Wanting God.. Wanting His Fire..

[GlendaJoanne]

I'm reading a book.. nothing new in that.. I'm ALWAYS reading a book.. usually several of them at once.. :)

This one is called Loving God Up Close by Calvin Miller.. and I've got lots of underlining.. and red markings going.. ;) And I'm only on the 2nd chapter.. (but there was a preface & and intro too... )

One interesting point he makes is about the fire of the Spirit..

I used to attend a church that had the fire of revival hit in 1995.. not sure how long it lasted.. a few months I believe.. but the pastor there has been trying to "get it back" ever since..

There have been weeks of fasting & prayer.. and tent meetings.. and Christmas galas.. and lastly 6-8 months of sermons over "protocol" of past revivals in the Bible..

In this book, Miller makes this point..

"But in most cases when God gives the fire, it has not come in response to people asking for fire. Fire seems to be the by-product of what the best people crave. Want fire and you get nothing. Want God with all your heart and the fire will be yours without the asking."

So instead of making plans & trying to figure God out, perhaps we should just seek Him wholeheartedly.. on the floor.. on our knees.. on our faces.. crying out for more of Him in our lives... and all the rest will come to those who seek His face..

[enoch son]

Sound like people are praying done hell to me! every one knows that hell and firer go hand in hand. OR DO THEY?

[oneshot012]

Great Post! I am actually writing a book about revival right now and using my youth group as the case study. I was saved as a result of a revival in my youth group. I was freinds with the kids there. It was not a revival like Brownsville or Toronto though but more along the lines of what Finney calls a revival and that is the awakening of true Christianity. And clearly that is what happened for two years to the youth group I was in. In this true Christianity we wanted nothing but God and his presence. Kind along the lines of what God Chasers talks about (that was one of the books the leadership was reading during that time and that is what they preached to us among other things). Then all of a sudden it stopped through certain things that happened in the youth group and the workings of Satan. I am begging to see these things through my research and my through much prayer and time spent refelcting God has shown me why it stopped and what caused it. So my book is focusing on how it started, what happened during it why it stopped and then I am going to talk about how to keep it going when you get it and how to restart if you loose it. That is where i key back in on your post. Revivals don't start as a result of seeking the promise but the Promiser. They don't start by seeking the blessing but the Blesser. To many times we foget Jesus' words Seek First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness...Not all the other things. We are to seek HIM first. Anyways time to step down off the the pulpit. That is the churches problem revival starts from an unquenchable hunger for God and a realize that we are in a state of decline.

[handmaiden97]

great post, reminds me of a dream I had a few years back....I was reading Tommy Tennys book God chasers. well I dreamt that I was in church and we were doign a study of how God had moved mighltly in past revivals we were discussing the things that happend in those services...and one guy gets us and starts telling us about the book God chasers and how the pulpit was split and so he runs up and knockes the pulpit down, and the pastor was blown back by gods spirit and so so he has the pastor lay down a few feet from there the pulpit had been and thise group ovver here statred to weep and repent and he points to a group near the front of the church and we were litterally reinacting what God had done....when Jesus himself walked in the room, He was grieved that the church was seeking the revivial more then seeking Him.