Search for info on this site By Gil Howard-Browne Revival is about change. When Isaiah saw the vision of the glory of God (Isa 6) he immediately recognized his need for change. The immediate response from God was to send an angel with a live coal, to purge him from his sin and iniquity. Directly after the purging and cleansing, he heard the voice of God calling for someone to go and preach to the people. Isaiah’s response was "here am I send me." The church is in need of a divine encounter that will result in the response, "here am I send me" . There should be a new level of obedience to God and His will. A pastor from Canada recently told me that in the course of his travels, he has met with a number of renewal/revival pastors who loved the move of God and had embraced it openly. However, they were concerned with the lack of interest shown by a number of folk who were apparently in the river, but showed no signs of getting involved with the work of the ministry. All they wanted to do was drink the new wine and stay drunk in the Holy Ghost without getting involved in the day to day work of the ministry. I realize that can be most frustrating for a pastor. I thought about that for a while and came to the following conclusions. Before the revival fires were lit, we had the same problem in the Body of Christ. There were the few doing the work of the many. It is the same in every area of life, both Christian and secular. So this is a very human problem. The second conclusion I came to, is the story of Mary and Martha "Luke 10:". Martha the worker, and Mary the worshipper. Jesus applauded Mary for her devotion to Him and admonished Martha to experience "that good part which shall not be taken away from her" Vs:42. The bottom line is that loving Jesus and staying in His presence, is the highest form of experience you could ever have. Because the warmth, love, compassion, mercy, grace, longsuffering, forgiveness, and healing that is to be found at His feet and in His presence, is incomparable with anything else we have ever had. When you have been in the dry place for years and years, and you have seen what the work of the ministry has done to people, then you can understand why many are reluctant to let their experience and encounter with God fade into oblivion. If I were a pastor, I would rather have a happy non-working church member than an unhappy and dry non-working member. Because, if they stay in His presence long enough, He will eventually get them to the place of obedience. Of course, we could have the works oriented, nit picking, splinter pulling Pharisees that Jesus had to contend with. No thank you. We make the mistake of trying to regulate the river and direct it’s flow. To assume that when people have been touched by the power of God, they will change into super saints overnight, is simply an incorrect assumption. The process of change may take months or even years. Rather, let people enjoy the "times of refreshing that come from the presence of the Lord". If they play on the edge of a slippery creek long enough, eventually they will fall in. The river of God has churned up a lot of mud. But how else is the river bed to be cleaned out and changed. It is the flood that will do it. Gil Howard-Browne Times of Refreshing Ministries Inc Copyright © 1997 / 2010 www.revivaltimes.com All rights Reserved No portion of this site may be copied or transmitted without express written permission from Times of Refreshing Ministries. Web design & Hosting by : HostToGet.com From the desk of Gil Howard-Browne Regulating the River and directing the flow.   Articles Menu Go back to Articles Menu