The role of the church is not to produce revival; but to prepare for it.

I noted this quote from a friend and though it fitting, in the light of recent engagements here at SI;

Archie Parrish writes;

Prepare for the Way of the LORD

"As we have seen, to be revived is to wake up and live! It is like a prairie fire ignited by lightening bolts from heaven. In the Great Awakening we saw that revival is in every way supernatural and extraordinary.

Vast numbers of people of all ages and all ranks and degrees were transformed. They were ignorant and learned. Some were crude and disorderly; others were the worst possible sinners, sensual worldlings. Those who once treated this work with contempt became its champions. Many who merely professed formal religion suddenly expressed deep passionate love for God.
Revival is a God-wrought transformation in the inner person that reaches into the total fabric of life and culture. It appears when the Body of Christ, the Church, is at the brink of death. The heart is beating its last, and so God Himself takes direct action. Like a divine emergency room doctor, the Holy Spirit applies supernatural CPR, breathing fresh air of heaven into the lungs of the Church. He massages the heart until there is again a strong, healthy heartbeat.

Revival or awakening is the extraordinary, sovereign work of God. The role of the Church is not to produce revival but to prepare for it."

Taken from the Epilogue of the book "The Spirit of Revival"-Discovering the wisdom of Jonathan Edwards by Archie Parrish

The Pilgrim: ...ARCHIE PARRISH WROTE THAT PILGRIM!

"Revival or awakening is the extraordinary, sovereign work of God. The role of the Church is not to produce revival but to prepare for it."

Archie Parrish

I also thought a hearty amen and amen!

"I don't mean to sound rude or any such thing, but I just don't see any meaning in this statement. I keep scratching my head wondering, "huh?" It sounds nice, but if you break it down, I think I would have to disagree with this statement, no matter how you turn."
King Jimmy

When I think of preparation, I think of the disciples wait in the upper room, and then I think "What has the church done, and what can she do to prepare, for something that only God can give?

"Revival or awakening is the extraordinary, sovereign work of God. The role of the Church is not to produce revival but to prepare for it."

One of the things we can do is to watch, or tarry, before the Lord until His promise does come, like Daniel and Nehemiah and Ezra waited and prayed at the time of the Promise of the restoration from captivity. This is preparation, as Solomon prayed at the dedication of the Temple. We humble ourselves, in a spirit of dependence and trust in His power alone, and believe for the promise, with cries of mercy.

They were commanded to wait, or old English, "to tarry", until power from on high come; they were endued with power.

Acts 2

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivette, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

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These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

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Why , I ask you were they praying at all? The word "supplication" definitely implies intercession, so I ask you WHY?, if it were not that divine unction that humbles us, and notches us to RECEIVE the PROMISE, uniting His actions with our prayer, and then! the divine mystery of UNITY!; Preparation of ONE SINGLE and HOLY HEART to receive his Promise.

!!!!! And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.!!!!!!!
The Temple was prepared; Then the Promise!

"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. "

This was without question the first and great revival in church history. what might have happened IF the disciples had not obeyed to "TARRY?" Prayer for revival can be work, and yet in some mysterious way, fit into the very thing that God is doing. He will only rest within a holy temple, and He is jealous. Maybe this also is a ministry in preparing Him a resting place.

We cannot work up revival, as so many have assumed, with the "2 week revival" that the church bulletin says is coming in November. In this sense our brother said what he said , that we cannot produce it, as much as we would desire it, and brought forth the maxim that we must also prepare for it.

Wow, Lysa, Joan: Thanks.

A very inspiring comment. Whether or not the bride had made her self ready at some point in time, it still stands to reason that there was a process to attain it; IE, a time of preparation. The parable of the 10 virgins likewise.

If I'm reading you right, your saying that the prepared are the ones that receive revival, and that possibly God acted with it BECAUSE they prepared so.

We know that the Father uses prayer from men as a portion of his will and acts. Remember the bowls in heaven that held the "prayers of the saints" in Heaven? in Revelation 5:8?

"When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."
Revelation 8:2-4 (New American Standard Bible)

2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

3Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.

4And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand.

5Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

[b]Could this be the fires of revival cast upon the earth, that were but the prayers and intercessions of God's lonely and desperate people, praying in a time of FAMINE?[/b]

It appears that our real preparation is accomplished before the Throne.

Jonathan Edwards wrote in his Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God of the Last Revival:

"Prophecy in Scripture describes the beginning of the last and greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God. It is to be in the latter ages of the world. The manner of work will be very extraordinary and such as never seen before. There shall be occasion then to say, "Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. (Isaiah 66:8). It may be reasonably expected that the extraordinary manner of this work then will be in proportion to the very extraordinary events. God will bring to pass glorious change in the state of the world".
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[b]WE LABOR UNTO BIRTH. THE DELIVERY OF AUTHENTIC REVIVAL.[/b]

COULD THIS BE THE CONTEXT THAT WE MAY PREPARE?

As the title says,

The role of the church is not to produce revival; but to prepare for it.

That is a command to wait for the coming of the revival to which God was going send shortly. Now, has there been such a command to do that today?

The reason why I say this is because I have heard in the past 30 years that God was going to move in a big revival and these went on in spurts here and there, prayer meetings etc.. but nothing of any major significance came out of that. The disciples didn't wait 30 years for the promise to fall, but our modern day preachers have said that revival would be soon in their day, 80's, 90's, and now the 2000's. Please understand my inquiry.

So who has the bug on the next revival? Just being curious.

DeepThinker wrote;

So who has the bug on the next revival? Just being curious..
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THE PATIENT IN TRIBULATION AND THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT HIS PROMISE WILL NOT FAIL.

It is similar in saying :" Where are the signs of His return?"

DeepThinker wrote: "The disciples didn't wait 30 years for the promise to fall, but our modern day preachers have said that revival would be soon in their day, 80's, 90's, and now the 2000's." Please understand my inquiry.
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There have been gaps of hundreds of years between major revivals throughout history. You ask..."Now, when is the next revival so that one can prepare for it?"

As disciples of Jesus, we should be preparing today to please Him, know Him, and to honor Him. We should also long for a heart, if perhaps we don't possess it, that would cry out for the redemption of others ; the Lost and needy of the World.

Jesus said to ask for rain, in the midst of rain, and if you have not, it is because you ASK not. "Ask", HE said; "And you shall receive!" He also commanded us to "occupy until I come!", as a means of preparing, and to "Go!, and make disciples!"....and He said of the doubtful, "Will the son of Man find faith upon the Earth when He returns?"

Revival will come when Jesus decrees it, but the Bible says that He does hear our prayer, and even counts them in Heaven, and responds to them. It is as his return; "No man knows the day or hour.", yet we know that He WILL come.

ISIAH 60
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
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For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
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And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
[b]ISAIAH 60[/b]

[b]GROSS DARKNESS SHALL COVER THE EARTH, AND GROSS DARKNESS THE PEOPLE......BUT.........THE LORD SHALL ARISE UPON THE END, AND HIS GLORY SHALL BE SEEN UPON THEE![/b]

This is promised revival that we agree with the Holy Spirit that He would fullfill in these dark and heinous times within and without the Church of the Lord Jesus.

Sigh, oh well.

Sigh...........:Deepthinker

Because God does not jump to meet our own terms at our own time, does not mean that He has forgotten, nor "is slack in His promises."

I must say, that when confronted with these promises in Scripture...[ and there are many..] that God will come, and revive, restore, and manifest His glory , and our attitude is deteriorated away from joyful belief into a apathetic cynicism, that we could be in danger of missing them fulfilled when they do come...........as they surely will.

In my nearly 40 years of spirit filled living..[ with the ups and downs of success and failures...] I have seen many fall away. I have watched them deny Christ, or cement themselves into the world as all fruit evaporates into selfishness, or similarly into dead religion; stealing away their faith.

It begins and ends in the battle of their personal faith. Do they believe that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father?, and that the holy Scriptures are indeed the infallible word of that very omnipotent being? It comes down also that they believe His promises , right along with His warnings. Your "Sigh; Oh well." doesn't impress me; it scares me.

On a "prayer call" the other night, a leading brother taught about restoration , faith and revival out of Daniel, and added this bit of historical information. Only 7% of the captivity in Babylon chose to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their country, and receive their inheritance.

This is in the face of the ministry of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, with numerous Divine interventions and signs during those 70 years. They sacrificed their inheritance in Israel, maybe forever for some, because of unbelief.

Our Hope is built upon the truth that God has never forsaken anyone who has put their trust in Him....no not anyone. Revival will come, with great glory unto Jesus as He dwells within His Bride in Fullness, but not all will be able to receive it, and thereby participate within it. I long for this day, and to be honest, I can sense it coming.

We must believe and trust Him in a real way, to make it through these dark days, for the light is coming.

"What seek [zateo] ye?"

Re: What are you seeking?
by JoanM on 2009/10/8 1:27:27

The question is "What are you seeking?"

That question was also raised in another thread, Reviving What? by Merle Weaver; at least for me that was a great good question conveyed there.

I am probably asking this because I am learning in John, because I do pray for revival and know something of what I am praying for, because I have learned that "first things first" matters, and again because the first thing that John reports in his gospel that Jesus said is:

"What seek [zateo] ye?"

"This is a wonderful God-breathed question. It is coming to my mind not just for myself in the things I do and choose not to do. But also when I listen to others so as to hear them."
joan m.

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This is a very profound inquisition here by the Lord Jesus, that cuts to the quick and soul of motive, and that one thing that God responds to....faith in Himself. It is the thing that either shuts us out of heaven's response, or kicks the door wide open to His heart.

Do we want revival because it seems that things will be more blessed; easier and orderly, and the great pressures of life and battle will certainly ease up?...with floods of joy, Peace and glory in the Lord?

Or...do we seek revival because Jesus seeks life for the lost, and the Father seeks to make known the greatness and Power of his only Son? Are our hearts united with the Father on one agenda alone?...His redemptive Heart to save and adapt many children for His own?

Many, I think want revival for themselves, or possibly see themselves at the forefront in some leadership capacity.[b]WHAT SEEK YE?[/b], AND WHEN THE ANSWER IS RIGHT, AND PROVED AUTHENTIC, THEN MAYBE HE WILL RESPOND.