Pearls of Great Value

Revive: ( Strongs 2421): to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive: quicken, recover, repair, restore.  

1.Literally= “to start again”. Arouse, bounce back, brighten, energize, rally, strengthen, rejuvenate, wake up. 

2. Revival speaks clearly to Gods work within the believer.

There’s a stirring deep within the chaos. There’s a calling, deep unto deep. The Spirit of the Lord breathing forth and I can hear the whispers of revival. Arise! Arise and shine! Now is the time! Come forth, come forth! He’s breathing on His bride, awakening the church from her slumber, and His grace is already at work to accomplish His will. Will you come? Will you join? Every morning with the dawn the call to Come goes forth, breaking powerfully through the darkness. Listen. Can you hear His voice in the stillness of each new day? He’s calling to you. Now is the time!

Revival. It’s always in Papa Gods heart. There’s never a time, never an age, where His desire isn’t for His children to be revived. He is the great Reviver after all. The one who makes all things new, who calls forth the light to shine, who commands the dead to live again. His will has never changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

I’ve been colliding with the verse from 2 Chr. 7:14: if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” You know what is striking me the most about that verse? The beginning...If MY PEOPLE, who are called by MY NAME. I used to believe that revival was when thousands and thousands of unbelievers come to Christ and are saved. But as I studied, I quickly discovered that this is the wonderful result of revival and not the actual thing.

Duncan Campbell said this: "Revival has to do with Gods people. We sometimes say, at the risk of being misunderstood, that we do not pray for revival in order that souls may be saved, but souls are saved in the thousands when we have revival.”

"Yet, revival is not something we do, but what God does in and through us.” Todd Rhoades

"If my people”. God is talking straight up to His kids here. Members of His household. To those of us who have been calling ourselves by His name. If you have been wondering what it takes for revival to take place, look no further. God has given the instructions inside this one verse: If my people who are called by my name:

1.- would humble themselves. Humility. The very first item on the list. The dictionary defines humility as being free from pride and arrogance. The Bible defines it: to be subdued, to be subjected. Humility is an outward expression of a heart that is subjected to God. So, what draws heaven towards us is not us going higher(in our own standard) but us going lower and submitting, our lives under Gods hand. Jesus is the epitome of humility. “He existed in the form of God, yet he gave no thought to seizing equality with God as his supreme prize. Instead he emptied himself of his outward glory by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! He humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion!”(Philippians‬ ‭2:6-8‬ ‭TPT‬‬). Humility was Jesus, seeing the dirt on the disciples feet and then in lowliness bending down to help them wash it off. He didn’t shy away from the “dirty” as often man would do, but faced and cleansed it.

Why is humility the first thing on Gods list? Because, without it we’ll never acknowledge our need for a Savior, nor value our fellow men as our equal, regardless of their status in life. The opposite of humility is prideful and God clearly warns us that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Prov. 16:18), and “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”(Prov. 11:2). And in Mark 7 Jesus names pride among quite a list, saying it’s one of many evil things that defiles a person.

Let us kneel before the Lord our God, let us bow down and worship Him, and let His love overcome us. Let Him be in control to the point where you can honestly proclaim: Not my will but Yours be done! Humility is the place where you actively pursue to fulfill His desires above selfish desires. To subdue in the Hebrew language is the word kavash, literally meaning to place your foot on the neck of your conquered enemy signifying a submission of the enemy. So, to humble oneself, is figuratively, us placing our foot down on the neck of our old selfishness nature and saying to it, you are conquered and you will submit!

2.- "pray and seek My face.” Pray! The second item on the list. When we kick pride to the curb and cultivate a humble heart, prayer will be an automatic response. A prideful heart has little value for prayer, much less to seek Gods face. Prayerlessness is also powerless-ness. I once heard someone say that prayer is the fuel that drives a God-filled life. Prayer is the way we intervene and intercede, bringing heavens realities to earth. When I read the account where Jesus drove out all those who sold from the temple, and said, “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.”(Luke 19:46), I’m reminded that my body is now the temple of the Lord. I hear those same words echo through my heart: “My house shall be a house of prayer!” We rob the Lord when we sell ourselves to other pursuits.

If you study Christian history and go through the revivals you quickly realize that most, if not all revivals, were proceeded by a group of believers who were steadfast in prayer. Continually praying and interceding for the world. This is what is needed. Seeking Gods face on a moment by moment basis. What is His desire? What is it that is upmost in His heart? The only way to know is getting face to face with Him. This is prayer! It is a Conversation. It is being in Community. Becoming one with the Father. Interceding on behalf of our fellow man.

I honestly believe that one of the greatest regrets some Christians will have is a prayer-less lifestyle. Much can be accomplished when a believer is faithful to pray, and addicted to being in the presence of the God of wonders. Little can be done through the one who doesn’t give of his time, who doesn’t value interaction with the Holy. It’s only in prayer that the passions of the kingdom of God is stirred and set ablaze. So, let us rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Rom. 12:12) Let us continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (Col. 4:2)

3.- and turn from their wicked ways. This one cuts deep. I fully realize that Papa God is talking to his children here. Not to the world and not to the lost. But to the ones who call themselves by His name: “Turn! My children turn from your wicked ways and I will hear and save you. I will heal you and restore you!”

Whatever is disagreeable to God is ethically evil. Wickedness is anything that is bad, immoral, disagreeable, inferior in quality, by extension:evil. The opposite of wicked would be: decent, ethical, good, honest, honorable, just, moral, right. Now ask yourself this, under which category do my actions, my thoughts, my words fall into? Is there anything bad and inferior in quality? Then let us work to get it in line with that which is high quality. God-standard! Let us build our character to the God-standard and not be conformed to this world. Turn in Hebrew means to be returned and brought back, restored, repent. When God says we are to turn from our wicked ways, it’s a powerful nudge on our shoulder from on High. A nudge that makes us turn away from wrong-doing and look into His face. A reminder that we need to make a course correction.

I honestly wouldn’t call myself wicked, nor I believe would most of my brothers and sisters in Christ. But, in the course of studying on wickedness I realized, you know what, there’s no grey area with God. It’s either black or white. Meaning that everything in my life right now that isn’t agreeable to the Word of God is ugly to Him. He isn’t sitting in heaven pondering if something is maybe bad or not. No, He has a clear golden standard. Anything that falls short of that standard, is something that needs to be dealt with and so He lovingly and kindly brings it to the table and says, Let’s deal with this.

I have to say though, I firmly believe that for most of us, it isn’t what we do that is our shortcoming, but what we fail to do. James 4:17 says this clearly: To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is a sin.” Too often we are complacent, when we should be passionate. Too often lazy, when we should be unrelenting in pursuing the kingdom of God and His righteousness. One good indicator of where you are standing is what I like to call the thermometer check. At any given moment do you have a fire inside for God, an all consuming longing to be with Him, yearning to sit in His presence, anticipating another revelation? Do you have a true longing to inspire others and see people change for the Lord? If these aren’t true, your life temperature is lukewarm. And lukewarm? Doesn’t cut it in Gods kingdom. We have to learn to hate all sin equally(including the ones of complacency, laziness,etc) and not tolerate some of it and call it okay, for this is the root cause of being lukewarm. Plus, it grieves and quenches the Holy Spirit within us, when we don’t hearken His voice of guidance and wisdom.

God is more hungry to give us revival than we are to revive. It’s always in His will to renew and stir a fire within His people. It’s His longing to grip us with a deep conviction to seek revival and to ignite the passion for holy living in our lives. "Lord, heal our land,” should be the heart cry of every Christian, for there isn’t a nation that hasn’t been wrecked by Satan and sin. We all need healing. We all need revival. But it isn’t going to come unless believers rise to the occasion and become more obedient to Holy Spirit and more devoted to serious time in prayer. Can we? I believe we are in the perfect time. We can.

God promises that if we will pray and seek His face, turn from our wicked ways, He will hear us. He will forgive our wrong and heal our land.   He will repair what has been broken, restore what has been lost and stolen, and cure what has ailed us. God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him! Oh, let us taste and see that He is good. He is so good! I pray we will remember that His banner over us and and over our nation, is love.

Father God, shift and move our hearts! Let us become excited about your presence and let us have the same high value for revival as you do. Help us to walk with purity and integrity of heart, not just for today but for a lifetime. We pray for Holy fire to be ignited within our midst. May we become a passionate bride! In Jesus name we pray, Amen.