Take Up Your Cross

In the coming days, all of the interest, desire, and prayers for God to revive our land could become nothing more than the spiritual equivalent of “one step forward, two steps back” if we don’t see the very real, unseen obstacle to revival that is in our midst – ourselves.

“Then Jesus said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’” Luke 9:23, NKJV

Dr. Lewis Drummond summarizes this obstacle of the self to revival: “Many Christians have fallen into a determined, well-meaning faith that says, ‘We can do this thing! We can grow our church! We can be the people God wants us to be.’ Such an ‘if/ then’ approach says, ‘If you do these five things, God’s blessing is bound to happen.’ While humility, prayer, seeking after God, and repenting from our wickedness are things God calls us to do, merely trying to ‘work them out the best we can’ may stand in the way of real revival.”

“For without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Our greatest prayer is that God would engulf our nation and all who claim to follow Christ in a sweeping movement of His Spirit. We pray that He would revive Christians, starting with you and me, and that this new breath of His Spirit would awaken new and old believers to a fresh, deepening love for Christ.

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27

What are we to do while we wait on God’s awakening?

You and I can pray that we’ll be open to receive all that He has to give the church and our nation when He breathes life back into our hearts, our minds, our very being, making us pinpoints of light reflecting Jesus to our nation.

“Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Mark 10:15

We can be inspired by the growing evidence of God’s unfolding work in our nation. We can revel in stories of Jesus now. We can look at these glimpses of what He’s doing as snapshots—small, focused, yet important glimpses of the “big picture” of a Jesus-Now Awakening.

Revival is happening this very moment in the coal-mining country of West Virginia. Prayer and desperation for God have led to a great movement of God. From March-May 2016, over 3,000 people in Mingo County, through a move of God’s Spirit, gave their lives to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has fallen in great power over this area of our country – a dream for many who’ve been praying. A movement of Jesus is happening, it’s happening now and it even has a name: “The Coalfield Revival” or the “Appalachian Awakening!”

The purpose of reveling in revival is not to assume that we can know what revival will look like. The goal is not to think we can sneak a peek at the Master’s painting while His work is still in progress. The goal is to know the Master Himself!

“When I thought how to understand this,
It was too painful for me—
Until I went into the sanctuary of God;
Then I understood the end.” Psalm 73:16-17

Do we want to know the Master? Do we want to enter the sanctuary of God? Do we long for God’s forgiveness and healing in this country — a movement that can come only from Him?

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

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Phillips, Tom (2016-11-01). Jesus Now Awakening: God Is Up to Something Big (Chapter 6 p. 134-136 and Chapter 7 p. 154-156). BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC.