REVIVAL: WAKING UP WHAT IS DEAD
-Caiti Forslof
“And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn” (Isa. 8:19-20, emphasis mine) ….”Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart: “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place” (Isa. 9:9-10, emphasis mine).
Though these were written to Israel, in the Old Testament, what can they teach us today?
Today, many Christians are seeking revival in our Country and the “falling of the Holy Spirit” as I would call it. However, the LORD our God is calling for a revival, an awakening of that which is dead, and which has dried up and withered in us. My wife and I attended a revival for a short while last night and we were discussing it as we left. And I was saddened, burdened, watching, and considering “Revival.” Noticing something missing as people discuss revival these days. Today, my wife came in from her prayer walk and said, “I believe the Lord is doing a revival, but it is not a “national or cultural” Christian revival. It is reviving His dead Church, who has been living like the culture and the nation” (Though we have already been proclaiming this, it was confirmation) And I said, praise God, yes, that is exactly it! I prayed today that the Lord would put His words in her mouth as she went on her prayer walk. And He did!
So, let us ask, “why the church is dead and withering in America, and Europe for that matter”? Of course, we are not speaking of all Chrisitan’s or all churches in America/Europe. Just the vast majority. First, it is not due to a lack of charisma, or a lack of emotional experience, or a lack of “feeling” the Holy Spirit, or a lack of the spiritual gifts of tongues, prophecy, visions, dreams, prayer, fasting, signs, and wonders! Because all those “can” be created by personality, environment, and suggestion. And if we do want the real thing it will only come through…“returning and rest.” From us returning to the whole counsel of the Word of God, the foundation of eternal truth. And by resting in the blood of Jesus Christ and being reconciled to what that reality consists of. Of being reconciled with His death and then His resurrection in our…. every day, normal lives. This is revival. And it will only come through humility and repentance and then in returning and rest. We first must acknowledge that we have strayed from the Word of God and instead listened to the culture and to opinion, and to ideas, and beliefs, which have been opposed to the Word of Christ. We must return to the whole counsel of God (as Paul calls it) and we must repent of our pride and arrogance that we have believed we are “smarter than God.” I am talking about Christians who will not take God at His Word regarding those “hard to swallow” passages regarding marriage, gender, male, female, family, church, and rebelling against His order of things. We, many Christians I mean, have grabbed ahold of feminist views, and placed them ahead of Christ’s rule. And men need to repent of their pride of “self-reliance” upon their ego, their careers, their physical strength, and stamina, and their need to be in control, and refusing to acknowledge their weaknesses! And women need to put away the focus on the physical, outward beauty. Competing with one another. And boasting in their “self,” being their idol. Men and women need to put aside their “outward, physical, materialistic, cultural, worldviews…and exchange them for a truly Christian, inward, spiritual, eternal, worldview. A worldview where Christ is truly King and where they are children within that Kingdom!
So, where do we begin? We begin with personal revival, then revival within our households. We must go back to the beginning. To the Garden of Eden and remember what happened there. The man and woman switched roles while Satan, (appearing as an angel of goodness or light) approached the woman and drew her attention to what she “was not to have” instead of being thankful for all the grace God had provided within the garden. The man was enticed by his wife after she was enticed by the Serpent and they went after “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life/possessions.” And they exchanged the glory of God for idols. Could the woman represent the current Church? And Christ be the “second Adam” as Paul puts it. But the current Church is to be a pure virgin, a spotless Bride, as the scriptures say….”since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. [Then he says] But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2-3).
This is where revival begins. It begins in our own hearts and personal devotion to Christ. The Lord is calling us to “come out from the world.” To come out from going after other lovers. From committing spiritual adultery with the World. So, the way we will return to a pure devotion to Christ, individually, is when we stop going after the “one” thing which will hurt us and begin to give thanks to the Lord for His abundant grace which He has lavished upon us in the gift of Christ, and His love being poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit! We must believe the truth and reject the lie. We must believe that our Good Father has things for us which are worth so much more than the Serpent can give us. We must confess that we have “believed a lie” and in repentance, commit ourselves as a pure, spotless Bride to our lover, Christ! Now, if we have not been committing spiritual adultery with the world, then awesome! The thing is, the majority of Chrisitan’s within America, I am convinced, by the research, have been fornicating with the Serpent.
There are so many scriptures I could quote. But hopefully you are seeing the ones I am quoting within the sentences which are not cited. Anyway, I want to quit writing now because I could go on forever. But I wanted to go over the root problem within the Church. And I also wanted to plant hope by reminding you of the goodness and graciousness of your Husband, Christ. And the goodness and graciousness of your Father in Heaven. Amen
Aletheia: Truth in the Darkness 