  Read Jonah 3:1-10, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’

So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

I would call that a great revival and great rejoicing may have taken place.  Praise God for His mercy and grace.  How about you, are you ready to be revived?  Start praying and ask the good Lord to revive you and all the believers, so that in all things He will receive all the honor, glory and praise.  Something to think about!  May you have a super day and may the blessings of the Lord shine upon you and yours!!

Sin

Repentance and sorrow, for sin brings hope.  Today it seems that many people don’t like to hear the word sin, using words like mistakes or failures.  The Word of God says that we are all sinners; that we were born in sin.  Read what it says in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..”

Read what David said about himself in Psalms 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”

God’s Word also says this in Romans 3:23, “..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..”

Because of sin, death came into the world, but the good news is that true repentance brings forgiveness.  Read 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Now read Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

King David knew what it was to be forgiven and he knew what it was to repent.  Read his repentant prayer in Psalms 38:1-22:

“O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,

Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!

For Your arrows pierce me deeply,

And Your hand presses me down.

There is no soundness in my flesh

Because of Your anger,

Nor any health in my bones

Because of my sin.

For my iniquities have gone over my head;

Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

My wounds are foul and festering

Because of my foolishness.

I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly;

I go mourning all the day long.

For my loins are full of inflammation,

And there is no soundness in my flesh.

I am feeble and severely broken;

I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.

Lord, all my desire is before You;

And my sighing is not hidden from You.

My heart pants, my strength fails me;

As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague,

And my relatives stand afar off.

Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;

Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,

And plan deception all the day long.

But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;

And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.

Thus I am like a man who does not hear,

And in whose mouth is no response.

For in You, O Lord, I hope;

You will hear, O Lord my God.

For I said, ‘Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,

Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.’

For I am ready to fall,

And my sorrow is continually before me.

For I will declare my iniquity;

I will be in anguish over my sin.

But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;

And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.

Those also who render evil for good,

They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.

Do not forsake me, O Lord;

O my God, be not far from me!

Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!”

David acknowledged that sin led to health problems and a separation from God and others causing loneliness.  Then David repented and confessed his sin and found forgiveness.  He knew that he deserved punishment, but he didn’t want God to be angry when He punished him so David sought mercy instead of God’s wrath.  When we sin there is always a consequence and also there is hope, for there is forgiveness, if we truly chose to repent.  The humble and contrite heart God will not despise, for He draws to the humble and resists the proud!!

So if you find yourself in David’s shoes, so to speak, learn from what he did; repent and ask for forgiveness while expressing your sorrow and let the promise of 1 John 1:9 happen to you.  Something to think about!  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours with His peace, love and joy!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!!   

    

Agitation

Question: are you an agitator?  You may be a source of agitation and not even realize it.  How well do you get along with people?  Sometimes people seem to mean well but rub people the wrong way and people seem to not want anything to do with them.  There are different reasons for this and it may not be the fault of the person whatsoever.  Sometimes when we speak to people the right words seem to escape us and we say things that are hurtful instead of helpful.  Then there are those times when people misinterpret what we say to them and they get hurt.  

Think of this; how many times, when people get hurt by what they think someone said, do they let it spew over onto other people and then most of the people that hear about it, when they see that person that was gossiped about, think negatively about that person?  There are people that more than likely don’t like us because of what they have heard about us.  Think of this situation; do you have a brother or sister that looks enough like you that many people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference unless you were both together, and if they get into problems or are agitators themselves, others think that it is you so when they see you and they try to avoid you?  I think I fall into that category at times.

All these things can happen and do you know why some of these things take place?  They happen when we take it upon ourselves to judge other people by what we hear or by something that is said that we think we heard.  How many times do we judge others by what we hear about them?  The saying that if you can’t say anything good about someone, you should not say anything at all is true.  Gossip, slander, tale bearing and judging people can be very sinful and are not good and can be very harmful.  Many people have a tendency to believe whatever they hear instead of seeking the truth.  I realize as I am getting older that many of the things I have heard over the years that I believed were not true.  When we let what we hear shape what we think we can run into some real problems.

Think of Joshua and Caleb and the other ten spies that spied out the Promised Land.  Ten of them came back with a bad report, a downright negative and scary report.  Almost everyone believed them and such fear went through them that it basically paralyzed their way of thinking to the point they wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb who came back with a positive very good report.  Check out Numbers chapters 13 and 14.  

Someone told me the other day that she didn’t believe anything she heard and only half of what she saw. I don’t think that is the best advice because we need to believe some of what we hear and also quite possibly more than half of what we see.  Many people don’t want to admit it but there is truth and we need to take those things to heart and live by them.  It seems like we throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak, going about with no balance in our lives.  One thing we can do is study the things we hear for ourselves and give the people that we hear negative reports about, the benefit of the doubt and either not lesson or not add to the gossip we hear about other people.  I have been guilty of this over the years and have since then repented and confessed it and I am trying hard not to repeat these things.  Mainly what happens in these situations is that we can destroy the person’s character because you can never undo the damage you have done.

I am just reminded of a story I heard that was of a similar situation.  This is my version; a lady went to a pastor and confessed she had gossiped and asked him what she should do.  His reply was to go get a pillow case, fill it with feathers and take it to the top of the Empire State Building and empty it over the side, which she did.  Then she went back and told the pastor what she did and his reply was to now go and pick up all the feathers, which was about impossible since it was a very windy day that day and they were spread out all over.  That is what happens with gossip, the damage can never be repaired.

In Joshua and Caleb’s case, I wonder how much gossip, back biting and slander took place at that time.  I know the consequences were very severe and none of those that believed the other ten spies negative report, from 20 years old and older, went into the Promised Land.  I don’t know if anyone can honestly say they have never been guilty of any of these sins.  There are many things said about these sins in the Word of God and no one will be held unaccountable that commits them, so if this is speaking to you and you are caught up in any of these sins confess them to the Lord and repent and ask Him to forgive you and then do your best, with the Lord’s help, never to repeat them again.

Read 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

I have given you something to think about, I hope you will!  May the good Lord bless you and keep you and yours and may you have a super duper day!!  

Living by Faith

Faith is talked about a lot in God’s Word and also in the church, but how many of us really walk by faith?  What is faith according to God’s Word?  It says this in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith believes who God says He is and also the promises He gives in His Word, believing that you will receive the promises without having received them yet.  Faith is an action word; I think sometimes showing faith is like stepping out on a limb and trusting that it will hold your weight even when it doesn’t look like it possibly could.  The strange thing to me is that it seems like there is much more talk about faith then the actual demonstration of it.  Maybe it is that we have tried to make things happen ourselves for so long that we are still trying to do that instead of putting things into the Lord’s hands.  The bad thing about this is, we have no excuse as believers because we all have a measure of faith, read what it says in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

There is no way to be a true born-again believer without at least a little faith.  There are reasons for our lack of trust or not depending on faith like we should, think about Peter when he stepped out of the boat to walk to Jesus in Matthew 14:28-33, “And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’

So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”

Peter was happy and doing fine when he got out and started walking, probably all excited, focusing his attention on Jesus, but then everything changed because Peter got his focus on what was going on all around him and his eyes off Jesus, then fear set in and he began to sink.  He started out demonstrating faith but doubt crept in and faith was replaced, many of us have the same proble

Now think about Thomas, he had a different problem, read John 20:24-29, “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’

So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’

And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

Thomas said he would not believe unless he saw Jesus’ nail prints and put his hand in His side.  What about the evidence of things not seen?  I think many of us may have this problem also.

Then there was Gideon in Judges 6:33-40, “Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

So Gideon said to God, ‘If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.’ And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.”

Even though God said He would save Israel, Gideon didn’t have the faith to believe God’s spoken word, how many of us are like that?  It is easy to say we have faith but when the rubber meets the road, so to speak, how many of us really show it?  As things go on, as we draw nearer to the Lord’s return, we will need to have a strong faith to combat the situations and circumstances we may have to face.

Jesus said this in Luke 18:6-8, “Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’”

If you struggle in this area, you are not alone, I think we all do at times, some more than others.  The Word tells us how we can build our faith in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

It would be a good thing to keep studying and reading God’s Word, allowing your faith to grow stronger and stronger each day.  Something to think about!  May you have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!