"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
This is the key to the Spirit-filled life--crucifying the flesh so that the life of Christ can live in me. Not many want to do this because it means giving up control--it means surrender. In My Utmost for His Highest (updated edition), Oswald Chambers describes it this way:
"After the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus penetrates every bit of my human nature. It takes the omnipotence of God--His complete and effective divinity--to live the life of the Son of God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house--He invades all of it. And once I decide that my 'old man' (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me."
"On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit...But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:4,5,8 (NIV)
What is it that enables us to labor in prayer with a broken heart for God's Church? For our Nation? What brings about powerful conversions when men of God speak? It doesn't come naturally, but supernaturally. In revival accounts, authors continually refer to the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the missing ingredient today. How can we expect God to pour out his blessings on our fleshly efforts?
In the verses above, Jesus commanded his disciples not to do anything until they had received the promised Holy Spirit. If it was that important to Jesus, shouldn't we think twice before doing anything for Him in our own strength?
"It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a den of robbers." Matthew 21:13 (NIV)
There was a time when churches met weekly for prayer. During the great revivals, people cried out to God until the wee hours of the morning, without concern for comfort or loss of sleep. What has happened? Today, it's hard to find a church that still holds a weekly prayer meeting. Yet the times are desperate. If ever our country and the church needed prayer it's now. Earthquakes, famines, floods, natural disasters of every kind are more and more frequent. Nations war against each other and the threat of nuclear war grows. Christians are persecuted, thrown into prison and even murdered--wickedness abounds. Our children are killing each other on campuses across America and there is no public place that can be considered safe. All the things described as being evidence of the end times are here--NOW--and the birth pains are growing stronger by the minute. Why are the pastors not sounding the alarm? Why are they not calling their people to prayer? The silence in the church is deafening.
He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor..." Isaiah 59:16 (NKJV)
"Almost every night there has been a shaking among the people; and I have seen nearly 20 set at liberty. I believe I should have seen many more, but I cannot yet find one pleading man. There are many good people; but I have found no wrestlers with God."
William Bramwell, Revivalist
"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16 (NIV)
Charles Finney told the story of a town that had not seen revival in many years--the church was nearly dead. A blacksmith in that town was at work when he felt a great burden to pray for the church. He closed his business and spent the entire afternoon in prayer. He then went to the pastor and asked him to call a church meeting, to which the pastor reluctantly agreed. That evening, the house where the meeting was to take place was overflowing with people. No one spoke at first. Then one man cried out for someone to please pray for him. That cry was followed by another, and then another, until it was discovered that people were under conviction from every part of town. All those who came under conviction stated that it began at the very time that the blacksmith had been praying.
"Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD." Joel 1:13-14 (NIV)
How many of us can say that we weep and cry out to God for the souls of the lost, for the condition of our country? Not me, I am ashamed to say. Oswald J. Smith says that revival praying--prayer that moves the heart of God--is like giving birth: it doesn't happen without hard labor. As I read the accounts of great revival preachers, that is the one thing they all had in common. They labored long and hard in prayer, with powerful results. I want to pray like that. If the condition of our world breaks God's heart, shouldn't it break our hearts too? Can we really expect God to be moved by our brief and shallow petitions?
"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." 1Corinthians 2:2 (NIV)
"Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah." Acts 5:42 (NIV)
What was the overwhelming message of these revival preachers who were used so mightily by God? It was the message of Paul and Peter, the message of the early church--repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ. Their passion was to reach the lost and to bring about repentance, and they never failed to see results. Not only did they see results, but peoples' lives were forever changed and they became devoted to God. How different things are today. It seems to me that we don't hear that message much anymore--as if it's too much to expect people to respond to it. And those who do respond, quickly learn that God is just one more thing they have to fit into their busy schedule. Why is this? I think there is something missing in most of today's preaching--it's the Holy Spirit's power and anointing. When He is in control, the pastor doesn't have to convince people to become Christians, or to make Jesus the Lord of their lives. Instead they ask, as the man in Acts did, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
