Shakings

 After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.  Acts 4:31......"The church from the Upper Room invaded the world. Now the church from the supper room is invaded by the world......Before God shakes the earth, may He shake the pulpits." Leonard Ravenhill....."The world will never believe in a religion in which there is no power." Samuel Chadwick

We tend to think of a church that is moving in power as one that is showing great and miraculous works, where wondrous things are happening and to which people flock to be a part of or at least witness. That can certainly be an element of it, but I think His power being displayed is often more subtly displayed but just as mighty in effect. It begins with the church on its knees, crying out to God. Someone said that the church has many men and women who pray, but few men and women of prayer. And the one who fills the pulpit must not only be among them, but a leader in prayer among them. Ravenhill said that the preacher who touches God in prayer touches the hearts of the people who hear the prayer. May He raise up a generation of preachers who do just that.

There is much crying out for an awakening, a revival, and I count myself among them. Yet what exactly would be the fruits of such a move of God? Miracles? Large crowds? Excitement? Such may accompany a move of His Spirit, but they would not be the center of it. It would be the witness of lives transformed from the inside out. It would be the production of lives that understand that the "greater things" Jesus promised we would do were not what would bring applause and notoriety, but simply meant living a life that mattered and spoke a powerful witness of the message of His transforming grace. It means a church and people where His love is freely demonstrated and given. Someone said that it was not the miracles that took place for which the early church was known, but the great love they displayed toward each other and to a surrounding world that was often hostile to them. It meant a church and people that freely gave of themselves, who freely forgive one another, and who made no distinction concerning social or economical position. These are all marks of a church that moves in power. These are the marks of a church that has not only been shaken by the Holy Spirit, but one that in the Holy Spirit, shakes the world around it. 

What would happen in your church, my church, if when we next come together, God shook us as He did so regularly in the early church? Do we even expect that? Do we even want it? How disruptive would that be? How much of our agenda would not be accomplished? How inconvenient would it be to our after church plans? It is all those things and more that keep such a move of God from taking place. Meanwhile we go on praying for an outpouring of His Spirit, but an outpouring that we control. A move that changes what we wish to be changed around us, but doesn't touch or change anything within us. God forgive us. May it be that He lays hold of us as He never has before, and then lays about us in His Spirit as He never has before. May we cease just being people who pray and become a praying people. May He awaken us from the inside out. A lot of shaking must happen before that can take place. Let the shaking begin. In you, and in me.

Blessings,
Pastor O