A Heart of Prayer

We have bee n looking at the heart that God r3vivies. He revives the heart that its hungry for Him and not afraid of His power. He revives the heart of worship. he alsot reveives the heart of prayer.

If you want a dynamic vital relationship with God, you need to look realistically at your prayer life. And I’m not talking just about your personal prayer life. Corporate prayer is so important.


Matt 7:7-8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

When you seek something, you run after it. You have to narrow down what you want and pursue. It.

I heard an interview with Andre Agassi, the tennis player, the other day. He said he had no memory of his life without a tennis racket in his hand. That’s focus . Let me tell you, Andre didn’t wake up at 15 and then decide he was going to pursue something else. No he pursued what he pursued and did not stop until he became a champion.

That’s what it means to really seek something. It only takes a second to ask but it takes persistence to seek. It forces us to prioritize and concentrate. It is easy to be distracted. But I remember the prophetic work at the beginning of the year ”Stay fixed in 2006”. That was a prophetic word this church has been tested in.

Choosing to live in Revival , as we have seen is a major decision. IT’S GOING TO TAKE some seeking.

If you were going to move to another state. You would do a lot of research . If you have family, you would have to look into the schools. You would look for a church. You would choose the right neighborhood for your commute. You would look into recreational opportunities and property taxes, etc. It’s a major decision.

Similarly God says “Do you want to be revived? Do you want to have a radical heart? Do you know what you are getting into? Do you know what it is going to cost you?" Christians are beginning to realize that it is important to seek God earnestly.

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

We need to go from blank stares in church to fists upraised. Your outside represents something going on the inside. We need to cry out with urgency towards God.

James 5:16 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Not just throwing up "I hope so" prayers. We need to be coached in prayer.

What is knocking? Well, knocking is the easy part. It is finding the right door. There are plenty of doors. The seeker friendly church door. The church growth door, the counseling door, etc. But what is going to be the primary focus? We need to choose the Revival door. If uyou have a million things to do , you are going to be distracted. We don’t have the time to do everything. We need to do one thing well: pray for more and greater revival in the Church and in the city.

Is there anything better we could be doing? The mark of a radical heart is one that is committed to asking , seeking and knocking until God does something.

Are you praying with a focused intensity? Are you praying with an attitude that will not be denied?

If we want to have revived heart in our relationship with God, we need to be a people that welcome the power of God not judge it or love our comfort more. We need to be people that worship sacrificially, and we need to be people that are earnestly seeking the Lord together.

Heart of Worship

Yesterday we saw that the heart that God revives is the heart that is not afraid of His power and embraces it. Another aspect of the heart that God revives is the heart fo worship.

Another aspect of having a radical heart for God is to cultivate a heart for worship.
When God’s people overflow with adoration and thanksgiving without shame or fear, the glory of God begins to come.

One of the things that we need in order to be revived is to ascribe greatness and praise to God. You can’t say to God about worship, "I just don’t feel like it." God is not waiting for your feeling. He is looking for a real surrender.

a. Worship involves the whole body and soul.

We need to worship God the way the Bible talks about. Every Hebrew Word for worship involves a posture of the body. So lift your hands, lie on your face before God. Kneel before Him. Bow before Him.

Why is that we are so easily inspired at a rock concert, or at a broadway show to hoop and holler, but we think it so undignified, or we are so conscientious in church? We have to get over that. A large part of worship is honest exuberance before God--unhindered by concern for reputation or embarrassment.

We must have liberty in worship.

2 Sam 6:6-16
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

8 Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

9 David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?" 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.

12 Now King David was told, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.


You see a couple of things in this story

b. Worship God’s way not your way.
First of all, you see that God has a prescribed method of doing things. Including worship. The ISRALITES NEVER WORSHIPPED THE WAY THAT THEY WANTED TO WORSHIP, THEY WORSHIPPPED ACCORDING TO THE COMMANDS OF God. When they went against that, they were judged for it.

Now notice the difference between what we might call irreverent and what God calls irreverent. David disrobed and was dancing before the ark of the Lord. Michal thought this irreverent or undignified, but it seems to be approved by God. Meanwhile Uzzah reaching out to steady the ark seems innocent enough to us, yet God judges it as irreverent.

God’s desire is a worship of reverence but also one in which there is a full involvement of the body and the soul according to the commands of God.

c. Worship involves sacrifice. It costs.

Notice that the blessing of God is related to the worship of God. If we want a radical heart, we have to be radical , extravagant worshipers.

Do you have a heart that loves to worship? Are you easily exhausted in worship? Get radical and realize that sacrificial worship is a doorway to a revived heart!

The Heart That God Revives

Las time we looked at the difference betweeen the radical church and the religious church. Let's look at the heart that God revives.

The heart that God revives is the heart that accepts Jesus power.


Here's a story that shows that we can become so used to the mundane, so used to the routine that even when Jesus shows up , we tell him to go.

Luke 8:26-37
26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.


Here we have a very interesting story. Jesus goes on a trip across the lake and he is confronted by a demon possessed man. Here is this guy , a real mess and he asks Jesus not to torture him.

It’s kind of funny isn’t it. What worse could possibly happen to him. He was often chained hand and foot. He had no clothes. He lived in a tomb. But yet he asks Jesus not to torture him.

It’s kind of the same way with us. Sometimes Jesus comes into our lives and we think he wants to take away from us rather than help us. Maybe some of us before we were a Christian, we thought, "man if I become a Christian that means I will have to be bothered with giving up this and that." We think Jesus has come to torture us.

Let’s continue.

30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
NIV

There is much we could say about this passage, but I just want to direct your attention to the reaction of the people. Other times miracles and healings occurred , and people flocked to Jesus. Here something else happened.

Here is this man, delivered and in his right mind--wearing clothes for a change. But it says the people were afraid. So afraid in fact, that they turn around and ask Jesus to take a hike.

I can just picture the apostles, all beaming with big smiles. Then the people show up. The Apostles expecting hand slaps and back pats, and instead of thanking Jesus and the Apostles, they say : "Jesus we would like you to catch a camel cab out of here. Like, Now."

Now what were they afraid of? Why this reaction?

Could it be that they were afraid of losing their livelihood? It’s interesting . You know that swine is a forbidden food for the Jews, yet they must have indulged. When they had to choose between the pigs and Christ, guess what?--they chose the pigs. Can you imagine.? They had the very son of God in their presence and rather than worship him, -they gave him the bum’s rush.

Now before you judge them too harshly. Let’s look at ourselves. Have you gotten used to the devils around you. So used to it that the parting with them makes you afraid, because that’s all you know. When Jesus comes, so does the power of God. The power causes us to make a choice. Do we really want it around or would we rather stick with the familiar. Would we rather stick with our idolatry.

Unfortunately it is only too possible to become used to the demons and the demonic situation around us. You see, when Jesus comes into our lives, he wants to set us free. He wants to give us a new reason for living-- a new life. He wants to take us out of the tombs--out of the chains that bound us. But the temptation is to say, "Jesus don’t torture me. Jesus just leave us alone. We know it’s bad but this is all we know . We have gotten used to this. If we go with you we will be flying without a net." So we stick with the lifeless and the dead.

Afraid of the Power of God
The townspeople saw the demon possessed man healed and in his right mind, but they weren’t happy for him.

There was a guy that got revived in a meeting and came home feeling like he had a radical experience with God. But he was told,
"oh you have to make sure that was a real experience with God, you know you don’t want to be deceived by other groups and by the devil." "Was that God or was that you."
And he began to be talked out of his experience with the Lord and tempted to go back to the way things were—lifeless and bland.

This can happen then and it can happen now. Isn’t it funny? A naked demonized man in chains does not scare the Gerasenes, but the power of God did.

Have you ever heard this?:“You gotta be careful not to get too carried away with this Jesus thing"" You don’t want to be fanatic.""I appreciate that you have this new thing but keep it balanced."

See a lot of people are afraid of Jesus taking over their lives. But that is just what He wants to do. That is the essence of what being Revived is. It is the essence of having a radical heart instead of a religious heart.

We should be rejoicing when people get set free, but we must be careful. We could be just like the Gerasenes who could have asked Jesus to do anything they wanted, but instead asked him to leave. We can be so attached to our idols--to our way of doing things, that when Jesus shows up we say, "Thanks but no thanks."

And you know what Jesus did? He took off. He didn’t argue with them. See, this was their time of visitation, and rather than embrace it, they rejected it. How about you? Will you reject Jesus when he comes and places His touch on your life. Will you say, "Jesus , it’s too radical. I'm used to these demons. I'M USED TO MY PIGS. MY IDOLS. I’m used to these chains. Just leave."

Are we more adapted to demons than to God? Don’t be afraid of Jesus. Are you seeing the power of God manifested in your life and the lives of those around you? Will you embrace the power of God and be changed?

Putting God First

We have been looking at the radical church vs. the Religious church. We have seen that our own religious ways and traditions can be the biggest barriers to our own revival, as it was with the Pharisees when Jesus came.

Another element of the radical church that God is looking for is a people that puts God’s kingdom first.

Hag 1:2-11
2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, 'The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.'"

3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"

5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. 9 "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."
NIV


Notice what was going on here. God had actually withheld his blessing from his people because they did not have the time to make God’s house a priority.

You see, many times, we are blaming the devil for a lack of blessing, or for our problems, but the Lord says HE called for a drought. What they brought home he blew away because they had not made His house a priority.

Let’s bring this closer to home. We are spiritually dry. We are not overflowing with the things of God, but we make excuses. “Oh I am not built that way. Oh, it’s not God’s time yet for revival.” But we fail to realize that the reason we may not be thriving is because of our own wrong priorities.

Many of us sometimes abuse the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. We say, "If God wants to do it, he will do it." But we need to see that our actions and our attitudes have much to do with what God does in our lives. We have to take responsibility.

Jesus says similar thing when he said in
Matt 6:32-33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

God says, "You have it all wrong . It isn’t that the time has not come for the house of God to be built but that you have “better” things to do. It is just not a priority to you."

When God’s house does not get built in our lives, the rest of our lives suffers diminishing returns. We are living with disappointment. We are frustrated with our marriages, our finances, our lives, We try to fill the void with achievement activity, entertainment. But it seems so hollow.

But does God want us this way? Does he want to withhold blessings? Yet he does to get our attention. He wants us to bear fruit, but he leads us to the right priorities to bear fruit.

How do we build God’s house today? By giving God our time and our effort. The radical church puts God first. First of all, that begins with our hearts. When we pray and study and gather with other believers we are putting God first.

God wants to pour out his spirit in abundance on us. The only requirement is a heart that is fully devoted to Him.

Are you building God’s house? Are your affections torn? Is working with Him to build the kingdom the number one priority of your life?

God is building a radical church vs. a religious church. Are we hungry enough? Are we willing to break out of our own comfort zones. Are we willing to change our priorities that we can receive the breakthrough of a thriving spiritual walk and see God’s glory revealed?

Tradition Can Hinder Revival

God is a god that will do whatever it takes to break us off the old and to get us to the new. So many people say, "you know I have the blahs in my spiritual life. I am kind of tired . I don’t feel this vibrancy." But if you point out to them that they are the problem, they get very offended.

When Jesus came, the Jews thought that Rome was the problem . Their expectation of a Messiah was one that would deliver them from the Roman empire and their occupation of Israel. But then Jesus came and guess what?. He didn’t overthrow Herod. He didn’t’ overthrow Rome. In fact, he came and gave his harshest criticism to the religious establishment. In essence he was saying, Rome was not the problem. They were the problem.

My point is that the main obstacle for our churches thriving in revival . The main obstacle of all of us walking in a full delight of the Lord and loving each other with reckless abandon is not the liberals, not the homosexual activists, not the government. No the biggest obstacle is our own religious ways.


2 Kings 5:9-14 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."
But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
13 Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!"


I love this story. Here was Naaman who had this terrible disease of leprosy. He knew that the prophet of God could help him. But he had a hard time taking the prophet’s advice. Why? Because he told him to wash in the stinky old Jordan. You see Naaman just couldn't handle that. It was just too humiliating to wash in this Israeli river.

But yet his servants were wise and saved him. They told him, "Look if he told you to do something complicated you would have done it so why not this simple thing?"

So many of us have the same kind of excuses. “Well I don’t care. I don’t have to go to Jersey City to get revived. I don’t have to go to Toronto, or Brownsville to get revived or touched by God. Well, if God wants to heal me he can just do it here and now. I don't have to do anything extraordinary to receive from God. That's working for salvation don't ya know. I would never do that. ”

Realize something. God is God. And many times he heals in response to obedient faith. God might want to bring a ton of things into your life and you are not receiving it because you want to be the theologian and the dictator, and explain to God why he should do it, when he should do it, etc etc. But it doesn’t work that way. We need to put down our theological correctness, prejudices and traditions and listen to the Lord.

Acts 10:9-16 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

14 "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."

15 The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

Here is another example. Religious tradition tried to keep Peter from bringing the gospel to the gentiles. This was so entrenched in Peter that God had to give hime the vision three times.

If we want a vibrant relationship with God, we need to let Jessu do what he wants in ourhearts and follow his lead . Many times this will lead us to abandoning our prejudices and traditions.

Are you holding back what God might want to do because of your own theological excuses or prejudice? Get over your religious mindset and respond to God. Receive what He has for you.