Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: REVIVAL (10/15/20)
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TITLE: The Harvest is Ready, But the Threshing Floor is Closed. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jenny Miller
10/17/20 -
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Outside, the inevitable car race down one of the main roads begins, and I can hear faint police sirens somewhere off in the distance. There's the train, too. But, none of this can turn the thoughts rising in passionate appearance from heart to mind. One word, one hope, one prayer is all I can think about again this clear and quiet night:
Revival.
The word, and it's heavy meaning has been rolling around my heart since early in the year when the Lord led me to Isaiah 43:19. I have clung to the words, "I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." I find myself reminding God of His own words.
"Lord, you said you would do it," I pray. "You said you'd pour out your Spirit on all flesh. What are you waiting for? It's the perfect time! The whole world is shut down, the pandemic has people running scared, there's terror in the streets from civil unrest and rioting, murder in broad daylight, and there's a complete disregard or care for Your Law. There is no fear of the Lord. Why not now?"
My mind travels to the Hebrides, Asbury, Azusa street, Brownsville, and the Great Awakenings. So many stories of ordinary people minding their own business, suddenly and completely overtaken by the Holy Ghost in the middle of the street. With no care for those around them or thought to anything other than their own depravity and revelation of sin, they cried out for mercy to the only One who could save their souls from the hell they knew they deserved.
The same thing happened across town in the dance halls, the saloons, in unsuspecting homes: normal people in the midst of daily ritual, arrested in the street by the Holy Spirit of God and made to realize their need for a Savior. Not knowing what to do with this newfound understanding, they ran to the one place they knew could explain it all to them: the church.
Today, revival is stirring. There is a river coming to this desert place, which is quenched of all righteousness and godly fear. The timing is seemingly perfect. All of heaven and earth holds it's breath for the outpouring. But, there is a vast difference between the revivals of old and our current state: the church is closed.
As I lie awake again in the midnight quiet, the still-small voice of the Lord resounds in my heart with a question, "Where will they go? Who will receive the masses?"
He's right. How can we expect or hope for revival when the church isn't equipped or even open to receive new believers? We cry out for revival, but how can God provide a harvest when the threshing floor is closed? My prayer, in light of the question posed, changes from "Lord, bring revival," to, "Oh God raise up laborers to receive the harvest."
Open the church. We have a duty to the coming generation of believers, ready to be born to the Family of God. We cannot abandon the newborn children of God. They must be received, taught discipline, and fed the Word of God. The harvest is ready. Are we ready for it?
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