Revival is always about what a mighty and powerful God wants to do, seeing the His big plans and purposes for the individuals and the entire world He created. Too often we think revival is about our best plans placing together a strategy and idea of what we know from what we have learned and experience in our own lives. This brings us to the first place in this revival time line, the cry for a king.
A King, The Revival You Think You Need
When the people came to Samuel the prophet and said give us a king like the other nations they were not seeking God but looking around in their world with their knowledge and life experiences and picking something that they think will fix everything.
I Samuel 8:5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
Solomon in in II Chronicles 7:14 expresses God’s heart of a people not looking around them for the best program, best denomination, best minister, or best facility but individually and corporately humbling themselves before God and letting God move on His behalf for His people.
Duplicating the Past or Present Successes
During the life of The Father’s House people would pass through the church often hoping we would become that church they remembered as a kid or hoping we would engage in some current thing that was going on in the church world. I find it so funny to hear Canadian ministers preaching with a Southern accent and style but because in the past someone with a Southern accent that was real had a real anointing others mimic the behavior without the anointing. When God moved in Toronto and Pensacola in the mid 1990’s many churches began to do the things that lead up to these moves of God as well as change service formats and the music to match what was being done in these places thinking this was their answer. Today pastors are encouraging their congregations to read particular books, implement programs, or go on a field trip to Redding to see what they are doing. There are things to learn from books, programs, people, and places that are invaluable but they need to be combined with the unique plan God has for you personally and your community.
Mark 2:22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
The little bit of leaven found in any fresh grape juice is destined to change grape sugar into alcohol which distorts the mind and body and when you use the old wine skin the alcohol will come even quicker. So don’t try to have a Welsh Revival, Azusa Street Revival, Brownsville Revival, Toronto Outpouring, Lakeland Outpouring, or even try to duplicate your favorite Camp Meeting, they are all important but old corrupted wine skins, laden with yeast to destroy the sweetness of what God wished to do today!
Seeds of Revival In The Midst of Religion
David was anointed to be the next king in the midst of the failures of the kingdom of Saul and God is always at work and preparing people for the next phase of His plan. David being anointing to be king was not a national event nor was it completely top secret. Likewise God is doing things that may not be in Charisma Magazine or on any Christian TV program but they are about to shake the world. In the last hundred years or so most of those that have been used of God were never heard of until things started happening. Recently another baby was born to the royals in England and this baby is in the forefront and will be all of her life. She was born into the spot light and will remain there while some such as William Seymour was hardly respected by those around him until God showed up and fed his hunger for more of God. Now William Seymour is part of document history of a mighty move of God that no man planned.
Rejected by the Mainstream Church
David coming on the scene and killing Goliath and being such a mighty warrior was exciting and refreshing at first but seeds of jealousy and envy begin to silence the new thing that God wants to do. Pentecostalism was rejected by mainstream in the early days as well as the revivalist of today are rejected even called cults. These that are rejected are the remnant and are like David’s mighty men hanging on and doing what is right until God shows up in a greater way.
I Samuel 22:2 And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
We often think of core revivalist as these extremely saintly people in constant prayer, fasting, and studying their Bible yet David’s mighty men were social rejects when they joined up with David. David did not fit in with the mainstream because of the anointing on his life but the mighty men didn’t fit because of social issue including too many bills, not enough income, bitter about life and government and the church. They saw a glimmer of hope in David and he saw the same hope in them, that’s remnant church of today and any other age.
God’s Hand With the Remnant, Decline of the Mainstream
Moving towards a real move of God the mainstream church will be in decline but God will still be doing the miraculous among his remnant.
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/
A recent Pew poll shows a significant decline in the Christianity in America in the last seven years. The drop was 8% in just seven short years. At this rate Christianity would be a minority religion less than 25 years. With all the new forms of media from satellite TV to the internet, all the books and seminars, and moves of God in 1990’s and American Christianity appears to be on its way out. This is one of the greatest signs of revival on the horizon!
The Death of Saul
King Saul’s death represents the death to religious traditions and attempts to maintain a kingdom in the flesh and for personal gain. Last year I was in Mendocino and a mainline denominational church was there that had been converted to a health food and spiritual center store. Here in Stockton it is heart breaking to see former power house Pentecostal churches literally falling to the ground in decay and often rotating pastors every one to three years with board and congregation discontentment.
A Void Needs Filling
With King Saul gone or in this timeline the decline of the traditional or mainline churches, people still want and need God in their lives so this is God’s open door to introduce David to more people. As people vowed to be a part of Saul’s kingdom and army their vow was lifted at the Saul and his son’s death. Many people make similar commitments to their church until the day it closes its doors for good, then these good people are free to join with David or the remnants of God. Often many old churches are still around more for their historical architecture than their current spiritual impart on a city.
Good People of Their Word
There are many good people keeping dead works alive because of their person commitment of serving and giving, and not listening to God. These people are not looking for David they are expecting Saul to do the job and trusting somehow God will show up and intervene. Saul heard God and chose to do things his way and God will never take any of our free will from us. When leaders and tradition shut God out, God gives them the results of their rebellion.
Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
So when the David church sees wonderful serving and giving people in a church filled with dead works it’s easy to court them and covet them to be a part of your ministry. Ministers and congregants often do just that in all churches, court people to their ministry. People really need to take Exodus 20:17 to heart as very important to God’s heart, we cannot covet another churches worship leader, pastor, administrator, or any other person or we are in direct violation of this commandment and the heart of God. In God’s time the death of tradition will bring these people to David.
When What God Is Doing Becomes Popular
Most think revival is about masses becoming saved and all of them becoming on fire sold out believers. Well guess what, it’s not! Revival is about good leaders raising up other good leaders and containing the masses into a better life style.
I Samuel 21:11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
Even Achish the Philistine knew that David was anointed to be king over Israel yet the day to day Israelite was following Saul like they always did. Rumor of the hand of God being on David had many years to spread through the land, so far that the Philistines knew of it so we can most likely safely say that those that cared knew an acted on it but most remained in the service of what they knew, Saul’s army and kingdom. Through the ages and today the pattern remains the same, people know where the power of God is, where prophecy is flowing, and some dabble occasionally but on Sunday morning they attend and give where it is familiar. It was common occurrence for people to come to me at The Father’s House and be weeping and say they wish they could be a part of TFH but they were committed to their church and traditions. So many of these people were healed and received powerful prophecies over their lives but almost always retreated to the familiar.
David became popular and the leaders because Saul was removed for the equation. Strong God anointed leaders and a vacuum created by the death of tradition makes the revival church popular as well. As David set a great example for years with his mighty men, he transformed these that were bitter and in debt into loyal Godly men and leaders and influence to thousands of people. David a man after God’s own heart, a man of faith, passion, and worship first lead and influenced a small group and then a nation. The masses were following a better modeled behavior and not necessarily an overwhelming heart change that one might think. Revival is the same, with great leaders and examples, both in the church and other places in society this pulls the masses into to better moral place and again not necessarily a heart change for everyone.
Look where we are today with the subject of homosexuality. Some denominations and most politicians are promoting as an alternate lifestyle contrary to scripture, because scripture is not very popular among these leaders and the masses are following suit. This is just one topic there are many other issues as well.
Remember during David’s reign that two attempts to over through his kingdom took place and during both of these events the masses of people followed whoever was winning or let’s say what was most popular.
The Blessing of David’s Kingdom
Revival brings prosperity and blessing to any city, region, or nation.
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
David brought power and wealth to Israel like it has never seen since. David subdued all his enemies and amasses a great amount of wealth. Saul’s kingdom did nothing for a legacy except have a jealous pursuit of David. David’s kingdom left a legacy of bringing the arch to Jerusalem and having the tabernacle of David with 24 hour worship. What was popular with David spilled into the nation, the cities, and the individuals and Israel was seen as a righteous godly nation.
America was founded on the spilled blood of godly men fighting for freedom and new way of life. Just as David built the nation and laid a godly foundation, those that follow are blessed by the work of the past.
Blessed By the Past, Not Seeing the Future
Revival is great but can it tarry? Solomon was riding the wave of what God used David to create. We all see how that when you do not work for something it has less value and often is not appreciated as much. Solomon became blinded by his and his father’s success in fell into the excesses of the blessings. We have seen many very many anointed men and women in the last hundred years do the same when they are anointed of God then fall into the excesses of life with money, sex, or even fraud.
In the book of Judges we see the same pattern many times as well as here in America where a move of God takes place and things get better then the people forget and sin prevails. We forget where the blessing came from.
The Death of Solomon Brings Division
After the death of Solomon Israel was divided into the ten northern tribes and the tribe of Judah. The excesses of Solomon created a generation of entitlement much like we have today, people expecting blessing and not willing to work for it. This attitude raised up leaders of greed and power hungry not caring for the common people and is a great sign of the need for revival.
I have seen this pattern in the local church happen many times where a dynamic leader that God used to grow the church both in numbers and establishment of great facilities retires or passes then all hell breaks out. That great leader was respected by the people and lead the people and when the leader is gone some are looking for something new and others are trying to duplicate the old wine skin and the church is split. Often these are the churches that rotate pastors every one to three years at the vote of confidence, if the pastor can last that long. I know of one denomination that used to rotate their lower qualified and less desirable pastors from church to church almost as if to appease both the pastor by providing a job and the congregation by giving them a pastor with and end result of demoralizing both.
The Big Picture
Get where God wants you doing what God wants you to do. Be prepared for anything and don’t expect it to be anything like you ever saw before. Don’t even try to figure out which period you are in because God can bring about mini versions of all this to any one at any time.
Flagship Apostolic 
Posted on May 17, 2015
0