Revival From Within

Going to many youth conferences and large church events when I was young influenced the way I thought God moves. I have heard many times about revival and how God will pour out his spirit and tangible presence on multitudes of people to bring thousands to the kingdom… But I subconsciously always believed it would be an event that happened outside of my influence and I would simply join in to what was happening. However, my heavenly Father has completely changed my understanding in this! I have come to realise that revival is not an external event, but rather, an internal process.

It was a beautiful spring day that I was working from home. I had so much work to do, and not enough time to get it all done. There was a little outreach event happening in the city that day and I was invited to go. I hesitated several times and nearly didn’t go. Finally, I decided to go and arrived in the city with my mind on a dozen things.

After some time passed with the usual events happening, I saw a homeless man stop and watch the event about five meters away from where I was standing. I went up to him and started talking. After the speaker finished, I talked more with him and asked to pray with him. As I prayed, the tangible presence of our heavenly Father came so strongly I started to get emotional. I looked at the man I was praying with, and he was already crying, tears flowing down his weather-worn cheeks.

After prayer, I talked to the man about the Father and his love for a while, then asked if he wanted to surrender his life to Jesus. He wanted to, so we prayed through a prayer of repentance and surrender! It was incredible how the Father took care of everything. It was so easy; The man wanted to be saved.

This all happened only days after a discussion with friends about how God works in us, then through us, then around us. I know the Father’s love and his presence, so I wanted to move on to the next part, God working through me! I expressed this desire in the conversation, and only three days later was able to lead a man to Christ!

I realised that God wanted to use me to bring about a revival. It wasn’t an external event that “just happened”. No, it’s a process that goes on inside of me, healing and transforming me until I am ready to step out in faith and advance the kingdom of God!

Psalm 51 points to this reality of looking at the heart first, and being revived there first.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.
Psalm 51:10, 12-13 NLT

The progression here is firstly being right before God, then from that place teaching his ways to the ungodly and bringing them to salvation. This makes sense because how can we save someone if we ourselves are not saved? Jesus said it this way in Matthew:

So ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.
Matthew 15:14 NLT

If a teacher is teaching something he does not know, how will the person hearing be helped? There is another verse that talks about the heart:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

There is certainly a pattern here of working on the heart first, then from that seeing God at work around us. Are you willing to start the process of revival from within you? Will you open your heart to the Father for him to work in it?

Fighting Dragons

Dear friends, From a young age, as young as I can remember, I have been in the middle of a spiritual battle. Most of my earliest memories are nightmares of evil creatures coming to torment me in my dreams. I have already spoken of some of these horrors in previous posts, so I will not go into detail here. However, I want to revisit this topic because there has been a significant update to this story.

I have slept peacefully for many nights since dealing with those demons of the past; However, over the past months I have had multiple dreams in which Satan came to me to kill me. The first two dreams were especially intense, the first of which he was in the form of a dragon, breathing fire, flying around, and using several different tactics to attack me. In the second dream he was in the form of a man and he used smooth words to trap me. In both of those dreams I was shown that I needed to face him myself instead of relying on other people to win this battle for me. I couldn’t depend or rely on my spiritual leaders to set me free; God would give me the strength to face him myself.

In each instance I prayed into the dreams and sought God desperately because of their intensity. After prayer each time, I felt a powerful peace come over me that couldn’t be penetrated. Some time passed, at least a couple of months, before I had two more dreams in the same night.

In these next two dreams, I could see that God the Father was watching over me. I again faced a dragon that wanted to harm me. However, this time things were different. A brother stood by me and submitted his heart to God. He truly lay himself down in the presence of God. His heart was in complete worship to God. I could see that God the Father was looking at my brother and me standing there, facing the dragon. Then my brother started forcefully praying against the dragon! He started asking God to rebuke it, curse it, and smite it!

Well, it’s safe to say God wasted no time in doing the very things asked of him! He struck that dragon down right where it stood. That wretched thing couldn’t move after only three strikes! I stood there amazed. I was just given the key to win the fight against dragons!

Again, I was facing another dragon. This one was much like the first, intending to harm me. I felt fear start to creep in until I saw God appear again. He turned and looked at me. As soon as the father looked at me, I felt peace come into me. I remembered the previous dragon fight and submitted myself to my Father, right before the dragon in front of me. I truly surrendered everything, holding nothing back. Once I had entered that place of worship (I felt a change in my spirit), I started praying against the dragon. God responded promptly and struck the dragon down. It was utterly defeated!

Once I awoke, I put this prayer into practice immediately. I felt the results immediately in my spirit and I was soaring! I felt so free and so powerful. I knew I had a huge amount of authority, given to me by God.

I remembered the verse in James that says:

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7

Over the years of facing spiritual battles I have prayed James 4:7 many times, but never with the success I recently had. I believe there is a grace that God gives when he reveals something specifically to us. The verse was no less true before my dreams as it was after, yet it was only when I held the revelation of the verse for myself that it was truly effective.

When I had the revelation of James 4:7 I realised that it is far more powerful than what it seems. The verse doesn’t describe the level of humility required, how far the heart needs to go to submit to God before you are in a position to resist the devil. I also didn’t realise that I needed to pray from that place of submission and ask God to take down the devil. I thought I had to resist him in my own strength.

So as you can see, there is a big difference when you understand something in your heart. When God showed me how James 4:7 works, I no longer came to incorrect conclusions. I got the essence of the revelation, not just the idea of it. It went past my head and into my heart. I pray he will show you too.

I want to encourage you to face your dragons, whatever form they may come in. When you are faithful to keep fighting and praying, our father hears you and will give you the specific strategy to defeat the enemy.

May the God of peace richly bless you.

It’s all about Jesus

Following on from my previous post about Cambodia, I want to dive deeper into the need for Jesus.

The culture I live in loves job promotions, high status, being famous, good looks, and absolutely idolises having loads of money. The thought of being able to retire at 30 and travel the world eating endless amounts of delicious food is just too good to be true for most people. I’ve often heard it said that I should “be happy” and do things I want to. Being selfish is wisdom in this culture!

However, I have come to realise that a lot of pain and suffering comes from the selfishness in me! Every idol I have put in my life has been from selfishness, and it’s those idols that hurt the most. For example, by putting my career as an idol, any time something went wrong with my job, I got extremely distressed. I was always fearful of losing my job and the social status that came along with it. The fear was crippling and draining my life.

If I had genuine unselfishness and had put my focus on Jesus and what he wanted for me, this suffering would have never happened. I am so thankful for the trip to Cambodia, which taught me a lot more about what is most important in this world. My job is just that – a job. It’s not my identity, and if I lose it, I’m sure my Father will lead me to another one to pay the bills. 🙂

I challenge you to put your trust and hope in Jesus. Don’t put more weight on things of this world than you should. After all, we are called to be “in the world but not of the world.”

Simple Humility

The following post is something I believe God is telling me to do, and I wrote it like a letter to myself. However, I want to share it with you because you may also find it useful.

Give up the desire to be better than other Christians. Don’t try to be more than others; Don’t even compare yourself to them. Comparison isn’t from God; It’s a worldly way of thinking. Your desire should be to have an intimate relationship with God. Pursue intimacy with your Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Don’t spend a single drop of energy in the pursuit of being more than another Christian. It seems godly to want more than others, but the foundation of that thinking is selfishness. You want more for you than for them.

Although you know it’s wrong, it leads to thoughts of wanting others to fail, or at least not succeed as much as you. It may lead you to prayers along these lines: Can I be more spiritual? Can I have just a little bit more anointing? Can I lead just a little better?

Put these thoughts of being better to death. You are here to be God’s hands and feet, so you represent him and no one else. No, you shouldn’t even represent yourself. The more you die to yourself, the better. Jesus said to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. So, how’s that self-denial going? How does that cross feel? Are you dying? You must die so that he can live.

“The old has passed away. Behold! The new has come.”

You weren’t given life to live for yourself. Many people do that and end up with nothing inside. Australia is arguably one of the richest countries on earth, and suicide is higher here than anywhere in the world. Why? Many, if not most, Australians do not deny themselves, and do not take up their cross to follow Jesus. They look inward rather than looking outward. Do not do that, but rather, live for Jesus instead; He gives life and fullness, and only he can satisfy.

Who are the happiest people on earth? The rich? They have plenty but often want more. The poor? Sometimes yes, but the poor can covet riches and be miserable too. No, those who are truly happy have died to themself and put away every lust of success and riches. They live not for themselves but for God alone; He gives them strength and purpose. Interestingly enough, God may give them success and riches beyond their dreams. HOWEVER, those joyful people take no pride in their riches nor do they boast in them. They boast only in the Lord because their worth is in him!

If you look at each decision you’ve made the past year, do they tell the story that you’re denying yourself and taking up your cross? Do they say you are pursuing money? Do your actions paint a picture of humility, or a picture of pride?

Ask For Directions

From a young age, I have been competitive. I always do my best to win at everything – from games at a friend’s house, to working on a project for my job; I do everything I can to be the best. This competitiveness drove me to listen to a lot of audiobooks. The purpose was to learn everything I could about my job, the world, and business in general. The problem is that a lot of successful people chase after money. They aren’t Christian, and their values started to rub off on me as I listened.

Can you relate to this? Do you find yourself following other values rather than God’s?

This morning I prayed that God would realign my heart and my desires. I want to follow Him and His direction for my life rather than creating my plan. I know God is looking out for me now. I have surrendered to Him so that He will lead me.

Each day is a day to surrender. To follow God requires each step (each day) to be used for good. Each day is an opportunity to draw closer to God and the destiny He has for you!

Proverbs 3:5-6 says ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.‘ God will lead when we are willing to follow.