Revive Your Church, O God, in the Midst of Trouble . . .Part 2 (Three part series)

Pastor Carl Jackson, Flame of Fire Ambassador & the

Arizona Prayer Network Coordinator

The title for this series is taken from a prayer of intercession by Habakkuk, a prophet of God to Israel. Israel was surrounded by problems and had a multitude of internal ones they were ignoring. The people of God were surrounded by nations who wanted to destroy them (v. 4). Habakkuk had to be careful, sensitive, and alert to the true situation. There were nations with wicked designs for the destruction of Israel. This is not uncommon, but, as I mentioned, Israel was not dealing with internal problems they had, such as, mistreating the weak and helpless among them, and evil men were controlling the justice system and overturning righteous decisions. Sounds like us in the USA! The prophet had been praying about these issues and addressing them for some time, but saw no results. So, in desperation of mind, heart and spirit, and entertaining serious questions about God’s apparent failure in dealing with these matters, he cried out to God: “Why do you (God) show me (Habakkuk) plundering and violence – strife, contention, the powerlessness of the law, and justice never going forth? For the wicked (in Israel and among the neighboring nations) surround the righteous (your people Israel) but our hands are tied. We’re doing nothing, and, You, O God, are doing nothing!” (transliteration, Hab. 1:2-4).

First of all, understand that the situation was a heavy burden to the prophet and comes out clearly in his desperate question to God: “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You not hear?” (Hab. 1:2a). All of us have questioned God. That, in itself, is not a problem, if our desire is to find the answers which will bring us to God’s solutions! One thing for sure, we cannot afford to ignore these issues and not deal with them in a Godly manner.

Secondly, so many times God’s people have been corrected through the reading and study of His Word or by brothers and sisters in the Lord, or by pastors and prophetic ministries who have spoken about specific needs, and, yet, we have refused to repent, to turn from our sinful ways. In time, God allows certain circumstances to develop as a means of applying outside pressure, even pain, hurtful situations, and deprivations that eventually bring us to a new point of consideration, even correction, leading, hopefully, to complete surrender to the whole will of God. That is a good thing whether we like it or not doesn’t change the truth! What is God saying and what are we doing about it, is what really matters. God is always ready when we are ready!

In this nation today, external changes are taking place that are opposed to the will and purposes of God. Yet, in the church, we have our own problems, which, if we were truly honest, are the real reasons our own nation and world are in such a serious decline. We are not what we once were in God. The sad part of this entire scenario is that we are not truly convinced of our own need to return to His Word and to repent and be united in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ Who said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life . . . no one comes to God but through Me!” (John 14:6).

Third, when the above happens, God has people who are available to help us, to love us, encourage us, and instruct us through the ‘reviving process’. God has a solution. He wants to put into motion for the purpose of reviving us, waking us up, but He wants to be more to us than One Who revives – He wants to be our ‘consuming fire’! In Habakkuk’s case, God spoke to Him again: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he (those struggling and resisting) will be able to see it and humble themselves in the truth of His revealed word, and return to God’. “The vision”, God shared, “is yet for an appointed time . . . though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come.” (Hab. 2:3). This is where the test really lies. The proud heart is hard against the truth, but, God told the prophet, “the just shall live by faith” (2:4b). ‘To live’ means, ‘to stay alive, be preserved, flourish, to enjoy life, to live in happiness, breathe, be alive, animated, recover health, live continuously, yes, eternally’ in God’s love’. God’s glory will “cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.” He is faithful. We must remain faithful and totally follow our Lord (2:4a). Church, allow God room to revive us by God’s ‘flaming fire’ of correction, conviction, and compliance to His will, resulting in Him ‘consuming us with His fire’ so that each of us may become ‘a flame of fire’, igniting in other’s the ‘fire of God’! Stop resisting repentance. It’s not a bad thing. It is not negative, but rather it is positive! It ‘sets us free’ from our carnal ways and means and makes it possible for us to come into an intimate relationship with God, and with our brothers and sisters in the Lord! Stop worrying about our image. That’s the sad part!

We have chosen, for selfish reasons, not to get along that well with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are divided over the smallest matters. God wants His people to come together (I Cor. 11). Examine ourselves. Ask the hard questions. Do I really love those who disagree with me? Am I guilty of ‘drawing lines in the sand’ and telling other Christians not to cross it? Work out our differences. Get a life. Admit it, we’ve been very childish to the point of being stupid!. Don’t continue being childish --- or, stupid. Give it up. Grow up. Come together in God and with one another. Stop competing and start complimenting each other in the body of Christ, not just with words, but actions, i. e. praying together, worshiping together, working together, reaching out together, giving together, and not caring who gets the benefit of the fruits of our joint efforts in Jesus! Meet the needs of the weak and the needy. Stop the strife and contention. Be just and merciful. God wants to do a work “which you would not believe, though it were told to you --- I will work a work in your days; trust Me, says the Lord, our God” (transliteration of Hab.1:5).

Repentance is our part. Reviving is His part. Revive us again, O Lord, our God and our Salvation! Set us on fire! Stop blaming the government, education, Hollywood, sexual perversions, the justice system, republicans, democrats, independents, progressives, drugs, alcohol, for all our woes! It’s time for us, the church, the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the Head, to take responsibility for our failure to be the people of God He intends us to be. Start emphasizing ‘being the church’ and not glorifying ‘going to church’! ‘Doing church’ and ‘going to church’ can be quite carnal! Rather, we must live the Christ-Life out every day in every way! We can start by praying together, okay?

“O Lord, my God, bring together Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Methodists, Nazarenes, Lutherans, Catholics, Episcopalians, Independents, and all the rest, in the same city, and room, praying together!” Then, we can start fellowshipping while working and sharing in the blessed benefits of God’s grace and pleasure more meaningfully! I’m not talking about ‘dissolving organizations’, but rather ‘resolving our differences’ and start ‘saying what God is saying’ and ‘doing what God is doing’ in His Word! If we love Jesus and pray/praise, care/share, give/live together in spiritual truth, not allowing our differences to divide us--- then, we can move higher, dig deeper, spread wider, go further, and be happier than we ever have been before! (Our final message in this series will include six steps to ‘being revived’ and ‘filled with His fire’!)

REVIVE YOUR TROUBLED CHURCH, O GOD! PART !

By Pastor Carl Jackson
Arizona Prayer Network Coordinator
Flame of Fire Arizona Ambassador

I visited with Dr. J. Oswald Sanders in Phoenix during the late 80’s. He has since gone to be with the Lord. He was the author of 36 books at the time, and an educator and missionary. He served in China for many years and maintained contacts with believers in that nation for a long time. He told me that before the Chinese communist revolution in the mid-70’s there were one million Christians in China. They, of course, had to go underground at that time and suffered many trials, including executions for their faith!

Approximately 10 years after the communist revolution, when I spoke to Dr. Sanders, the number of Christians in China had grown to 52 million believers! All of this with only a minimal number of Bibles, no public meetings, and churches were banned. They had no Sunday Schools or other Christian education programs, only secret meetings held in homes or wherever else they might gather. If two or more people talked about God on a street corner or anywhere else, they were arrested by authorities and persecuted by the larger populace. There were no radio or television programs, no internet services available to share prayer requests or personal experiences. Magazines and all other Christian publications were unlawful. There was not much going for them that you and I take for granted in this country. In the midst of all their deprivation, their numbers continued to swell. Today, in China, we are told there are over 100 million believers, even though they live under the threat of being arrested, suffering public persecution, and in many cases, execution, for violating laws written to destroy their faith in God.

In the USA, a nation formed ‘under God’, one-third of the population claim to be Christians. Look at all the denominations, associations and movements that have founded churches, but along the way ‘lost their way’ and have not returned! They are now ‘false prophets’ teaching ‘false doctrines’ by diminishing the work and ministry of Jesus, while still ‘calling themselves’ Christians! This is clearly a miscarriage of truth! Only 56% of evangelicals, a movement that came out of dead legalism and was ‘alive unto God’, actually believe now that Jesus is the only way to God! Forty-four percent of evangelicals admit they do not put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord! Mix that in with the doubt, unbelief, and errant doctrines of many of the mainline denominations in America, and our cry must be: ‘Revive Your People, Your Church, O God, in the midst of great trouble’ (Hab. 3:2). The misguided church needs a ‘Holy Spirit, fire driven, ‘revelation revolution’ of Who Jesus is. We must know ‘what He came to do’! Saints, pray for a ‘fresh ignition of Holy Spirit fire’ to return to the professing, but non-confessing church. Thankfully, ‘God, you are that consuming fire’ (Deut. 4:24)! Come Holy Spirit, do it once again. Bring to us a fresh revelation of your Divine plan for man!

In America, we must take a chapter out of the ‘church book in China’ where believers do not capitulate with detractors and tormentors! They are clearly focused, living in danger every day, but continue to maintain established priorities of faith, believing fully in the authority of Scripture that clearly teaches: ‘Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life’, and that ‘no one -- comes to the Father, but through Jesus’ (Jn. 14:6). Revive us, O God, in the midst of our self-centeredness, which is clearly rebellion against Your holy and righteous demands. Have mercy, for our sake, and bring us back to You! -- CJ!