revival

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Spiritual Awakening

A “Spiritual Awakening”  is a term used to describe a movement that causes the local church to regain its zeal for the Lord. It results in a repentance from sin, a renewed love for God, a love for those who do not know God and, an intense desire for personal holiness.

It’s an awakening that changes the believer from someone who is a passive believer to a radical follower of Jesus. When the church is revived with a renewed love for God, then our country and our society will be changed.

If you are a passionate follower of Jesus you will agree that America is at a critical crossroads.  Never in my lifetime has the old saying “As the church goes, so goes the country”,  been so true as it is today.  We are in desperate need of a spiritual awakening.  The church has lost its way. We have lost our desire for personal holiness, our love for our fellow man and our passion to reach our nation and the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The book of Romans tells us what happens when a society refuses to acknowledge and follow God.

Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! “ (Romans 1 NLT)

Bottom Line

What is the remedy to all of the chaos and unrest we see in our world?  Repentance!   Revival and awakening begins with us. When we are willing to fall to our knees, cry out to God, confess our coldness toward Him, and give Him first place in our life, then He will hear us and heal our spiritual sickness and heal our land.

The culture must no longer be our moral compass, Our moral compass has to be rooted in the truth of God’s Word.  Our day to day guidance must be led by the Holy Spirit of God. The Scripture teaches us , “In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will direct you path. (Proverbs 3:6 KJV)

What is you spiritual temperature? Can the world tell that there is something different about you?  Do they since the love of Jesus in you?  Would you describe yourself as a “Passionate Follower of Jesus”?

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Jesus As Our Shepherd

The 23rd Psalm has been a favorite among many believers for centuries.  Many of us the learned this passage when we were a child.  I remember quoting this verse as a young boy in public school as our daily prayer before class began. 

There is just something calming about this passage of Scripture that speaks to the longing of our soul to be connected with our Creator.  It’s not just a coincidence that David, a shepherd boy soon to become the greatest king Israel has even known, would pin this unique passage of Scripture.  His firsthand account of how a shepherd loves, cares and disciplines his sheep is a perfect picture of how the Good Shepherd (Jesus) loves and cares for us.

When you observe the 23rd Psalm from a shepherd’s point of view there is depth to the passage that ascends normal human understanding. It becomes a picture of our Savior’s unique but complete care of His children.  Each phrase tells of a different level of care and love that Jesus has for His children.

In this passage Jesus is the Shepherd and the sheep are His children. Because each phrase in this Psalm is packed with a unique truth I want touch on just a couple of phrases that are especially meaningful to me. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

 “The Lord is my Shepherd” – This speaks of the believers submission to God’s ownership, guidance and care.  Many want to claim Jesus as their Shepherd but they are far from full submission. They want to live their life without accountability to His will.   It’s like a sheep who keeps wandering off from the flock and starts grazing among poisonous weeds.  Or the sheep who wanders from the flock and becomes easy prey for the wolves and coyotes. A sheep on his own puts himself in danger that he doesn’t have the wisdom to foresee or discern.

The same is true in our life.  Anything but full submission to the Lord Jesus puts us in danger of  going down a road we never intended. Submission is not following certain rules or regulations but living in a state of daily dependence  upon the Savior for every aspect of our lives.  It’s having such confidence in the Good Shepherd’s care that whatever comes in our life we know  our Sovereign God is fully aware and in control, even though we may feel out of control. 

“I shall not want” –   This phrase is connected to the first phrase.  Because the Lord is my Shepherd then I live in a condition of wanting nothing.  It’s a phrase of contentment.  When we are utterly dependent upon Him for our provision, care and love then our life is complete.

  • He is our provision – ” And my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19)
  • He is our care – “Casting all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
  • We are the beneficiary of His unconditional love –  “For I am convinced that…nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s plan of complete dependence upon Him allows us to find our contentment in Him, not in things, status, or acceptance by the culture.  We are to be so dependent upon Him that when loss occurs we know our Shepherd is in control and has our back.  We don’t crave or desire anything more.  It frees us from the trap that satan sets to ensnare us into believing that we need more to be truly happy and content.  As a follower of Jesus, contentment is truly the key to our happiness.

Bottom Line

Is the Lord Jesus truly the Shepherd of your life, or are you trying to live life in two worlds?  Can you say that you are content by resting in His love and care?

A partial surrender is not surrender at all.  A shepherd cannot care and protect a sheep who thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.  Without true contentment we will live a life of always needing more. 

 Our life has a destiny and it can only be found as we give our life in full surrender to His control and leadership.  As the Scripture declares, “He knows the plans He has for us.” (Jeremiah. 28:11)

Philip Keller in his classic book “A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23”  writes the following words: 

“As I have moved among men and women from all strata of society as both a lay pastor and a scientist I have become increasingly aware of one thing.  It is the boss/master in peoples lives who makes the difference in their destiny.”

Who is the boss/master of your life?       

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The Need for Awakening

I get a lot of email traffic from different Christian writers. I love to read how God is impacting the body of Christ in all areas of the church. I’ve been reading about the condition of the church. Any committed follower of Jesus would quickly agree, that overall, the Western church is not doing well in impacting our world.

We have the largest number of men quitting the ministry than ever before. I am not sure of all the reasons why, but my hunch is the church is ceasing to be a supernatural demonstration of the power of God. Very little changed lives but a lot of activity.

I don’t know about you, but my heart yearns for an outpouring of the power of God among the church, a real spiritual awakening like this continent has never experienced. It has been well over a hundred years since we have had a national spiritual awakening.

I often pray for the Lord to allow me to experience a great spiritual awakening during my lifetime. Not for the sake of being part of history, but for the sake of a world who has, like Israel of the Old Testament, forgotten God.

Regarding awakening, I recently read an article from a Bible College professor named Dr. David Riser. He related an event in a class that greatly affected his life. As I read the event and heard the student’s question and comment, it also got me to thinking.

So for today’s posting I want to share an excerpt from that article as food for thought regarding the need for a major spiritual awakening. I would love to hear your heart regarding the matter of spiritual awakening.

“I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this: Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.

I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.” After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked such a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?” I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, “Yes.” Then she asked “When a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” I didn’t dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha’s question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. “When a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?” There is only one answer to her question. The answer is “yes”. The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don’t even know Him; and I mean really know Him.”

Bottom Line
The above story is certainly food for thought. Is this weakening of the church a sign of end times, or is it the circle of apostasy cycle that we have seen for centuries? (Circle of apostasy is plenty, backsliding, idolatry, permissiveness, catastrophe/bondage, repentance).

Regardless of why the church has almost no influence on our society, we are in need of a visitation of the Holy Spirit’s power and cleansing. Will you join me in searching your heart and as David said, “search me oh God and see if there be any wicked way in me?”