My House is Full but My Field Is Empty

This post was previously published. Enjoy.

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Luke 10:2

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

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There is peace and contentment in my Father’s house today,
Lots of food on His table and no one turned away.
There is singing and laughter as the hours pass by,
But a hush calms the singing as the Father sadly cries,

There is peace and contentment in my Father’s house today. Indeed, there is much peace and contentment to be found around the Father’s table; he has promised us that. For those who are saved children of God, He gave us the promise that Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Why do we have so much peace? We can have that because although born sinners, as all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, He loved us enough to provide a way to be restored to Himself,  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Lots of food on His table and no one turned away. What is it we are partaking of at our Father’s table? Jesus told us that; He told us that the sustenance He provides would last forever. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. What we enjoy at the Father’s table will never run out, and we will never hunger or thirst again. But, there is more! The invitation to the Father’s table is an open one, and no one will be turned away, who comes to Him in repentance and faith; for whosever calls upon the name of The Lord shall be saved.

There is singing and laughter as the hours pass by. Hours? Try eternity, for we will be at our Father’s table forever! David, the Psalmist noted the following:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil;my cup overflows.Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

But we don’t have to wait for our passing from this life and eternity to enjoy the many blessings of God do we? All saved children of the Father know our blessings start the moment God’s Holy Spirit moves inside of us and we are saved and born again. That’s really when we first come to the table. So, what is the problem? Our chorus tells us what the problem is.

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields.

That’s right, we all love the blessings God bestows on us as saved children of His. But God needs workers. The fields are ripe for the harvest, as The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: 

Who will go and work for Me today? In the prophet Isaiah’s vision, we hear the Lord ask Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? In that occasion, the prophet promptly replied to the Lord Here am I; send me. Is that our answer when God calls us to reach out to a lost and dying world? Or are we a Moses, who resisted at first until God grew angry; or a Gideon, who required proof after proof; or a Jonah, who complied but even then remained angry at God’s decision to reach out to Nineveh?

So, then, what does does God want from us besides us sitting around enjoying His great blessings? Does He want us to just stay in his house, filling our bellies with His bounty? NO!

Push away from the table.
Look out through the windowpane,
Just beyond the house of plenty
Lies a field of golden grain.
And it’s ripe unto harvest,
But the reapers, where are they?
In the house,
Oh, can’t the children hear
the Father sadly say,

We have our orders, and our instructions are clear. Push away from the table. Look out through the windowpane, After he had spent 40 days showing himself to the world and his disciples after His resurrection, Jesus had these famous words to say to them jut prior to leaving this Earth and returning to heaven:  Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Go, Go Go. That is what Jesus said. Go! At some point after that, just before he ascended to be with His Heavenly Father, Jesus reinforced the point when he further told the disciples that ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. As if to further reinforce the point, after Jesus disappeared into the clouds two angels appeared to the disciples and asked them, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

Who was this instruction for? Was it just for the disciples assembled there? Well, obviously not! How would 12 men reach the uttermost part of the Earth? This command is for all people, of all times, in all places. It’s not just for preachers, or evangelists, either; again, this instruction is for us all.

The instruction is for NOW. Of course, Jesus did tell the disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, which did occur on the Day of Pentecost. We no longer have to wait for that, because as saved believers we are already indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and have all the tools we need at our disposal! The time is now, because the harvest of souls is ready and waiting, see again Jesus teaching His disciples, Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. This command is not for the future; it is for now, and it is for us all.

So, why are we in the Father’s House, gathered around the table, and enjoying His sustenance? Well, of course it is because He loves us and wants to bless us. But perhaps there is more, and the narrator in the video on this post may have captured it perfectly. Why do we eat and rest in the first place? We do it to keep our bodies nourished and to recover from previous efforts, right? We do it so that we can go back to our endeavors at a later time.  Maybe that is why God blesses us in His house, not so much for simply our enjoyment, but to get back out there and resume our endeavors.

So, let’s enjoy our Father’s house and His table. Let’s thank him for and enjoy the many blessings He gives us. Let’s remember however, that those of us who are saved believers will enjoy that bounty for all eternity. There are, however those, who will not, unless they are reached, because  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

So, then, beloved, let us fill our bellies and get our rest. Then, let’s not sit around and do nothing. Let’s push back from the table, look out that window, and more importantly walk out that door into a lost and dying world and share Jesus Christ with them!

There is peace and contentment in my Father’s house today,
Lots of food on His table and no one turned away.
There is singing and laughter as the hours pass by,
But a hush calms the singing as the Father sadly cries,

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields.

Push away from the table.
Look out through the windowpane,
Just beyond the house of plenty
Lies a field of golden grain.
And it’s ripe unto harvest,
But the reapers, where are they?
In the house,
Oh, can’t the children hear
the Father sadly say,

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields….

Who will go and work in my fields

 

My House is Full but My Field Is Empty

As we have been doing for a bit, I have been recapping the message I got to deliver at our church a couple of weeks before our  Revival. We have talked about a few things regarding, “Revival,” and I closed with an oral presentation of this blog post to close things out and illustrate what it might look like to actually get revived. My wife and her friend sang this song to open our service. This is not them; they are actually much better! Don’t ever say blogging doesn’t pay, as there is nothing like literally having a message in one’s pocket at all times!

‘

 

Luke 10:2

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

---

There is peace and contentment in my Father’s house today,
Lots of food on His table and no one turned away.
There is singing and laughter as the hours pass by,
But a hush calms the singing as the Father sadly cries,

There is peace and contentment in my Father’s house today. Indeed, there is much peace and contentment to be found around the Father’s table; he has promised us that. For those who are saved children of God, He gave us the promise that Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Why do we have so much peace? We can have that because although born sinners, as all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, He loved us enough to provide a way to be restored to Himself,  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Lots of food on His table and no one turned away. What is it we are partaking of at our Father’s table? Jesus told us that; He told us that the sustenance He provides would last forever. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. What we enjoy at the Father’s table will never run out, and we will never hunger or thirst again. But, there is more! The invitation to the Father’s table is an open one, and no one will be turned away, who comes to Him in repentance and faith; for whosever calls upon the name of The Lord shall be saved.

There is singing and laughter as the hours pass by. Hours? Try eternity, for we will be at our Father’s table forever! David, the Psalmist noted the following:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil;my cup overflows.Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

But we don’t have to wait for our passing from this life and eternity to enjoy the many blessings of God do we? All saved children of the Father know our blessings start the moment God’s Holy Spirit moves inside of us and we are saved and born again. That’s really when we first come to the table. So, what is the problem? Our chorus tells us what the problem is.

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields.

That’s right, we all love the blessings God bestows on us as saved children of His. But God needs workers. The fields are ripe for the harvest, as The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: 

Who will go and work for Me today? In the prophet Isaiah’s vision, we hear the Lord ask Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? In that occasion, the prophet promptly replied to the Lord Here am I; send me. Is that our answer when God calls us to reach out to a lost and dying world? Or are we a Moses, who resisted at first until God grew angry; or a Gideon, who required proof after proof; or a Jonah, who complied but even then remained angry at God’s decision to reach out to Nineveh?

So, then, what does does God want from us besides us sitting around enjoying His great blessings? Does He want us to just stay in his house, filling our bellies with His bounty? NO!

Push away from the table.
Look out through the windowpane,
Just beyond the house of plenty
Lies a field of golden grain.
And it’s ripe unto harvest,
But the reapers, where are they?
In the house,
Oh, can’t the children hear
the Father sadly say,

We have our orders, and our instructions are clear. Push away from the table. Look out through the windowpane, After he had spent 40 days showing himself to the world and his disciples after His resurrection, Jesus had these famous words to say to them jut prior to leaving this Earth and returning to heaven:  Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Go, Go Go. That is what Jesus said. Go! At some point after that, just before he ascended to be with His Heavenly Father, Jesus reinforced the point when he further told the disciples that ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. As if to further reinforce the point, after Jesus disappeared into the clouds two angels appeared to the disciples and asked them, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

Who was this instruction for? Was it just for the disciples assembled there? Well, obviously not! How would 12 men reach the uttermost part of the Earth? This command is for all people, of all times, in all places. It’s not just for preachers, or evangelists, either; again, this instruction is for us all.

The instruction is for NOW. Of course, Jesus did tell the disciples to return to Jerusalem and wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, which did occur on the Day of Pentecost. We no longer have to wait for that, because as saved believers we are already indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and have all the tools we need at our disposal! The time is now, because the harvest of souls is ready and waiting, see again Jesus teaching His disciples, Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. This command is not for the future; it is for now, and it is for us all.

So, why are we in the Father’s House, gathered around the table, and enjoying His sustenance? Well, of course it is because He loves us and wants to bless us. But perhaps there is more, and the narrator in the video on this post may have captured it perfectly. Why do we eat and rest in the first place? We do it to keep our bodies nourished and to recover from previous efforts, right? We do it so that we can go back to our endeavors at a later time.  Maybe that is why God blesses us in His house, not so much for simply our enjoyment, but to get back out there and resume our endeavors.

So, let’s enjoy our Father’s house and His table. Let’s thank him for and enjoy the many blessings He gives us. Let’s remember however, that those of us who are saved believers will enjoy that bounty for all eternity. There are, however those, who will not, unless they are reached, because  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

So, then, beloved, let us fill our bellies and get our rest. Then, let’s not sit around and do nothing. Let’s push back from the table, look out that window, and more importantly walk out that door into a lost and dying world and share Jesus Christ with them!

There is peace and contentment in my Father’s house today,
Lots of food on His table and no one turned away.
There is singing and laughter as the hours pass by,
But a hush calms the singing as the Father sadly cries,

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields.

Push away from the table.
Look out through the windowpane,
Just beyond the house of plenty
Lies a field of golden grain.
And it’s ripe unto harvest,
But the reapers, where are they?
In the house,
Oh, can’t the children hear
the Father sadly say,

My house is full, but my field is empty,
Who will go and work for Me today.
It seems my children want to stay around my table,
But no one wants to work my fields,
No one wants to work my fields….

Who will go and work in my fields

 

Revival Time Part 2 – Revival Certainly Produces Evangelism

Acts 2:1-4

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:46,47

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

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I think we have established from yesterday that Revival is not for the non believing world primarily; it is for the believing churches of the world. It is not primarily for giving life to lost souls, but is primarily reviving life in souls already possessing it.

A legitimate claim could be made that the day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2 represented the greatest Revival in recorded history. The Disciples had, as instructed, returned to await the event which was to occur, which was the giving of the Holy Spirit to them. On that day, the group that was gathered was indeed given the power of the Holy Spirit, given new life, and revitalized with a new mission in mind.

That mission was to turn the world upside down; that mission was to evangelize the world. 3000 souls were added to the church that day, and they continued on in that endeavor as we see in Verse 47 when “The Lord added to the church daily…”

A revived church will result in evangelism.  I found the following which captures the essence of the difference between revival and evangelism very nicely. Sadly, I somehow lost exactly where I got this, so if you are out there, and it belongs to you, let me know!

Revival is what the church experiences. Evangelism is what the church engages in.

Revival is spiritual renewal of God’s people. Evangelism is confronting those without with the claims of Christ.

Revival is God crying to lethargic Christians: “Wake up — and get to work.” Evangelism is an awakened church crying to sinners: “Repent — and be saved.”

Revival is getting one’s own heart warmed. Evangelism is setting other hearts on fire.

Revival is periodic. Evangelism is continuous.

Those who understand the difference between revival and evangelism never say, “Oh, we didn’t have much of a revival — just a lot of church members warmed over!”

But that is revival.

Revival Time Part 1 – Is Revival Evangelism?

Well it’s revival time again at our place! We have had two this year! So, for the next few days, I am just going to post some thoughts about that subject; I hope readers find them useful in some way.

Many differing thoughts exist as to what a revival within a church consist of. For many, if not most of us, revival is simply an event; it is something we attend or go to see. Many of us head out to revival, with some hope that, “Gosh, i sure hope somebody gets saved at revival.” I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but that is not what revival is for!

Don’t miss understand me at all; if a person comes to a revival and gets saved, that is wonderful. Just as it is wonderful if they get saved on a regular Sunday morning, Sunday night, in their fishing boat, on the golf course, or any other place where God chooses to reach out to a lost person and convert them. The salvation of a lost soul should always be a cause for great and joyful celebration by the saved themselves; however, the salvation of lost souls is not the purpose of a revival.

Let’s look at the word itself. Re simply means “again,” while vive simply means “life.” So, what we see here is the revival literally means “life again.”  It doesn’t mean new life, or the birth of life; it means the restoring of life that already exists.

Here are some other passages that seem to express the sentiment here.

Psalm 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that THY PEOPLE may rejoice in thee?

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive THY WORK in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If MY PEOPLE, who are called by My name……

His people…His work. Revival, then is not primarily an effort to give life to those who do not have it. It is primarily an effort to bring back to life those who already have it!

I’m going to try something I think. We commonly greet our visiting preacher with something along the lines of, “Thanks so much for coming to be our evangelist.”

I wonder what would happen if somebody said, “Thanks so much for coming to be our revivalist?”

Next: Is there a relationship between revival and evangelism?

Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church Revival Day 1

We have been in Revival this week. Our speaker has been brother Bryan Sellers. Brother Sellers is also the Missions Treasurer for our National Association. He has been preaching his way through Philippians, and has made some great connections between our Christian joy and our state of Revival. Blessings and enjoy!

Let’s Talk Revival!!! Part 6

This week’s recap of our daily devotionals is going to be quite short. We are only talking about the church at Thyratira and this only covered two days.

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Revelation 2_19-21

I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

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Read all of Revelation Chapter 2

Thyratira-A Commendation

When we began looking at the seven churches of Asia, we were just going to look at the ones specifically told to repent;however, we are going to keep going. Today we will begin a look at the church at Thyratira, which was also a struggling church. Then we will take a final quick look at the two churches Jesus seemed the most pleased with.

Even though this church had its issues, which we will discuss later; they were also doing some things well. In addition, they seemed to be improving and growing in their work for the Lord. So, what was going well in this church?

This church had love(charity). This seems the opposite of the previously mentioned church at Ephesus, where they had lost their first love. The first commendation for love in these letters was given to this church. What we see her is a love for God and for one another. That’s a great place to start, since Jesus did tell us that love is the greatest commandment.

This church was faithful in it’s service and patience. Because of their love, they were likely intent on service and meeting the needs of others. Furthermore, this patience had produced a church that persevered in its service and works.

The final part of the commendation to this church is interesting. Many of the churches seemed to be slipping backwards, or in the wrong direction. Note this: and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.  This church was certainly not backsliding; they were growing stronger in fact. Their love was probably going stronger, along with their faithful, persistent service. In other words, this church was growing more mature in its Christian walk, and was increasing its efforts to spread and foster the Kingdom of God.

They were not without blame, however, as we will see in tomorrow’s devotional. Like most churches, even good ones, Thyratira had its issues.

Are we in a church where overall things are going well, but yet there are pockets of issues which are ignored or overlooked? We might need revival.

The Church That Tolerated Sin

 As we previously discussed yesterday, there were some good things going in in the church at Thyratira. They were growing and maturing spiritually, and were certainly doing more than just putting on a front or going through the motions. There were real, God pleasing things going on there. However, all was not well there either.

Do we all remember Jezebel? She is the idolatrous queen who enticed Israel to begin worshiping Baal during the reign of King Ahab. In modern terms, she would be an idolatrous false teacher. So, here we have a church on one hand growing in love and maturity, yet on the other hand being very tolerant of a false teacher.

Along with the false teaching, there was apparently some fairly rampant immorality going on here, perhaps being taught and even encouraged by the false teaching. This is rather like the “Doctrine of Balaam,” which enticed the Israelites into sexual sin and idol worship in the church at Pergamos we discussed earlier.

Not only were the people hear tolerating sin and false teaching, but may have been quite proud and refusing to repent. In verse 21 on our passage we see, And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 

Not everyone was guilty of that, we have already shown the many were faithfully doing the right thing in this church. Jesus, in the verses that follow, is very clear of His concern for this situation and what He plans to do about it if change does not occur.

Revelation 2:22,23 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Why such great concern? After all, this church was certainly doing some things very right; Jesus said so after all. The problem is, sin and false teachings in a church are like cancers. If they are not taken out and treated immediately, they will spread and kill the entire body. If allowed to spread, they quickly reach a point where the patient can no longer be saved.

Are there those we are know are false teachers being allowed to openly exist in our churches, but yet we do nothing? Is there much “secret” sin among our members with no efforts at correction or restoration? We might be in need of revival.

Ezra 10:1 (Revival)

Ezra 10:1

Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.

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By:Beejai from The River Walk

While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and lying face down on the ground in front of the Temple of God, a very large crowd of people from Israel—men, women, and children—gathered and wept bitterly with him. (Ezra 10:1)

Read: Ezra 10:1-44, 1 Corinthians 6:1-20, Psalm 31:9-18, Proverbs 21:3

Relate: Ezra prayed. The people repented. Violently, emotionally, in a very “undignified” manner they repented. Then the community changed. Revival.

That word might not be as familiar in some Christian circles as in others. I grew up running in circles that used the word very often. We would talk about revival. We would pray for revival. We would hold “revival services” about once a year where a special guest speaker would come in and we would have church every day for a week. I would go to other local churches when they were holding their “revival services”. Some times God would show up in a special, unexpected way for three or four Sundays in a row and we would say we were experiencing revival. I think we overused the word. Revival is when prayer, repentance, change impact an entire community.

Duncan Campbell wrote and spoke about what God did in a true revival, sometimes called the Lewis Revival, at other times the Hebrides Revival. He writes:

When I speak of revival, I am not thinking of high-pressure evangelism. I am not thinking of crusades, or of special efforts convened and organized by man. That is not in my mind at all. Revival is something altogether different from evangelism on its highest level. Revival is a moving of God in the community…

Read the rest here

Revived? Or Not?

Well, as I stated a little over a week ago, I was planning on being absent for a bit while we had our annual Revival at my church. I must say, I am glad I took the time off, because I know now that focusing on that, and that alone, was what The Lord preferred that I do.

It’s over now. That is, the event we call revival is over. Of course, we will have one next year, just as we always do. Heck if somebody gets really fired up, we might even have TWO revivals! The event has ended, but has the Revival? Maybe the question is; Has the Revival even begun? What happened during the last week? Where are we going with what happened? Did anything actually happen? As you can see, my mind is simply bubbling with thoughts that even to me seem to make little organized sense. Since I fancy myself a writer, writing them down and tossing them out seems to be a proper response. Please bear with me if they are somewhat disjointed and disorganized.

First things first. Any week when I get to go to God’s House for worship and fellowship seven times in one week is just a good week. I love the local church, and truly believe that is where God primarily would have me to be to worship Him. The location is irrelevant, but God clearly desires that we gather in local, called out assemblies of believers to worship Him and perform His works. Now, that is from God’s standpoint. From my stand point, things just get better. I clearly understand church is not about me, but the God who loves me so much has made it so that I am blessed and filled with joy by it. That is just very cool. What’s it in for me?

I get to learn about God and HIs Word.

I get to be with the people of God who I love dearly.

I get my focus back on God instead of the world

I get to pray for others and they pray for me. There is power in corporate prayer, I believe.

I get to sing. Singing God’s praises in song is awesome, but even more so with a multitude of voices lifted up together.

I get to hear God’s Word preached. I am convicted regarding the things I need to do, and I learn how to get them done. I am exhorted, commanded, and encouraged in the direction I need to go.

The music, ah, the music. I already mentioned I love the music. Call me old fashioned, but next to prayer, picking up an old time Hymn book and singing together about things pulled directly from God’s Word is uplifting and edifying in ways that simply cannot be expressed. I love to hear others sing. Some of the individual special music touches like nothing else. I must add, we have the best music director on the planet. If a person pays any attention to what they are singing, they will quickly see that what we sing are not just random assortments of songs she likes, but they always have a point, a theme, and a message. You could almost say we get two sermons for the price of one. One is in song, and the other is in spoken words.

The message, or the point of the whole thing. The powerful, true, convicting presentation of God’s Word. This weeks messages were all preached from 1 Kings and relayed the story of the Prophet Elijah from his calling by God up until his confrontation with Ahab and the prophets of Baal. The message was entitled. “The Elijah Factor, How One Man Made a Difference.” If any readers have not really read the story, I strongly encourage you to do so. We see one man, living in an unGodly nation. We see one man called by God for a mission. We see one man who answered that call, willing to move forward in the face of daunting odds and great opposition. Over the next little bit, in our morning devotionals, we will explore this great story in some detail.

Okay. We had an event called Revival. Big deal. Now that the event is over, is the Revival over? Well, earlier in our series on this topic, I made it clear that Revival is NOT just an event; it is NOT just a thing we do once a year, or maybe twice if we get really excited. To be revived is a lifestyle, not a happening. Now that the happening is over, will we take what we heard and become changed? Or Monday morning will we be be the same as we were last Monday when we walked into the church building? Let’s take a look at some things quickly:

We live in a Godless nation, filled with sin and transgression of every sort.

We face opposition from the Godless, often it is heated and hateful.

We all have been called to stand, and to take a stand. Not all will answer, but we have all been called.

One man, one woman, one family, or one church can make a difference

What are you doing next week? Next month? Till the day you draw your last breath?

Let’s Talk Revival!! Part 3

Good Saturday morning readers! It’s good to be back in the blogging saddle after a week off. We are continuing to recap on Saturdays our Daily Devotions which for now and the undetermined future will be about Revival

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Indwelt But Not Filled?

Ephesians 5:18

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

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We have covered some ground in our discussion of revival and the need for revival in the New Testament churches. We have truly had some fascinating discussions, and I hope they continue. What conclusions have we reached? Let’s sum up quickly.

The need for revival in the Old Testament time was constant in the sense of habitual falling away, repentance, and restoration. This seemingly in large part was because the Holy Spirit was not permanently in either the Israelites or individual believers.

We have concluded that at on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given once and for all to the church and at some subsequent point all believers began to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit upon their salvation. Seemingly this removed the constant need for revival and restoration.

We also concluded that, for some reason, we still seem to face the need for periodic repentance and restoration; we seem to still need revival. How can this be?

Let me say right up front, this will not be a major theological dissertation, as I am not a theologian. My choice of words may not meet the agreement of everyone, and that is just fine and dandy. I think we will all get the gist of the discussion, though.

Let’s look quickly at some scripture that supports the assertion that we are each indwelt with the Holy Spirit at salvation and permanently:

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

John 7:37-39 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

But yet a case can be made that, even though the Holy spirit is in us, we are not always filled with Him. Huh?, you say…how can that be so? Well, again I must go to a commenter who has really great words to describe what we are talking about here, Julie over at Light and Life again:

” I think of the Holy Spirit in me as an eternal flame, sometimes it blazes hot and sometimes it barely smolders. When it smolders I get on my knees and refuel it. The fire is always there, but if it I don’t stoke it, I end up just blowing smoke.”

We could stop right there, as the point is finely made, but I like to write so I will keep going for just a bit. The fire is always there…but we have to stoke it. The Holy Spirit is always there, but we have to allow Him to fill us. Basically we have to be so yielded to the Holy Spirit that He can fully possess us, and in that way fill us.

What are the keys to the filling of the Holy Spirit? What stokes the embers? What fans the flames of the Spirit? What causes the flames to die out? Why do we smolder? Stay tuned!

Quenching and Grieving The Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4:30

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

1 Thessalonians 5:19

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As we continue forward with our study on Revival, let’s recap quickly where we stand. We have arrived that the conclusion that due to the permanence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and churches, we really should not be in need of revival; we should just be alive constantly in the Spirit, and never in need of reviving. We also concluded that oftentimes we live lives which are not filled with the Holy Spirit.

We fail to be filled with the Holy Spirit as we should because we 1) Grieve HIm, and 2) Quench Him. Today we are only going to quickly cover the fact that we do these things; in the following days we will talk specifically about how we do it, and what are signs that we need reviving.

On thing is important to note when we talk about grieving the Holy Spirit is that this indicates He is a divine person of the Trinity. He gets grieved by our conduct in the same way we would be grieved about something. We grieve the Spirit by our sins, and our lack of obedience.

In the last devotional, a commenter compared the Holy Spirit in her to fire, which needs to be stoked and not allowed to smolder and die. The word quench refers to exactly that concept.When the word “quench” is used in Scripture, it is used in reference to putting out a fire. We use our shield in the Armor of God to quench the fiery darts of the devil. Jesus describes Hell as a place where the fire is not quenched.

It’s probably important to note here what is getting quenched, lest anyone think we have some kind of power to make the Holy Spirit stronger or weaker by our actions or our words. The Holy Spirit is God, so that idea is absurd. What we quench is ourselves. The Holy Spirit is in us, permanently, but we quench His work in us.

Yes, we need revival periodically; that conclusion is inescapable. We need only look at ourselves and your churches to see this.

Coming up: Signs we might be in need of Revival.

Signs That We Might Need Reviving

We are still in our study of the need for Christians to revive themselves, to turn away from where we are, and to move forward in service to The Lord. We have discussed how we fail to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, even though He is in us; we have discussed the fact that we grieve and quench His presence in our lives. The sad, but true, thing is we do fail in this area. We are going to move forward, put some verbs in our sentences, and talk about specific areas in which individual believers and churches fail and how we might fix them.

Just a few thoughts on circumstances which exist in our lives which dampen the Holy Spirits word and indicate we need repentance and revival, then we will move on to specifics as the days go on. We might be in need of revival if:

Our love for God has grown lukewarm or cold.

Our love for each other has grown lukewarm or cold.

Our prayer life has grown lukewarm or cold.

Our concern for the lost in the world has grown lukewarm or cold.

When we wallow and languish in our sin, with no efforts to correct it or restore one another.

When we are no different from the world around us,

When are churches are languishing or staying put. When they are no longer advancing forward in God’s work

When are churches are struggling to survive, or actually dying.

When we think that, because we are busy doing things for God, that we are okay and don’t need reviving.

When we are happy with things just the way they are and think our strength lies in our traditions.

We can stand idly by and see God mocked and ridiculed and feel no need or compulsion to say anything.

We think we know all we need to know about God’s Word and cease to pray, study and meditate on it.

We stop rejoicing in the blessing of others and instead resent that they received them.

We think we have become good enough, and cease striving to become Christlike.

We start to constantly doubt and question God’s Word and doubt key doctrines of Christianity and clearly taught precepts.

Our main priority in life is anything other than Jesus Christ.

That is hardly all the things we can do or fail to do to quench the Holy Spirit in our lives, but it provides a good start. Feel free to add, and perhaps we can explore your thoughts in more detail!