Godlythinking         

Revival fires

Christian's look forward to revivals when I have a hard time trying to justify them. In my mind, they have a useful purpose for the majority of people in the church. Revivals do what going to church every Sunday and Wednesday night cannot do. All revivals place your mind on Christ and the fans the coals of your spirit until they burst into flame. However, in the three to four weeks following the Revival, most Christians return to old habits and the flames have been reduced to ashes.

What I have seen the church looks and feels like the same church before the Revival as it does three to four weeks afterwards. A Revival stokes the fires and throws a fresh supply of fuel onto the fire and then the fire dies for lack of fuel. For most Christians the flame loses its luster right after a revival when the promises made during the revival lose their importance within a few weeks. Promises that were made with good intentions fail to materialize because the resolve to keep them has changed or forgotten. Most Christians fail to remember that God depends on you keeping your promise in the same manner you expect him to keep his.

Attending revival meetings is spending more time around the fire in the presence of the Lord.  In that time your coals are stoked, which allows God to breathe on your coals until they burst into flames. During that time your eyes is turned back to God and your relationship to him begins to flourish again. Being the presence of God strengthens your courage and the desire to devote more time for God. Revival brings on the desire to conquer the world but the world hasn’t changed. The world doesn’t want to hear you beating your drums around them and they want to change the subject to things that are more important to them.

Revival fires are a lot like the fires during the winter at my work site. I’ve learned that the fires die down when unattended and working some distance away. At break time stirring the coals so air could circulate and adding more wood revived the fire. Revivals poke holes into the coals of your Christian beliefs, wake you up and tell you that you are loosing sight of Christ. Everyday life takes its toll on your spirit especially when the pressure of the world won’t give you the time to feed your fire.  

Keeping the revival fires burning.

Adding scrap wood onto the ash pile between breaks insured fire at break time, but the same is true to keep your spirit on fire. God does not want a pile of coals covered with ashes, he wants the home fires blazing with a continuous supply of new fuel. Keeping the home fires burning is essential in this cold world and you need to be spark that starts the world on fire.  To keep that home fire going you have to make an absolute priority to go to the bible everyday for the fuel of your spiritual life. The right kind of fuel insures that the flames are blazing for the world to see.

It’s not that I am against revivals because I love to see the revival fires blazing and Christians behaving like Christians outside the church. However, without the determination to keep their revival fires burning the world soon quenches the fire and your life would return to the way the world wants to live.  

Jesus said to the church that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other. Some people like their coffee hot and other people like ice coffee. However lukewarm coffee isn’t fit to drink for either person. God has equipped his children with his precious promises so they could participate in his divine nature.  Take advantage of them because God gave them freely to insure a safe trip to our heavenly home.    Christians become lukewarm when they don’t spend enough time with the Lord to know him.

You are unique to God, but fire begets fire and the heat from the fire will affect the fuel nearby. Placing scrap wood to close to the fire given time will cause it to burst into flame. Revival fires do the same to people who don’t know the Lord. Become a fisher of men and cast your line into the sea of mankind and reel them into the meeting. They might catch fire when they find out the truth about salvation. Your Bible says.

God is a consuming fire

It may sound crazy but the closer you are to God the more apt you are to respond to the warmth of his love, his grace, and his character. Being Christlike is not an accident. If you want things to happen you create the conditions that make them happen. Being Christlike is the effort you make to get closer to God, which sets you on fire for God.

Evangelist, step on toes and make you feel uncomfortable. Their job is to poke holes in you life and personal beliefs to stir your spirit’s fire to flame. If done in the love of Christ they usher Christians to a loving God who wants to wake us up and get busy. The biggest problems to the church are in keeping the revival fires burning long after revival ends.

 Remember that God is a consuming fire and our fire will burn brighter when you stay in his presence. God loves you and wants your fire to be the lamp that gives light to the world.