7 Things – 2Chron 7:1 Keys for revival

2Chron. 7:1 is an extraordinary passage that describes God's response to a prayer of King Solomon: 

2Chron. 7:1 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

It is always great to find 7 secrets in one verse. Here we can see the culmination of Solomon’s prayer and God’s response. I just want to outline 7 awesome principles of revival that can be found in this verse

Prayer - the preparation and provision for revival

We need to pray until revival comes. Don’t stop asking God for revival until you see the answer to this prayer. I don't believe it is possible to have revival without prayer

Fire - the character and consequence of revival

This is a supernatural fire that comes down (fire goes up, but revival fires comes down) from the hand of God. We need God's fire to cleanse our heart and light the way to greater depths of His presence

Heaven - the origin and order of revival

We can pray for revival, but true revival must come as a result of God’s sovereign act. The Lord is the source and center of all revival - it comes from heaven and copies the order of things in His presence

Consumed - the cost and condition of revival

The Lord honored the sacrifice that Solomon prepared – when we become living sacrifices, we will see God’s response. The Lord consumes the total sacrifice - whatever you lay before Him, He will touch

Burnt offerings - the fuel and focus of revival

Our flesh needs to be consumed by the revival fires of God’s presence. Revival always begins with individuals as He touches the depths of our lives

Glory - the purpose and product of revival

This is really what revival is about - the glory of God. Everything that happens in revival must center around Him and bring Him glory

Whole House - the extent and evidence of revival

True revival will touch the whole Body of Christ. I know there will always be those who disagree and speak against a move of God, but revival must be available for all corners of God's Church – the whole house will be touched when He comes like this

Each one of us needs a personal revival - join me in praying for God's presence and reviving Spirit to fall on every soul in every Church, and every generation, in every nation!

After The Resurrection

Between the resurrection and Jesus' ascension there were 40 days where He appeared to His disciples and others on 12 distinct occasions to over 500 people:

1. Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene, shortly after his resurrection.

Mark 16:9; John 20:11-18.

2. Jesus appeared to the women returning from the empty tomb.

Matthew 28:8-10.

3. Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Mark 16:12,13; Luke 24:13-35.

4. Jesus appeared to Peter.

Luke 24:34, 1 Corinthians 15:5.

5. Jesus appeared to his disciples, in Jerusalem, while Thomas is absent.

Mark 16:14-18; Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-23.

6. Jesus again appeared to his disciples, in Jerusalem. This time Thomas was present.

John 20:24-29.

7. Jesus appeared to his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Matthew 28:16; John 21:1,2.

8. Jesus was seen by 500 believers at one time.

1 Corinthians 15:6.

9. Jesus appeared to James.

1 Corinthians 15:7.

10. Jesus appeared to his disciples on a mountain in Galilee.

Matthew 28:16-20.

11. Jesus appearsed to his disciples, blessed them, and ascended into heaven. Luke 24:50-53.

12. Jesus appeared to Paul, on the road to Damascus.

Acts 9:3-6; 1 Corinthians 15:8.

Notice these very important priorities of the disciples after Jesus ascended into heaven - remember, these were men who couldn't stay awake to pray, and who couldn't even acknowledge that they knew Him - now they are preparing for the coming Holy Spirit:

Luke 24:50-53 Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them.

While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven.

So they worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy.

And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.

• They worshiped - their very first response

• They returned to Jerusalem

• They were filled with great joy

• They spent all their time in the temple

• They praised God. The NKJV says they were praising and blessing God

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come down on these disciples as a fire. On every occasion where fire comes down in the Bible (fire usually goes up) it is upon a prepared sacrifice. These disciples are showing us what we need to do to become living sacrifices. Sacrifices are put to death, but Jesus died for us - once and for all time - so that we could be living sacrifices, (Romans 12:1-2) and burn with holy zeal as lights to all the earth.

These two things – seeing Jesus with their own eyes, and being filled with the Holy Spirit – made the disciples into champions of the faith. They were now prepared to die for their faith, when a few days before, they could not even acknowledge that they knew Jesus.

Come Holy Spirit!

7 Things To Help You Walk Into Holiness

Here are 7 things that will give you faith and courage to walk away from sin. God calls us to:

Be holy for I am holy

1Peter 1:15

This seems like an impossibility, but the Lord would never ask us to do something if it was impossible. These are just a few things that might make sense to you as you seek to be more and more like Him:

1. We need to understand what happened when we were saved and baptized. We were buried with Christ when we were baptized - we must remember that we are a new person:

Romans 6:1-6 Read all these verses, but here is verse 6 (NLT) Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

2. We need to present ourselves (body, soul and spirit) as a living sacrifice before the Lord - each day:

Romans 12:1 (Message) So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.

3. We need to repent quickly if we do slip up. It is important to know that holiness is not so dependent on a flawless record, but a cleansed life. The longer we live with sin, the harder it is to walk away from it:

1John 1:8-9 (Message) If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins - make a clean breast of them - he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.

4. We need to recognize that our old lives are dead - we have the greatest hiding place ever - we are hidden in Christ and are safe from our old ways and temptations if only we could completely depend on Him:

Colossians 3:3 (Message) Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life - even though invisible to spectators - is with Christ in God. He is your life.

5. We need to have a heart of integrity - God watches over those who act with integrity and will save them from sin. In Genesis 20 God kept Abimelech from sin because of his innocent heart:

Genesis 20:6 (NLT) "Yes, I know you are innocent," God replied. "That is why I kept you from sinning against me; I did not let you touch her.

6. We need to become serious about the areas of our lives and character that are prone to failure. We all have weaknesses, but we don't have to give in to those weaknesses. Job made a covenant with his eyes, that he would not look lustfully on a woman:

Job 31:1 (NLT) I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman.

7. We need to be worshipers - One of the greatest truths of worship is that we will become more and more like the one we look at and worship. Change is not a one-time event, but a process that results from worshiping and beholding Him again and again. We can be transformed into the same image as our holy God:

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

How interesting that He calls us glorious - even in our present (unholy) state. The Lord is patient with us as we go on this journey into holiness.

Another posting on the Bride of Christ - presented as SPOTLESS before the Lord: HERE
Look HERE for 3 attributes of holiness