I just want to do some talking here concerning the last post. I loved your comments!
It is sad that so many of you said that they had not been to a true revival in a long time. What does that say about the state of the church? Revival is a time of cleaning.
Spring comes around and we clean. It is time for a cleaning in the body of Christ.
The last post is a post that should have made us think----even made us a tad uncomfortable.
God's words should always shine a light on the state we are in.
And even if we think we are in a good state--there is always something to work on.
Once He shows us where we are--then we are responsible for allowing Him to work.
As scripture says--In that day- do not harden your hearts.......
The Bible says that in the last days there will be a great falling away. To my understanding you can not fall away unless you have been somewhere already.
What would cause them to fall away?
Hard times? Hard times of testing?????
Will we be found with oil in our lamps?
--------
The Bible tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. I think this shows that there is to be a fear of the Lord in us. If we are not careful we can get lost in the love and forget that His holiness should bring a Godly fear to our hearts. We read the word and we see that He is holy and that He expects His people to be the same.
No, we are not perfect.
But ---we are called to be perfect as He is perfect.
Am I perfect?
What a laugh.
But, each day-I pray-the Holy Spirit is working on this temple.
He is revealing the things on the outside that must go, so that I can be part of the ones that are set apart for God. A people set apart-Not a body that looks so similar to this world
that we are Christians in disguise.
As my outside changes-- so should my inside.
The Holy Spirit-by the cleaning of the word and by prayer should be revealing the things that are hidden to me that God wants to change. Now that "wants"--it is not a
"please let me if you will".
It is a requirement that He makes of the people called by His name.
For years I thought- I had my ticket to heaven and I could live as I wanted.
Now, I am not saying that I always wanted to live a horribly sinful life.
I wanted to please Him--but if I messed up-oh well.
I would just say I was sorry until the next time I wanted to do -(fill your choice in here)- again.
Hey, I was not perfect!
And, I do believe I was being one of those Christians who could only handle milk.
I was satisfied being a baby.
But, then God puts us through a time of testing to grow us up.
He says, It is time to stop acting like a child.
I also believe that God is looking for a "few good men" and women.
He is looking for those who when they have been tested and tried will still follow hard after Him.
Hearts who are more interested in what God wants than what this world wants.
He wants a people who trust Him. Trust Him enough to say----
God it feels like you are scrubbing away all that I am--will there be anything of me left? God this hurts! God help me stay in the tub!
I want to be what you want me to be. I want to trust you more!
Till the day I die--I WANT TO STAY IN THE TUB.
I want to be broken before Him.
He is the only thing that matters. He is a consuming fire.
He was with the three in the fiery furnace.
They met Him there with everything they had.
In that fire He burned off all that bound them.
Then He released them as a testimony to the world. A testimony of His greatness.
They walked free unbound and not smelling of their past.
Do we want to be free?
It was for freedom that Christ set us free. We are no longer to be bound by the past.
Do you want to be free?
Do you want to be cleaned up and ironed out as Pastor Lisa said in her comment?
He is looking across the fact of the earth for His remnant.
Will He find you?
rem·nant
–adjective
It is sad that so many of you said that they had not been to a true revival in a long time. What does that say about the state of the church? Revival is a time of cleaning.
Spring comes around and we clean. It is time for a cleaning in the body of Christ.
The last post is a post that should have made us think----even made us a tad uncomfortable.
God's words should always shine a light on the state we are in.
And even if we think we are in a good state--there is always something to work on.
Once He shows us where we are--then we are responsible for allowing Him to work.
As scripture says--In that day- do not harden your hearts.......
The Bible says that in the last days there will be a great falling away. To my understanding you can not fall away unless you have been somewhere already.
What would cause them to fall away?
Hard times? Hard times of testing?????
Will we be found with oil in our lamps?
--------
The Bible tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. I think this shows that there is to be a fear of the Lord in us. If we are not careful we can get lost in the love and forget that His holiness should bring a Godly fear to our hearts. We read the word and we see that He is holy and that He expects His people to be the same.
No, we are not perfect.
But ---we are called to be perfect as He is perfect.
Am I perfect?
What a laugh.
But, each day-I pray-the Holy Spirit is working on this temple.
He is revealing the things on the outside that must go, so that I can be part of the ones that are set apart for God. A people set apart-Not a body that looks so similar to this world
that we are Christians in disguise.
As my outside changes-- so should my inside.
The Holy Spirit-by the cleaning of the word and by prayer should be revealing the things that are hidden to me that God wants to change. Now that "wants"--it is not a
"please let me if you will".
It is a requirement that He makes of the people called by His name.
For years I thought- I had my ticket to heaven and I could live as I wanted.
Now, I am not saying that I always wanted to live a horribly sinful life.
I wanted to please Him--but if I messed up-oh well.
I would just say I was sorry until the next time I wanted to do -(fill your choice in here)- again.
Hey, I was not perfect!
And, I do believe I was being one of those Christians who could only handle milk.
I was satisfied being a baby.
But, then God puts us through a time of testing to grow us up.
He says, It is time to stop acting like a child.
I also believe that God is looking for a "few good men" and women.
He is looking for those who when they have been tested and tried will still follow hard after Him.
Hearts who are more interested in what God wants than what this world wants.
He wants a people who trust Him. Trust Him enough to say----
God it feels like you are scrubbing away all that I am--will there be anything of me left? God this hurts! God help me stay in the tub!
I want to be what you want me to be. I want to trust you more!
Till the day I die--I WANT TO STAY IN THE TUB.
I want to be broken before Him.
He is the only thing that matters. He is a consuming fire.
He was with the three in the fiery furnace.
They met Him there with everything they had.
In that fire He burned off all that bound them.
Then He released them as a testimony to the world. A testimony of His greatness.
They walked free unbound and not smelling of their past.
Do we want to be free?
It was for freedom that Christ set us free. We are no longer to be bound by the past.
Do you want to be free?
Do you want to be cleaned up and ironed out as Pastor Lisa said in her comment?
He is looking across the fact of the earth for His remnant.
Will He find you?
rem·nant
| 1. | a remaining, usually small part, quantity, number, or the like. |
| 2. | a fragment or scrap. |
| 3. | a small, unsold or unused piece of cloth, lace, etc., as at the end of a bolt. |
| 4. | a trace; vestige: remnants of former greatness. |
| 5. | remaining; leftover. |
12 comments:
So well put. Amen!
There you go again girl, ministering to my soul. I grew up going to Revival's and watching people running the pews and hairpins flying out of hair from dancing in the spirit. I can remember my mom in a singing group and the lady next to her got so happy in the Lord that her false teeth fell out and she caught them in her hand, put them back in and kept singing praises. I never hear of revivals anymore.
I want this SOOO badly in my life! To be set apart, totally on fire for Him, ready for Him to use me as He wills...just ready!!! I'm so pumped about my lesson tonight, and I'm so tired from the strep throat I've been battling these past two days, But this totally got me excited! It was just what I needed!! That little ingnitor to get me going!! Amen girl!!
You know, I desire this very much. But, I feel like Peter and the others, you know, where Jesus said "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" I don't trust myself and that may sound shocking. But, I am just saying, I have been very impressed with an ominous feeling that I do not relish. It is hard to say if it is an attack of the enemy, my own soulish/emotional part, or The Spirit warning me. But, all I know to do, is keep putting myself before the Lord, His Word in my mouth, on a day to day basis. I trust Him to keep me where I need to be, as I submit to Him each day.
Great stuff, keep it coming, Sister!
xoxo,
Maria
Something I have always found strange was that when we have / had revivals... it was like putting God in a box... and that everyone would experience God on the same level..
It just won't happen..
because God isn't a Sunday kind of guy.. but an 24/7 person... I find Him at the most wonderful times...
I live in a revival...so I never know when it's going to happen... I live short of His expectations... but then as in Galations 2:21... if I could have done it, then we wouldn't have needed Christ... and that just isn't the case...
but this is just my opinion for whatever it's worth..
maybe too i have had some rather unusual experiences along the way...
So i tend to hear the Papa when He calls... and not just once a year...
Your words.. Sharon.. are always right on... I love your heart...I love to read what you have to say... and i would love to someday sit down and talk over some hot tea...
love ya girl
Connie
Another powerful post. We all fall short of the Glory of God but learn each day that we study His Word. It is so easy to get caught up in the things of the world, but I put trust in my Lord that He will guide me as I travel this path called life.
Blessings,
Mary
I loved this post and Connie's comments!
I remember tent revivals during the summer that lasted for weeks.
You know if it were easy to die out to our flesh, if it were easy to tell our ownselves no...we'd have a lot more stronger Christians. But it requires work. It requires submitting to the Spirit and allowing Him to conform us.
Hard work? Yes. Is it worth it? Definitely.
Just Sunday we were talking about how when we see Jesus, everything you endured, gave up, suffered and sacrificed will be so worth it.
You don't give up anything on this side and it not be remembered/rewarded on the other side.
The question is are you willing to wait till then...
I never grew up going to revivals. Sounds like an interesting time though. I am thankful to be in a church family where the WORD is preached through verse to verse every Sunday. This keeps the pastor from skipping over the controversal topics, etc. I have learned so much more from this type of teaching. What I love is that we are all encouraged to pray and get into the scripture ourselves- to grow and get past that milk stage. God is always there- I just need to stick with the discipline of putting him first.
Awesome post, your words always bless me.
I love what Connie said..... we should live in expectation of what God is going to do today.... We should experience God every day no matter what the day brings... We should look for Him to answer when we ask and look for Him to accomplish in our lives those things that He wants to change..... We should live in a place that He can re-vive our hearts and minds. Life needs to be exciting from the time we get up until the time that we lay down.. It is a journey to be enjoyed as we place ouselves on the potters wheel and cry out .... Lord mold me and make me into the image of your Son........it might hurt a bit but we are being transformed into the likeness of His son...... How wonderful is that....
Several years ago, I was in a very hot tub. I thought that I could not make it through being scrubbed, but it brought me closer to the Lord. Actually at that time I started blogging - because I wanted others to know that even I am not perfect - I know that if I stumble He is there to help me back up. He is the only one I can count on. I can not count on friends, acquaintances, or in same cases family...
If there is more room in you tub - I am staying with you so He might be scrubbing more ugliness from me.
Blessings to you and yours...
Glory to God! What a great post. Yes, yes, yes, and more yes! I want to be in that remnant!!
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