I don’t know if you all remember the old chorus from youth group, “Pass it On”. The first few lines of the first verse are
“It only takes a spark
To get a fire going
And soon all those around
Can warm up in its glowing”
It is my belief that this is how the Lord wants to spread the coming revival. He longs to pour out His presence, love and joy on us individually and corporately. When you put all those together, what is the result – REVIVAL.
He wants the coming revival to be one that is shared by the whole of his body, and powerfully impacting our nation and ultimately the entire world. However, here is the secret that He revealed to me though; this revival will start in the hearts and souls of INDIVIDUALS!
It seems that I just can’t seem to get away from the below verses as they are related to the days and times that we are in and how we get from where we are to the revival that is coming.
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:14-15
Who may ascend onto the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? One who has clean hands and a pure heart. Psalms 24:3-5
‘I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. ‘ Proverbs 8:17
How do we apply these passages to get us from where we are to life and world changing revival?
As we see here and we know from other passages throughout the Bible, we are called to come before Him with clean hearts; when we have sinned we are to repent and ask for forgiveness which He freely gives. We must have humble hearts and acknowledge to ourselves and to Him and to ourselves that we can do nothing without Him. Recognizing our weakness, and inability, there is only one thing that we can do – SEEK HIM. We have the opportunity to love Him because He first loved us. So we seek Him and simply spend time in His presence. We come back to the love and passion that we had for Him when we first believed. We turn our eyes and hearts to Him, laying aside anything else that would take away from our going after Him with all that we have. When we seek Him, He promises, we WILL find Him. He will make Himself known to us, He wants an intimate relationship with us. He wants us to know Him as well as He knows us. We can only do so by spending time with Him. When we come to the revelation of His love for us and begin to return it to Him, that Love will simply saturate our very being. When we spend that kind of quality time in the fire of His presence there will be a tangible residual of His love and presence that glows like an ember from within us. This simply takes a slight breeze of the breath of the Holy Spirit for that ember to spark into a flame that spreads from us to those around us. I can promise you one thing that once you get to that point in your relationship you will say as David did,
‘One thing I have desired of the Lord , That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord , And to inquire in His temple.’ Psalms 27:4
The more and longer we stay in His presence, the larger and hotter the fire that burns within us. Then when we spend time in His presence seeking Him corporately our fires combine into a giant bonfire to which others are drawn. Once you have experienced His love and presence to this degree, you find yourself NEEDING to share it. It really is like the rest of the verse from the song we started with…
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve experienced it
You’ll spread His love
To everyone
You’ll want to pass it on
So my dear friends, brothers, and sisters I urge you to join me as me individually and corporately humble ourselves and seek Him, laying aside anything that would keep us from it. Join me in the fire of His presence so that others really can warm up from our glowing and we can see the Revival that we need as it ripples out as a tsunami across our communities, country and world!!
[3] Who may ascend onto the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? [4] One who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to deceit And has not sworn deceitfully. [5] He will receive a blessing from the Lord And righteousness from the God of his salvation. Psalms 24:3-5
‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ‘ Jeremiah 29:13
‘My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord , I will seek. ‘ Psalms 27:8
‘I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. ‘ Proverbs 8:17
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:14-15