I sit in prayer and I am hit with my barrenness yet again. I often am confronted with my lack and how desperate I am for Jesus to open up my mind to comprehend the scriptures (Lk. 24:45). I am in a full prayer room with about 500 young adults who are spending a saturday night from 10pm-midnight crying out for revival. But what does revival look like? When we say "Jesus send revival" what are we praying for?
I think what comes first into the mind of the average young adult praying for revival is signs and wonders, miracles, etc..... an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Yes and amen to all of that and more, but what does it look like when Holy Spirit gets poured out? The Charismatic renewals of the 1990's seem to have created a culture where we think an outpouring is a lot of 'holy laughter' (which I have experienced) and a lot of physical healings (which I desperately want). But is that the fullness? Do we even have a grid for what fullness is? Do we even know what Holy Spirit wants to do if He is poured out?!?!
But there is something that burns on the heart of this intercessor tonight deeper than all of those things. There is something that I long for that seems so foreign, so strange, that I find my own heart grappling with the possibility of the very thing I long for deepest. I long for true repentance and I long to see Jesus! I am not talking about a repentance that causes one to be justified by faith as they first become a follower of Jesus. I am talking about a cutting to the heart so deep that no emotion could adequately express; the rending of the heart that turns the deepest affections to be totally and completely devastated in love for the Man Christ Jesus. How can this happen? What power could possibly turn this cold dead heart into one that burns like the ones around the throne? Do we even have a clue what the implications of John 17:24 are....... that they would love me (Jesus) with the same love that You (the Father) love me with!!!! Love is a flame more jealous than death, more vehement than the grave. One thing is for sure Jesus will have a people who love Him this way.... with the same quality and quantity of wholehearted love as the Father loves Jesus with. WHAT???? This is simply unfathomable.
The only answer to bring about this repentance and love is to see Jesus. Oh such a trite saying this has become.... "to see Jesus". Oh Beloved it is only trite because we have not yet seen Him. We may have received one blink of an eye of the glory of this Man. But we have not really seen Him!! I am not necessarily speaking of a physical beholding (though I long for that) but I am talking of a true spiritual beholding where the eyes of the heart actually get filled with the light of the glory of God that emanates from the face of Christ. The only answer is for me (for us) to behold the beauty and glory of Christ. The only answer for this generation is that they gaze upon this God-man. The only Hope is that the highly exalted Son of God be unveiled and we are given the unthinkable privilege to stare upon His majesty.
I am sitting here reading John chapter 8 and my mind is reeling at how static, how cold, and how unresponsive my heart is to such glorious words?!?! I mean do I really believe that He is YHWH incarnate speaking? Do I really believe that this man overcame death hell and the grave? How should my heart respond to Him?
One thing I know is that His words promise that the poor in spirit are blessed; that those who mourn will be comforted. Beloved, I tell you that I am utterly barren and so are you! Its time we realize how poor in spirit we are and enter into mourning and longing for the Bridegroom. If every single person was just like you(just like me) would we have revival? NO... absolutely not. Revival begins in our own hearts as we become desperate to behold the glory of our crucified and risen Lord Jesus.
If we see Him like Paul saw Him we can live like Paul lived. To see Him is to fall at His feet like dead. To see Him is to be like Isaiah who cries out "Woe is me, I am destroyed!!" To see Him rightly is to burst into flames like the seraphim around His throne. Oh to be consumed by those flames!
To see Him with the gift of revelation will evoke a repentance that we have never known. Beloved I tell you that there is a repentance so rare, such a gift, something that so few humans have ever experienced.....but that is POSSIBLE! It is the rarest of all gems that men have sought after but it is available to those who will ardently seek. I don't know about you, but I cannot settle for what we have been told is normative. I must have Him, I must see Him, I must have this heart go through the most gut-wrenching repentance that a human can endure and still live. For this is my vision for revival.
But maybe you think you are OK, maybe you think that you are doing pretty well. Just open up the gospels.... the most precious gift that mankind has been given... God in the flesh opening His beautiful mouth and disclosing the inner workings of His heart!! Notice that your heart is most likely far more moved by the latest movie rather than the words of our Beloved Jesus. (is He really our beloved yet, or do we just like calling Him that?) However, until I respond like the crowds did to His words then I consider myself completely asleep... completely dull. They were terrified, astounded, they marveled, were astonished, and fell down at His feet declaring to Him "You are the Son of the Living God, the very Lord, the very God. Until I dance with exuberance at the thought of baby Jesus in a manger, until a cross around the necks of my friends causes me to double over and wail over his sufferings then I say that revival has not truly come. For what is the appropriate response to Christ and Him crucified?
But the good news is that He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh before He returns and in the midst of the darkest hour the world has ever seen there will be a people that Jesus considers a pure and spotless bride; a people worth coming back for. Oh Beloved, the Father is going to give Jesus a worthy eternal companion as the reward of His suffering..... and you will be that reward.
I solemnly charge you to gaze upon His beautiful face. We have been given 89 chapters in the gospels and they are mostly ignored. Keep gazing, persevere through the barrenness, press through the dullness until you are absolutely crushed by the splendor of the One who is speaking. Behold Him and you will love Him! Behold Him and we will have revival! This revival will evoke the same response of those burning ones around the throne. We too will take one glimpse of His Glory and get lost for a trillion years singing the same song that never grows old. HOLY, HOLY, HOLY....for this is my vision for revival.