The Necessity For Revival!

I want to begin with a quote from A W Tozer: But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. -Philippians 3:7-8

Our most pressing obligation today is to do all in our power to obtain a revival that will result in a reformed, revitalized, purified church. It is of far greater importance that we have better Christians than that we have more of them. Each generation of Christians is the seed of the next, and degenerate seed is sure to produce a degenerate harvest not a little better than but a little worse than the seed from which it sprang. Thus the direction will be down until vigorous, effective means are taken to improve the seed....

To carry on these activities [evangelism, missions] scripturally the church should be walking in fullness of power, separated, purified and ready at any moment to give up everything, even life itself, for the greater glory of Christ. For a worldly, weak, decadent church to make converts is but to bring forth after her own kind and extend her weakness and decadence a bit further out....

So vitally important is spiritual quality that it is hardly too much to suggest that attempts to grow larger might well be suspended until we have become better.

Just recently, I saw a picture that someone had posted on social media; it showed a place where a fresh water source was merging with ocean water. The thing that impressed me was that there was a distinct line of separation between the fresh water and the salt water. At the initial point of meeting, there was a difference that was so obvious, but just a little ways out into the ocean, the "mixture" was such that the difference was no longer discernible!

How like the Church of Jesus Christ this picture is! The first century church was so radically different from surrounding culture that they stood out as a distinct people! Their lifestyles, habits, honesty, purity- their devotion to Christ and to His cause "marked" them as a people who had committed themselves to be disciples, followers of Jesus Christ!

Sadly, history records that this God-ordained separation began to wain. A little ways into the "ocean" of the world, and the difference became obscured! It seemed that cultured had so absorbed, diluted, compromised the convictions of the professed church, that you could not tell where one ended and the other began!

But God is faithful, and Christ will build His church!

There have been seasons of revival, wherein the distinctiveness of holiness has been restored to those who desire a close walk with the Lord. At times, these revivals have shaken, awakened and changed entire communities- even entire nations have been impacted as the Lord has graciously poured out of His Spirit!

We, today, stand in desperate need of such a visitation! The church and the world seem to be one and the same! Professed Christians have, by-and-large, been absorbed into surrounding culture and no discernible difference can be seen! There is no Spiritual power to save, deliver and change lives! And, sadly, there is little concern over the sorry condition of the church today!

But if those who grieve over the sinful state of our nation will give themselves to prayer, intercession and standing against the powers of darkness that hold sway over the masses today, we have every right to believe that God will hear our prayers, and that He will penetrate the darkness and shine His light of revival upon His church once again!

Spiritually, the hour is dark- but God is not limited! He is looking for a people who will work, pray, and believe Him to honor His word!