Once again God made it clear what I was to preach. The day started out earlier than normal. Even after Friday’s night service I kept battling thoughts of defeat and doubt about the future of the revival. I had breakfast with one of our members and both of us felt like it was over. We talked about the importance of pressing forward and believing God would continue to work in the future even after the revival services came to an end. The end of the services do not mean the end of God working.
Over pancakes and eggs we discussed how incredibly the Lord had worked over the course of the past three weeks. We were both open to God doing more but did not have a great deal of optimism that God would continue to pour His spirit out among us. The vast majority of our membership have quit attending the services and seem uninterested in God doing more.
Maybe these blogs are getting to raw and honest. The truth is that what most people associate would happen in a revival of nearly three weeks is not necessarily what we have experienced for the last week. The truth is I have prayed diligently every morning and believed that we would see breakthrough. It has not happened. There is less intensity in the worship. The crowds are smaller. The response after the messages has dropped off as well. Fewer new faces are showing up. The lost are no longer being saved. By what you can see the revival appears to be over.
The power of Saturday night did not take place in the praise and the worship or the preaching. After the invitation I gave people a short break and asked them to return to their seats. I did not tell them what the Lord had put in my heart. When we all returned I asked the church what they sensed the Lord saying about the future of the revival. I clarified that we did want opinions but only what they sensed the Lord might be saying.
The first man said he sensed the Lord clearly saying, “Are you going to let the devil outwork you? Are you going to lay down and quit?” He did not feel God was through working. The next man talked about feeling oppressed all day long. He saw that as spiritual warfare, which to him, meant God still had more work to do or the enemy would not be working so hard to oppose it. A lady got up and said she knew God was not through and we should be shamed thinking He was. She said she felt like a cheerleader to encourage us to keep going.
I sat silently on the front row trying to discern what the Lord had to say through His church. One of our quieter men got up and read scriptures I had preached from earlier in the week from [Matt 26:41] “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Another man who is not known for addressing the church publicly got up to say he had told God “no” so many times and nearly did it again last night but chose to obey God by saying He did not think God was through. Another man got up and read the poem “The Fellowship of the Unashamed.” He did not sense God was through either.
After that I called those who wanted to stay and pray to come forward. I never knew how many stayed because I fell prostrate on the ground. In those moments we once again stood in the gap for Seminole. I wrestled with the high cost of following God forward in this revival personally. School starts Monday. Pressing on means more early mornings of prayer, more waiting on God for messages, more fighting the enemy, and less time with my family. I have often told the church there is a high cost associated with revival. Few churches are really willing to pay when it becomes inconvenient.
Most people left before I finished praying because I truly wrestled about God breaking through. I fought through personal feelings of disappointment at how many of our own people do not desire more of God. I fought through the feelings of frustration that a fireworks show drew more attention than God pouring His Spirit out on Saturday night. I committed my life to follow God here and to press on in the meetings if He works. If they turn into more religious meetings I am not interested. I have and continue to plead for God to work in our midst.
One conversation I had afterward has stuck with me this morning. One of our ladies told me a story about a friend of hers who used to be a church member but died in automobile accident. Before dying her friend said, “We had better quit playing. God means business.” She had even gone to the former pastor to tell him if he did not quit tip toeing in his preaching God would remove him. That man no longer serves here as pastor. I feel the solemn weight of her words last night. “God is not playing and we had better quit playing as well.”
The bottom line is we press on. I do not know for how long. We are starting week four and must follow God. My sleep was abruptly interrupted with a message for this morning. I have my marching orders for the day and will continue to seek Him. We cannot quit but must continue to believe God for greater things. Now is not the time to quit but press on for more of God. The revival continues.
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