If there was ever a day when our families, country and world call forRevival…
this is the day!
“Revival is absolutely essential to restrain the righteous anger of God,
to restore the conscious awareness of God,
and to reveal the gracious activity of God.”
Ezekiel was a prophet, a priest and a servant of God who was sent to give God’s message to a wicked and rebellious nation, not unlike our own. Chapter 37 speaks of his vision of a “valley of dry bones”. Verse 11 cries out, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off”! Spiritual deadnessis a frightening position. The absence of the fear of God reveals itself in our moment-by-moment life practice…
Are we dedicated to comfort and convenience,
claiming personal rights,
doing our own thing?
Or are we dedicated to Cavalry’s road and a God that calls us to holiness?
Our dedication determines how alive we are spiritually or if we are a mass of “dry bones”. There is a quality of spiritual life that is rarely experienced among believers in the West because we are so busy…living in entitlements. Jesus says: Putting anything before me reveals spiritual deadness.
Where are you living this moment?
Stephen Olford in Heart Cry wrote, “O that God would teach us that it is just as important to be spiritual as to be sound in our approach to the Bible, just as vital to be obedient as to be orthodox, and that thepurpose of revelation is nothing less than transformation of human lives!”
Revival is the power of the Holy Spirit transforming God’s Word in our souls. While in Bible School a fellow student introduced me to a small paperback book, The Calvary Road by Roy Hession. Revival’s clear definition and seeing my need for personal application has been a constant reminder of God’s promise to set us free from sin and self…continually!
Revival is the result of:
· A new experience of the conviction of sin
· A new vision of the cross of Jesus and redemption
· A new willingness to walk in brokenness, repentance, confession and restitution
· An understanding of how to maintain a consistent walk in the light
· A joyful experience of the power of the blood of Jesus cleansing us fully from sin and healing all that sin has lost and broken
The test for knowing you are cleansed…ask yourself:
1. Do I have any unconfessed sin?
2. Is there anything between another person and me?
A new entering into the wholeness of the Holy Spirit and His power and His own work in and through us
A new “gathering-in” of the lost ones to Christ
Revival does not begin with someone else. It begins with each of us!
Is revival stirring in your soul?
“The fruit of revival comes only as we come to the cross and acknowledge our emptiness and failure apart from Him. It is not good Christians becoming better Christians…but rather Christians honestly confessing that their Christian life is a valley of dry bones and by that confession qualifying us for the grace that flows from the Cross and makes all things new… dry bones made alive again!” Roy Hession
Understanding our desperate need initiates this promise:
Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good…
He came to make dead men live
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
