Revival is Waiting in the Streets...
By Chad Taylor
"But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed,
the lame, and the blind and you will be
blessed..." (Luke 14:13)
The report forwarded to me below titled "Churches of
Beggars and Garbage Collectors" was forwarded to me
recently. Every day I receive emails from people asking, "Where
is the fire Chad? Why can't I really feel Him from
week to week? Why aren't our conferences more anointed like
they used to be? Why aren't people being
saved?!" My answer remains the same from person to
person, "Jesus is compelling us OUT! We
cannot be satisfied with endless prophecies and teaching, we must
LAUNCH OUT INTO THE DEEP! We have to take the oil and wine
and pour it into the one left for dead on the side of the
road!"
Is prophecy and conferences it itself wrong or bad? No. But to freely receive and never give out is. To go from one meeting or conference to the next never once stepping out of the confines of church to reach out to someone more desperate that us, is terribly wrong. "To know to good and not to do it is a sin..." Yet in America we have endless conferences and gathering and yet the moral climate of our cities and streets are no different. When will the honest pastor or leader admit something is wrong? That after endless meetings and seminars the cities we live in are none the better? It is time to go from conference to confrontation and begin to confront the world with the radical love of Jesus...
It's no wonder these kind of questions are asked every day. One person put it this way, "I used to be so on fire for the Lord, I used to be excited to be at Church every time the doors where open, I used to weep uncontrollably at the alter services, What has happened. I Love my Church and the Church family, I Love God with everything I am and more, why do I feel so dry? I know there is life in the word, and there is power in prayer, but I still can't help but feel like I have gone so far in God and all of a sudden I went from God being the pilot of me to me going solo, do I make sense to you? well anyway just thought I would let you know that God has used you in a might way and I know he is out there somewhere..." (end of quote.)
My response to this dear saint was this, "In Song of Solomon chp.3, the Lord is playing hide and seek with His people! He is hiding in the streets and lanes of the city WAITING for us to SEARCH for Him! God is allowing the "creek" to dry up like Elijah until we MOVE! He is waiting for us, in the convalescent homes, in the hospitals, in the jails and market places... Revival is hidden in the field like the treasure in Jesus' parable, waiting for someone to pay the price to purchase that field. A HARVEST FIELD! The Lord refuses to continue to pour out a "fix" to His people, He is compelling us to GO OUT! There is where we will find the living water we so desperately crave... We have to "cast our nets on the other side" of tradition and formality, and we are promised to take in a GREAT catch! It OUT THERE, in the hi-ways and bi-ways that He is hiding, will we dare to pursue Him?! "Where I am, there will be servants be as well..."
Read the first few scriptures of Song of Solomon 3. If we are to find Him we must arise from our "beds" or comfort zones and go out into the streets and broad places and seek Him out! He is hidden in the hearts and broken bodies of the "least of our brethren..." Only then we will graduate from simple renewal into full blown revival!
Churches of beggars
and garbage collectors
(Report recently sent to me...)
Hana Ananda and her husband Harry were successful Christian business people in Surabaya, East Java, and members of a respected Christian church which is proud of its teaching. A beggar sat in front of the prosperous church's door, bitter about the pittance she could collect from the church members on their way to their beautiful houses and Sunday meals.
Six years ago, God spoke to Hana. "Whose hand will be covered with her blood when she dies?" he seemed to ask. After some discussion, Harry agreed to invite the woman to their house. They bathed her, gave her new clothes and a clean place to sleep. A few days later, the beggar started to tell others about the friendly woman who had helped her.
Other people soon showed up, including a prostitute, and started asking questions. When their son married, the Anandas invited the city's poor - most of them Moslems - to the wedding. Five thousand came! They all received something to eat and a present. Since then, many of the beggars, including the first woman, have become Christians, and all were baptized in the Ananda's swimming pool. The Anandas are now pastors of a Christian church of 2,500 beggars, prostitutes and garbage collectors! One of them said, "Jesus is a garbage collector, because he collected me!"
Chad Taylor
Webpage: www.consumingfire.com
Email: lionheart@gci.net
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Lamentations 2:19