Revival....

For the past few weeks, we have been virtually made to distinctively understand that a revival is coming our way. So, I am told repeatedly by a friend by I am threading on dangerous grounds and I am about to stir up/kick up or even messed up a pretty big storm. Well, I want to make one thing crystal clear - I am no doubter, a mere mortal man but I love God more. So, before you draw out your sharpened shrapnel of swords and flying daggers of criticism and a multitude rounds of religious/super spiritual bullets to rapture this fragile view of mine, hear me out then judged me if you want to.
We, the good spiritual people are just so gullible when the word of revival is being preached on the pulpit. Again, I am not discrediting anyone or man of God preaching about this matter. In fact, I have utmost respect for truthful and honest man of God who will share this Word when he receives revelation from the One Above. What I am asking today is do we need revival or resurrection in our churches today? Ah! You see, there is such a big difference! A good friend of mine, Vive told me that there is indeed a very big difference and from his inspiration, viola! the birth of this article.
Personally if you asked me today, I will say that we need resurrection rather than revival today. You see, for revival to come by and spread like wild fire in our nation today as I have heard many preachers talk about this, resurrection and big radical changes have to come first. Are we ready for revival? How can we ever claimed to be victorious and ready for revival when the house we built for the inhabitation of God still lumbers in tatters of complacency, cliques, one man showmanship, spiritual blindness, uncaring , corruption, scandals and utter disregard for life itself. “Whoa! This man has gone bonkers with such things he is saying “- you may say. Like I said, you can be a blind allegiance to one's authority without you even knowing it!
If you care enough to look into the revivals and dig deep into your reading materials as in the revivals in Brownsville a.k.a Pensacola, Azusa Street,, Shantung, Congo, Toronto and the rest of the revival history until today, you would learn distinctively that there were indeed radical changes and cleaning up before God’s mighty movement comes. I have studied it and note that prayer is not the only tool that is going to bring revival! It is the total transformed heart and mind of the people that is going to bring revival in this land today.
My question to you today is simple : Have we fulfilled God’s promise of looking after the fatherless, the widows, feeding/attending to the poor, manning His Sheeps with Godly love, care for our neighbour – whatever colour or creed, attend to our sickly, care for our old, repent from our ways of life – sinful lust , debauchery, jealousy, envy and the wickedness of the heart or are we still camouflaging under the pretense that “everything is under control” or even hide behind the cloak of Scriptures to defend our stand that we are “ a healthy church thing”? I asked these questions because we are far from ever tasting revival no matter what the man at the pulpit says if we do not change our mindset and our hearts. It is so easy to say revival is coming because people will be pumped up for it but the ground work has to been done first. I say this with no malice intended for any preachers or man of God who may be preaching this at this time of our lives and let God deal with me ever so severely if I have erred against His people. Like I said, I am just a mere human being but I know that revival comes when there is true repentance in the hearts and minds of the people. Revival comes when humbled knees are bent towards the ground from the top of the food chain in our church right to the very sweeper of the hall and pavements we walk on today. Revival comes when hearts are rendered unto Him and repentance overflows that even the ants will weep when we confess our repentance to Him. Revivals comes when we start to physically and truthfully care, feed, empathized and helped and not doing it with our lip service of “ I will pray for you” thing and then we walk away doing nothing. We are confirmed experts in this field and this is an on-going process that had been a plaque in our churches all these years. Money, bigger building, family promotions, No.1 book selling promotions, performance CD selling, power struggles, arrogance, promotion of personal ministry, weak governance, weak leadership plus a string of other ills had dominated our House of God today. This is a fact and there are plenty of examples around today. Harsh words from a harsh man, you may say but this is the truth. Swallow the truth , break down the arrogance & prideful ways and learn humbleness. Searched your hearts and tell me this is not true. Do not be clouded that everything is rosy and nice today when it is not. I am not afraid to offend anybody because I have only one life to spare and if I ever screw it up just to satisfy some pompous individuals at the top, then, I am heading right to where most people would go through - the Wide Gate!
In a world of wickedness we live in, we have to start to care for others and not just flow with the flow of the world by turning away from doing what is just and the right thing. We have become so paranoid as believers that we should only take care of our own and let others take care of the others. This is the very mentality that revival will definitely NOT COME or worst still, we will miss the revival boat entirely.
We need to resurrect from our spiritual death today. We need to be resurrected in our prayer life, our hearts and the way we look at others today. We need to be resurrected from our slumber of inconsistency , complacency and imbalance in treating others. We need to be resurrected in dealing and feel compassion for the needy, the poor, the widows and the fatherless. We need to be resurrected to feel for others in compassion and do something about it. We need to be resurrected from the ill desires of the world that is governing our lives today. One thing I must say is that we need not have a bigger church just because a revival is going to happen or coming. If and when revival does hit our church today, even the walkways and pews on the sidewalks will be filled with people who will want God and not some building or preacher. It is God that they want NOT individuals! I believe anyone who believe and have the passion of God in him/her will be able to lead someone to Christ on that day. I am drawn to the fact that our Lord preached at the mountain tops and there weren’t any pews or stands for the people to sit. They sat their butt on the ground and listened to Him. Skeptics will argue that we now live in different times and we need to have seats, bigger building and so on but my answer is simple. It is not where they sit that matters - It is their hunger for God that matters and they would not even be bothered where they sit if they want the Lord! Correct me if I am wrong on this matter! Answer me this :- Why would people camp at sidewalks for days just to buy a concert ticket of a music performer? Do these people care if they eat, sleep and get dirty there? They just want to get the ticket and get in, right? Rightly so, that is what is going to happen when the people want the Lord. They don’t want buildings, plush seats or bothered about carpet flooring. They just want the Lord, isn’t it? It is not about us anymore – It is about the Lord!
So, if you want revival to hit our church today, we have to change our mindset. We have to wake up from our slumber like an awakened sleeping giant. We have to pray like never before and allow God to burn through the impurities in our lives and our church today. Pains and changes would have to come before revival comes. Afterall, one day, all of us will have to give an account to our Lord. It will either be “Well done, good and faithful servant” or “ I know you not ; Depart from me, you evildoer!” The choice is entirely yours.~