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When Heaven Invades Earth
Week 11 – Chapter 15
May 3 -10, 2008
“How to
Miss a Revival” is the title and content of Chapter 15. Johnson
begins by defining revival: “Revival at its best is, Thy Kingdom
come. In a way, revival illustrates the normal Christian life.” But
he goes on to record how the appearance of God among His people
throughout the centuries has been often missed especially by those
who were looking. “History is filled with people who prayed for a
visitation from God and missed it when it came. And this happened
even though some had a strong relationship with God” (157).
How can someone
who is trying to follow God fail to see Him as He manifests Himself
in the works He is doing? The author says some who are believers
develop a “dull heart” which leads to spiritual blindness. A “dull
heart had a history in God, but did not keep current in what God was
doing,” The cure for a dull heart is recognizing our need for God
and passionately pursue Jesus as we did in the season of our first
love for Him for, “When passion dies, the lamp of perception is
eventually removed” (158).
Although the
character of God is unchanging, Johnson also describes Him as “a God
of new things” and if we are passionately pursuing Him, we must
learn to “embrace the change brought on by His new things.”
Yet there is a concern by some that we will be led into error when
people are moving in revival power. To prevent this possibility
Johnson says we must do two things:
- Remain poor in spirit, recognizing our
need for God
- Maintain the passion of first love for
Jesus
Every Christian is
supposed to maintain a desperate heart for God. This is the cure for
spiritual blindness which will keep us centered in the works of God
(159).
Walking in revival
often requires bearing the reproach of others. Johnson illustrates
this point from the lives of Mary and Daniel. Even though the favor
of God rested upon Mary, she was not viewed favorably by others when
she shared her predicament; even her betrothed did not believe this
was a move of God. Daniel remained faithful to God despite the fact
that he was viewed as just another court magician.
Johnson claims
that there are primarily two reasons why revivals come to a
premature end:
- Quenching the Spirit; People's comfort
zone is stretched as far as they are willing to go. They begin
to look for a place of understanding and control.
- The Church begins to look for the return
of the Lord instead of pursuing a greater breakthrough in the
Great Commission.”...the desire for the Church to be in heaven
now is actually the counterfeit of seeking first the kingdom”
(161).
Because of his
desire to prevent quenching the Spirit, Johnson makes some strong
statements that challenge the status quo: “The Church has an
unhealthy addiction to perfection; the kind that makes no allowances
for messes. This standard can only be met by restricting or
rejecting the use of the gifts of the Spirit.... Keeping things tidy
has become our great commission. The gifts of the Spirit interfere
with the drive for order, and order becomes valued above increase.
Messes are necessary for increase” (163).
“Our God-born desire for revival
must keep us desperate enough to recognize Him when He comes.
Without such desperation, we get satisfied with our present status
and become our own worst enemies at changing history”(164).
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