Revival

That's a loaded word if I've ever heard one! There are so many different definitions of revival. Actually I'm not so sure that the word is actually defined differently, it's just applied in many, many different ways.

And that's what I would like to explore today. We recently had a discussion with a missionary where one of the subjects we hit on was revival. In that discussion I realized that revival to us as Americans is not revival to those over seas. What this missionary brought to light was that in each different people group, the response to the move of the Holy Spirit is different.

And although that's what I call a "duh" comment, it just had never occurred to me. I know that is because I have been raised in church, and not just in church but in the bible belt as well. "Church" is all I know. I can be incredibly naive when it comes to anything outside of bible belt church! (Sometimes that's good, sometimes, that's very bad!) But, back to revival and the "duh" comment. We (the church) get so wrapped up in our own ideas of what revival is and how we experience God, that we forget not everyone experiences God the same we do.

What this leads us to, is this, revival is a cultural experience. Depending on where you live in the United States, or if you even live in the US, "revival" will show itself many, many ways. I have decided we can't "measure" a move of God by what happened at the church down the road, much less by the church in a different country, or even the church in a different time period.

God will move when we seek His face (sorry, more church words) but how He moves is entirely up to him and not us. If we go after Him with everything we have, you can guarantee we will find Him.

Stabbed in the back...

Any one who's experienced life has experienced this...it's the age old concept of betrayal. How do we handle this as Pastor's?

I recently spent some time thinking about this..."What good does it do to invest in people and love them unconditionally when in the end it doesn't matter what you've done with them and for them, you still get trashed for non-legitimate complaints?"

Pretty harsh, huh? But seriously, if you've been in the ministry any time at all you've experienced this. Many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. The young musician that you invested in and yet they were angry with you because you were just too hard on them. The youth pastor who "just couldn't handle the pressure" and ran home to mommy. An up & coming leader in your group gets led astray and suddenly sees you as the enemy. The list could go on & on...

The funny thing is, for the most part, we are innocent. No we're not perfect, but our heart was genuine in our correction and guidance. We truly loved them and overlooked they're faults, because "Hey, who's perfect?" And besides that, we could see their potential, even through all the junk. You might say we could see the diamond through all the coal! Even in spite of the coal, we continued to love them and attempted to motivate them in their walk with the Lord.

And then the betrayal comes. They quit church, they cause dissension in the members, they avoid you like the plague. And talking to you about it? No way that will ever happen, you're the enemy! You sit back and wonder, "What happened? Where did I go wrong?"

This is what I've been pondering, after all this, is it really worth it? Wouldn't it just be easier to distance yourself and not risk the pain? Why bother investing in people at all, you just end up getting burned regardless of what you do?

Can you hear the negative words? Are grasping on to the gloom and doom of this thought process? You see, it doesn't really matter whether or not we receive love back, we still must choose to give it. It doesn't matter if we never see that person become the shining diamond that we could see, it only matters that we did the best we could do with what God has given us. We must choose to invest in our people regardless of what's in it for us. Even if in the end we lose it all. Like Job we must serve God regardless of the circumstances around us. And like Jesus, knowing what our fate may be, we still choose God's will and not our own.

Sometimes it may feel like we are walking alone on this path, but Jesus is always with us. He will never leave us or forsake us.