Are You Flame Retardant?

Retardant: any substance capable of reducing the speed of a given reaction.

Flame retardants: materials that inhibit or resist the spread of fire.

Lev 6:13 “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

Geneva and I have been doing some landscaping here at our new home. As I was in the scorching heat today next to a fire burning all the dried up leaves, brush and branches the Lord began to speak to me on the subject of revival.

I had a fairly hard time getting the fire to burn. We’d done some landscape work recently but because of being so busy I hadn’t had the time to burn what I had gathered. The tree branches lay beside the burn pit for a couple of weeks. They were very dead, but we’ve had subsequent rainfall recently so the wood was rather waterlogged. And of coarse the trimming that we’d gathered today was still very fresh and really didn’t want to burn at all. I was able to get the fire started, but it would go out before I could get anything to really burn. It took quite a while but I managed to get all of it burned! Yay!

I piled up a bunch of the limbs and laid them just right. I had my lighter with me along with a plastic bag full of news papers. Normally all it would take would be one strike of a match and one newspaper to do the trick. That’s how smoothly it went a couple of weeks ago when I burned rubbish. At that time the fire burned faster than I could put wood on it! This time was different. The wind was strong here today. It took more than one strike to light the news paper. It looked like it was going to burn but next thing I knew, it was only smoldering. A tree that is full of life is very hard to burn. But a tree that is dead and dry will burn exceptionally quick! Once I finally got the fire going things went a little more smoothly. I had to work diligently to keep it burning, constantly adding newspaper to just the right spot to keep spreading the fire.

California is quite famous for its wildfires. All it takes is the tiniest little spark to burn miles and miles of forest. Just one person throwing a cigarette butt on the ground can burn down a city.

The Lord asked me this question, “Are you flame retardant?”

Revival is almost always compared to a wild fire, and that is for many good reasons.

First of all, the Holy Spirit is a fire. It’ll burn up every trace of sin in our lives… if we’re not flame retardant.

Revival wants to sweep the nation but many churches are filled with waterlogged Christians. Just as the tree must be dead in order to burn, we must be dead to sin in order to burn with the Spirit. Now, it doesn’t take us being perfect for revival to come. If we’re perfect we don’t need revival. A sinner coming to Christ isn’t revival, it’s a new birth, it’s being made alive for the very first time. A waterlogged Christian being set on Holy Ghost fire is a revival. Can someone revive themselves? No. If I faint can I get a bucket of water and pour on myself to revive myself? No. It takes someone else to do the reviving. A complacent Christian is most likely unaware that they’re in need of revival. We live in a church age that is very complacent. We’re saved, sanctified, Heaven bound and that’s all that matters. This nation, this world, is in dyer need of an awakening! Those of us who have that flame burning inside of us need to strive to spark a flame in another!

How do we come about this revival?

There are those who are complacent Christians. Then there are those of us who have a heart burning for Jesus. As we let our lights shine before men we’ll cause sparks to ignite in others. Revival doesn’t come from us, but it comes through us. When we get people into the presence of the Father, He’ll revive them! We can’t stand in the way of the cross where people only see us, but we must step aside and point the way to the Reviver. As we feast daily on the Word of God and drink of the Spirit we’ll begin to grow. That fire in us will start to burn bigger and stronger. Eventually it’ll catch other souls on fire! It isn’t God’s will for any Christian to lack having a burning heart. After all, His heart burns for us!

Revival isn’t 3 consecutive days of church. Revival isn’t having a special guest speaker. Revival isn’t being extremely emotional. Revival is simply… being revived; being awakened in our spirits.

What will revival do for us?

It will burn up the sin that is in our lives by refining our hearts.

It will cause our lights to shine brighter.

It will create an outrageous hunger for God’s Word.

It will create an outrageous burden for the lost.

It will cause us to be outrageously emotional about our salvation!

It will literally set our souls on fire for Jesus!

David prayed, “Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation.”

Some feel that it’s inappropriate to “shout” or “leap” or display any type of emotion or such like at church. Here’s my question: If you win 10 million dollars will you shout? Will you dance? Will you turn a cartwheel or two? How much greater is salvation than winning 10 million dollars? Now, people may display their affection for Jesus in many different ways, but there should be a display! There should be emotion! When I was burning my fire today I felt something! It was hot! The smoke got in my eyes a couple of times and made me teary eyed. Ha! I got very close to the flame and I guarantee if I would have touched it, it if it would have touched me, golly, I would have shouted somethin’ fierce!

What is the joy of His salvation? Christians should be happy! The Blood of Jesus has washed our sins away! We were destined for hell without any hope, but Christ became our hope! He paid our sin debt! We should be ever grateful!

There is a large number of Christians who have been saved for many, many years, yet they can’t quote you one scripture, they can’t tell you one thing about the heart of God, they don’t know how to witness, their bibles collect dust and they don’t even truly know what it means to be a Christian. These people need revived! We were all in that place at one time or another, and if we haven’t, there’s a possibility that we will be! We must never be satisfied! We are more than satisfied with our salvation, but we should never reach the point where we know enough about God, or where we feel we know all that the bible teaches. We should always seek to know the heart of God greater and greater. Jesus longs to communicate with us on a daily basis!

If you’re struggling with an addiction, if you’re struggling with a sin in your life, get in His presence! Get in the Word daily and talk to God and let Him talk to you. If you continue to struggle, continue in the Word. Don’t loose courage! The more Word you get inside of you the more sin will be turned to ashes! Never be content in your walk with God! There are people on your job that need to know Jesus personally. We are surrounded with sinners. They need a Savior! We must be about the family business! We can talk about revival, teach about revival, preach about revival, write books about revival, and even blog about revival, but actions speak much louder than words!

Seek God on a daily basis by reading His Word and through prayer. It’ll stir you up, I guarantee it! Spend time in daily worship! We can never take too much time to tell God just how much He means to us!

Don’t be a flame retardant Christian! Be willing to burn for Him!

“Father, I pray that revival would burn across this nation! I pray that it would start with me! Revive my soul, Lord Jesus! Let it burn up every trace of sin in my life! Set me on fire for You! I want to burn for You! I pray that I burn so fervently that people yell, “Stop, drop and roll!” Amen, Lord! This world is in need of an awakening! Awaken us for Your glory! Let us ignite sparks in people’s lives so they’ll burn for you! In Jesus’ Name! Amen!”

God Is Faithful

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

This verse is from Revelation 19. There are only 3 chapters left in the bible after this chapter. This refers to Christ’s return after the 7 year tribulation and it refers to Jesus as Faithful and True. His Name is The Word of God. He is crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

What I love about this is that in the last book of the bible, after all is said and done, Jesus is called Faithful and True. He is Faithful! He is FAITHFUL! God cannot and will not let us down. His Word will always stand true. We can take Him at His Word! If He said it He is faithful to stand true to it!

Recently Genevaand I moved away from everything and everyone we’ve ever known. I had begun to feel a stirring in my spirit that God was about to do something different; that a change was coming. My band played a Sunday Night Soak worship and adoration service at The Way Family Church in Greeneville, TNon May 23^rd. It was so amazing! The anointing was flowing and everything just felt right. The Lord laid it upon Pastor Ken’s heart to invite me to be The Way’s worship leader. That was the farthest thing from my mind. After all, I was comfortable where I was. I had been at my home church for 17 years and was on staff as worship leader. I guess I could say that my spirit was being pulled to Greeneville, but my flesh was just fine to be where I was! Ha! We began to pray and seek the Lord for His will. If He was leading us to Greeneville than there was NO way I would stay where I was, but if it wasn’t for me to go to Greeneville, than there was no way I could do it. We began to pray and seek the Father’s heart about it. Me and Geneva, pastor Ken, and our pastors all prayed. It was such a heavy burden on me. I would wake up praying about it and go to sleep praying about it. I was feeling in my spirit that it was the Father’s will, but I needed that confirmation! Just as Peter walked on water, it didn’t matter how impossible the move looked, if Jesus said, “Come,” I was going to step out of the boat on faith and we were moving! Well, we got our confirmation, because God is Faithful! He’ll never leave us hanging!

One thing that is promised to every believer is persecution, but God is Faithful! We go through trials, we go through sickness, we go through attacks of the enemy, we go through life, and God is proven to be Faithful EVERY time! What kind of God would He be if He weren’t Faithful!? I’m SO glad that our God, THE God, is Faithful and True! His Word NEVER fails!

I think about the children of Israelin the wilderness. Because of their unbelief God led them through the wilderness for 40 years. They had not doctors, no grocery stores, no clothing stores, no food, no nothing! All they had was God. If he didn’t feed them they wouldn’t be fed! If He didn’t cloth them they wouldn’t be clothed. He took them out there to where He was their only option; to where they had nowhere else to turn! They had to trust in Him! He fed them with manna and quail. He led them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He caused water to flow from a rock for crying out loud! He was their only source! Sometimes when things are just going anyway but right, we have to realize that it might just be God leading us into a wilderness to where we’ll learn to trust in Him. That’s where He shows His faithfulness. We can’t trust in our money, or our jobs, or our abilities. He is our supply! If we loose our job does that take God by surprise? If our child suddenly becomes deathly sick does that take God by surprise? We have to remember that He holds time in His hands! He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is where our trust should be. “Lord, I have no clue what You’re doing or where this is going, but I trust in You!”

Have you ever read in God’s Word where He wasn’t faithful? After leading Israelinto the wilderness did He not supply their every need? Was He not faithful to Daniel in the lion’s den? Was He not faithful to Paul? Was He not faithful to Peter? Was He not faithful to Lazarus?

He promised a seed unto Abraham. It took 25 years for a child to be born. He proved Faithful to Job after a year of the worst trial imaginable.

What about the case of Lazarus? The dude was dead! Dead for four days. Even when it seems He isn’t Faithful; even when it seems He isn’t True to His Word; even when it seems like He’s just too late, He is ALWAYS Faithful and always right on time. If all we had to trust in was our abilities and if all we had to lead us was our hearts and if all we had security in was this world we would be so miserable! Thank God for His faithfulness!

We’ve received the earnest of the promise! We’ve received the seal of the Spirit! Jesus WILL be Faithful to return to get us! After all, we’re the pearl of great price! He sold everything He had to buy this ‘field!’

In Romans 8:24and 25 Paul says,

“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Christ will not leave us unredeemed! He will return for His church, because He isn’t slack concerning His promise! By faith we wait for the One who is Faithful and True!

“Father, I think You that You are Faithful! How great is Your Faithfulness! It is higher than the mountains! Thank You, Lord, for proving Yourself Faithful in our lives! I pray that we can all learn to trust in you. Where else could we go? Where else could we turn? If not for You we would be hopeless! You are our hope! Nothing else matters when we have You! You’ll take care of Your own! Thank you! Thank You! Thank you for being True to Your Word! In Jesus’ Name! Amen!”