“Don’t call me Lord anymore unless you are willing to live for Me.”
That was God’s response to me when I went to my knees one day and said, “Lord, I can’t take this anymore.” It wasn’t an audible voice, but He was speaking deeply to my heart. It was 1981, and my best friend had just been killed over a drug deal. I was also living with a girl while professing to be a Christian. It was a profound revelation that I could no longer serve the devil and God.
Even though I knew about Him and I said I loved Him, I wasn’t living for Him. I wanted all of the benefits He had for me without serving Him. I was trying to drink from the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.
But as I heeded His voice in that defining moment, I prayed this prayer: “Lord, if you can do anything with someone like me, who has broken your heart and brought shame to Your name, then I will give You the right to do whatever You need to do to change my life. I want to be available to You, no matter what you need to do.”
And He heard it.
He took me at my word over 40 years ago and has allowed me to see revival all over the world. If he did it with me, he can certainly do it with you. Whatever road you’ve been on, God prepared you for a moment such as this even before you were in your mother’s womb.
He indeed is a God of miracles, and with Him, all things are possible.
THE FIVE SINS OF THE ISRAELITES
Years ago during a meeting in my living room with a bunch of people I had helped off the streets—including gang members and drug addicts—I shared the importance of giving up all of our impurities to the Lord. I said, “Let’s make a spiritual Brook of Kidron.” Kidron was a place in scripture where idols were burned and impurities poured out (see 2 Kings 23, 2 Chronicles 29:16; 30:14). Spiritually, I told them, we need to give the Lord all of our impurities and the things that capture our hearts more than Jesus does.
Without me calling out what they needed to do, they went to their rooms or cars and started bringing out things that represented their sins, lust, and idolatry. They began throwing them in the middle of the room, stomping on them, tearing them up. The Lord began to move in such a way that, from that meeting, revival broke out that still has rippling effects today.
This is something the Israelites refused to do, and it cost them dearly. In 1 Corinthians 10—right before we receive instructions on taking communion in the following chapter—the Apostle Paul reveals the five sins that kept Israel from its place of destiny for 40 years:
- Lust
- Idolatry
- Sexual sins
- Testing the Lord
- Murmuring, complaining, gossiping
Paul was clear that we can be baptized and come together to worship Jesus, but we will never walk in the fullness of our prophetic destiny if we don’t allow God to deal with these sins. He says in verses 20-21, “…the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.”
We see this later in Scripture, as well, when Elijah says to the people of Israel: “’How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word.” (I Kings 18:21)
We can take street kids off the streets, but they’re still street kids until they deal with the issues of their hearts. We can take drug addicts out of the drug scene, but they’re still drug addicts if they, too, don’t deal with the issues of their hearts. Likewise, we can call ourselves Christians, but we can’t expect to enjoy the benefits of being a Christian if we are still living like the world and not dealing with the issues of our hearts.
God promises the power of the Holy Spirit and the ability to walk in His authority in word and action, in deed and in gesture. Our very presence brings the essence of Christ when we’ve been in God’s presence. But how can this happen in the fullness of what God wants to do in our lives if we still have one foot in the world? We can’t come to the table of the Lord and partake of communion with Him and also partake at the table of demons.
It all starts with us, but only when we commit to a deeper level of personal consecration.
RENEWED EXPECTATIONS
In Luke 24, after the resurrection, two of Jesus’ disciples encountered Him as they walked the Road to Emmaus. They might have been among the disciples who had walked with Him for three and a half years, but they didn’t even recognize Him! They were talking about Him and reflecting on their time with Him, but they didn’t even perceive it was Him when He was in front of them. “…but we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel,” they said to Him in verse 21.
The same thing can be said about many believers today. We can gather in His name, worship Him, talk about Him, and read about Him. But we miss the moment because we’re hoping in our human capacity rather than putting our hope in what God wants to do! We simply aren’t aware of His manifest presence.
In Verse 29, “Abide with us” is their invitation. He sits to commune with them by breaking bread, and, in that moment, their eyes immediately open. They have a renewed revelation of who Jesus is and a new expectation of what is to come. After that, they daily worship with expectation in the upper room until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.
I believe today God is raising up a prophetic generation of young people who have been on a road like Emmaus, where they have been discouraged or disappointed with things they have seen in life. But God is opening their eyes with a renewed revelation of His glorious presence and empowering them by the Holy Spirit. And together, we will be a multi-generation preparing the way for an outpouring of His Spirit and the return of Jesus Christ!
A SUPERNATURAL OUTPOURING
We’ve all been part of revival services, but a transforming revival has a rippling effect beyond the moment. I’ve had the privilege of being part of some of these revivals, and I’ve found they share some common characteristics; primarily, there is a sense that we are nothing without His holy presence. But we cannot be in His holy presence or abide with Him if there are impurities—blatant sins—in our lives.
Years after that meeting in my apartment, another group of young people gathered in the same neighborhood and saw the Holy Spirit move again. People came to these meetings from all over Texas. One person said, “Wait a minute! That’s the apartment where revival broke loose years ago! And we’re beneficiaries of that revival.”
That’s just one example of transforming revival. I’ve seen God do it in Fiji, Uganda, Botswana, Australia, Vietnam—all over the world. In human impossibility in Cali, Colombia, during the major drug cartel challenges, the Church came together in unity and began to worship, saying, “We don’t have the capacity to change what’s happening. But we serve a supernatural God!” He began to move in that country, and He continues to move today.
God wants to do that in us. And He wants to do that through us.
THE HOLY PRESENCE OF GOD
What God has done in the past is nothing compared to what He wants to do in this generation. And my generation wants to give you strength to walk into your destiny. But it starts with honesty.
Take a moment to reflect. Is there anything you need to throw into that Brook of Kidron—the impurities of your heart? The sin in your life?
Maybe you have lust, sexual sin, or something that masters your affections more than Jesus (idolatry). Maybe you’ve been putting Jesus to the test by saying you’re a Christian but feasting at the table of demons. Or perhaps you complain, backbite, and gossip. All of these kept the Israelites out of their promised land, and they will keep you from walking in the place God wants for you. Don’t allow the anchor of sin to keep you from being what God has called you to be and from entering into His destiny for you.
I’ve been longing to see a generation that says, “We don’t want to be like the world! We don’t want the sins of our lives to keep us from being what God wants us to be!” My prayer is for a supernatural outpouring of the presence of God on this next generation, a deep conviction of the Holy Spirit, and healing from hurts and wounds.
Jesus is the same today as He was all those years ago when He changed my life forever. He is still Savior and healer. He still delivers us from insecurities, fears, and the lies of the devil. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. Surrendering to His Lordship today determines our future and His calling upon our lives.
The devil wants to distract us and destroy our prophetic calling. But those who know their God will do powerful exploits. When we surrender to Him, the power of Heaven and Earth lives in us and the Holy Spirit of God works through us.
DISCERNING THE BODY
Earlier we looked at 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul shared the five sins that kept the Israelites out of the Promised Land and the importance of not sacrificing at the table of demons. This leads up to chapter 11, where he instructs us in taking communion. It’s all connected.
“Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29 NKJV)
Communion is where we experience authentic unity. When we are in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God there is no division. In His Holy presence, we are undone, as was the prophet Isaiah: “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5). As we behold His glory, we’re humbled in His presence. And in that place, God Himself raises us up and cleanses us by His grace.
But how can we enter into a corporate anointing if we have issues in our heart against our brothers and sisters? How can we enter into the holiness of God if we hold on to bitterness, wounds, and unforgiveness? Or how can we have, like I did before I surrendered my life to the Lord, one foot at the table of the Lord and another foot at the table of demons?
To discern the body is not to tear down the body. We are to first discern, in our own lives, if we have areas of lust, idolatry, sexual immorality, tempting Christ, or murmuring. What do we allow into our minds through our eyes and our ears? Sometimes we don’t realize all the subliminal suggestions and voices we hear, just by walking through this world in our daily lives. We hear music at the gym or the supermarket. Social media is constantly pushing ungodly agendas. Then we wonder why we respond in the flesh rather than the Spirit!
That’s why we need to renew our minds on a regular basis with God’s Word. Our mind, our eyes, and our ears are the gateway to our hearts.
Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man “thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Notice is does not say merely what a man thinks, but what he thinks “in his heart.” We have thoughts at times we don’t want to have because of the messages we are bombarded with. But what do we do with those thoughts? Do we take them captive immediately and wash our minds with the Word? Or do we let them take root in our hearts and captivate us?
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV)
Jesus hears us when we invite His presence. He answers our invitation to abide. Let us receive now, with renewed expectation, all that He has for us!
As we give ourselves completely to Him, forsaking any ways of the world we have been hanging on to and partaking with our brothers and sisters in authentic communion at the table of the Lord, we join with the army of the prophetic generation He has called us into, for such a time as this!
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