Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Notes of a reformer

There are many ideas running through my head these days. And as I scour the Scriptures for the will of God, and rest in the presence of God the Holy Spirit, I have found that I can't seem to keep these thought organized.

God save the Church.

-We severely underestimate the power of God.
-The essence of revival is not a pursuit of an outpouring of God the Spirit, as much as it is the Spirit himself. I'm exploring these concepts. I wonder if the heart of the Holy Spirit is 'revival', as if to say, 'if you were to be filled with the Holy Spirit, your heart would beat revival.'
-I believe revival is a daily thing. Roy Hesson, has a great book on revival called "The Calvary Road." He speaks of revival, as God pouring living water into the cup of a believer.
-Roy goes on to say: God will not pour the living water into a 'dirty cup'. He talks passionate about repentance and holiness.
-Nehemiah 9:20 "You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst"
-Psalm 42:1-2 "As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?"
-Jesus promises us, if we thirst, he will satisfy our thirst. So let's thirst!
-The road, the Calvary road, the road of the cross of Christ, taking up that cross, it will require suffering.
-Revival will mean suffering.
-We need to know the sufficiency of Christ, and receive the power of the Holy Spirit for ministry. We are commanded in Scripture to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but we (mostly I have in the past) think that this means at the moment of our conversion to Christ, we have received Him to the fullest.
-'Tis true! The fullness of Christ is in us, but the Holy Spirit is a mystery. We must live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and die to our flesh, to be filled with the Spirit.
-Without holiness, there shall be no rapture.
-The first fruits of revival, must be brokenness, a contrite-spirit, confession, and repentance. Read Nehemiah 1. Read the rest of the book, to see the revival that took place.
-More to come.

Grace and peace.