From last week:

You see, in revival you believe God can do anything and He does. I can go on and on and on, but that’s not what tonight is all is about. People look for revival because they want the thrill and excitement that goes along with revival. They want to see the awesome miracles that take place when God is moving in that way. They want the atmosphere charged with the joy, the fire and the presence of God. They want to go home at night after church and be so excited that they get up the next morning and can’t wait to go back to church. They want those emotions and feelings that are part of the hope of revival, but God has a higher plan.


What He wants to do for His church today is greater and higher than we’ve ever known before. We’ve seen impressions of what He wants to do through people like Enoch, Moses and Elijah. We’ve seen hints and shadows of what He wants to do, but how do you understand these impressions that you’ve read about if you have never experienced them? How can you know that what you have known thus far in God is not the end of what you should know, it’s not the most you were created to know, and the most that He said you would know when you accepted Christ as your savior? Things did change after you had that first encounter, did they not? I don’t know about you, but for me, I can remember after I got saved, suddenly I noticed the grass was green, the trees were beautiful, trunks of all different size, shape, color, and fashion. I mean, it seemed like I noticed everything in nature and it had a new brilliance to it. It was like I noticed it and it was really beautiful. Whereas before it was just something, you know, that took up scenery in my day. I appreciated the beauty of all creation and I loved it. I loved the birds in the sky; I loved the animals on the earth. I mean, it was different; was it different for you? Or was that something only I experienced? I noticed people differently. Boy, I’m telling you, I noticed everything differently, everything had a different glow. I had a different perspective in my mind and in my heart.

Priorities began to change; perspectives began to change; can you relate? So you think, boy, this is wonderful; you’ve got the joy of the Lord—everything you’ve prayed happens and everything goes right. Before, nothing was going right and now suddenly everything is going right. I thought I had a recipe, I thought I had something, you know… I thought everyone should take part in it. I would go to my office and tell everyone in my office that if you just get saved, God will make you rich. I got saved and everything I touched turned to gold so I thought that was God’s design. It took a few years for me to realize that it doesn’t work quite that way, but did you ever come to a place in your Christian walk where you found yourself praying, “Really God, is this all there is? Is this the best it gets?” It’s all right; it's not sinning if you’ve prayed that prayer and thought those thoughts. I prayed it. I thought those thoughts. He would visit me and for days after every visitation I would be changed inside, but then, you know, little by little the old would seem to return and what transpired in that visitation would begin to ebb away. Life would begin to go back to normal and I’d think, “Isn’t there ever a day when it doesn’t change anymore? That which happens when you’re face-to-face with Jesus stays with you every moment; your thoughts are always thoughts of faith; your works are always works of love; you always feel the confidence of God?” I don’t know about you, but you’re looking at a person who’s had to deal with a lot of fears in her life just to be in the pulpit, so to imagine coming to a place where your thoughts are always thoughts of faith and never fear, never anxiety, never doubts… have you ever thought, “Gee, that would be wonderful”? We think that what we want from God is the refreshing and the renewal, but that’s not really what He wants to give us. He wants to give us the life, the power, the regeneration of truth!

He wants to give us eyes that have the capacity to see truth through the darkness. Have you ever heard the saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”? Has anyone ever said that to you? That’s what they always say when they can see something and you can’t. But, you know, that’s where the Church is. We’re not seeing the forest for the trees and the thing that is so scary is that we think we are, but until we are given the opportunity to see through the eyes of truth, we don’t know how blind we’ve been.

Matthew 19
23And Jesus said to His disciples, Truly I say to you, it will be difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven.
25When His disciples heard this, they were exceedingly amazed saying, “Who then can be saved?” […If what He is saying is true, what hope is there?]
26But Jesus beheld them and said unto them: With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible.
27Then answered Peter and said unto Him, behold we have forsaken all and have followed thee, what shall we have therefore
28And Jesus said unto them […this is what I’m getting at; this is where I’m going with this…] Verily I say unto you […listen to every word…] Verily I say unto you that ye that have followed me, in the regeneration where the Son of man shall sit at the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel

“I say unto you that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration…”—this is what He says right after He says: Verily I say unto you that a rich man can hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven—after saying this, He continues to say, “Those of you who have followed Me, in the regeneration not only shall enter into the kingdom, but you shall sit on thrones.” Let’s put it together: The Holy Spirit is trying to help us understand something here; He’s trying to help the Church understand something

In His Amazing Love,
Nita Johnson