Are we idolizing revival?

This question occurred to me as I was reading Brother Frank's thread? Are we idolizing or worshipping revival at the expense of worshiping Christ?

Some in tbe Charismatic movement are crticised for seeking signs and wonders at tbe expense of seeking Jesus. Yet when we focus on past movement of God, are we not doing the same? Is our desire for revival more consuming than our desire for Christ?

Just wondering?

Bearmaster. .

Very good bro bear, that is what I was getting at :) ............bro Frank

Amen brother bearmaster. One of my favorite quotes from Ravenhill: "anything that we love more than the Lord Jesus Christ is an idol."

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." (1 John 5:21).

"The mission of SermonIndex is the preservation and propagation of classical Biblical preaching and the promotion of Christ-centered revival to this generation."

"That I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law" (Phil 3:8).

“I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with causes rather than with consequences, with the disease rather than with symptoms” (Tozer).

you wrote:

In the book "Azusa Street", Frank Bartleman
Points out that the leaders strived to keep
Jesus front and center. Any true move of
God will always exalt and glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ.

you know, that was the first non-canonical book i read on the Faith....(i wanted to say The Way)

There's always been SOMETHING...annointed, how Frank 'reported' everything that went on, in Christ, that just lit ME up....his private prayer ministry, what he was thinking......but i digress....do we idolize Revival?

yes.....no.......maybe.....i don't know, but i do know THIS.....Revival STARTS in a five foot circle around me, and THAT revival is the Revival i seek.

hasnt happened yet. i have several "models" of men of Faith that i have studied, read their works, Frank Bartleman is one, John Sung is another,David Brainerd, Evan Roberts and Duncan Campbell as well.

God the Holy Ghost draws me to these men, as examples to emulate in Messiah Jesus....as well as emulating Jesus HIMSELF, but what i find in my OWN life, right this second, is that i am going thru kind of like what Duncan Campbell went thru in a 17 year period of his life, where he by the numbers, pastored up a Church.....it was a walk thru the Sinai, until his daughter, asked him very early in the morning.."what happened to you Daddy?...when was the last time you led a poor sinner to Jesus?"

and Duncan was just UNDONE....that girl, prophesying just cratered the dear man.

thats RIGHT where i'm at RIGHT NOW..."pre-getting cratered by God the Holy Ghost"......and seeking a re-commissioning, on my face, tears soaking the floor, so as to be fit FOR SERVICE to Jesus.

its just like those five men in that barn in the Hebrides, engaged in a ministry of intercessory prayer in conjunction with those two blind old women, praying in their lil dwelling at the same time...one of them finally gets up, and says, "this is just humbug, if we are not rightly related to God, and then started to speak the Words of the 24th Psalm.....'who shall ascend the Hill of the LORD...he who has clean hands and a pure heart"......

and in all transparency, i know i'm wandering in the "Sinai" right now, and not certain the purity of my heart, nor the cleanliness of my own hands....we've got to be honest.

I bless God for every evangelistic effort made to convert sinners, but a man can talk till he's blue in the face, and there can tens of churches around ye....but what Revival does is SATURATE of community with God Awareness, and no man does the "converting".......oh no, God the Holy Spirit convicts men and women of their TOTAL DEPENDENCE on Jesus, and the Blood of Jesus that cleanses ALL SIN, and multitudes are swept into the Kingdom...supernaturally!

nobody has to 'steady the Ark"...the LORD does it!....and that, right there is my personal longing and heart's desire.

why?...because i want to get high on the "holy ghost chill bumps"?....or be foolish, and start engaging in childish "manifestations, like 'holy laughter'...'drunkeness'.....looking for gold dust in teeth?......NO!!!!...or get BIG CROWDS, and do "interviews", and have TV camera's beaming these "glorious services"?....all the while basking in the 'flesh' and religious pride....and dont forget the MONEY!!!....no no no no!!

What is Jesus' Heart want?.....that "ALL may be saved"....that "NONE may perish"....right?

Well, when He comes to live IN us, arent the Things on His Heart, His Desires...don't they become OUR DESIRES?

well.......YES! would be the obvious answer, but the truth is, i in my weakness CANT DO THIS...all i know, is that what I CAN DO, is seek recomissioning, to be fit for Service, and the only Service, God has laid on my heart is to start getting REAL about intercessory prayer.....and God willing, others join with, in REAL travailing prayer, begging God to come down in power, and set this "dry wood' Afire, in this district.

but first, i am in DIRE need of my own Revival...so my answer...just me, is "no", i dont 'idolize revival', because just as i need water to live, i NEED God in a much much deeper Way....to LIVE......i got to get desperate, and thats just between Him and me in the secret place....but i thought it good i share my heart and my longings with you....Lord bless you all, neil

If we are simply using the word revival as a catch-phrase and reading revival history for history sake then it can be a life-less thing.

Also if we have somehow lost hope for all structures, denominations, churches and feel there is no hope for any of them then we will not like the word revival. For revival speaks of bringing to life again that which was dead.

I have great hope personally for the Lord to revive churches with His living presence and to do a new work. This new work does not always mean a new church or denonimation (movement). Most movements begin not cursing all other groups they came out of but rather they begin with a great hope for larger christendom to be revived yet they also go out in obedience to the call of God on them.

Any remnant theology without hope for revival for others is not in-line with the grace and mercy of the Lord.

Some resources I highly recommend:

For Corporate revival:

Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill

for personal revival:

The Calvary Road by Roy Hession

Bearmaster, I have asked the same question myself. So your not alone.

When we desire God, we should desire all of it, the fruit (saving souls), the power, the signs, the wonders, all of it.

I hate it, I just hate it when people lift up attributes and put down the power. God is both attribute and power, we should ask for nothing less.

"This thing becomes an obsession. For fifty years I’ve wept, and I’ve prayed and I’ve groaned, and I’ve read, and I’ve fasted, and I’ve met with guys for nights of prayer, and days of prayer and days and days of prayer, for revival.

There is not much sign of it. Well, are you sure? You see, prayers never die. What are these: the prayers of the saints (Rev.8.3). You never pray a prayer born of God without it being on record with God. God never wastes anything. Do you think you and I have prayers born of grief, born of anguish, born of desire to see an overthrow of iniquity (for after all that is what revival is), and you think God will let them die?" (Leonard Ravenhill).

Amen to bro Neil. What I was alluding to in the other post that bro bear referenced was the " business," of revival. There are thousands of books and many speakers to whom this is their livlihood. When the church hits its critical mass, when men and woman are so tired of business usual and begin to seek the Lord Jesus and Him alone until they find Him, then as a result of that, what we call revival will follow.

Any church can pursue this and o to God that they would. Yet in the end, if they do not, then men and woman will begin to leave and find others of like mind, it is inevitable. We all desperately intimate fellowship, first with the Lord and then with others who are also intimate with the Lord, its the only thing that satisfies the soul...........bro Frank

Dear UntoBabes: Brother, do you have a name that I can use other than UntoBabes? Why do you use UntoBabes?

I am very sorry for not quoting more from Tozer, but here is the rest of the article at the link below, titled "No Revival without Reformation:

https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?forum=36&topic_id=32733&post_id=245434&viewmode=thread&order=0

I believe what Tozer was getting at can be found in the following verses:

"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness."

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me."

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

"Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old selfd with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."

Love in Christ's name,

Kenneth Martin

What I was alluding to in the other post that bro bear referenced was the " business," of revival. There are thousands of books and many speakers to whom this is their livlihood. When the church hits its critical mass, when men and woman are so tired of business usual and begin to seek the Lord Jesus and Him alone until they find Him, then as a result of that, what we call revival will follow.

This is well said and true. Sadly many in our day speak of revival yet do not experience it. I recently posted this quote on facebook which I feel is the problem:

"It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God." - A.W. Tozer