THE REVIVAL THAT WE ALL NEED 1

You are welcome to the first edition of THE CHRISTIAN NEWS TODAY- THE REVIVAL THAT WE ALL NEED.

In the book of Psalm 85:6, there is a vital issue to be considered. The writer cried out to the Lord for the need of the hour in his days, saying: ‘’will thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?’’

No doubt, the writer has heard about the good old days, the great wonders and the mighty works of the Lord . There wouldn’t have been any cry for revival without a cause or a reason. Psalm 44:1, establishes the cause for this cry for revival.

‘’We have heard with our ears, O God our fathers has told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.’’ And again;

‘’ We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.’’ Psalm 74:9.

The above two scriptural verses are enough grounds for me to establish the reason why the writer of Psalm 85 had to cry out for revival in verse 6.

The same is true today. We keep hearing the story of the good old days, the great exploits of the heroes of faith. We hear the great works of the good old days and see no traces of the days any more in our days.

Brethren, you will agree with me that ‘’we see not our signs’’ anymore as in the days of old. For there are peculiar signs that must be seen in the body of Christ. These signs are the by-products of glory manifestation and proof that God truly is in the midst of His people.

But there is a condition: ‘’ And these signs shall follow them that believe’’ Mark 16: 17. The condition for signs and wonders is a body of believers bound together in faith and love. It takes revival to give birth to this FAITH-FULL body of Christ.

The church is really on the increase, we keep growing in numbers; for there is indeed great numerical values with no spiritual and moral values to match up with it.

But this is a city set right on the top of the hill. This is the light of the world and at the same time the salt of the earth. It is disturbing, because the major cause of the disappearance of our signs is traceable to the disappearance of the prophet from the body of Christ.

‘’ We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet;’’

Where are the prophets? There seems to be no more prophets, but there are. I do not want to sound like Prophet Elijah who in his days cried unto the Lord after the great revival of Mount Carmel that everyone else had forsaken the Lord and the covenant and that he was the only one left as a prophet in Israel. But the LORD responded to Elijah’s cry, ‘’ I have reserved to myself seven thousand men’’. Romans 11:4’.

So, there are prophets yet to be revealed in our midst that must be revealed. There are prophets that have been reserved for this day. But we need revival to bring them forth. While we see prophets disappearing from the scene because they have deviated from the path of life laid down by the LORD, running after position, power and prestige, the prophets that are yet to be born keep sleeping on in the womb of Zion.

They must be born, prophets must arise in Zion and bring forth the great end-time army of the Lord. A new generation must be born.

‘’ Will thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?’’

This is a general call and cry for revival. It is THE REVIVAL THAT WE ALL NEED.’’ The light that has gone dim must be brightened up, the savory taste of the salt must return and the glory of the body of Christ must be restored. My call is not to a denomination, my cry is to all of us – the entire household of God. For there is a multitude rising up and a great nation is about to be born.

This great nation is bound by fellowship in the Spirit and with the Spirit of Christ. The fellowship unites all of us in oneness of the Spirit of faith without denominational barriers.

On this note, I want to welcome you to our first edition of the CHRISTIAN NEWS TODAY-THE REVIVAL THAT WE ALL NEED.

For us to have the three points agenda; which are:

Life-Building Experience
Life-Raising Experience
Life-Fulfilling Experience

The starting point is the general call and cry for revival.

Therefore, our three features of living experience for this quarter shall cover the following:

FIRST MONTH: THE CHRISTIAN LIFE- Revelation for the Christian growth; the life-building experience, shall feature the ‘’THE MINISTRY OF LIFE-THE BASIC INGREDIENTS OF REVIVAL’’ that causes revival explosion. It is the secret behind great revival.

It is obvious that we can never have any meaningful spiritual and personal growth without first experiencing that true revival.

SECOND MONTH: THE CHRISTIAN BUSINESS LIFE- Revelation for the Christian business life; the life-raising experience, in whatsoever is entrusted or committed to our care, either by calling or by career.

For this, we shall be looking at the topic:’’ WALKING IN PURPOSE’’. Experiencing the complete circle of purpose: your message, your ministry, and your mission.

THE THIRD MONTH: THE CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONCEPT AND PRINCIPLES – Revelation for life-fulfilling experience – by learning leadership concept and principles that sustain and retain us all on the path of purpose and destiny.

To achieve this, we are looking at a vital factor of leadership, which is: ‘’WALKING IN DOMINION’’—By the basic fundamental of leadership: Potential, Personality, Position and Power.

May you really be blessed and may you experience the true and lasting revival through this edition of the Christian News Today.

THE REVIVAL THAT WE ALL NEED

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE EXPERIENCE-

THE MINISTRY OF LIFE- The basic ingredients of revival.

The focus of the Christian growth is to build up the Christian life that we may individually experience personal and spiritual growth. Apparently, only the living can grow. The dead are gone; There is no movement, no life experience. Hence, no growth.

Revival is a spiritual awakening, a consciousness of the possession of the life of God in the human vessel which at one time or the other has been covered up by layers upon layers of carnality and by the doctrines of men based on tradition and religion.

According to the Lord Jesus in the book of John 7: 38-39, Revival is the release of the Spirit of God through the regenerated spirit of man; that the life of God may flow out of the regenerated man to the world void of this divine life. So, revival is both the generation of life in an individual and a group or a body of men and the consequent release of the same life to souls empty of life.

Really, if there is an awakening in my spirit that I am a possessor of divine life and power, there would definitely be a yearning from me to enter into the living experience of the fullness of this life. In other words, there must be growth and the growth must be continuous, resulting in an increase and enlargement in every area of the individual revived soul.

If we truly have this regenerated life in us, we should,no doubt, live out this life in our lifetime. You are not a true possessor of life that you have not experience.

In the word of Henry Thoreau: ‘’ Only that day dawn to which we are awaken’’. Meaning you do not see the reality of a new dawn when you are still asleep, though it exist. All the promises of this life that flows out of divine life are only accessible to the awaken soul.

We need to preach the gospel, the great commission we are commanded to carry out; but only the living can connect dead souls to the source of eternal life. Moreover, if I have tasted the Lord and have got a living experience that the Lord is good, it is expedient for the goodness of the Lord to be expressed to the world by the visible life that I live. I preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus not only by words, but by what I have been transformed into. My person, my life and my virtues must preach Christ.

I came across an article about D.L MOODY, in the article it was reported that: ‘’D.L Moody heard Henry Varley say’; the world has yet to see what God will do with one man who is fully surrendered to Him. And Moody said, by God’s grace I am that man.’’

Beloved, God needs hungry and thirsty souls like D.L Moody, that He may pour out all of Himself right into the man that is empty of himself. There is a need for restoration. There is a need for the fresh outflow of life, love and power of God into the body of Christ.

When people faint and afterwards received help, they are revived. When the flower droops and plants dry up and die for lack of moisture, yet when there is contact with water, they are revived. The same is true with all believers, the totality of the body of Christ, is in dire need of revival. And not only that, we also need a full-scale Holy Ghost revival in our land and in the world at large.

But there cannot be a change in the world without the building-up of the agents of change. The church is in the world as light and as salt, by which the world is to be reformed. So, then we are to be transformed that we might reform the world.

As a church, born by faith and no longer living by faith, we need the experience of a true revival. That we may manifest Christ in fullness and enter into the fullness of our potential. But the church is in a state of spiritual slumber. A lot of spiritual leaders have become like the Pharisees of old, teaching religion and doctrines that make the dead to become dumber and deader.

They make us to sleep the more; our slumber deepens and we snore away under the influence of religious heresies. Now is the hour to wake up from slumber, we must all arise from the grave of religion and doctrines of men.

The church must be washed from the filth of religious heresies. We must bring down the true and lasting revival to the body of Christ.

For this purpose, I bring to you in this month edition of the Christian News Today; experiencing the Christian life by the MINISTRY OF LIFE – As the basic ingredient of revival.

CAN THESE BONES LIVE? That was the question the Lord asked Prophet Ezekiel after giving him a revelation by vision; of the valley full of dry bones.

‘’The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he carried me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about: and behold there were very many in the open valley: and they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?’’ Ezekiel 37: 1-3.

Of course, the man of God was not optimistic, neither was he pessimistic in his response to the Lord. He simply said; ‘’O LORD thou knowest.’’ To further clarify the vision to Ezekiel, the Lord said to him;

‘’ Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts.’’ Ezekiel 37: 11

The vision of the valley full of dry bones depicts the state of the nation of Israel as at the time prophet Ezekiel saw the vision. They were taken captives and scattered among nations. Prophet Ezekiel himself was called into the ministry of restoration from among the captives by the river of Chebar. See Ezekiel 1:1.

Their glorious and great heritage as God’s own nation has been lost. The ravage of the invasion of the Babylonian army empties a once-flourishing nation from its wealth. The land flowing with milk and honey was made desolate by the attack of the enemy.

The valley full of dry bones reveals that the nation of Israel’s predicament is not the enemy that invades the nation and brought them to Babylon as captives. It was a departure from the living God that spans from generation to generation.

The spiritual slaughter of this great nation took place in the valley. There was a departure from the mountain top to the valley below. And right in the valley they died. Their death was not recent, it has a long history of false worship, idolatry and moral decadence.

In the open valley of spiritual dryness they waste away, rotten and dried up. They deteriorated until eventually an entire nation was converted to a collective bunch of dry bones. The result is utter hopelessness and despair, a total surrender to valley life.

This then is the question of the hour.

Can the Church still experience true revival?

Can the good old days be restored into the body of Christ?

Is it possible to have a vibrant Church, overflowing with the life of Christ, built and strengthened until eventually an exceeding great army will emerge?

To all of these questions and much more, the Lord has given unto us as He gave to the nation of Israel through the ministry of Ezekiel; ‘’ the ministry of life.’’ There are two major ingredients of revival: the right combination and application of these two is what I call the ministry of life.

‘’Again he said unto me, prophesy unto these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live:

And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise and behold a shaking, and the bones came together bone to his bones. And when I beheld it; lo the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them.

Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man and say to the wind. Thus saith the Lord God: come from the four winds, O breath, and breath upon these slain that they may live.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.’’ Ezekiel 37: 4-10

Right in that encounter with the Lord, we have ‘’ THE MINISTRY OF LIFE’’ given to us as the combination of THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD OF LIFE and THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE.

The truth is that the revival that we all need and the entire Christian body needs is the combination of these two ministries; THE WORD AND THE SPIRIT.

We cry for revival and pray that God should send down revival, but we do not comprehend that revival is the product of the Word of life and the Spirit of life in a holy union. Revival is the resurrection of that which once lived but now dead.

And that which once lived but now dead can only be brought back to life by the action of the Word of life and the Spirit of life. Once revived and brought back to life, we retain that same life by the same means by which we are revived, the combination of the ministry of the Word of life and the ministry of the Spirit of life. This is THE MINISTRY OF LIFE.

The revival that we all need is the ministry of life. Jesus said to his disciples: ‘’ …the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life’’. So, it is the combined forces of the WORD and the SPIRIT that generates life. But it is impossible to generate life without a conscious effort to engage the Spirit by the Word. This is THE MINISTRY OF LIFE.

The ministry of life is to set the Spirit in motion by setting the Word in motion. When the Word of God is in active motion, the Spirit of God likewise is in active motion. This is so because the Word of God is the activator of the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God lays hold of the spoken word; and by the action of the Spirit of God on the spoken Word of God, life is produced or begotten. It is the creative power of God in operation. It is THE MINISTRY OF LIFE. See the account of creation in Genesis chapter one.

The revival we all need is the spiritual awakening to the life-giving power and the life-sustaining power that comes from the combination of these two ministries. We hear the Word of God and we do see the manifestation of the Spirit of God, but we must understand that these two must be put into action.

This is the ministry of the WORD of life and the ministry of the SPIRIT of life. It is THE MINISTRY OF LIFE.

What is ministry? It is to engage in specific activities or duties assigned to the minister. And again, ministry is to render service and it is to give out service. Thus, the ministry of life is the release of life through the agents or ministers filled with life.

But ,of course, the ministry of life as the release of life through the minister of life is one part only of the definition of the ministry of life, the other part is the generation of life. You cannot be a life distributor without first being a life generator. It is the life you generate that you will discharge and distribute. Likewise, we do not talk about channels when there is no reservoir.

SO, we generate life that we may distribute life. This is THE MINISTRY OF LIFE. It is the application of the combined forces of THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD OF LIFE and THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD OF LIFE

‘’ Again he said unto me, prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones hear the word of the LORD.’’ Ezekiel 37: 4

This is the ministry of the Word. The word ‘’prophesy’’ above is not Fore-telling, which refers to speaking the mind of God regarding the future. It is Forth-telling. Forth- telling is to speak forth the Word of God into a situation or circumstances that is contrary to what the Word of God says.

Ezekiel was commanded to speak out the mind of God by the Word of God unto the dry bones. There was a valley quite all right, the valley was full of bones, there were many of them in the open valley and they were very dry.

But the mind of God is to bring the scattered bones together to form the skeletal human frame, and afterwards lays sinews upon the skeletal frame and cover it up with flesh.

But the mind of God goes beyond giving flesh to bones that have been gathered and framed. The Lord’s intention is to put His breath into the human frame, and by His Spirit bringing life to the human frame that were once dry bones of the valley.

‘’So I prophesy as I was commanded….’’ Ezekiel 37: 7

As we speak- forth the Word of God according to the mind of God, we have simply engaged the Word. We set the word in motion, because we speak. And we speak not just because we want to open our mouth and speak, we speak because we believe. As it is written; ‘’ we having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken….’’ 2 Corinthians 4: 13

‘’ And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above:….’’ Ezekiel 37: 7-8

By speaking-forth the Word of God, there is a re-arrangement, a re-alignment and a re- positioning. It is the formative stage. The effect of this ministry of the Word was the noise and the shaking. Because the bones have to come together; the bone to his bone. That is the first stage.

The second stage of the formative stage is laying up the sinews upon the bones, while the third stage is the covering up with the skin. But then, Ezekiel observed that; there was still no breath in them. Then, he received further instruction.

‘’ THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE’’

‘’Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy son of man and say to the wind. Thus saith the Lord God: come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live’’ Ezekiel 37: 9.

The wind and the breath in the above scripture is symbolic of the Spirit of God. The usage of either of the two words depends on the action of the Spirit. For instance, the wind is an external influence, like in the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came upon them like a mighty rushing wind ( Acts 2: 2). This is the effect of the Spirit of God without. Not inside of man, but power upon man to perform extraordinary works. It is the work of the Spirit of God without.

Whereas the breath is an internal influence. It is the work of the Spirit of God within, bringing down the life of God into the spirit, soul and body of man. The ministry of the Spirit is the power stage while the ministry of the Word is the formative stage.

By the ministry of the Word, formation took place. There was a reconstruction that brought the bones together, the bone to His bone, and at the same time formed both the sinews and the flesh. It is interesting to note that despite the noise and the shaking, the effect of the Word in motion forming the human frame, there was still no life in them.

In fact, the word of God to Ezekiel was that these human frames made up of bones, sinews and flesh are but dead men. ‘’Thus saith the Lord God: come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live’’. So, the ministry of the spirit is the ministry of power; whereby both the internal influence ( breath) and the external influence (wind), will pass from death to life. The Spirit takes the Word and creates, bringing into existence the inexistence, converting vision to reality and bringing revelation into manifestation.

Then, we come alive to what true Christianity is all about. Christianity is life. It is not the experience of life after death. That is, after the physical death. It is the experience of the true life in your lifetime that spans from this present life to eternity.

The ministry of the Spirit makes heavenly experience to become earthly reality. By the ministry of the Spirit, we are not just filled with the Spirit, but also full of the life of the Spirit of God. And the full life of the Spirit of God is the fullness of the life of CHRIST.

‘’….I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’’ John 10:10.

No wonder, that as Ezekiel continually engaged the Word and the Spirit, that which were originally dry bones eventually became a living entity, full of life and an exceeding great army.

That is what the ministry of the Word of life and the ministry of the Spirit of life will bring forth in the Christian body. Beloved, this is the revival that we all need. It is an awakening to the power of the Word of God and the power of the Spirit of God.

There is no limit to our possibilities, neither is there any limit to our transformation when we are under the influence of the Word and the Spirit. Christian living is sweet, and Christian experience is real; but the ingredients for the Christian life and experience is the engagement of the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It is THE MINISTRY OF LIFE. And the ministry of life is THE REVIVAL THAT WE ALL NEED.

The moment these two ingredients are missing, death set in. And (conversely), the moment these two ingredients are in place, life flows in. This is the need of the hour for Christian living. The Word and the Spirit is the need of the hour. It is the revival that we all need.

Stay alive and stay blessed.

THE REVIVAL

THAT WE ALL NEED

INTRODUCTION: