Fun in the Son…Freedom with Christ
So, if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:36, NIV)
July 11th, 2022
REVIVAL: a NEW THING
We have refueled, recharged, caught a second wind, and we are now watching the horizon for a sighting—even just a glimpse—of something new, an awakening, just anything to carry us a little further on this journey called life. It’s been a tough year so far, huh? To this halfway point we have finally reached. Who doesn’t need some hope?
In fact, the newspaper headlines and the Breaking News reports, the Twitter feeds and social media announcements has us running for cover, hiding our children in dumpsters; almost to a point where we are too fearful to venture outside, to attend parades and church or even send our kids to school. No matter what, we are unable to close our eyes and ears to all the tragic, the appalling, the deplorable happenings everywhere around us. Even small, quiet towns are being rocked to the core by violence and calamity, life becoming a trainwreck from the narrowly escaped runaway train.
Many centuries ago, at another time and place when the planet was violent and mankind was wretched, there was another individual who’d had enough also. Elijah was a godly man in a godless land. In fact, the land he lived in was so godless that Elijah had cried out to his God, the Lord Almighty, and asked Him to turn off all rain supply to the earth. For three years, not a drop of rain fell. During that time, Elijah humiliated the prophets of the false god, Baal, by challenging them to see whose god, little ‘g’ god or big ‘G’ God, would show up when requested. (It’s not any surprise to us, nor to Elijah, whose God showed—the God Who always comes through, right?—but suppose we were living in those times, without the benefit of the Word of God which allows us to merely read chapters of the Bible so we know how the story goes.) Elijah wanted so badly for the people to turn from their waywardness and to see the faithfulness of His God, the one true God, that He cried out to Him, saying, ‘Answer me, Lord, answer me, please! so these people will know that You, Lord, are God (big ‘G’ God), and that You alone are turning their hearts back again.’ (1 Kings 18:37)
The Lord God answered in such a powerful way and showed up so supernaturally, there was no doubt left in the people’s mind as to who was the one true God. 1 Kings 18:38-39 says, ‘Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—He is God! The Lord—He is God!”’ This is just one tiny instance of a New Thing a Holy God has done to prove His faithfulness to His people. And the New Thing God did, began a revival in a wicked land. Upon the outcome of the challenge Elijah had posed so the people could learn, all eight hundred and fifty prophets of false gods were seized and slaughtered, and rain began to fall again on barren and dry wastelands.
God is a good God and a faithful God, and He desires more than anything that we trust Him for His faithful response to our requests. Trust me, Beautiful You, everything that is occurring in this world right now is not surprising or alarming to our God. But it is downcast and sorrowful to Him because His heart beats always for you and me. And His desire is for our good and His glory. Remember, He has already won the war—the victory is His—it is our task to beat the battle.
Isaiah 43:18-19, ‘”Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember those former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.”’ (TPT)
Out of all the living things God made, He created mankind to BE. Whatever, whoever, you are, Beautiful You, BE the best version of you; BE the change this world needs; BE filled; BE free!
