THE CHURCH AND REVIVAL

In almost over 11 years of believing and praying for atmospheric-transformational revival in His church in the Western Michigan area of which we reside Karen and I have yet to truly experience what we know to be a true move of Holy Spirit.  Sure we can find the right creative team, musicians, and speakers, and we can make a weak attempt at manipulating what we consider to be a Holy Spirit led revival but it comes no where near what Yahweh wants to do for the Bride He is returning for.  The sad fact is that without making a conscious choice to depend on the Holy Spirit we can still do a lot in our own flesh.  But think of what truly could be done if only we would allow Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct when it comes to reviving His church?  Several years ago we viewed a series of revival dvd's produced by the Sentinel Group which in one segment shared the fact that we can have everything in place according to what we feel will generate revival, yet Holy Spirit comes in the back door with a completely different approach and we miss it!  Oh how are hearts have ached when visiting a church where the Holy Spirit wants to do something special and yet is quenched by agenda, and format, and time constraints.  If Holy Spirit does not work without our 60-90 minute time continuum then we have no patience to wait and are on our way to our favorite restaurant to indulge ourselves.  When the church was birthed it was birthed in a prayer meeting where the gathered were waiting for the promised Holy Spirit.  They were patient knowing that what Jesus promised them would come to pass.  How can we His church not be patient enough to wait until His Spirit comes into our services to accomplish the revival work He wants to do and then spread that fire from place to place.  Let it be our prayer that we allow you Holy Spirit to work in your time and in your place.  May we never guilty of grieving or quenching you.  May it be said we allowed you to burn out everything that was not of you and only leave behind the fire of your presence so that we as your fire carriers would bring revival to anyone and everyone we engage with.  Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!