Revival

Today I just want to take time to pray together.  On college campuses across the United States revival has been breaking out. And this is not just limited to the US, it's happening around the world.   It's a beautiful thing to see and hear.  I rejoice in this move of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord promises in His Word: Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14.   God's forgiveness and restoration is freely given, but we must do our part.  

Lord, we come before You now with humble hearts needing forgiveness for the many, many sins of this nation, this world and of ourselves.  We seek Your face, seek Your will, seek Your heart.  Lord, let the Holy Spirit have His way.  Let people be convicted of sin and of righteousness.  Give hearts of repentance to the inhabitants of earth.  Bring Your holy fire to this land, burn away the chaff.  Lord, we love to see the worship of Your Name, the glorification of who You are.  We stand with these young people and worship Your holiness, Your righteousness, Your love.  We know You are healer, savior, redeemer and the lover of our souls.  There is none like You!  Be glorified!  

Lord, I pray this revival would grow.  I pray that it will bring lasting changes to lives everywhere.  I pray that once the emotions fade that an eternal fire would stay lit in the hearts of those who have come to You through these movements.  I pray for those who are coming to know You now.  I lift them before You and ask You to bring into their lives, mentors, disciplers.  I ask for Your church in these areas to come along side these new and searching believers.  Let mature, well grounded in You mentors come along side to teach, to encourage and to hold steady these young Christians.  

Lord, I pray that those who are speaking against these wonderful happenings would be silenced.  Whether they are inside the church or outside the church.  Let no weapon formed against this work of the Spirit prosper.  Let Satan's plans and schemes fall flat and come to nothing.  Let Your children be in prayer for the mighty work to continue, both globally, nationally and individually.  No one can stay Your hand!  Hallelujah!  

Lord, let us see souls saved and lives changed and bodies, minds and hearts healed.  Hallelujah!  Glory to You Lord!  Praise You Jesus Christ, our Savior and redeemer, our rescuer and King.  Hallelujah!  Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Let Your work grow and prosper!  We love You Lord.  And we love to see Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Glory!  

It is in the mighty, precious and powerful Name of Jesus our Lord I pray.  Amen!  

Kept

Jude 24  24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 

John 10:27-29  27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.  No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.

1 Peter 1:3-5 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Since I've been studying the divided kingdom of Israel I've been learning a lot more about God's character.  I've learned His love doesn't depend on me.  His reaching out doesn't depend on me.  His faithfulness does not depend on me.  He keeping His Word doesn't depend on me.  His plan doesn't depend on me.  He is loving, even in discipline, faithful in even my waywardness.  

The Israelites rebelled time and time again.  Just like us.  We waver in faith and obedience.  The Lord brings correction to those He loves.  And like Israel, eventually if we don't repent He will leave us to our consequences.  He will give us over to enslavement to our sin.  But, and this is a big but, He does not utterly forsake us.  He waits.  Waits for us to get so sick of our sin that we run back to Him crying for forgiveness.  

You see, He is the One who keeps us.  He is the One who holds us in His hands.  He is the One who died to save us and He is the One who will bring us home to Himself.  

Now, we may live in our mess for a very long time if we don't turn our hearts and eyes back to our Father.  He will not be mocked.  What we sow we will reap.  The Lord will allow us to fall into slavery and despair if that's what it takes to get us back to Him.  Look at the prodigal son.  He had less to eat than the pigs (unclean animals to the Jewish people of that day) he was taking care of.  He lived in filth and rags until he came to his senses and sought the forgiveness of his father.  And it's the same with us and our heavenly Father.  

But God's love never fails.  His correction always comes from that place of love.  He is keeping us in His sights wherever we are.  

Lord, thank You that You never fail to love us, even when we are at our most unlovable.  Thank You that we can never be taken from Your hands, never go to far as to not run back to Your arms.  Thank You for not stopping to reach out to us, even when we stomp away and follow our own ways.  Thank You that there is an inheritance for Your children, and that You will bring us to that place of abundance.  Lord, give us hearts to hear Your voice, to be obedient, to repent quickly and not need the severe punishments as did the nation of Israel.  Soften our hearts.  Thank You that we can count on Your love, every day...even our worst days.  We love You.  It's in Jesus Name I pray.  Amen.

Repent quickly.  Obey quickly.  And don't forget you are loved.  

Isaiah 40:1-2  “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”  Says your God.  2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,  That her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

Addendum

I've been meditating more on the difference between how Isaiah felt when he came before the throne of God and how we are told to come before the throne boldly, crying out Abba.  I just can't seem to get this picture out of my head and I am thrilled with that.  

Isaiah came during a time of extreme turmoil in his land.  Idolatry and rebellion against the One true God were the norm.  Much like our society today.  The difference is He did not yet have the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God the Son.  We do.  The system Isaiah lived under only provided absolution through the blood of animals.  The holy, precious blood of the Lamb had not yet been shed.  Isaiah spoke of this future event in chapter 53 of his book.  He saw the sacrifice to come.  

Who has believed our message?  To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?  2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.  There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.  3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.  We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.  He was despised, and we did not care.  4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.  And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!  5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.  He was whipped so we could be healed.  6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.  We have left God’s paths to follow our own.  Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.  7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word.  He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.  And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.  8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away.  No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream.  But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.  9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone.  But he was buried like a criminal;    he was put in a rich man’s grave.  10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.  Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants.  He will enjoy a long life,   and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.  11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.  And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.  12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death.  He was counted among the rebels.  He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

So, I've concluded that yes, we need to come before our God with honor, awe, respectful fear and amazement...He is God, awesome and mighty.  But we come boldly knowing we are coveded by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.  In humility and gratitude we stand before our Lord knowing that it is through Jesus we are there.  In Him we stand accepted and loved, cleanses of all unrighteousness.  Not on our own, but because of Jesus.  

Colossians 1:22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

Jude 24  Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.

Lord, only through You can these two amazing truths be true.  Only in You can we know who You are, Your majesty, Your magnitude, Your holiness.  All power, glory, honor and praise belong to You.  And yet, only through Your work on the Cross can we come before you, assured of Your glad welcome.  Only by the shed blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ can we come before as sons and daughters, crying out Daddy!  We worship You for Your greatness, Your awesomeness.  And we embrace You as our Father and Savior, the One Who loved us so much that You died for us.  I truly am in awe of You.  In the Name of our Jesus, amen. 

Meditate on these verses.  

Contrasts

Isaiah 6: 1-7 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!  The whole earth is filled with his glory!” 4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.  5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”  6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.  

Luke 15:11-24 11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.  13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.  17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’  20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. 22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

Contrast these two scenes.  In the first one, Isaiah is brought to the throne room of God.  The holiness of this place and our Lord is beyond words and imaginations.  Isaiah is brought to the end of himself, he is broken and ruined because he realizes his utter sinfulness and unworthiness to be in the Presence of God.  In the second scene, we see a father (and in the parable this father represented God the Father) who patiently waits and watches for his wayward child to return.  And when he does, the father falls upon the son in compassionate love and acceptance of his lost child.  

So which scene depicts the God we serve?  How do we approach this holy beyond measure, fearsome, compassionate being?  In the New Testament we are told in Hebrews 4:16  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.  And we are told by Paul in Romans 8:15  So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”  And in the Old Testament we are given the instruction to fear the Lord.  Dueteronomy 8:6 “So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.  Psalm 33:8 Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him.  Psalm 111:10 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever!

And lest you think it's an Old/New Testament difference, just take a walk through the book of Psalms and see how much David and the other Psalmists reveled in the Father's love and compassion.  In the New Testament we see where Jesus spoke of those who don't do God's will as being cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Paul told us in Hebrews 10:30 30 For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge.  I will pay them back.”  He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.”31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  He was speaking of those who by continued deliberate sin, counted as the covenant sealed in the holy blood of Christ as common and as nothing.  

What a beautiful contrast of our place in Christ, the work Christ has done for us and how He has opened the way to the Father.  As I was walking this morning I listened to a blog on Isaiah's experience in the throne room and was taken ahead to the picture Christ gave of the prodigal son.  Because the cleansing of our hearts has been accomplished through the shed blood of our Savior, we now are welcomed into His Presence with compassion and love.  As Christ died on the Cross, the way to the holy of holies was torn open from top to bottom.  Torn open by the Lord Himself to draw us to Himself.   Mark 15:38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.  

Do we still come humbly before our God?  Yes.  We come to Him, open and lowly, as a little child.  We place ourselves willingly under His command, respectfully approaching Him as King, but not in self-loathing and fear.  We come boldly, humbly, in child-like faith to our loving Abba.  Our Daddy.  But we never forget that He is also our King, and therefore deserves the ultimate respect.  His Presence should bring comfort, safety and love, but also awe and fear as well.  It all works together.  As I walked and pondered these things this morning, I found that because God is God, He is both our Daddy and our King.  We can have both boldness and fear.  We can come awed before Him and be assured of a loving welcome.  What an amazing God we serve!

I am awed by You Lord.  I come before You now with fear and assuredness.  Your holiness, Your purity, You absolute righteousness stands along side Your love, compassion and acceptance.  You alone, can be all things at all times.  You are awesome, fearsome and amazing beyond our thoughts and imaginations, but also our very present, very intimate, loving Father.  Thank You.  I absolutely stand in awe of You.  Thank You that only You could make the way for this to happen, for us to be welcomed into Your Presence.  Isaiah was cleansed by a coal, we have been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  And it is in His Name we come and praise You.   Amen. 

Think about this.  

Relentless

Do you live with besetting sin?  Are there areas in your life that you just can't seem to get victory in?  Do you feel like you make the same mistakes over and over?  I'm right there with you.  I struggle to keep my attitude sweet and patient.  I lose my patience and my mouth goes in the wrong direction way more often then I like.  Ugh!!!  Again and again.  

Thankfully, we are told in 1 John 1:9  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.  Also in Psalm 103:12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.  And also thankfully we are made right in God's sight through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

All true.  All glorious manifestations of our Father's love and grace.  But still, just because we are forgiven does not mean we are not to fight against the sins which so easily ensnare us. Romans 6:1-2 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace?  Of course not!  Since we have died to sin how can we continue to live in it.  Hebrews 10:26 Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.  Does it bother you to sin?  

Now, maybe these all sound contradictory.  But they are not.  We are forgiven and redeemed when we humble ourselves in repentance.  And that is where the relentlessness comes in for me.  Lamentations 2:18 Cry aloud before the Lord, O walls of Jerusalem!  Let your tears flow like a river day and night.  Give yourselves no rest; give your eyes no relief.   I see the call to relentlessness here.  

I will be relentless in my repentance.  Relentless in my pursuit of holiness.  I will continually humble myself, no matter how many times I am besieged by the same sin.  I will continually run to my Father and Savior for forgiveness and help.  I believe what it says in Romans 3:22-25a 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.  23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.  And I will relentlessly mourn for my sin and seek solace in my faithful Savior. Jesus Himself has told us Matthew 5:3-6  "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.  4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.  6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,  for they will be satisfied."

Lord, thank You so much that Your forgiveness is so unswerving, so abundant, so complete.  Lord, I loath that I struggle with the same sin time and time again.  My heart is humble before You in my mourning of this.  Your love knows no bounds.  And for that I am so grateful.  Please let me not take for granted this loving forgiveness You offer.  Help me to relentlessly repent, relentlessly seek, and relentlessly refuse to give up in standing against the sin in my life.  It is You who work in me.  It is You who will change me.  Thank You Lord.  Help us to remove any deliberate sin from our lives immediately and to renew our minds and thinking to line up with Your Word that we may be made holy.  You know we all have weak areas where victory seems impossible.  But nothing is impossible with You.  Let us relentlessly seek to work out our salvation with fear and trembling...constantly pursuing holiness.  Thank You again Lord for Your mercy, patience and love.  It's in the only Savior's Name I pray, amen.

Is your heart repentant?  Do you make light of your sin or do you humble yourself before God, submitting to His commands.  Are you relentless?