Answering the Call for Revival

Religious activity is at an all-time high. True obedience to God's commands is at an all-time low. That is the strange hour we live in — a time of spiritual busyness and heart-level barrenness.

Churches are filled. Prayer meetings abound. Acts of charity are everywhere. Yet something is missing. People are praying, but look closely at the content of those prayers and you often find little more than an endless berating of God to get things from Him, rather than surrender to Him. People are singing, but the songs are often empty platitudes rather than a deep cry of devotion. People are serving in church — but more often for recognition than for love of Jesus.

What is missing? Radical obedience to Jesus. Not religious ritual. Not activity. A life completely surrendered to God through obedience to Jesus — something that was radical in His day and remains radical in ours.

The call we keep trying to soften

Jesus said it plainly: "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). He did not call people to ceremonies; He called them to Himself.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

John 8:31-32 (NKJV)

But many of us choose to hold onto what we desire while using religious practices to cover up our unwillingness to fully obey God. We want the label of Christianity without the cost of discipleship.

And Jesus told us exactly what that cost looks like. He called it carrying a cross.

If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

Luke 9:23-25 (NKJV)

What the cross actually is

So what is the cross? The cross is where what God wants for your life crosses what you want for your life. It is where the life of sin dies so the life of the Spirit can burst forth. At the cross your idols are shattered so that true devotion to God can take their place.

Hear this carefully: a cross does not kill you. It kills the root of sin in you. It kills your idols — good things you have turned into God things. The cross is where God begins to reform you and make you who you were always meant to be.

And that place — where you lay down what you want for what God wants, where you give up your will for His will, that point where it feels like death — is where revival occurs. Revival is always on the other side of radical obedience.

Look at Jesus Himself. The cross did not kill Him; He laid down His own life, right where what He wanted (to live) crossed what God wanted (that He die for sinful men). And when Jesus did that, God killed sin in Jesus. Not the sin of Jesus, for Jesus had no sin. Many times we think God condemned Jesus because of our sin, but Paul says God condemned sin in Jesus — not Jesus in sin. Just as Adam introduced sin through his disobedience, Jesus killed sin through His obedience.

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.

Romans 8:3 (NKJV)

Colossians 2 says He wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, nailed it to the cross, and disarmed principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them. So when we say Jesus came to save us from our sins, we must not hear only that He saves us from the punishment of sin. He also came to save us from sinning — because on the cross He destroyed sin and the powers that make us prone to sinning. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). He did that work on His cross, and then He calls you to experience it by taking up yours.

Religion: the enemy's alternative to revival

Here is where the danger comes in. The cross is where rebellion dies. And the enemy knows it. So he offers you a false road — religion as an alternative to revival.

The devil whispers, "You don't need to go through the pain of the cross to kill the rebellion in your heart. That way is too painful, too hard. Here is an easier way: use religion. It will not take you through the route of death, but it will hide and mask the rebellion in your heart so no one will ever know."

These are exactly the people God describes through Isaiah.

Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men…

Isaiah 29:13 (NKJV)

Religion without obedience is rebellion in disguise. Let me show you how this plays out.

Jesus commands His followers to live holy lives, honoring marriage and keeping themselves pure from sexual immorality. But instead of surrendering your desires to Him, you hold onto ungodly relationships or sinful habits — while at the same time being active in church, attending services, giving generously, serving in the choir, leading Bible study, teaching the children's class, showing up for prayers. You are drawing near to God with your mouth, but your heart is very far from Him.

Or take Jesus' fundamental instruction to His followers: "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). You leave that command unattended — more interested in church programs, in people joining your church, in following your pastor, your bishop, or your denomination. So to mask that refusal, you pour your energy into denominational traditions, personal preferences, big projects, big buildings, massive crusades, big church services — activities that make you feel like you are doing something for God while ignoring the core of Jesus' mission: make followers of Me.

This was exactly why Jesus rebuked the Pharisees of His day.

Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…

Mark 7:6-8 (NKJV)

And we can be sure He will rebuke the Pharisees of today too — those who are zealous about fasting, zealous about tithing, zealous about public displays of righteousness, yet do not know how to show mercy; who are hard and mean to people who are struggling; who do not care what people are suffering as long as it does not touch their own family. Drawing near with the mouth. Heart very far away.

A harvest among the outwardly religious

It is in this light that we must understand the vision God gave this ministry: "Start preparing men for God's great harvest in the Catholic Church." Three things help us understand it.

• What "Catholic Church" represents there. It is not just one denomination. It is the use of religion — any religion — to mask inner rebellion against God. When that prophetic word came in 1980, nearly all the students it reached belonged to churches where tradition came before radical obedience to Jesus. Today, being American comes before following Jesus; being Baptist comes before following Jesus; being Charismatic comes before following Jesus. Millions of people are trapped in this bondage of outward performance masking inner rebellion — full of external show, but under the hood, dead men's bones.
• Just as in 1980, God wants you to be delivered from that bondage — by experiencing the revival that comes from carrying your cross, a radical obedience to God cost what it may, because revival is on the other side of radical obedience.
• Finally, God is sending you back — to find people who are dead and trapped in systems where human tradition and performance mask rebellion against God, and to show them the way to life and revival through your own radical obedience to Jesus.

This is what we mean by revival. Revival is not a move of God; it is a move to God. When we cry, "Revive us, O Lord," we are being vulnerable with Him — asking Him to shine His searchlight on every place where we may be using religion to mask our inner rebellion.

God is raising agents of revival

God is calling for a people who will break free from the deception of religious performance and step into true obedience. What do such people look like?

First, they are clear on their identity. You are first and foremost a child of God before you are a member of any church, culture, or nationality. Whenever God wants to move on the earth, He looks for people who are yielded to Him, who resemble Him, and who can serve as vessels for His power.

Second, they live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is more than speaking in tongues — it is a life fully surrendered to the Spirit's leading, a life of complete dependence on God rather than on our own wisdom, religious rituals, or traditions.

Third, they walk in radical obedience. God confounds the wisdom of the world through simple obedience. What He asks may look foolish in human eyes. But true revival happens when people step out and obey, even when it costs them everything.

Will you answer the call?

So the question comes to you. Are you willing to take up your cross? Are you willing to give up your desires for God's will? Are you ready to stop hiding behind religious activity and fully surrender?

It will be painful. It will require sacrifice. But on the other side of that obedience there is resurrection. On the other side of that surrender there is glory. On the other side of that cross there is revival.

If you are ready, pray this with me: "Heavenly Father, I come before You today, surrendering everything. No longer will I hide behind religion. No longer will I give You lip service while holding onto my own way. Today I lay down my will for Yours. I take up my cross. I choose radical obedience. Make me Your vessel. Fill me with Your Spirit. Use me to bring revival. In Jesus' name, Amen."

May the fire of revival burn in your heart, and may God use you to bring life everywhere you go.