Revival

Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes Religious People

I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.

I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.

I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please. No, no, not the flesh and blood one … He will keep me from my appointment with the hair dresser and make me late for the cocktail party. He will soil my linen and break my strand of matched pearls. I can’t put up with pundits from Persia or sweaty shepherds trampling over my nylon carpet with their muddy feet. My name isn’t Mary, you know!

I want no living, breathing Christ—but one I can keep in its crib with a rubber band. That plastic one will do just fine.

—Wilbur Rees, quoted in Charles R. Swindoll, Improving Your Serve

This little illustration may seem a little outrageous but it’s what some, who profess to be Christians, do every day. The ones who believe in the concept of God but can’t seem to bring themselves to believe the reality of God. The ones who like the feeling of a higher power but don’t understand the sovereign power of the great I AM. The ones who go to church on Sunday because they believe that will “appease” God until next Sunday. The ones who don’t respect, or love, or fear the one true God. But when confronted with the question of their belief, the response is always, “I’m a Christian”.

The words, ‘God Bless you” has been shortened to just simply “Bless You” and has been adopted by even those who claim they don’t believe in God so as to destroy the meaning and lower the statement to just words.

Church is becoming a meeting place for anything but worshiping the one true God. Mostly, it’s quickly turning into a clubhouse for entertainment and a conversation about how we can make each other feel better about ourselves.

Those same “Christians” complain that God has left us or that God allows bad things to happen to good people. I’ve got news for you though…God never leaves us....we choose to leave him. God never abandons us, we abandon him. God doesn’t allow bad things to happen to good people, he allows bad things to befall bad people and he allows the ones who love him to suffer for his sake, which, by the way, as a true believing Christian, is not a bad thing.

Romans 8:28 HCSB

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

2 Timothy 1:8 HCSB

So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.

As a nation, even as a world, we have drifted far away from God. In doing so, we’ve left ourselves exposed to spiritual attack from Satan and his demons. The powers of Satan are everywhere and because of this, we as true Christians will suffer for Christ if we remain faithful. Remember though that remaining faithful, even to death here on Earth, has the highest reward you can imagine. One of eternal peace and happiness with our Savior in heaven for all eternity. That’s the goal of every Christian… That’s the reward we await. The Bible says in Rev. 2:10 as John was instructed to write to the Church of Smyrna,

Revelation 2:10 HCSB

Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will have affliction for 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Don’t be afraid. I’m pretty sure, the Church of Smyrna was like, “Don’t be afraid?? You just said we are going to be thrown in prison, beaten, tortured, and after 10 days…killed.” That’s right! But this world is not our home, it’s not the reward we await.

John 12:25 HCSB

The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If you love worldly things, if you love the ways and things of this world more than you love Christ, (and I mean by putting those things ahead of Christ) then you probably need to re-evaluate your relationship with Christ. We sometimes get so caught up with whats going on around us that we seem to forget our priority of life. That priority should always be Jesus Christ.

A Bad Sign

A man was driving to work when a truck ran a stop sign, hit his car broadside, and knocked him out cold. A Passersby pulled him from the wreckage and revived him.

As he started to come to, he began to scream and fight against the medics and had to be sedated. Later, when he had calmed down, they asked him why he had struggled so.

He said, "I remember the impact, then nothing. I woke up on a concrete slab in front of this huge, flashing sign. Turns out somebody was standing in front of the 'S' on the 'Shell' sign."

Folks, if we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to revive us, if we don’t allow the Holy Spirit into our lives, hearts, churches, homes, jobs, schools, and every day life, we’re gonna wake up one day to a flashing sign that won’t be a Shell sign.... It’ll be too late. We NEED a revival of our spiritual faith in God. We need a revival of our trust in the Son, Jesus Christ. We need a revival that will shake the rooftops and spread like wildfire. We NEED a revival in our communities, our parish, our state, our country and our world. Because just like a man who lays lifeless, motionless, breathless…without revival he is dead.

You may say, “this country is so far gone that a revival in our community won’t bring the country back.”. I would say this to you…Lazarus was 4 days dead when he was revived by Christ. Do you have any idea how dead is 4 days dead. Decomposition had begun and the stench was awful. But that didn’t stop Christ’s power to revive Lazarus from his dead state.

There is nothing that God cannot do! Our own lack of revival is because of the choices WE make to turn our backs on God when we think we’ve had enough of God for one day or one week…when we’ve had our $3 worth of God.