Revive us Again?
Well, it is a New Year, and after 25 years of bringing in the New Years as a believer in Christ, I am convinced that our walk with Christ is a day in and day out struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. Although this day in and day out experience can somtimes seem monotonous, it need not be. I have seen the church each year yearn for a ending of the monotony by God doing something new. We pray for revival and hold "revival" meetings that are charged with emotion and excitement; however, after the meeting, we go back to the day to day struggle waiting for the next meeting to break the monotony. The good news is that our daily struggle need not be monotonous. We look for God to do something new and either believe one of 3 big fat lies.
Lie # 1 - Satan is winning. This is a lie bcause in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ Jesus, satan has been stripped of all power and authority. Jesus stripped satan of any power or authority and has given us full power and authority over satan and his kingdom. All satan can do is lie, lie lie. He can't touch us. "9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority" (col 2)
Lie # 2 Our Lack of Obedience is keeping God from moving. This lie is very subtle because for our entire life we have been conditioned to believe in cause and effect, and we naturally transfer that relationship to God. However, it is a lie. No one was praying for God to send His Son to die on the cross, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven. We certainly did not behave properly. Can you imagine if we applied that mentality to what happened. "Sorry Peter, I ain't going to rise from the deat because you denied me, cursed, and hid." God is not some weakling in the sky, fretting and waiting for us to get our act together before he "moves." God is not at our mercy.
Lie # 3 God is not interested in my life-He has much more important things and people to take care of . This is a lie because God has given the call to whosoever, and He declared boldly when he announced the New Covenant that the "least to the greatest" shall know Him." And the word know denotes close, personal intamacy. So God is intimately acquanted and interested in your life. And why is it that we think God does not pay attention to our concerns on a daily basis, but when we really do something wrong, we are quite sure he knows every detail? O ye of little faith." There is that word, FAITH, and it precisely this word that keeps the day in and day out struggle from becoming monotonous. If we exercise faih in our own personal revival on a day to day basis, understanding our true identity as children of God, each day can be filled with the joy of having contact with the Creator of the Universe. Consider the following verses:
Colossians 2
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Ephesians 2
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins....4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
WOW! Talk about revival...These verses declare true revival...we were dead, and now we are alive with Christ. Not only that, but we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We have been given authority to love one another...to love others, and God has prepared these works of love in advance. Why do we miss this? Becaue we think of the good works in a religious sense rather than simple works of love. Jesus said that if the simplest deed like giving a cup of water to someone in His name (motivated by faith hope and love) it is a big deal in heaven! So as we exercise faith in what God has done for us making us new creations with the authority of love, our daily life becomes much more significant. Revival is here, and has been here since the resurrection. The only thing we have left to do is love one another, and the only thing we should lookd forward to is the return of Christ. God has moved, is moving and will continue to move in your life. You don't need a revival meeting and a flurry of religious activity. Faith will produce the hope which will produce love, and there is nothing more powerful in the world than love, and anytime there is true genuine love, it is a miracle. Revival is here.
Lie # 1 - Satan is winning. This is a lie bcause in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ Jesus, satan has been stripped of all power and authority. Jesus stripped satan of any power or authority and has given us full power and authority over satan and his kingdom. All satan can do is lie, lie lie. He can't touch us. "9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority" (col 2)
Lie # 2 Our Lack of Obedience is keeping God from moving. This lie is very subtle because for our entire life we have been conditioned to believe in cause and effect, and we naturally transfer that relationship to God. However, it is a lie. No one was praying for God to send His Son to die on the cross, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven. We certainly did not behave properly. Can you imagine if we applied that mentality to what happened. "Sorry Peter, I ain't going to rise from the deat because you denied me, cursed, and hid." God is not some weakling in the sky, fretting and waiting for us to get our act together before he "moves." God is not at our mercy.
Lie # 3 God is not interested in my life-He has much more important things and people to take care of . This is a lie because God has given the call to whosoever, and He declared boldly when he announced the New Covenant that the "least to the greatest" shall know Him." And the word know denotes close, personal intamacy. So God is intimately acquanted and interested in your life. And why is it that we think God does not pay attention to our concerns on a daily basis, but when we really do something wrong, we are quite sure he knows every detail? O ye of little faith." There is that word, FAITH, and it precisely this word that keeps the day in and day out struggle from becoming monotonous. If we exercise faih in our own personal revival on a day to day basis, understanding our true identity as children of God, each day can be filled with the joy of having contact with the Creator of the Universe. Consider the following verses:
Colossians 2
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Ephesians 2
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins....4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
WOW! Talk about revival...These verses declare true revival...we were dead, and now we are alive with Christ. Not only that, but we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We have been given authority to love one another...to love others, and God has prepared these works of love in advance. Why do we miss this? Becaue we think of the good works in a religious sense rather than simple works of love. Jesus said that if the simplest deed like giving a cup of water to someone in His name (motivated by faith hope and love) it is a big deal in heaven! So as we exercise faith in what God has done for us making us new creations with the authority of love, our daily life becomes much more significant. Revival is here, and has been here since the resurrection. The only thing we have left to do is love one another, and the only thing we should lookd forward to is the return of Christ. God has moved, is moving and will continue to move in your life. You don't need a revival meeting and a flurry of religious activity. Faith will produce the hope which will produce love, and there is nothing more powerful in the world than love, and anytime there is true genuine love, it is a miracle. Revival is here.
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