REVIVAL TALK

  Ezekiel 37:1 – “The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.”       God takes the Prophet Ezekiel and sets him down into a valley filled with bones.   Ezekiel 37:2 says, “Then he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold there were very many in the open valley, and indeed they were very dry.” This valley was filled with death. There was no life, only dry bones.   It is a valley of impossibilities. It is a valley of hopelessness. In Ezekiel 37:3 the Lord asks the prophet a question, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Can these dry bones be reanimated and live again? The prophet answers the Lord in Ezekiel 37:3, “So I answered, ‘O Lord God, You know.’”   The New Living Translation says , “you alone know the answer to that.”   Like Ezekiel, we are standing in a valley of impossibilities. The Lord is asking the same question of us today. “Can these bones live?” Is the Go

  Psalms 26:7  - “That I may publish (proclaim) with voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.” We are entering into a season of praise and thanksgiving.  In the coming days we will gather with our families and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving.  People will travel great distances to gather around the table and share a meal of thanksgiving.  This is a wonderful holiday and we should enjoy our time with family and friends.   Worship involves a number of elements.  Two elements that are closely related are thanksgiving and praise. Though they are similar there are differences.  Praise is a powerful weapon to be used against the enemy of our soul in spiritual warfare.  Praise nourishes the soul, prepares the heart to become pure, and builds us up in faith.  The twin sister of praise is thanksgiving.  These two elements of prayer look alike, perform alike and come from the same source, which is gratitude.  Yet they are very distinct and have different purposes.  Praise ado

  II Chronicles 29:36 – “Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.   When I was a young boy growing up my dad bought my mom a very nice 1969 Chevrolet Caprice.   It was silver with a dark vinyl top.   I remember it being a sporty car with a powerful engine.   One of the things that I remember is my father talking about the car having a passing gear.   A passing gear is a gear in an automatic transmission that shifts to a lower gear to provide an extra burst of power to pass slower cars on the highway. The driver activates it when the gas pedal is sharply depressed.   When the gas pedal is released the car will return to normal driving. We are entering into a time of rapid acceleration. God is going to allow us to accomplish His purposes at an accelerated pace.   In II Chronicles we learn that King Hezekiah cleansed the temple and restored true worship.   In verse 36 we learn that these events were accompli

  Matthew 6:10 – “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We are entering into a kingdom reset.   We are experiencing a paradigm shift.   In Luke 12:32 Jesus said, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Reset is defined as “to set again, or to set, adjust, or fix in a new or different way.” When we reset our computers or smartphones it is to restore them to their factory settings.   God is resetting the church to restore us to our original purpose. God is restoring us to pure worship. He is calling us back to His original blueprint in Matthew 21:13, a house of prayer. Many things around us are changing. There will be no going back to what we have known as normal. Things are going to be very different.   How do we navigate these changes?   At the beginning of 2020 I wrote the following words: “We are entering into a new kingdom era.   We are in unchartered territory.   We have marched off the map. We a

Joshua 3:5 - “And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”  Joshua 3:4 in the New Living Translation reads, Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.” The world is enamored with power. In the Body of Christ, we recognize that purity is the prerequisite to power. Joshua’s instructions to the children of Israel were to purify themselves in preparation for crossing over into their promised inheritance.   Verse 4 says, “for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.”   As Spirit-filled believers, we believe in the nine manifestation gifts of the Spirit as defined in 1 Corinthians 12, and we desire to see them in operation in our services, prayer gatherings, and individual lives.   We define these gifts as power encounters. These power encounters are life-changing.   In Galatians 5:22-23, we are introduced to the Fruit of the Spirit. I believe the Fruit of the Spir

In the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, the Lord spoke to Moses about establishing seven major feasts. The first of these seven feasts was Passover. Passover always comes in the first month of the year on the Hebrew religious calendar. This month is known as Abib in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy but later came to be known as Nissan after the Babylonian captivity.    Although there are a total of seven feasts (the divine number for perfection or completeness in the Bible), God divided the seven festivals into three major festival seasons. Every male was to present themselves before the Lord three times in a year in each festival group.    The Jewish male would travel to Jerusalem for Passover in the spring, Pentecost at the end of spring, and the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall.    The fall festival season consisted of Rosh Ha Shana (Trumpets), The Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles.  Rosh Ha Shana comes on the first day of the month of Tishri and begins the Ten Days of Awe, w

Joshua 3:5 – 6 - “And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”  Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.” In Joshua 3:4 the Lord told the children of Israel, “you have not been this way before.”   This is the year of the new thing.   Isaiah 43:19 says, “Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth …”   In Joshua 3 God is preparing the children of Israel to enter into their inheritance.   Like the children of Israel, we are poised to enter into a new day. God is leading us on a new path.   Psalms 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” In Joshua 3:5 Joshua told the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”   The Christian Standard Bible reads, “Consecrate yourselves.” Why did Joshua instruct the children of Isra

  Matthew 16:18 – “ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” We have entered into a time of divine reset.  God has pushed the reset button. We continually hear people using the words, “A new normal.” Perhaps Romans 8:22-23 describes the times we are currently experiencing. “   For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”  Many are wondering, what will our future look like?  There are many businesses that will not survive the Covid-19 lockdowns and economic downturn.  People’s jobs and livelihood have been threatened and some are very fearful of the future.  I want to encourage you. As believers, we know the steps of a good man or woman are ordered by the Lord (Psalms 37:23). W

Isaiah 60:1 – 2 - “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.”             The prophet Isaiah writes prophetically of the future glory of Jerusalem. I believe verse 2 describes the days we are now experiencing in nations across the earth.  Isaiah 60:2 from the New Living Translation reads,  “Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth.” In August 2015, I wrote the following in a blog entitled “A Coming Storm:” [1]   “For some time I have been hearing the words, ‘There is an approaching storm.’  I believe there is a storm coming internationally, to our nation, to our region, and to us individually.  What kind of storm will this be?  It will be a last day’s storm. What can we expect from this storm?  Deception, wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and pestilences.  Jesus

Hebrew 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” We serve a now God.  When He appeared to Moses at the burning bush in the wilderness on Mt. Sinai, He reveals Himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).  He is not the great I was.  Some only see Him as the God of yesterday.  We must raise our level of expectation.  I love to study the moves of God in the past.  I love to hear the testimonies of past victories, but I have an expectation that we have not witnessed all He desires to do in our lives. He is not just the great I will be.  Some will only embrace Him in a future context.  He is going to move.  He is going to send revival.  He is going to save the lost.  He is not just the God of the past or future, but He is the God of the present.  Psalms 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”             We serve a mighty God.  The Psalmist writes in Psalms 102:25-27, “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are 

Proverbs 6:2 – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” We must learn how to speak the Word of God in faith over every circumstance we face.  What does the Word of God say about your circumstances?  We learn in Psalms 119:105, “Your word  is  a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  We are not to be outspoken in a rude way, but about the things of God.  The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the church at Rome in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” We must be careful not to come in agreement with the enemy with our words.  Psalms 23:4 says, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me Lord, Your Word and Your Spirit comfort me.”  The writer of Proverbs gives these instructions in Proverbs 21:23, “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.” Our testimony is a declar

II Chronicles 7:14 – “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” This powerful verse begins with the words, “ If My people.”  It ends with the words, “then I will hear .” We will win the battles we are facing on our knees.  The storms we are facing will only be won in the closet of prayer.  Matthew 6:6 says, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” God promises to hear our petitions and heal our land when we humble ourselves and pray.  I Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”  The Apostle John writes in I John 5:15, “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we

II Chronicles 7:14 – “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7 gives a record of the Lord’s second appearance to Solomon in II Chronicles 7:12-22.  Verse 12-15 says, “Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.” We are in a worldwide storm. To say we need revival is an understatement.  We have quoted II C

Luke 6:45 – “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”             The Apostle James wrote in James 3:10, “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” We must watch over what we speak.  Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life  are  in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”  In Matthew 15:11 Jesus said, “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” What are you speaking? Our words must be words of life. Our speech should be uplifting and encouraging. We should release the following when we speak: Righteousness .  Titus 2:11-12 – “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,

Revelation 4:1 – “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” We have been in a world-wide storm with Covid-19.  What has been going on?  This has been a battle waged by the enemy.  John 10:10 says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The Bible reveals the enemy as an adversary and the destroyer.  He is called a liar, and a murderer.  He seeks your demise and destruction.  We are engaged in a war over three things: 1.     Worship – one of the very first conflicts was a war over worship/sacrifice. 2.     Wealth – the enemy wants to keep you from your provision and keep the church in a poverty structure. 3.     Power Structures – who is going to rule? God is opening new door