|
|
|
|
 |
|
Revival
THE NEED OF THE TIMES
By DON STANTON
the Alternative to Revival
#7 IN SERIES of articles on revival
|
 |
|
“Will You not return and revive us that Your people may rejoice in You?
Show us Your lovingkindness, O YHWH, and grant us Your salvation.”
(Psalm 85:6) |
THIS IS the heart cry of God’s people who yearn for God to revive and
restore true spiritual life to the church. The psalmist here places the
onus for revival on the LORD, for ultimately it is only God who can
revive. But at the same time, YHWH puts the onus on His people, as we
have seen in these articles.
“If I shut up the heavens and there is no rain, or if I command the
locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and
My people who are called by My Name humble themselves and pray, and seek
My Face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven,
will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)
If we are not willing to fulfil these conditions, then we will not see
genuine revival and healing in our lands. We will continue to struggle
with our pathetic efforts to win souls and to keep the church together.
That is an unacceptable alternative, but we will accept it regardless!
Tell me though; are these conditions so terribly difficult? Are they
impossible?
Yes, true, it is very difficult for some of us to humble ourselves;
true, it is very difficult for some Christians to pray; true it takes
time to seek the Face of the LORD, and some of us just don’t have that
type of spare time; and, of course, some of us just don’t want to give
up our wicked ways!
We seem to think that because there is an “if” in front of the above
conditions, they are all optional. But you know, these are not just Old
Covenant commands. They are very much New Covenant:
“… all of you, be submissive to one another, and clothe yourselves with
humility, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE
HUMBLE. [Proverbs 3:34]. HUMBLE yourselves, then, under the mighty hand
of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety upon
Him, because He cares, and is concerned about you.” (1 Peter 5:5-7)
“PRAYING in the Spirit at all times, with every prayer and supplication.
To this end, keep alert and watch with all perseverance, interceding for
all the set-apart people of God.” (Ephesians 6:18)
We are to pray with a sense of urgency.
We are to pray believing that it is effectual.
We are to pray persistently.
“DRAW NEAR to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded! Express your grief
and distress, mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning
and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the Presence of the
Master and He will lift you up.” (James 4:8-10)
“‘The Master knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the
Name of the Messiah TURN AWAY FROM WICKEDNESS’.” (2 Timothy 2:19)
God does not hold out revival as a type of special offer which we are
free to accept or refuse as we desire! And it is not offered as a
“spiritual spectacular,” or as a boost for the churches’ ailing finances
and falling attendance. Revival is not a bonus or a bonanza. It is an
essential work of conviction and restoration wherever there is spiritual
decline. The purpose of revival is to bring God’s people back to the
spiritual state that Yahweh intended for them – to the praise of His
glorious Name!
If we have grown cold, lukewarm or carnal in our individual, personal
lives, there is no acceptable alternative to revival. The unacceptable
alternative for a person, or a church which refuses to be revived, is
barrenness, stagnation, and judgment.
When personal revival is refused, the possibility of wider revival is
hindered. To refuse revival in one’s life or assembly, is to grieve and
quench the Spirit, and this must provoke the discipline or judgment of
the LORD.
“The Lord shall judge His people.” (Hebrews 10:30)
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of YHWH, the LORD, nor
lose heart when you are rebuked and corrected by Him; for YHWH
disciplines those He loves.” (Proverbs 3:11-12. Hebrews 12:5-6)
We do not like to accept the possibility of judgment for believers.
Unbelievers, we know, will all stand at the Great White Throne. But for
believers we read, “There is no condemnation for those who are in the
Messiah, Y’shua.” And yet the Scripture clearly says …
“It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.”
(1 Peter 4:17)
There is a discipline here and now; and there’s the Bema - the Judgment
Seat of Christ - ahead, for believers! Certainly there is a vast
difference between the Judgment Seat, and the fearful Great White
Throne.
The Bema - the Judgment Seat, is an evaluation time when every believer
will give account of himself. The works believers have done as
believers, will be tested as to what sort they are – spiritual or
carnal. It is the time when the believer will receive his rewards for
faithfulness, but he will also suffer loss because of the carnality of
his life; it will be burned up. Obedience and faithfulness will be
standards used for this evaluation.
“If any man’s work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer
loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
(Romans 14:12. See also 2 Cor. 5:10, I Cor. 3:13, 15)
This is the coming accounting day for every one of us who are saved.
The unbeliever, however, has no rewards, and he will be judged and
sentenced because of his rejection of the pardon offered to Him which
has been provided through the Messiah’s sacrifice. And so he will reap
the wages of his sin - death.
THE MINISTRY OF DISCIPLINE
The Lord Jesus disciplines His people constantly.
In Revelation 1 to 3 we see the Saviour walking in the midst of the
seven churches of Asia Minor. He is presented there as the One whose
eyes are like a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass – this
symbolises His searching and penetrating judgment, and the divine
firmness with which He judges evil in His church.
In the seventh message, the Master declares, “As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten.” (Rev. 3:19). Here is the reason for the
disciplinary judgment of believers. God’s love! God did not plan for us,
and provide redemption at the cost of the life of His Beloved, so that
we might spend our crucial training years playing with sin, compromising
with the world, pleasing self, and feeding a carnal life.
If redemption and being born into God’s family were the end goal, we
might expect to escape chastening. But God’s intention is that we go
deeper into His life, that we should rise higher in His grace and faith,
and that we should reach out to other souls who also need salvation. We
are to grow, to become strong in the Lord, and mature in His ways and
work.
No wonder then that our complacency (lukewarmness) is sickening to the
Saviour! No wonder that God allows trials to shake us! No wonder the
spiritual conflict within us is strong. And it’s no wonder Y’shua the
Messiah says;
“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)
We are not on a picnic, brethren; we are on a pilgrim pathway, and that
pathway involves warfare, as well as training in righteousness and
Godliness.
It is the Father’s purpose that all His children should grow to
maturity, to be conformed to the image of His only begotten Son, and to
participate ever more fully in His life, His character, and His
authority, and His joy.
When spiritual decline sets in, however, grieving the spirit, hindering
God’s purpose, and dishonoring His Name, the Father’s love and purpose
compels Him to minister to that soul or church - to minister in rebuke
and in comfort, in chastisement and discipline, in breaking and in
building up. He will use the means He knows is best in each life and
circumstance. He may use joy; He may use sorrow and sickness, trials or
tragedy. He may use ecstasy, but He may use emptiness. He may even use
depression and despair to bring a believer to the end of himself, and
then revive and rectify his life.
It may be possible, however, that even after such a divine ministry, the
believer continues to resist and grieve the Spirit of God. The result
will be barrenness, stagnation and constant carnality. It could then
come to a state where the Lord fulfils His warning;
“I will remove your candlestick out of its place.” (Revelation. 2:5)
The believer’s witness will dry up, and he will become like a dead man.
Instead of being a vessel of useful-ness and honour, he will become a
vessel of dishonour.
“Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but
also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some are for honour and
some are for dishonour. Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these
things, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified, useful to the
Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:20-21)
In these crucial endtimes, may the Master find amongst us many whose
lives He can touch and revive. May He graciously minister to our needs,
and make us vessels of honour; vessels into which He may pour torrents
of Living Water that will overflow to the many perishing souls around
us.
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our
Master, Y’shua Messiah. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will
bring it to pass.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). Amen!! |
|
|
|
|
