Revival Booklet

I cannot keep my mind from going there. As much as I try to think about things that really don't mean so much in the grand scheme of things, just to distract me or help me “avoid” this massive thing that I KNOW He is calling me to do something about, all of my striving never works. I cannot help but go back to this. My heart is strongly attached ....to His heart, and to this massive calling. Laying in bed at night, I try to not think about it, but it is impossible. Why do I not want to think about it? Why do I try and stop my thoughts from being born?

Perhaps because ........if I think about it, I might be convicted, just a little. I might be pushed. I might be made a bit uncomfortable, knowing that I have not been praying with desperation and have not desired this thing enough. If God puts it on your heart, it is impossible to “sort of” want it, or “kind of” want it, or halfheartedly pray about it. If God puts it on your heart, it is impossible to want it REALLLLLY bad and not do something about it.

No, when God puts it on your heart, it is impossible to ignore. The desiring gets too deep. It pulls and tugs at your heart until you can no longer pretend that it's not there, or you will do something about it later, maybe tomorrow. Because then......tomorrow comes, and you don't do anything about it. And in essence, you slowly lure your heart back to sleep and dull your ears to the leading of His voice. And that is a tragedy.

What is this thing, you ask? What is this thing that is completely impossible to ignore? What is this thing that is absolutely necessary and completely, undeniably missing from our world?

........REVIVAL.........

You may wonder why revival is so absolutely wrenching on the soul. Why is it so painfully, unquenchably strong? Why is it so impossible to ignore?

.......It is like a steady heartbeat, slowly getting faster and faster, and more steady, and louder, until you HAVE GOT to do something about it. If you don't, your heart will explode. It is so strong. That is what this yearning is like. And I have felt it for almost 3 years. I have to say that it is my own fault I have not done much about it. I am the only one to blame. For almost 3 years this burning has been ablaze inside me, but I have tried to ease it down. For what? Am I waiting on something? For the perfect moment? Why have I tried to contain this flame that wants to roar and burst out of this box that I am trying to contain it in?

.........Perhaps it is fear. This fire is absolutely frightening. It is huge, it is new, it is CHANGE. It is SHIFT. It is a completely scary thing. I am not scared of change, but a change this massive is like a complete, 180 degree turn around and I don't know what to expect. Before, during, or after. That is frightening.

But I can't stay away from it. I can't deny it. It just keeps getting stronger and stronger inside of me.

I read stories of past revivals, I read about men like Charles Wesley, and the group of young men in Ireland who had such a strong yearning and undeniable passion heart-cry for nothing less than A MOVE OF GOD, A REVIVAL, that they held a prayer meeting for countless days, refusing sleep and refusing to eat, denying “reality” and the mundane-ness of every day life, in exchange for GOD HIMSELF, and I read these things, and my heart burns within me. It is such a stirring that takes place in my spirit.

I hear about school revivals, where they have to cancel school because GOD CAME and every student in the school was ON THEIR FACE before Him. Where the spirit of God fell and brought such conviction that people ran out of the bars and out of the stores and ran into the churches and stayed for days, unable to get away from the heavy hand of God upon them.

Individual lifestyles, corporate communities and whole cities were changed, and shook entire nations. I hear about the men who cried to the Lord “GOD GIVE ME SOULS OR I DIE!” And who cried for their nations, “GOD GIVE ME SCOTLAND OR GIVE ME DEATH!” And one man who was in such deep, gut-wrenching, anguish of the soul while praying that it actually affected his physical heart, doctors found that his hear had moved from the side of his chest to the middle.

I hear about these things, and I wonder why can't I see them in my day and time? Habakkuk's prayer is now becoming mine : “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” [Hk. 3:2]

I know that I don't desire it strong enough to see it fully manifested right now. But I am believing that He will make me so desperate for revival and for His move, that it will start to knock and pound on heaven's door and soon unlock heaven and rain down. God answers desperate prayers. He answers genuine cries for His presence. He comes to the needy and the ones in deep inner anguish and turmoil. GOD ANSWERS THE DESPERATE.

I am not yet desperate enough. I know this because I do not have the desire to stay up for 3 nights without sleep and without food contending for Him to come. I contend, I intercede, I ask for His face, but I do not beg. I am not desperate. I want Him, but how bad do I want him? I want his hand, his touch, his face, his presence, but I will be okay if I don't get it. I want Him to come, but I will manage if He doesn't. If He comes, that is awesome, but if He doesn't, I will be content with the rest.

I cannot tell you how badly I want to break and shatter this mindset. It is a horrible way of thinking. All I know is, I MUST BE DESPERATE. I MUST BE FILLED WITH HUNGER. I cannot stand to live my life with that mindset. I have been asking God to make this fire so strong within me that I have no choice but to become desperate.

I want to get to the place where I have such a strong hunger that I spend hour after hour in deep intercession, crying for God to come, begging Him for mercy, and wetting heaven's gates with my tears. I want Him to make me hungry.

Even then, when I get to that place, I wonder, can we corporately get to that place? Can God so move on our hearts that we all tie together in one accord and in holy desperation and plead for Him to come? Can we together usher in an unprecedented move of God, the greatest revival yet to come, the harvest of a billion souls, the last, greatest, and final revival that is to take place before Christ's return? Is ith possible?

I SAY YES! I believe THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD!
Can you imagine, hundreds of thousands of millions of God's people, crying out in unison, in a holy desperation, with a hunger so deep and heavy, willing to go without food and without sleep, because we are so heavily desperate for Him, that we could split the skies and cause God to MOVE and to rend the heavens and come down and meet us in our place of deep hunger? I want to see it with my eyes!

When I think about that, I wonder........how much capacity is there for God in our lives, in our world? How much room is there for Him? How much room will we allow Him to occupy? I want nothing less that OVERFLOW. I don't want Him to be contained. Because I will tell you right now, He CANNOT BE CONTAINED. He is not going to come and live in a box.

It just makes me wonder, even if we are so deeply hungry, how much capacity is there? “GOD, I AM SO DESPERATE FOR YOU TO COME! I WANT YOU SO MUCH! I NEED YOU SO BADLY!” But do we keep locked up in our hearts the secret little notion “Just don't come on Friday night, because I already have plans” or “I'm so so desperate, but when you come, just make sure all the hype is over by tuesday, because I have stuff to do. Just don't come on this night, because the NBA Finals are on and I can't miss that! Any other time is good though! Just don't interrupt my work day. It's really important.”

I wonder, could it be that He wants to INTERRUPT EVERYTHING? What if God wants, on friday night, instead of your plans, to sweep through the city and cancel everyone's plans, so that everyone is overtaken by the extreme power of God, and falling on their faces overwhelmed with deep conviction and amazed at the great love of God? Would that not be better than your out-to-dinner plans? Would that not far outweigh your plans to relax and enjoy your weekend with pizza and a movie night? What would you rather have: a relaxing, pleasurable weekend to recuperate for the week ahead, or GOD to COME DOWN out of heaven and place His hand upon you so strongly that you don't even NEED to recuperate for the week ahead, because you have been so blasted and are in awe of HIS GLORY that the week ahead is going to be a breeze, because you are in His presence?

When God visits, the hard becomes easy, the crazy and hectic becomes calm, the madness becomes sane, the darkness becomes light, everything becomes visible, and HE OPENS YOUR EYES. Your attitude is changed, your countenance is changed, your outlook and perspective are shifted, the heaviness lifts and is replaced with His easy burden. What seemed so mundane is now meaningful. Your questions are answered. Your day to day life MATTERS. And why? Because He has come. He has breathed life into every sphere of YOUR life.

HIS PRESENCE CHANGES EVERYTHING.

What if God wanted to do all of that, but couldn't because we placed Him in a box. What if we had just kept going a little bit longer, prayed a little bit harder, instead of leaving because it is dinner time?

WHAT IF WE MADE ROOM FOR GOD.

What if we became okay with Him interrupting us. What if it became alright if He wanted stay longer and cause us to miss this meeting, or that appointment? What if, instead of our doctor appointment, He wanted to come, and He wanted to heal us? What if, instead of our lunch time, He wanted to come, and He would take away our hunger so that we could enjoy His presence?

What if, instead of leaving at 8:30 pm because we need to go home, He wanted to come and visit us at church, and we wouldn't even have to worry about turning off all the lights or locking up, because He wanted to visit the city, and needed places for the ones He touched to come?

WHAT IF GOD WANTS TO MOVE RIGHT NOW? WILL YOU MOVE OUT OF THE WAY SO THAT HE CAN?

Will you let go of your schedule and your plans, so that He can come and make His own plans? So that He can come and breathe life into you? So that He can come and overwhelm you with waves of His great love?

I want so badly to not stiff-arm Him when He wants to come, just because I have plans. “Not now, God, just wait until later today, I promise you will have as much time as you want then.” But what if He wants to interrupt and come now? Would I let Him do that?

I want my religious boxes and my useless efforts to contain God, to be shattered and broken by the vast, un-containable and massive glory of God. I WANT TO EXPERIENCE HIM ONCE MORE.

How my heart yearns for revival. How much room have we given Him? I have a feeling He needs all of it. He is a big God. So big, in fact, that He cannot be contained. In 1 Kings 8, Solomon is dedicating the temple he has built for the Lord to dwell. He asks this question in verse 27: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”

I want to make sure that He has no hindrances in His coming. I want to clear the way and make straight the path for Him to come. I want to remove and throw out and get rid of all hindrances.

If we are ever going to see this near revival that is stirring, we must give Him what He needs to come. He needs us to get out of the way. He cannot come when us humans are in the way with our schedules and plans and “penciling Him in”. He needs absolute freedom, room, capacity, EVERYTHING. He needs all of it. Are we willing to give it up in exchange for HIM? Not his hand, but his face.

I need yearning hunger; I need deep desperation; and I need to make sure I am out of the way, because.....GOD ANSWERS THE DESPERATE CRIES.