The crowds have thinned. The remnant continue to show up each night faithfully to worship and get into the scriptures. While I am preaching the size of the crowd does not bother me but in these moments I begin wondering if God is done. Revival is His sovereign choice.
The past couple of services have felt different. They are not bad. The worship is wonderful and people desire more words from God. Where as before the presence of God was thick last week and His working clearly evident, it all seems pretty ordinary this week.
God continues to give me fresh words. I preached from [Phil 3:12-14]. We must press on with God revival or no revival. The phrase “press on” means to follow, run swiftly after, and to pursue. Those things should be the goal of every believer to be lived out day in and day out.
Nobody moved during the invitation but then again I am not sure it was a message that really called for a response at the altar. I think it was the type of message that will require a response all the days of our lives.
I told the congregation I would commit to meeting tomorrow night and Wednesday night. After that we will have to see. I have not seen anything in the last couple of days that convinces me we are still in revival. I know our people are tired. We had well over 300 total people involved in D’Now and they kept a grueling schedule over the weekend. This revival is not about the size of the attendance. It is about the work of God in our hearts. Maybe people are either satisfied or unwilling to follow God where He is leading in repentance and full surrender.
It is not so much the attendance that is gnawing at my soul. There is something different in these past couple of days. The services have not been bad. They have been ordinarily good and that is what concerns me. In past revival services they have been anything but ordinary.
How do you know when it is over? Lots of prayer and sitting before Lord. I have peace in my heart either way. I have sought the Lord and preached what I felt Him leading me to preach. This whole revival was a step of faith God honored.
The older I get the more I have come to the place I do not have to have the crowds, the worship songs, or to even be standing in the pulpit to encounter God. I most prefer to encounter Him in my private times. Those times sustain me. That is where every believer must ultimately come to the realization we must encounter God in private times of worship as well as public worship. That is the only way to continue to live in a revived state.
I know many of you reading this would like to have a different report. I will call it like I see it and not try to make it look better than it really is. We will meet for the next two nights and then reevaluate what needs to happen after that. So for at least the next two nights revival services will continue. It is up to God and the hunger of people if true revival continues.
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