Sunday, June 3, 2007

Careful what you ask for

I've been thinking alot recently... am i really ready for a revival/revolution? i still haven't come up w/ a definite answer to this one. probably never really will... here's what i've been thinking. ok, God comes down in all His power and glory... we have some wonderful services... that sort of thing (revival). thats well and great and all, but then what? God doesn't do that so that we feel good about ourselves and have some great times in His presence...

He does that for the betterment of society (revolution). think about it... about 2% of your life is spent in a "church-like" atmosphere (usually sunday morning ((2-3 hours, if that in nominal meetings)) and another meeting sometime during the week ((another 2-3 hours)) so all in all about 4-6 hours a week). if your into a really vibrant church... then give it maybe 8-10 hours a week. thats about 10 hours out of 154 hours a week. wow... thats about 5% of your week in a church like atmosphere. and that counts the hours of day dreaming in church and trying to stay awake. don't act like you don't stay up til 2 am watching some stupid tv that you know you shouldn't be watching (i do it too). so then the glory comes down.. but theres a lot of people who won't initially step foot into a meeting... so then lets take the glory to them! yippee!! market place ministry. and with that comes the misunderstood idea of separation of church and state. so your going to try and tell me that i can be all nice and religious for 5% of my life, but the other 95% i have to keep a lid on it? not on your life pal! God's coming to the market place! (revolution). revolution can be another term for reformation. or a reformation can be a result of revolution.

all this to say that i'm really longing for God to move by the power of His Spirit. but when I ask God to send the fire, i sometimes forget that that means judgment/justice in the Spirit. my own life gets shaken. am i ready for that? a visiting minister at FIRE once said that he was being used powerfully of the Lord. Praying for people to be healed and touched and God was really doing something. at one point in time he remembers stopping and just saying to the Lord that he was amazed at the results and how the Lord was working through someone who had some things wrong in his own life. all God said back to him was "yeah, and i'll deal w/ you later." suddenly, he had a real desire for holiness. its funny how God gets our attention.

i'm really grateful that your taking the time to read all of this. I know that at times, i can come across really hard and sound mean. but thats just b/c i really do love people. i love them enough to get on their cases sometimes. and believe me, God gets on mine like all the time. i'm not about reproach and God loves me enough to chastise me. but thats all apart of his love and mercy and compassion. my parents loved me enough when i was younger to spank me. and to this day, i'm grateful that they did that. spanking done in the right spirit bears much fruit. when a parent truly loves their child, they'll spank. not out of anger, but out of love. i can remember that at times when my parents we disciplining me, they'd often say "this is going to hurt me more than it'll hurt you." to me, that statement was questionable.

in any case, thanks again for taking the time to read this. this really is a good outlet for all thats on my heart.

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