Would the Awakened Church Please Stand Up?
The more you follow this unfortunate unfolding of church history, the more you witness the progressive departure from God’s original design for His redeemed community. Yet, Jesus’ mission statement for the church has never changed:
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19, NASB).
Where is the church that Jesus introduced—one that forbids the advancement of darkness, while partnering with the Holy Spirit to unlock God’s Kingdom? She is here, right now, on the earth. Unfortunately, the very community that has been given keys of authority to unlock Heaven and bind hell is all too often a people living in a perpetual identity crisis, in desperate need of awakening.
Yet, there is stirring. A rumbling is being felt in the spirit realm.
An appeal to heaven is being offered up from voices on the earth.
It may be a few voices spread out in different cities and regions throughout the world, but their cries are part of a great intercessory concert that is coming into agreement with the purposes of heaven.
The church is being awakened. This is what Paul called us to pray for—not just when things get really bad, but all the time. Seems to me that he was more interested in sustaining a supernatural lifestyle than pursuing an electric spiritual jolt every so often.
So how did the Apostle Paul pray for revival?
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Eph. 1:18, NIV).
He prayed for opened, enlightened eyes. How is this important? Rather than calling some new outpouring of God down from heaven, the church needs to become awakened to the priceless inheritance that she has already received in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
I’m convinced that a vital part of the next great move of God will involve the awakening of God’s people to every single grace Jesus’ blood made accessible to the church. It’s not about convincing God to give us something new; it’s about repenting for not stewarding the riches that the precious blood of Christ has given us legal, biblical access to. We’re not begging God for anything; we’re awakening to what it realty looks like to be a Christ-follower, nation-discipler and kingdom ambassador.
Join in the Next Great Move of God
If you want to have a better understanding of how the Holy Spirit is moving right now—and you long to partner with Him in participating in this next great move of God, I encourage you to pick up Jennifer’s book, The Next Great Move of God. More than just another book to buy, you are reading a roadmap to revival that will give you insights from different generals of the faith on how to experience personal awakening that ultimately leads to Great Awakening in the church and reformation throughout the earth.
Larry Sparks is author of the book Breakthrough Faith: Living a Life Where Anything Is Possible, and co-author of the upcoming book The Fire That Never Sleeps, with Dr. Michael Brown and John Kilpatrick (June 16). Larry is a columnist for Charisma, teacher and revivalist who is committed to training the body of Christ through three key seminars: 1) Sustaining a Lifestyle of Revival, 2) Revival in Media, and 3) Breakthrough Faith. Featured on CBN, TBN, and Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural, Larry is passionate about raising up communities who usher in regional revival and awakening. You can visit his website at lawrencesparks.com. Also, you can “like” Larry on Facebook (LarryVSparks) and Twitter (@LarryVSparks) to receive empowerment keys to experience and sustain a revival lifestyle.
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