Why NOT revival? Because people just don’t want one. Continuing on from last week’s episode, Steve discusses the reasons that motivate people to steer clear of revival and the power and presence of God.
Unfortunately, God often gets the blame. People think that God just doesn’t want to come down and start a revival right now. People says this is not God’s timing or His will.
Why Revival?
But God wants revival! Revival is the activation of God’s sovereign will to resuscitate and bring back to life the half-dead and the prodigal sons and daughters.
Today, upsurges of excitement in our churches often causes people to misdiagnose revival. Longer, louder, more vibrant services may be part of the rumblings of revival, but not necessarily true revival.
People do NOT want true revival because they are afraid of giving up their worldliness. People think God will ask them to get rid of all their prized possessions and the things they enjoy. God does not want to take away all your possessions. God blessed and prospered chosen leaders in the Bible like Abraham, David, and Solomon. No, the worldliness God wants us to give up is all the ungodly things in our hearts that are not part of His Kingdom.
“God is going to ask you to give up things in your heart that are not a part of His Kingdom.”
Let Go and Let God!
Religious people can get rid of the outside stuff, but they hang onto the inside stuff that God is really asking us to forfeit. Worldliness is in the heart. People, even Christians, have a hard time letting go of the things like unforgiveness, bitterness, and pride because there’s a carnal pleasure in it. James 4:4 says that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God.
We cannot try to just keep improving who we already are! The Kingdom of God seeks to transform us into something new. To have a move of God, we must clean the worldliness out of our hearts. We can’t just wipe off the outside! Revival can’t come until we as God’s people humble ourselves, let go of our deep worldliness, and clean our hearts.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Questions:
What’s stopping you from running for revival?
Have you ever just wiped your “outside” clean—instead of making heart changes?
Are you holding onto unforgiveness or any other carnal pleasure?
