Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Lemon cake and revival

I'm baking a lemon cake.  It smells so good in the house.

Revival.  The coming revival.  Yr, basically it's a great and mighty moving of the Holy Spirit (God) across the land touching hearts and minds.  There have been a few revivals in history.  I guess the most recent one was in the '70s and I kind of remember it.  In my high school there were a few Jesus freaks and they were part of that revival.  Before that, in the early 1900s there was one called the Azusa Street Revival.  It went on for three years.  The denomination that my church belongs to is an outgrowth of that particular revival.  

God decides when revival will come but we're supposed to be prepared for it whenever it happens.  We're supposed to pray about it in advance.  And we should be studying the Holy Bible and know what is in it.  Everyone has an opinion.  But opinions are like noses - everybody's got one.  So a Christian ought to know what the Bible really says so we're ready to apply it when the chance comes.  This one I just memorized, "Jesus said, 'You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.'"  Wow.  It gave me pause for thought and I figure the verses that stick in my mind must be for me.

Revival starts within the church.  Believers get tired or stale or lukewarm or just move away from godly living.  First they get "revived."  From there it spreads like fire to those outside the church just like Pentecost (when the fire went into the upper room where the apostles were) which was at first just for the Jewish people, but it spread to the Gentiles.

You can't quote me on this as I could be mistaken, but I think God can also bring up a new generation that is part of a major revival of faith.  I think this is very possible and even likely.  In the Bible, one generation equals 20 years. 

And also, revival is preceded by bad times, spread of corruption, and moral depravity.  I think we're there?

It's exciting to think there could be a revival in my lifetime.  I'd like to see it and be part of it.  Since I inadvertently played my pastor's sermon over the loudspeakers in Zumba dance, I've had full blown conversations about church, religion, and God break out in a small group who attend class.  I don't start it, but I listen and sometimes comment.  I've found out one gal in my front row leads a Catholic church youth group. I think God is stirring things up around me.  He's telling me to be awake.  Awake.

I hope I explained it okay.

Oh.  And my husband, I hope will be part of it.  Lately he's been coming to church.  I mean, like even more than twice in a row.  And last Sunday he wore a nice white tailored shirt.  Yeah, no kidding.

5 comments:

yrautca said...

Thank you for that. You explained the concept in a very easy to understand manner. I envy your faith.

Liliana said...

You do? Well, everyone has faith in something. Even atheists have faith. They put their faith in a belief that there is no God. But Yr, if you believe in God you're half way there. And the Bible says, we don't need more faith - we need to use the faith we have.

It says "You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:20

Faith is like a muscle and it has to be used or it atrophies. Think on it when you go running next time. TTYL. :) Happy New Year!

yrautca said...

Hi Liliana, you are correct that I have faith and believe in God. But my thinking is very different. i believe in goodness and I believe that God will not punish someone because of their chosen religion or their form of worship, or whether they go to a temple or a church. I believe that God will look for that goodness in your heart. I started listening to Joel Osteen and I kinda like his school.

Liliana said...

Hi Yrautca - Excellent! That's very good! Keep listening to Joel Olsteen. The more you listen, the more you will hear. And sometimes look things up yourself. Matthew 7:7 says "Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." You are there, Yr!!!!

SchnauzerMom said...

Revival starts in us first and then spreads around the country and the world.