Sometimes Magic Is Messy | Jessica Paschke
When I first became a Christian, I prayed for revival lots. I would weep with a desperate burden for the world to know Jesus. I would imagine what that could look like. Over the next fifteen years, my love for the Lord and His kingdom grew massively. I lived a vibrant life of regularly sharing the love of God with the lost. Often in the darkest of places. Yet somehow I stopped racing towards revival. I stopped pressing in for an outpouring of God’s Spirit. Stopped pressing in for the knowledge of God’s glory to cover the earth, as the waters cover the seas.
Content Without Revival?
I am not sure why I stopped expecting a great awakening. Or why my fervent petitions to see revival across the earth waned. Perhaps I got complacent, preoccupied with my calling and other things. Maybe I was just content with my lifestyle of evangelism. I mean let’s face it, it was stretching enough, partnering with heaven to share the gospel one person, one people group or one community at a time. Honestly speaking, the pursuit of a global outpouring was rarely on my prayer list. And only when God would move upon my heart, would I find myself crying out for it.
Or perhaps it was because I had simply come to accept the increasing darkness in this antichrist world. Deep down in my conscience perhaps I had resolved, that Jesus was going to be the world’s best kept secret until rapture kicked in. And only then, would people all over the earth would realise He was God. And as much as I hated that God’s sovereignty wasn’t seen by the world, I would comfort myself with biblical anticipation, that one day the weeds would indeed be separated from the tares. Of course, it was unlikely to happen on my watch but one day there would be such a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit, right?!
Revival Reawakened!
Yet I must confess, that I stand delightfully corrected. Because I have had my mind radically renewed! In the midst of last year's shaking - as I navigated through the pressures, the pressing and the pandemic I found myself utterly reawakened to revival! Not just the possibility of a global outpouring but the utterly delicious anticipation of its imminence. You see, in the tempest that was 2020, pulled away from the distractions and deception of what life had become and drawn into the solitude of God’s heart, I found myself face to face with the reality of God’s kingdom afresh – and REVIVAL is ABSOLUTELY on God’s heart. And saints...it must also be indelibly etched upon ours.
We are without a shadow of doubt on the cusp of a great awakening. And when it arrives, I for one, want to be smack bang in the centre of it. I don’t want to be a mere spectator. A bystander. Someone who observes from the fringes. No, I want to be one that burns for it. Carries God’s heart for it. One who partners with heaven for it. Who stands in the gap for it. Gets on her face for it and cries out daily for it. Ceaselessly anticipates it and wholeheartedly prepares for it.
You see, I believe we are about to witness a move of God that will astound us…where the works of darkness will be exposed, evil will be uprooted and the harvest will come flooding in. We will witness an outpouring of God’s spirit upon all men. Old men will dream dreams. Young men will see visions. Sons and daughters will prophecy and the knowledge of God’s glory will very tangibly cover the earth, as the waters cover the seas.
It's Our Time...
As great heroes of faith who have gone before us, saw God’s glory fill the earth in their time - I sincerely believe that we are about to see it in our time. The circumstances that we find ourselves in, these present time appear on the surface, to be the hindrances to an outpouring in our midst, but the shaking, the purging, the pruning, the humbling and the seeking God's face in repentance and prayer are in fact the very necessary ingredients that must be in the mix, before an awakening shows up.
But we must yield ourselves and perceive what God wants to do in our midst. We must choose to carry God’s heart and partner with Him as those who are called by His name, running our race with perseverance and endurance. As ones, who so deeply recognise that we are mere pilgrims here on earth, with a heavenly mandate. On divine assignments. And each and every one of us is called to not only run our race but to be in it to win it - just as the Author and Finisher of our faith Jesus, our eternal example - ran his race before us - and for us:
“We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!” (Hebrews 12:2 AMP)
Yesterday's Athlete's Spurring Us On…
We read in the great faith chapter of Hebrews 11, of precious saints that have gone before us,. They were all flawed, just like we are. But because God was with them, they were found racing towards revival, keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus, as their prize. Beyond anything that we could ever even imagine, they faced death, endured martyrdom, experienced extreme persecution, wars, famine, darkness, evil and depravity. Yet they persevered by faith. Wow. May we rejoice at their great exploits and be encouraged by them. For their triumphant races are undeniable, reverberating testimonies of God’s faithfulness throughout history.
But now it’s our turn, racing towards revival. And they are witness to us. Cheering us on.
The Reward That Was Set Before Him
This is our time saints, to step it up as the courageous, unblemished, bride of Christ. "To run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us." Not despising the agony, the persecution and the opposition that comes with our race. But courageously racing towards revival, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus – our glorious prize. The very Author and Finisher of our faith. So that Christ would indeed receive His inheritance. He would receive the reward that was set before Him, when He endured the Cross. So that we could be His. x
Watch the full sermon Racing Towards Revival.