Revival In My Heart

Repost from my Myspace Blog, 6-9-08

A few weeks ago, on Memorial Day, I felt the Lord asking me to take some time to be set apart, so I decided to set TV and non-necessary internet aside for a few weeks. I went to someone's home that day for a barbeque, and while I was there, they were watching GodTV. On this channel was a rebroadcast of a meeting that had taken place in Lakeland, Florida... meetings were being held nightly and had been for fifty-something consecutive days. Not only were the thousands of people attending the meetings being touched by the power of God, but the live broadcasts on GodTV meant that the revival was accesible to the entire world.

At first, when I looked at the people attending and the way some of them were acting (jerking around, falling out, waving flags, etc), I was a little tempted to judge the revival as a gathering of a bunch of flakes... but then I watched a little longer and the spirit of the thing began to grip my heart. If you look past some of the craziness going on, you see a group of people absolutely HUNGRY for the presence of Jesus, desperate for a taste of the glory of God. The hunger that exists in these meetings transcends every cultural barrier, every age, every denomination. I was arrested by the beauty of this gathering of worshipers. So, I wanted to go.

Tuesday night I went to the revival, and I spent almost two hours in very deep worship, simply soaking in the presence of God. It was, in two words, life-changing. I felt a fire rise up inside of me that had long been gone... the more I worshipped, the more I cried out for the fire of God, the more stirred up I felt. In His presence, I felt certain that my God could do ANYTHING, and faith began to rise in me.

I returned again twice, on Thursday and Sunday, and each time, the worship was so powerful. It wasn't the songs - the songs we sang were all ones I would consider "old" or "played out". It wasn't the singers. It was the heart of God's people - a heart of desperation, a heart that cries, "Arise, God, and take your place!" A heart that requires the presence of God to live - no more dead works, no more routine and tradition for the sake of filling a schedule. A heart that says "I MUST have Jesus."

The most beautiful thing about the revival is that when God's people are so set on Him, and when the atmosphere is so inviting for the Holy Spirit, He just sits right down in the middle of the whole thing and starts to bless His people by healing them. In the presence of God, every incomplete, broken thing MUST be made whole -spirit, soul, or body. And that's what happens. Physical healings occur. The dead are raised. Sinners repent. The wounded are restored.

It would be tempting to become a "Revival Junkie" and just run out to Lakeland whenever I need a quick fix of the presence of God. But this revival has pushed me to require more of the Lord in my every-day life. Yes, I want revival at City of Life Church. I want revival in Kissimmee... in Florida... in the US... and the world. But first, I MUST have it in me.

And it starts in my house. On the floor. Face down, before the holiness of God.

"The Gospel is not an old, old story, freshly told. It is a fire in the Spirit, fed by the flame of Immortal Love; and woe unto us, if, through our negligence to stir up the Gift of God which is within us, that fire burns low." -Dr. R. Moffat Gautrey