Today's Devotional Thought
August 18, 2011 by Rachel Piferi
Constant Revival
We just completed revival services at our church. For the past four nights, we have been blessed immensely through music, preaching, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I have felt God's presence so strongly and have heard him speaking all week. And I am certainly on, what they call, a holy high!
I am also on a mission.
A mission to not let this feeling wane. I don't want it to wane in myself, in my husband, in my best friend, or in the ladies and youth that I serve at our church. I want to continue to fan the flame that is roaring because of our revival services.
But how do we do that?
I've read enough of the Bible and seen enough revival services to know that this holy high of experiencing God so often turns back into complacency as life takes over. It happened to the Israelites and it happens to us.
So, how do we stop complacency from taking over? How do we keep the spirit of revival alive?
I believe that you keep the spirit of revival alive by wanting it to stay alive. You have to want Jesus Christ and the abundance that he brings more than you want anything else. More than comforts. More than relationships. More than status and careers and prestige. More than control over your future.
More than absolutely anything in your life, you have to want Jesus.
Three years ago, in the worst kind of way, I needed to be rattled to my core, stripped of my comfort, and radically changed. I was in need of personal revival and I didn't even know it. At the time, I would have told you I was a good Christian. I went on missions trips, gave faithfully to church, and was active with many groups in church. But even though I looked like a good Christian, I was not on fire for the Lord and I didn't want Jesus more than the other things in my life. I wanted Jesus in addition to the other things in my life.
Well, guess what?
God doesn't want to be a side dish to your life's main course. He wants to be the main course, the only course. He wants to be your everything.
And that is when God came down and rattled me to my core. Through a series of events that started with Isabella's pregnancy, God took me on a three year personal revival where he showed me that he was sufficient to meeting all of my needs. And that a life dedicated to him was the fullest, most abundant life imaginable. And friends, I am here to tell you that what has occurred in my life is nothing short of a miracle. I am blessed beyond measure with what God has done in my life in these 3 years....from a miracle baby, to the formation of an amazing friendship & ministry with Wendy, to a reprioritization of life for my family. There are simply no words at all to describe what it feels like to be living what Jesus meant when he said that he came to give us life more abundant.
So, how do you keep the fire of revival going now that the services are over? You have to want God more than anything else. The presence of the Holy Spirit that you have felt while in the services each night can be a daily reality. You can have it driving in your car, sitting in your living room with your family, or talking with your best friend. And you can have it in all of those places by walking closely with and in devotion to God at all times. By reading his Word daily and seeking his guidance through life. And by following his plans, not your own, on life's journey.
I am so thankful that God took me on a personal revival over the last three years and that I have experienced more abundant life as a result of him becoming the center of my life. And friends, I want nothing more than for you to experience it too. I want you to experience it outside of the services in each and every day. But, you have to want God more than everything else in your life.
Do you want Jesus more than anything else in you life?
That, my friends, is how you live in a constant state of revival.
December