Revival in the city
This world is not your home so don’t make yourselves cozy in it
God, I have heard what our ancestors say about you, and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees. Do among us what you did among them. Work among us as you worked among them. And as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2 (Message Translation).
Revival is the move of God in an unusual measure among His people. Revival represents the presence of God in an unusually, higher dimension as evidenced before. Revival portends God’s visitation on people, places and on individuals who are ready and prepared for Him. Revival minimally should start on an individual level. God loves to visit His people and rain righteousness as a mark of His visitation. However, God doesn’t usually visit casually. God doesn’t visit, and revival doesn’t occur if certain conditions aren’t met.
In Exodus 19:10, God told Moses to instruct the nation of Israel to separate themselves and wash their clothes as a condition for His appearance and visitation. This is a call to consecration. Clothing is that which covers the human flesh. Before we can access the hill of the Lord, (Psalm 24), we must do away with filth and all the workings of the flesh that tie us down to the lower life.
Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives {1 Peter 2:11-12 Message Translation}.
The present day church of Christ has not enjoyed the level of power that birthed the first church because we are still largely in league with the ways and the pattern of the material world.
Revival is the ultimate will of God for us today. Revival speaks concerning the greater purposes of God in any given dispensation. As it was in the days of Jonah, Nineveh was a merchant city full of trade and commerce, yet the greater purposes of God for that city was that all men in it come to salvation through the preaching of the itinerant ministry of Jonah. Thus, in spite of whatever emblem symbolises our cities and people groups today, the greater purposes of God in its simplistic nature, is that as many as are predestinated for salvation come unto the saving knowledge of Christ the Messiah!
God desires to fill our cities and municipalities with His presence. God cannot visit and revival be lacking in the body of Christ. You and I walking with God, full of the spirit of faith, holiness and His power are the agents God is counting upon for the manifestation of His presence in our areas of calling and influence. As His life speaks in and through us, we become His manifest presence and able representatives in the life our cities and communities.
Today, as always, the Lord calls you and I to embrace our calling, tarry in His presence, receive the fullness of His grace and power and go forth and bring God to every sphere and areas of our goings. May we be faithful with His mandates upon our lives in Jesus name, amen.