No Revival

No Revival
Sept 30, 2013
Jeremiah 29:13  "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

The concept of a spiritual revival can be an intriguing idea.  Revival is generally thought of as a re-newed movement of the Lord's activity or power among Christians.  It is a sought after movement as people petition the Lord to bring revival throughout the land.  The hope is that  the Lord would send His presence into the hearts and minds of people, bringing revitalization to a stale or stagnant life, changing their lives.  It can be marked with miracles, signs, and wonders, creating a renewed interest in the Lord.  It can be an extremely effective time-period of bringing new people into the Christian faith.  It is exciting and scary all at once, but filled with the Lord's power nonetheless.  But the concept of a spiritual revival is a man-made idea.

No where in Scripture does it describe a time where the Lord simply sends down a special movement of His power among Christians on His own volition.  It is not His method; it is our perception of the way He works but it is not how or what He desires.  It is not what He designed.  The Lord designed that we would walk and talk with Him on a daily basis, accepting His forgiveness and living a life full of power and a sound mind.  The Lord designed that we would move mountains with our faith and see the sick healed on a regular basis.  The Lord designed that we would have Him in our hearts at all times and live as one of His disciples 24/7.  But despite the Lord's design, we screw it up.  We mess up His plan entirely.  The Lord didn't invent revival.  He knows we need it but He didn't create it.

The opportunity or need for revival comes only after man lets darkness, laziness, and discord enter into his life.  It is man that creates the need for revival, as the Lord originally and continually intends that we live in a constant alive state.  The Lord desires that we would never need revived.  It is our own fault, our own doing.  Thankfully, the Lord accepts the genuine moment when we realize we are in need of being revived.  He acknowledges it and is willing to let it happen, but He does not send it like we think.  The Lord does not send revival, just the opposite; WE allow ourselves to receive it when we truly acknowledge Him.

The Lord didn't leave us.  His power was and is always there, ready and willing and able to perform miracles in our daily lives.  His ear is always attentive to hear our hearts cry, even if we are not willing to speak with Him.  The Lord never left us; we simply became dark, lazy, and full of discord.  In a true state of genuine revival it is the heart of man that is turned back toward the Lord.  We think it is Him who needs to return to us and send His power once again, but that does not contain even a hint of the truth.  His power didn't go anywhere. If we sense the need for revival it is because we stopped allowing Him to be Lord of our daily lives.  We shoved Him away, wrote Him out of our governments, banned Him from our schools, and continually refuse to acknowledge Him in our workplace.  It is not the Lord who needs to bring a mighty move of His presence.  It is man that needs to return to Him.

It is our own fault and we need to turn our hearts toward Him.  Then and only then will we see a movement of Him among us again.  Revival is not something sent from Heaven, it is something acknowledged in our hearts when we truly humble ourselves to seek the Lord.  It starts in the heart so let it begin with yours and mine.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  2 Chron 7:14, 2 Chron 30:9, Hosea 6:1-3, Psalm 85, Prov 8:17, John 15:1-10