“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:26-29).
Many of us have been praying for a visitation from God. Many of us have been praying for revival. A question we must ask ourselves is: “Are we really ready for a visitation from God?” “Can we really handle the power of God when it comes?” “Are we really willing to pay the price for God’s visitation?” As we look at the general condition of the Church worldwide, the obvious answer to this question is: “No, we are not ready.”
If we want a true visitation from the Holy Spirit, it will cost us everything. God will play havoc with our personal lives. We will be challenged one by one with everything in our lives - our work, our time, our finances, our friends, our prayer life, our all. God leaves nothing out. He is after all that we are and ever will be. He wants to consume our life with Himself. The price is high. Are we personally willing and ready to give our self to God to this degree?
Let’s not say we want revival unless we are willing to pay the price. Let us not sing pious songs of commitment unless we are willing to live it out in our lives day in and day out, with or without the feelings. Let’s not say we want to pray unless we are willing to spend those long, personal hours in the prayer room alone with God. God is raising up a mighty prayer movement. He is preparing the entire Church for the end-times revival. He is shaking everything that can be shaken. This is not just in the physical realm with earthquakes and famines, but with our own personal lives as well. God is after something - He is after our flesh and every ounce of our self-life. He wants our full attention. We must be willing to pay the price.
Let’s learn to say “yes” to God right where we are today. God will shake us to the core. Every issue in our life will be challenged. My husband and I are right now involved in a 24-7 month of day and night prayer in southern Spain. Everyday we must say “yes” to God. There are times when I personally feel so empty of myself, so lost in the immensity of God, so challenged to the core of my being. For God is saying to me, “Do you really mean business?” “Are you willing to stay in my House of Prayer even when others don’t? “Will you carry the torch of prayer for the sake of my cause?” “Will you let my fire consume you and all that you are or ever will be?” We must learn to say “yes” to the purposes of God every day of our lives. God is after us, all of us. He is raising up a Church that is steadfast and totally committed.
When I was a new missionary many years ago living on an old ship that sailed from nation to nation preaching the Gospel and encouraging the Church, I remember how I felt after the ship left port from my own beloved country. We were sailing towards South America for the next two years. I felt so lost and lonely, not knowing the language and so new to the whole mission world. Being young and inexperienced, I felt like two years on board that ship was a lifetime. We had no e-mail in those days, and I would call home only once a year. I was with over three hundred strangers from over forty nations on board and had left everything behind, except for a few personal belongings. I was living in a tiny cabin with three others from three different nations, and we had nothing in common but our commitment to Christ. Not being a seasoned sailor, I would often feel the movement of the seas, and didn’t even know how to swim. And here we were, all sailing by faith towards South America in an immense ocean and with an unknown future. I was feeling deeply the cost of commitment during those days.
Since that time years ago, God has challenged me again and again with the same level of commitment - “Am I willing to give up everything for the cause of Christ?” “Will I let God have His way with me each and every day?” “Am I willing to pay the price of commitment?” “Do I really want a visitation from God?”
Where are you with God? Is He wrestling with you over some issue in your life? Can you say “yes” to Him today? Can you say, “Lord, have your way with me. I will stand and pray for a visitation from You. I will pray for this end-time revival at all costs. I will live out commitment in my life each and every day in prayer. I am Yours totally.”? Are you willing to pray this pray and pay this price for revival?
When crowds of people came to visit our ship and when there were endless lines of people waiting to get on board, we realized that commitment is no small thing. We had to work when we didn’t feel like working, we had to serve when we didn’t feel like serving, we had to pray when we didn’t feel like praying, and we had to smile when we didn’t feel like smiling. The result? Many came into the Kingdom and turned their lives over to Christ. Revival and a visitation from God is not going to be all fun and dancing. It will be sheer commitment and a dedicated lifestyle for all of us. Are we ready for God’s visitation or are we just playing games? God is raising up a Church that is willing to pay the price.
In whatever way God is challenging your life today, take a small step forward, and say “yes” to Him. It’s step-by-step, choice-by-choice, yes-by-yes, one day at a time, and in one act of self-denial at a time that you will find true life. Jesus calls you to discipleship and says in Matthew 16:24-25, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Let’s prepare for this worldwide revival. It is in daily commitment that we will find true life and will be ready for a visitation from God.
“When you pray for revival and a visitation from God, you’re asking God for life-shaking experiences that will cost you plenty. Revival is agonizing: it so terrorizes you over your sin that you repent deeply. Revival is consuming: It leaves you no time for hobbies, for chores around the house, for work, for sleep. Revival wrecks your appointment calendar, interrupts TV times demands your full attention.” --Elmer Towns
Together in the Harvest,
Debbie