As I’m sure anyone in the Christian realm knows, “revival” has been quite a buzz word these last few weeks. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Asbury got many believers hungry for what God is doing, and it’s so exciting to see the ways God shows up when we get hungry!!
People in the Charismatic realm have been calling for revival for as long as I can remember. As our world turns farther and farther from God and His ways, the need for a fresh dose of Jesus becomes increasingly apparent. A lot of people I’ve heard talking about revival act like it would be the answer to all our problems - like a magic wand that will sweep through and save the day - which is an interesting take. It begs the question of what we think “revival” means. Literally, to revive means to bring new life to something. So what does it look like for God to bring new life to the church of 2023? Is revival an event we attend and expect to spread on its own, or is it an attitude we carry and steward for ourselves? I’ve been chewing on this question and I think it’s a bit of both.
While there’s not much you or I can individually do to change the face of our culture at large, we are each one of those millions and we get to choose to let our own individual lives be transformed. Hopefully enough of us will make that personal choice for a noticeable change to start growing, but ultimately the choice is ours to make no matter how many people are joining us in making it.
The part of revival that is entirely out of our hands is undoubtedly the part where God shows up in a new way. We get to steward hunger and position ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit, but there’s nothing we can do to force or manufacture the fruit of His presence. Only He can bring deliverance and true freedom from the chains that bind us. Only He can show up and do the impossible. Only He can speak to the hardened hearts and crack through that protective shell to bring true transformation. We need God to show up and do what we can’t, and that’s what we need to be hungry for.
Your pastor can’t carry your hunger for you. No worship leader or speaker can choose it for you. Only you get to decide how hungry you are for God to show up and heal your most broken parts. You get to decide whether or not to go to that mid-week service after a long day at work. You get to decide whether or not to get up an hour earlier in the morning to read your Bible before you start your day. You get to decide whether to surround yourself with other hungry people or to keep hanging out with people who are comfortable with life the way it is. Change doesn’t happen unless you're willing to receive it. It’s something we either make space for or we don’t.
I hope that this season of revival, no matter how big or small it becomes, leads us to value personal intimacy as well as corporate engagement. I hope it inspires us to lean into the ways God is knocking on the doors of our hearts and minds. I pray that we do get to see that wide-spread transformation of culture, and first I’m looking to see God transform my own life so I can better reflect Him and carry that contagious hunger with me wherever I go. My biggest prayer in this season is that the revival at Asbury would just be the beginning of something much greater. A pre-shake to get us excited for the big quake that’s coming. Pressure is building under the surface in our country, and we need a true eruption of God’s presence to shake us to our cores. May God give us a yearning and a desperation for more of Him. For more Truth. More of what’s REAL. May our hearts cry out for the Living Water and not be silenced or satisfied by appetizers.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 TLV
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
ErikaJeremiah 29:11 Archives
March 2023
Categories |
|