All We Need

IT'S NOT REVIVAL. It's more of a continual stirring.

The image of revival we picture isn’t God’s. It’s ours. We’ve designed it as the God-party of all god-parties. There’ll be dancing, boisterous singing, and strange phenomena. It’ll last hours … days … draw crowds. Onlookers.

But what is God’s heart in these things? First, God moves in people. Saul, before he was king, got into a crowd of prophets and became a new man. It says, “The Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them (1 Samuel 10:11).” People who saw him asked, “Is that Saul?” It wasn’t like him. Another instance, King David got so wrapped into the joy of Jehovah, one day, that he danced the two-step in his all-togethers (2 Samuel 6:14). Michal, his wife, saw him and didn’t know him.

God can and will inspire men to do unusual things.

But not to wear an old coat out, to be RE-VIVED means you weren’t VIVED, and what God wants is for us to WALK IN HIS SPIRIT 24-7. We should never “come down” from His Presence, never be “in the flesh,” more attuned to our physical desires than our spiritual ones. In fact, I’m just going to lay it all out here – Jesus came so that we can live full of God, closer to heaven than to earth, all the time, every single day. His death and Resurrection provides all we need to live free of sin, death, and sickness and disease. He is our Protector and Defender. We don’t need to fear accidents, illnesses, poverty, or any other product of sin. If we trust Him to that extent.

“I am like the gate. Anyone who comes in through me will be safe. He will come in and he will go out. And he will find plenty of food.” (John 10:9, EasyEnglish)

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6)

Problem is, we give ourselves other options, just in case, in order to deal with our fears. I get this. I’ve done it. But when life stripped me of any other option but Jesus, I discovered the Truth. He is all we need. What doctors can’t provide, God did. And it wasn’t because I earned it, faithed it in, or swung my Spirit-sword. What the Spirit asked me to do was to trust Him, to watch my words, to speak only His Word, and to reject all doubt. I felt doubt. I had opportunities to be angry, to be afraid, to give up. I kept going forward.

He is a constant stirring within me now. I’ll never be cold and empty, at a loss for words, or at the will of men’s opinions. I trust Him even to that extent. My words are His Words and they are not an opportunity for anyone else to act sinful. I will not be guilty of causing people to turn away from God. This is a serious thing to me, and it requires laying all I am in His hands. He has assured me He knows my heart and He will do it. I trust Him 100%. I also trust Him to guide me into His complete will. I can only see it in part. I have His promises to me, but much of what He has planned is out of my view. I can become frustrated by this.

What I choose to do, instead, is to rest. I have repeated this to you often, but we spend wasted time fighting to secure what Jesus has already won. Our only battles now are with ourselves, and even those can be at peace when we walk in God’s Spirit. I have to point out here that what we are seeking FROM Him IS Him. We speak of “the Word”, of “faith”, of “prayer”, and of “the anointing” as objects when they are God Himself. The Word is Jesus (John 1:2). The anointing is the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:27). He is never disconnected from it. The reason virtue went out of Jesus and into the woman with the issue of blood is because the Spirit saw her and knew her. He then flowed into her. The reason the handkerchiefs and aprons of Paul were filled with God’s power (Acts 19:12) and when applied to the sick, they were healed, is because that power was the Holy Spirit, who is found everywhere in all places. It was not that, like oil from a bottle, anointing was poured out, and it always does some natural process. No, God was in the handkerchief, and God worked in the sick one. Faith is trust in God’s love, His care for you. We only grow in faith when we know Him more, when we know Him intimately. It isn’t, again, a measurable thing in amplitude or force.

God’s heart for us in this hour is peace. He longs for the altar call to take precedence again and for our care for people to become an everyday, everywhere we go behavior. Stop inviting people to church for an experience. Show them Jesus in your lifestyle, in how you talk, how you respond, and especially in your lack of anger, criticism, and what is in many, who call it revival, simply outlandish behavior.

“Blessed are those who seek peace, who seek to reconcile all people—of all nations, races, and cultures—to God for all time, for they will be known as the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41)

Photo by Daniel Gomez on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com