By Cindy Phillips
The Lord has put in the heart of our Church the desire to reach our community for the lost. We’re praying and fasting together twice a month for this (2nd Thursday at 6 pm and 4th Sunday after service). As I was praying about it this morning, the Lord led me to understand there is a difference between a revival and an awakening.
I “saw” it like this; a man having a heart attack needs a revival, from life to life. You can’t be revived to a place you’ve never been.
A sinner needs an awakening to see that which they have never seen before. Do you see the difference?
The next point He made was; you can’t give what you don’t have.
To sum it up, the Lord was showing me we have to revive as a body, fall back in love with Jesus like you were when you first got saved. We need to be ALIVE for Christ, shaken out of our complacency, before we can effectively reach the lost. We need to have the overflow in our spirit, running over to draw the thirsty in.
“This sounds great”, you may be thinking, “but how do we do this?”
Paul encouraged Timothy, his “son” in the faith (1 Tim 1:2), to stir up the gift he had in him (2 Tim 1:6). In Greek, this expression means to put a pair of bellows on the remains of a fire, the embers, by which the fire is kindled anew. It means to resuscitate.
Let’s take a look at that verse in context and see what Paul is taking about;
2 Tim 1:5-9 (NASB, emphasis added) For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but [a spirit] of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
As I already stated, you can’t revive something you don’t have. Notice Timothy had sincere faith.
The spirit we have been given is of power. It is therefore powerful! You can operate in the power of God as He wills. Be convinced of this! And that power works by love. Your motivation for doing everything, particularly reaching the lost, should be God’s kind of love (1 Cor 13:4-8). The word discipline in some Bibles is translated self-control or a sound mind. These three things (God’s power, love and discipline) defeat fear, every time.
The next key to stirring up the gift of God in you is not being ashamed of the Gospel. No matter what, don’t deny His Name. You have been saved, by grace, through faith (Eph 2:8) by God’s very hand. Be bold in your witness. This will stir you up inside.
Lastly, notice we have a holy calling according to God’s purpose and grace. Ponder that for a minute and let it sink into your spirit. You are called by God Himself. Your calling is holy. He CREATED you for such a time as this and perfectly gifted you to do the works He prepared beforehand for you to do (Eph 2:10). Since He is the one that called you and empowered you, you can do it!
Let’s get red-hot for God so we can help revive our brothers and sisters and, as a united body, awaken the lost in this late hour. Jesus is coming! Let’s be found doing His business when He comes.