A gift from a war zone and the quest

Someone from war-torn, poor, Afghanistan sent a gift to Daystar Network to support the cause of revival. I don’t know the amount of the gift, but the thought that a man, woman, teenager, young adult or child would call and give from a war zone, boggles my mind. Afghanistan is at war and we are at war. But our war isn’t as obvious unless you see the obvious signs.

These are signs such as a pastor brutally slain in their church in Georgia. Or pastors getting divorces and convicted. I’m not even talking about the average American Christian that doesn’t resemble what the Bible defines as a Christian. The casualties of a church without God is very costly. Every week, I see God move in the lives of those wounded, hurt or left for spiritually dead by the church.

Revival is the only hope for the church’s survival. Daystar Network founder Marcus Lamb issued a challenge on the sharathon for people to give to revival. I watched Marcus appeal to the people from the Daystar studio audience in Dallas, TX. Then we moved to Studio B to watch Pastor Steve and Kathy Gray preach and encourage the viewers to give. I was amazed at the honor that a major Christian TV network gave to my pastors and the hunger of the people.

During the time of prayer, Daystar’s staff were hungry for the presence of God. A healing took place and tears flowed freely. God’s presence hovered in that studio as members of the audience got freedom. Millions of people all over the world are hungry for the presence of God.

Daystar has been used by God to carry revival through the airwaves to these spiritually-starving nations. Marcus shared that he had given over $1 million in air time to revival. It made me think, what have I given? I know the Daystar budget is over $100 million. But what have I given? I came back from Dallas, TX. wanting to give more. Thankfully Pastor Steve shared a key for increasing my giving.

“Consume less, do more.” Sounds very simple and easy to do. If I can eat one less donut or hamburger, I can give that money for that food to God instead. If we all consumed less, and gave towards the cause of revival, together we could really push this forward. Lets do our part in the battle for revival. During times of war, people adjust their lives to push the effort. Won’t you join me? Join me in the quest to consume less to give more.

God Isn’t Mad at You

Last night I got into my car after church and immediately my child started throwing a fit. Normally I would have had an emotional meltdown. This time peace and joy flowed out of me. For the first time in my life, I experienced a new response or a new Leilani.

During that ride home, I was peaceful while she cried and whined because she wanted a hamburger. She already had a hamburger for dinner. For once, she didn’t control my response, but the Holy Spirit was in control.

If you’ve never let the Holy Spirit control you, you don’t know what true life is all about. Pastor Steve Gray preached a message on Saturday night that every believer needs to get. He shared a revelation about being a new creation that I’ve never heard anyone preach. While he was preaching, he seemed startled by what he was saying because it was fresh from heaven.

“You don’t understand, I’m hearing this right along with you for the first time!” I had to go in and out several times to take care of my daughter, but I caught the heart of God reaching out to me. Pastor Steve said, “God isn’t mad at you. He’s reaching out to you!” That gripped me because I’ve struggled with years of things I’ve told God I would do and than I didn’t do it. The distractions of life pulled me away from what I wanted to do for God.

Last night I got a fresh slate and a second chance. God wants to give you a fresh slate. He isn’t mad at you. Reach out to Him. Let Him control you. You’ll surprise yourself with the newness of life that comes out of you.

Ten Things That Stop Revival

At one of the ministry conferences, I had the privilege of sharing about some things that hinder revival in our churches. I thought I would revisit and give you a chance to reflect a little further. Thus the following list of 10 things that hinder revival.

1. Revival is hindered because we don’t want it. Christians are more concerned with avoiding a disruption than experiencing the presence of God. Sitting in their dry churches, people wonder where’s God. Not understanding that He draws near to those who actually want Him!

2. Revival is hindered because we are just too culturally bound. Amerians don’t know how to give themselves to anything (but selfishness). If revival doesn’t neatly fit into what we are already doing, we don’t have any room for it. God is not an American and He doesn’t always do things the way we like it.

3. Revival is hindered because our religious practices are often rooted in fear and control. History shows that Martin Luther used fear to gain the upper hand over the Catholics during the Great Reformation of the 16th century. The same thing is happening today. Fear and anxiety is literally driving our evangelism and worship. It is hard to have revival when everybody is filled with anxiety and dread.

4. Revival is hindered because we misunderstand the tension between God’s sovereignty and our own effort. People either believe revival is almost out-of-reach or something to be worked up.” Neither perspective shows proper interrelationship. To be effective, Christians have to learn how to better cooperate with God. There is no question that He makes the first move, but it is important that we learn how to respond and appropriate everything that He does.

5. Revival is hindered because Christians refuse to be single-minded. Churches start emphasizing things like politics and social agendas, rather than concentrating on revival. We would do well to remember that church is supposed to be a place where God comes down – not a place where we promote the voting ballot.  We don’t have revival because we are focusing on everything else.

6. Revival is hindered because ” are under a constant temptation to be “fleshly.” Unfortunately, worldliness is not only being accepted but encouraged in many of our churches. The result is a lot of things that we thing are “okay” shut down the move of God. In the end, people need to decide whether they want to be pulled by the world or the Holy Spirit.

7. Revival is hindered because of the fear of “emotionalism.” This is quite a shame because everything that happend in the Bible affected people’s emotions! The Patriarchs shouted and cried, while angels were always saying, “fear not!” The Scripture is clear in affirming that people responded passionately when they encountered God. Truthfully, I think we should be afraid of services where people don’t express any emotion at all. God probably isn’t there.

8. Revival is hindered because we have a rather weak value system. We love God but we love everything else too. We love ice cream, we love the NFL and Jesus too. We need to narrow down all those multiple loves to what’s really meaningful. And if that isn’t Jesus alone, we aren’t going to have revival.

9. Revival is hindered because we really don’t know what we want. Oh we know what we don’t want – being inconvenienced, unpopular, unappreciated. Yet we have no idea what we would actually like to see. How do we expect to get revival when we are not sure about what we want?

10. Revival is hindered because we think blessing means something for nothing. People always place a greater value on things when they’ve had to sacrifice for them. You’re not going to get revival until you’re willing to sacrifice for it. Revival can’t be picked up on a discount rack. —by Pastor Steve Gray, senior pastor at World Revival Church (republished here with permission of World Revival Network)