Day 14 — Revival Begins in the Room

Day 14 — Revival Begins in the Room

Writer: Josh // Divergent

Theme: Renewal / Refocus

Focus: Personal and Corporate Renewal

Prayer Direction: an expectation that God will Move

Reflection:

Revival does not begin as some public meeting to bring people to Christ. It is not when God brings people into the Church. True revival is when those who follow Jesus are revived, empowered, and sent into the nations.

Often people are praying “for revival to come” and God is still waiting for us to go. He gave and gives his Spirit, now we are to live in obedience. Read Acts 1 and 2. The Spirit of God did not fall on a crowd chasing an encounter. He fell on a community devoted to obedience, prayer, and expectancy. Pentecost was not emotive meetings and sensationalism. It birthed missional effectiveness.

The upper room was only the beginning of what God wanted to do. The room was not the destination. God never filled the room so people could remain there longer. He filled people so they would leave, compelled to go. Fire fell. Supernatural language was given, courage was ignited. The Church was sent. Revival did not bring the nations into the room. Revival sent the people in the room to the nations.

Our experience of Pentecost should lead to lives of mission. They are inextricably connected. If we say we are Pentecostal but not missional, we have never really understood Pentecost. The Spirit is poured out on His people, not so that we can consume spiritual goodness in one room. He is poured out so that we will carry gospel light beyond our comfortable walls, into cultures foreign to us, and to people who have never heard of Christ.

Habakkuk prayed,

“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known” (Habakkuk 3:2, NIV).

Renewal comes in holy expectation, not hype. It is when we position ourselves before God and wait on Him to move according to His purpose and plan.

Expect God to move as we pray and expect to move with him.

Prayer:

Father, empower me right now in this moment, revive the embers that have gone dull. Rebirth a passion for your name, send me. As you move in me, let me move in you.

Personal Reflection

1.     Where am I seeking the meeting, spiritual experience over spiritual responsibility to go, the mission?

2.     How does my theology of Pentecost shape the way I live missionally each day?

3.     How do I expect God to move in and through me, not for my comfort, but for His purposes?