Stop Preparing and Grab Hold

I had a very brief conversation with someone this week about revival and it reminded me of something I wrote in December 2012. It is still so pertinent for today even though circumstances have changed. For instance, LifeChange Church has been in it's new home almost a year now and we are slowly growing. God is still doing amazing things in the lives of our small congregation. So many times I feel like the church (the whole church, not just LifeChange)  is right there on the precipice of revival yet only a few seem to catch hold of it. So many others around the world have similar feelings and frustrations. God wants revival, we say we want revival, but revival also comes with a price. I think that the reason we don't see the fire storm of revival is because too many in the body of Christ are not willing to pay that price. We are too comfortable in our nice houses, with our nice cars, and our seemingly perfect families, and we don't want to sacrifice any of it. But Christ says, "he who loses his life gains it". I believe God isn't going to just pour out revival, His presence is there waiting ,but we have to reach for it and grab hold of it.

Here is a portion of that previous blog, I felt as though God had something to say to the Church that day and He is still saying it today.

Prepare the Way For Revival

When I first started this blog, it was to share our story in hopes to encourage someone else and to share the journey we felt God was taking us on. Years ago, when we were still very broken God gave both Jason and I an audible word in a church service; we both heard it. That word was, "Go". God hasn't given us a clear picture of what that means. He has been revealing , however, that "go" doesn't always mean a moving of us, it can mean a releasing of us and a move of Him...

... He started with showing me a passage in Come Away My Beloved "Behold time is short. Be not entangled in the things of this world, for they are transitory. Be not over-concerned as to thy personal needs, for your Heavenly Father knoweth what ye have need of and He will supply. But let thine uppermost concern be to carry out My will and purpose for thy life, to be sensitve to My guidance, and to keep thine ear toward Heaven. Miss anything, but don't miss My Voice. Other voices may introduce disharmony, but My voice will always bring peace to thy heart and clarity to thy thinking. For ye shall hear My voice behind thee saying: This is the way, walk ye in it, when you turnest to the left or to the right."

Then, He spoke through His Word. Phil 3:13-21 - Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join with others in following my example, brothers and take note of those who live according to this pattern we gave you. For as I have often told you before and now say with tears, many live as enemies to the Cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that we will be like His glorious body.

Then he spoke to the church through my pen, I didn't even know what I was writing until after 

 "How far you are away from My will. I need you to listen to my voice. I have equipped you to push out the voice of the enemy so why are you listening to him? My tears are falling for you because you are not listening. I am about to move in a powerful way, I cannot have you in My way, but I need a willing heart that is ready and willing to be used. You need to be able to die to yourself, so you can carry My will to the nations. Put yourself aside. I did not give you a spirit of timidity so stop being timid and fearful. Quit looking at who you were, look only forward toward My Goal. You want revival; So why do you keep getting in My way? I have hungered to come to My church, to be near you, yet you have pushed Me away. Do not be as hypocrites. If you hunger for My Presence, then LET GO! Why are you making it harder than it is. It is simple, step forward. It is not a journey, it is one step only, into My presence. But don't just step there, stay there. Walk with Me; be My feet on earth; be My hands on earth; be My voice on earth. When you can step aside and let My will take control in a radical, bold way then and only then can I come and bring revival to My church."