Have Your Will And Your Way

As I sit down to write this, we are on the final 24 hour countdown toward the first scheduled revival meeting starting June 21 at 11:00 a.m. Time has flown since God first put the idea of such a revival in my heart. It soon became much more than an idea. It became a calling. I felt compelled God willed us to do this. Most of you know the story by now how I battled doubts. Twice pulling out in my mind only to be convicted by the Holy Spirit.

 The last time fought in the prayer room after going months where I did not hear from God. For weeks on end I pleaded with God to speak to me. I frequently went to the prayer room to sit before Him begging Him to break the silence. One day He did. He did so by convicting me of the sin of unbelief. He showed me that trying to pull out this revival was rebellion. That unbelief and rebellion were the reasons He remained silent. He very clearly and firmly called me to obedience by faith. I settled it right there and resolved to follow through. Since then, God has broken the spiritual drought with seasons of refreshing.

My doubts stem from an experience I had in Kermit, TX back in 2017. I also felt called to hold a Shake The City Revival in that town a few years ago under a tent. God gave me dozens of dreams. He provided for the tent, the lodging and meals. It all seemed to fall into place. A church allowed us to use their vacant lot to put up the tent for free. I entered that time with so much expectation  I made frequent trips for Bible studies and prayer meetings. We stayed a week and most nights barely had a dozen people under a tent that would seat hundreds. We met and worked with some wonderful people there like the Urguidi family. The whole event failed miserably in my eyes. I felt humiliated night after night. In hindsight, I left that town with some wonderful new relationships but feeling like a failure.

It was those memories that caused me to hesitate on following through at Spring Creek holding another such revival. There is a huge difference between revival meetings and true revival. I've had my belly full of revival meetings. I never planned on having them again. God had other plans.

I felt clear instructions from the Holy Spirit about these meetings. He led me to contact the Atens to lead worship. My heart sunk when they told me they would be out of the country. I went through two other people and they fell through as well. Then the Corona virus. The Atens' schedule cleared up, not only for the beginning of these meetings, but also for the months of July and August. That was a major God intervention.

In these weeks of prayerful preparation, I have sensed repeatedly the Atens are going to play a huge role in these meetings. Much more than leading worship. I believe they will be weapons in the hand of God against the forces of evil. I am honored and humbled to serve along beside them again.

God also impressed on me to start the meetings on June 21, which as you know, is Father's Day. It is a national holiday. Only God impressed on me it is THE FATHER'S DAY. Meaning it is a day that He wants to do something beyond what we can conceive. A day when He gives the gift of a supernatural move from Him.

He also prompted me to lead the church into 70 days of unified devotions and prayers leading up to the revival. I wrote material and added it to the material we used in Seminole in preparation for that revival. We nearly doubled the devotions and time of prayer in the current book. We started April 12th Resurrection Sunday.  Now we are on the final countdown. By the way, that material is available for free to download on our website at www.myspringcreek.org. Just click on the Shake The City Revival tab.

Lastly, God moved me to have a consecration service tonight. Really it all boils down to one last prayer meeting. The Corona virus stopped our plans for home prayer meetings over the past few months. Other than on Wednesday nights, this will be first time the church will gather to pray corporately. We will also celebrate communion in an act of fully dedicating ourselves to whatever He desires to do.

I sit here both excited and wishing we had more time to pray. More time to get ready. More time to prepare our hearts. In the end, I know that while our preparations have not been perfect, we have obeyed what I was instructed to do. I know that collectively hundreds of hours of prayers have been lifted up to God to have His will and way in Spring Creek. In addition, I personally pray God expands the work to sister churches in town and beyond.

So with all that in mind, all that swirls in my heart and mind, and all the dreams and visions I sit here both excited and wondering what I could have done to prepare better. It is in these moments I am reminded of a simple truth. This is all about God. This is all about Jesus. It is not about me. The call to do this originated with Jehovah. The instructions on how to lead the church to prepare came from Him as well. Revival only comes from Him. Not from me. I am powerless to renew people or draw anyone to salvation. I am just a vessel. I am not in pursuit of revival. I am in pursuit of God. I hunger for more of Him for me personally and for the church God has assigned me to shepherd. Come Lord Jesus. Have your will and your way.