2 Letters from 2 Churches

A letter to our team Revivalist Ryan and his wife Mal:

Dear Ryan and Mal,

“I cannot express in words how our family has completely turned around. The Lord is great, and all the Glory be to him. I know that you guys are doing his work, and I pray that you will continue to touch other lives with his word. I only pray that one day my faith will be as focused on him, as you are. I bought all the Cd's from the Thirst Revival and have already started to listen to them. The funny thing is, I put it in my van cd player yesterday, after I listened to it, I went to eject it, and it would not come out. My husband said to me "Maybe that means you need to listen to it again." I laughed and said, “You know honey your right." So, I will probably never get it out, and you know what? I don't want to! I can listen to it always and never lose it. I visited your blog and will continue to pray for the safety of your team as you travel. Our family has been blessed in so many ways. God is great. Yesterday, a woman that we know called my husband out of the blue. She told him that she was at a Women's Conference and God laid it on her heart to pray for him, our family, and our business. That he would not be tempted to over charge customers and that God would keep him strong and deliver him from temptations. She also tried to contact me to pray with her over the phone. When my husband came home he told me what happened. At first, I was thinking to myself why she would say a thing like that. Does she think we steal from our customers? Does she know my husband’s heart? Has this been something he is dealing subconsciously with, that he has not shared with me? Is he conflicted about his work? So many questions I had running through my mind. However, at the end of all those questions of Why. I kept getting the same answer. It's God at work! So I just wanted to share this with you guys. We will continue to live a cross-centered life and raise our children to do the same. Thanks so much for all the reading material, and Cd's. Also, thank you Mal for showing me the portrait of a submissive and loving wife. We love you brothers and sisters in Christ. May Peace with you always and may God protect you in your travels.”

A letter from a young mom in a recent church:

“I just wanted to say again how blessed I was this past week with Life Action coming to Tabernacle. The experience transformed my family. I thought I would be praying for months or longer on the softening of my husband's heart, but man God did a work through Ryan on him. He said he swore Ryan pointed at him when he was talking about bitterness. We all pray together every night and the younger boys wanted bibles so we got them each one today and even a toddler bible for Grace (she's 2). We are still growing and learning from the things you guys taught through. Every time we go back and discuss we see a new point. And I am just so thankful God brought your team to us. I am and will be forever thankful for you! You have no idea how awesome it is for me to have a sister in Christ. And it gave me strength and hope to reach out to other women in my church. And I am so happy to have women to pray with. I keep reading things online and buying new books, and feel like I can't learn enough. We also continue to pray this doesn't die out. I want this to be the fire that got started that can't burn out!

Your ministry, your family, your team, all mean so much to us!

Thank you!!! And bless you on your journey and we continue to pray for the
Churches in your path. May they be as blessed by God's word as we were!”

How to Share the Gospel with Children

One of the church's greatest privileges and responsibilities is ministering to children. Whether the context is children's church, Sunday school, AWANA, VBS, or something else-and whether it's evangelism or discipleship-our greatest priority is teaching the gospel. Responding to Christ's work in repentance and faith is how children begin and mature in the Christian life.
Sharing the gospel with children, however, is not simply presenting a flannel graph lesson and asking for a show of hands. In fact, statistics indicate that most children raised in the church abandon the faith after high school. This raises a question: Did these kids really understand and respond to the gospel, or were they merely inoculated against genuine Christianity?
Three Concerns
I have three concerns about how we share the gospel with children:
1. That we not replace the true gospel with false or distorted versions
2. That we not confuse the gospel with a child's response
3. That we not equate a true, inward, spiritual response with an outward physical or emotional response
True or False?
In Galatians 1, Paul sternly warned of those who distorted Christ's gospel, saying: "If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:9). We cannot and must not modify, amend, or distort the saving message of the cross. But there are many false or distorted versions that masquerade as the truth.
We also must not confuse the gospel with a call to moral obedience. This means that it is insufficient to teach children to live by the Sermon on the Mount, practice the Golden Rule, obey the Ten Commandments, or simply love God and others.
Of course, we want children to obey Scripture, but if this is all we say, we are giving the law, not the gospel. As Tim Keller has pointed out, "The gospel is good news, not good advice."
Even worse is a message that focuses on self-esteem, self-help, or health, wealth, and prosperity. You don't have to be a TV evangelist with big hair and a luxuriant set to fall into this. If we just present Jesus as affirming our selves or solving our difficulties, without talking of sin, judgment, and the cross, then we're portraying Jesus as a spiritual genie, not a saving Lord.
Neither should we think we've shared the gospel when we have said, "If you ask Jesus into your heart [accept or receive Jesus], you will go to heaven when you die." While it's true that those who receive and believe are God's children (John 1:12), it is false that "asking Jesus into your heart" brings salvation. For one thing, that statement includes nothing about:
· Christ's death, burial, and resurrection
· Jesus' identity as Messiah, Lord, and God manifested in the flesh
· Sin, the nature of salvation, and the need for repentance
So the problem with equating "asking Jesus into your heart" with the gospel is that it shifts the focus away from Jesus Christ's atoning work onto the child's subjective work or experience.
What is the gospel, then? Paul defines it in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." Very simply, the gospel is that Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) through His death, burial, and resurrection.
Responding to the Gospel
My other two concerns are that we not confuse the gospel with a response and that we not equate a true, inward, spiritual response with an outward physical or emotional response.
A true response involves both repentance and faith (Acts 20:21). Repentance is turning from sin, self-righteousness (Phil. 3:1-10), and idolatry (1 Thess. 1:10) to serve the true and living God. Faith is trusting in the crucified and risen Christ to save us.
When sharing the gospel with children, we need to emphasize faith and repentance. But we must always remember that these are responses to the gospel; they are not the gospel itself. Ask for a response, but only after making the message clear.
But don't confuse repentance and faith with a response to an invitation, such as:
· Raise your hand if you want to go to heaven.
· Pray the sinner's prayer.
· You need to be baptized.
· Make a decision about Jesus today!
These methods have, no doubt, resulted in genuine conversions, but there are dangers. It's easy to raise your hand or say a prayer without truly turning from sin and trusting in Jesus as Savior and Lord. On the other hand, it is possible to have repentance and faith without any physical or noticeable demonstration at that time.
Making It Practical
We all share a passion to make sure our children understand the gospel and turn to Christ in genuine salvation. Following are some points of emphasis to keep in mind as you guide young people to understand spiritual truth:
· Talk a lot about who Jesus is (God-Man, Savior, Lord, King) and what He has done (died for our sins on the cross, rose from the dead).
· Make it clear that all people need their sins forgiven and will be judged for their sins if they are not saved.
· Urge children to turn from their sins and trust in what Jesus has done.
· Invite children to talk to you further about their relationship with God.
· Motivate parents to pursue further discussions with their children.
· Think long-term about how you can continually disciple children, vs. how many "decisions" you can record.
· Pray for the children, and expect God in His grace to use the gospel to bring them to true, saving faith in Christ.

Tabernacle Baptist Church, Ennis Texas

Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Ennis Texas after a great week in Duncan OK. Here are just a couple of the testimonies from this past week (all testimonies used with permission):

“God has used the Thirst Conference at FBC Duncan to return Joy to our family. Literally, my daughter Joy had been gripped with bitterness over many things that had happened in her past. God is faithful and He graciously brought her to a place of repentance, and gave her the grace to openly share her journey with the Thirst team. Tonight I held my daughters hand in worship and felt once again a joy in spirit and brightness in her spirit that had been gone far too long. Thank you God for proving Yourself faithful.”

“I am 27 years old and my dad is actually on staff here at FBC Duncan. I was saved at 8, married at 20, was divorced at 23, and had a baby. I began using drugs at 24 and had been until a month ago. I remarried, had another child, and went to rehab and jail. I tried to fill a God sized hole with a man-sized “thing”, my husband filed for a divorce. I’ve come back to Christ to meet the need He put there instead of trying to fill it with drugs and people. If God can come to me and change my heart, I know He can do that for anyone. God has got my attention. Praise God.”

We are looking forward to what this upcoming week has in store for all of us.

Feb 2, 2009 A Spiritual Birthday

February 2, 2009 will be a day that we will never forget. Our daughter Elizabeth (Dolly) had been reading some stories with Jennifer during school that morning about some heroes of the faith. As a result she began to ask if a person who thought they were saved before, went to church all the time, prayed, tried to obey, but didn’t really feel it in their heart could still need to be saved? Shortly after, she came to the home “office” and wanted to receive Jesus as her Savior. We talked for some time and she walked through the gospel message for Jennifer and me and indicated that it was time for her to repent and confess her sins, receive by faith the gift of Jesus and salvation, and begin to live a life that reflected the fact that the Holy Spirit lived inside her. We talked, she prayed (like we had never heard her pray before), we cried, and then celebrated the fact that she committed Jesus to be Lord and Savior of her life. These past 4 days we have had a daughter that has had an entirely different attitude towards living her life. What a privilege that God would allow us to be part of this.

Denison Texas..... I thought we were down south?

Last night we arrived in Denison TX after a great week in Sulphur LA. First Baptist in Sulphur LA was a great place to start after our break over the holidays. The church had a great spirit and many people were moved and changed as a result of the power of the Holy Spirit. Upon arrival in Denison last night one thing stuck out more than anything. It was below freezing when we arrived and at 1:37 PM this afternoon it is still only 33 degrees. Last night temperatures dropped well below 30 degrees and trailer life can become much more complicated as water lines begin to freeze and the furnace runs nonstop all night long. It is in these moments that I wonder while lying in bed for the night…….. when was the last time I filled the LP tanks on the trailer? Needless to say, the furnace was still running and blowing heat this morning. I will be getting more LP today.

We are getting ready to host an 11 day conference starting Sunday that will go through January 28 here in Denison TX at Parkside Baptist Church. Attached are pictures of the church as well as what our “community” of trailers currently looks like. Our home is the one on the far left.

Prayer Requests:
1. For God to do a work in the lives of His people (including us and the team) during this conference that is about to begin.
2. That family and friends back home in Michigan would be safe (and healthy) from the extreme cold they are currently experiencing.
3. For a great friend whose family relocated to another state, and was just notified that his new job was being eliminated.

Thank you for your prayers, friendship, and support. God is working.

Clear Conscience

Having a clear conscience means there is "no one alive that I have ever wronged, offended, or hurt in any way that I have not gone back to and sought to make it right with both God and the individual." It is not sufficient merely to seek God's forgiveness when others have been affected by your sin.
Repentance has been defined as "returning to the point of departure." To return to the point of departure from God's standards is to retrace your steps and seek to mend relationships that have been damaged by asking for forgiveness for your improper conduct, speech, and attitudes.
Additionally, in order to have a clear conscience, it may be necessary to make restitution for your previous actions. You cannot be right with God and at odds with man.
A clear conscience is essential to a revived life. Memorize Acts 24:16 to help you remember this principle.

Insight from the Word:

Matthew 5:23-24 "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Acts 24:16 "I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and men."

1 Timothy 1:5 "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

1 Peter 3:15-16 "In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

Below is a link to dealing with the above mentioned topic. Please take a listen; it may change your life.

http://www.lifeaction.org/infuse-podcast/2008/8/19/dealing-offenses-toward-others/

© Life Action Ministries: Revival Review--Keys to Continued Revival

El Salvador Trip

We have returned home from a week long mission’s trip with the team to El Salvador. It was an awesome experience with our entire team (25 total). We ministered at a local church the first Sunday, we did painting and maintenance work at the Shalom Children’s Home (http://www.harvesting.org/) and did kids club activities in the afternoon, and we worked in a local village drilling a fresh water well and teaching hygiene to the people that lived there (http://www.water.cc/).
I believe that not only did the trip allow us to serve those in the village as well as in the children’s home, but to serve each other in a way that we had not experienced before. The perspective that was gained as well as being in that environment with the team will allow us to have an intimacy that we have not had previous. It was a time for us as a team to bond together, serve together, and come along side one another in a way, in a place, and in an environment that many had never been. The kids at the children’s home captivated the team member’s hearts that were there. The drill/hygiene team was able to get into the village and spend time with those whose environment is radically different than anything that we would be used to, and experience a joy from those who appeared to have nothing on the surface but who where rich to the core. The perspective that all of us gained will be a blessing and a challenge for all of us as we get ready to come back together in January. Many of us will miss the relationships that have begun with those in El Salvador (The Savior) and may prompt several of us to make a return trip in the future, to continue the work that was begun there.
I am excited to see how God uses this trip in order to prepare us for road life together once again in January. What a blessing it has been.
Pictures of the trip can be found at the links below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ben.slenk/ElSalvadorDrillSiteAndHygiene#

http://picasaweb.google.com/ben.slenk/ElSalvadorShalomChildrenSHome#

http://picasaweb.google.com/ben.slenk/ElSalvadorPainting#

Raising a Generation of Wimps

Are We Raising a Nation of Wimps?
http://www.albertmohler.com/ (from his book “Culture Shift” Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth)

To be honest, I look at the magazine Psychology Today as something of a trade journal for the therapeutic culture. The magazine spins out seemingly endless cover stories on how to be happy, self-actualized, and successful, but its worldview is light years from classical Bible-based Christianity. Nevertheless, this magazine is really on to something with its recent article, "A Nation of Wimps," written by Hara Estroff Marano. This article is must reading for every parent.
Marano begins her article with a portrait of cushioned childhood. "Maybe it's the cyclist in the park, trim under his sleek metallic blue helmet, cruising along the dirt path . . . at three miles an hour. On his tricycle." From there, Marano moves to cite the "all-rubber-cushioned surface where kids use to skin their knees," and the fact that the kids aren't even allowed to play alone. Their mommies and daddies are playing with them, making sure that the little darlings don't experience even the slightest scrape, scratch, or scare. "Few take it half-easy on the perimeter benches, as parents used to do," Marano explains, "letting the kids figure things out for themselves."
To the contrary, today's parents are now spending a great deal of their time doing little more than protecting their children from life. Marano describes this as "the wholly sanitized childhood, without skinned knees or the occasional C in history." The result of all this? Our kids are growing up to be pampered wimps who are incapable of assuming adult responsibility and have no idea how to handle the routine challenges of life.
David Elkind, a prominent child psychologist, counters, "Kids need to feel badly sometimes. We learn through experience and we learn through bad experiences. Through failure we learn how to cope."
That seems to be a foreign concept to many of today's parents. Coddled by a generation of Baby Boomers, today's parents have turned into hyper-protectors. Kids are not allowed to play, because they might get hurt. In today's highly competitive environment, kids have to excel at everything, even if parents have to actually do the work or negotiate an assisted success. The routine play of childhood--even the pointless chatter, nonsense, and aimless play of children--is now considered wasted time or worse. "Messing up" is simply out of style, Marano explains. "Although error and experimentation are the true mothers of success, parents are taking pains to remove failure from the equation."
"Whether we want to or not, we're on our way to creating a nation of wimps," Marano warns. She fast-forwards to college and university campuses, where "the fragility factor" is now most clearly evident. As she explains, "It's where intellectual and developmental tracks converge as the emotional training wheels come off. By all accounts, psychological distress is rampant on college campuses."
This statement is easily verified by observing the reports issued by academic institutions. Psychological distress--sometimes evident in the mild form of anxiety and, in other cases, in binge drinking, self-mutilation, and even suicide--are now major concerns of college administrators.
As Steven Hyman, Harvard University's provost and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health lamented, the problem "is interfering with the core mission of the university."
What is the source of this problem? Observers are zeroing in on parental pampering as the most critical factor behind this pattern of student "disconnect." Smothered by parental attention and decision-making during childhood and adolescence, these young people arrive on the college campus without the ability to make their own decisions, live with their choices, learn from their experiences, and grapple with the issues of adult life.
But the academic issues do not show up only on college campuses. Today's kids must be successful, at least in the view of their insistent parents. Even in pre-kindergarten programs, parents now show up with a list of special demands, insisting that their child must be treated with special care. Inevitably, these are often transformed into diagnoses of learning disabilities that will require special instructional accommodations. If this trend is not reversed, virtually all students will be diagnosed with some form of learning disability and the entire classroom experience will break down.
Marano blames this on parental "hyperconcern."
John Portman, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, suggests that American parents "expect their children to be perfect--the smartest, fastest, most charming people in the universe. And if they can't get their children to prove it on their own, they'll turn to doctors to make their kids into the people the parents want to believe their kids are." Inevitably, what the parents are actually doing is "showing kids how to work the system for their own benefit."
By the time these kids get to college, some parents are just getting warmed up. "Talk to a college president or administrator," Marano advises, "and you're almost certainly bound to hear tales of the parents who call at 2 a.m. to protest Brandon's C in economics because it's going to damage his shot at grad school."
The article goes on to cite the experience of psychologist Robert Epstein of the University of California San Diego. When Epstein announced to his class that he "expected them to work hard and would hold them to high standards," he received an outraged response from a parent--using his official judicial stationery--accusing the professor of mistreating the young.
Epstein, himself a former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today, later filed a complaint with the California Commission on Judicial Misconduct, and the judge was censured by that body for abusing his office. Nevertheless, this is just one more incident in what is becoming a normal experience on too many campuses.
How special are today's students? Well, according to their report cards and diplomas, they are very special. The problem of "grade inflation" now means that, in terms of an actual measure of academic excellence, grades are now virtually useless. On some campuses, the average grade is approaching an A. Lawrence Summers, Harvard University's embattled president, discovered when he assumed the university's presidency in 2001 that 94 percent of the college's graduates were receiving graduating honors. Peter Stearns of George Mason University argues that grade inflation "is the institutional response to parental anxiety about school demands on children." As Marano expands, "It is a pure index of emotional over-investment in a child's success."
In an interesting twist, Marano focuses on one particular technology that betrays the inability of today's children to establish their own identity and responsible decision-making--the cell phone. "Even in college--or perhaps especially at college--students are typically in contact with their parents several times a day, reporting every flicker of experience," Marano observes.
When parents play along with this dependency, they "infantalize" their children, "keeping them in a permanent state of dependency." Life is lived in an endless present tense, with no need to frame long-term decisions, make plans, or engage in sustained inter-personal conversations.
Who is at fault here? Marano presents this situation as rooted in bad parenting and the unwillingness of parents to allow their children to fail. Undoubtedly, this is part of the problem. Today's parents often see their children as little trophies to be polished. Many see life as a competitive game, and they are determined to do whatever it takes to get their children on top--even if it means cutting corners, changing the rules, and even writing little Johnny's term papers.
No doubt, Marano was on to something here. As one college student lamented to his counselor, "I wish my parents had some hobby other than me."
David Anderegg, a professor at Bennington College, warns that parents must not try to protect their children from life. "If you have an infant and the baby has gas, burping the baby is being a good parent," she explains. "But when you have a 10-year-old who has metaphoric gas, you don't have to burp him. You have to let him sit with it, try to figure out what to do about it. He then learns to tolerate moderate amounts of difficulty, and it's not the end of the world."
Christian parents can fall into this same game, pushing our children as if worldly markers of success are to be our greatest goals and hallmarks of achievement. We must push our children toward excellence, but define excellence in biblical terms consistent with the Christian Gospel. Our concern should be that our children are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and are pointed to God's purpose for their life. A life spent in self-sacrificial service, on the mission field, or devoted to the cause of the Gospel will not win the plaudits of the world.
Marano's article should serve to warn us all that we must not protect our children from the process of growing up into adulthood. While we are charged to protect our children from evil, and to guard them from harm, we are not to shield them from reality. As our children grow older, they should demonstrate an increasing maturity that allows them to deal with the problems of life--not to run from them.
Beyond this, we must expand our concern to the young people as well as their parents. Without doubt, hyperattentive parents who coddle their children are part of the problem. Nevertheless, we also face the reality of a generation that seems, in all too many cases, unwilling to grow up, assume responsibility, and become genuine adults.
Hara Estroff Marano's article is a bracing alert addressed to today's generation of parents. This article demands our attention, even as Christians will want to press its arguments further. Let's be thankful for the lessons learned from skinned knees, routine disappointments, and hard work. Otherwise, we too will be raising a generation of wimps.

Tired of Being Tired

Taken from "Spirit of Revival" magazine.

If there is one term that describes the state of affairs in the lives of people today, it is overload. The mere mention of the word triggers a groan within us. Overload reminds us of the weight of everyday life. We are overwhelmed, overworked, overcommitted, overanxious, overmatched, and overextended. Our tanks are on empty, and we’re running on fumes.
Have you ever been in a health club and seen someone sprinting on a treadmill? That’s the mental picture that comes to mind. We’re running as fast as we can to keep from falling off the back, and we desperately need to stop that relentless machine and take a breather. But we can’t seem to find a button that will turn the thing off.
So we keep running. For weeks. Months. Maybe years. And we are running with a huge pack on our backs, full of all the important things in our lives. Things like family, career, and personal goals.
The trouble is that all of the running is beginning to catch up with us. We’re worn out. Exhausted. Even the wisest, healthiest, and most capable among us feel it. There is a collective sense that our personal worlds are spinning out of control, and we despair of ever gaining the upper hand.

See Why We Run
What has brought us to such a state? Why are we living at a pace that we know is too fast? It really comes down to the fact that we have believed three lies about living.

Lie #1: “You can have it all.” No, you can’t! But even if you could, where would you put it? What would you do with it?
Solomon spent his life accumulating everything he could possibly get his hands on. (You can read a personal account of his quest in the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes.) He had homes that would have made it into Architectural Digest. He owned breathtaking vineyards and beautiful wineries. He kept stables of thoroughbred horses. He had wives—seven hundred, to be precise—along with three hundred concubines.
King Solomon really did have it all (1 Kings 10:23). He managed to pull it off. And when he got there, he realized he had been deceived. Having it all simply wasn’t worth the effort. He was left with a handful of ashes:
All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. . . . So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind (Ecclesiastes 2:10, 17). Solomon acquired it all and was still deeply disappointed. After reading his assessment, you may be ready to take a couple of days off!

Lie #2: “You can do it all.” We know instinctively that there’s no way we can do it all. But a quick review of our crowded daily schedules might make an outside observer think we believe otherwise. The frantic pace of our lives is now on display even with our elementary school children.
It is not uncommon for one child to have the following commitments: school (at least eight hours, five days a week), homework (an average of two to three hours per night), piano lessons plus daily practice time, karate lessons, soccer team (one game per week plus five practices). That would be an average schedule for an average American child.
When you multiply that kind of schedule by several family members, it’s easy to see how life starts reeling out of control. The pace multiplies exponentially. When is there time to have dinner together at home? When is there time to take a walk together around the neighborhood? There is no time left for relationships.

Lie #3: “You deserve it all.” If you deserve it all, you are of course going to work 24/7 to make sure you get it. And tragically, when you begin to believe you deserve it all, you will run over anyone that gets in your way.
We’ve been reading too many true-life stories of top executives who drove their companies into bankruptcy while stockpiling millions away for themselves. They showed utter disregard for the shareholders and employees who were financially wiped out in the process. We despise this kind of self-centered behavior; yet the problem also exists closer to home.
For years I have observed a number of men who have left their wives and abandoned their children in pursuit of having it all. I’ve seen the same epidemic spread to more and more women as well. I’ve seen fine Christian men and women become cold and callous toward their families.
What happened? They were living at a breakneck pace. There was very little time for each other or for nurturing their relationship with the Lord. It was go-go-go from early in the morning until late at night. And when their lives got so busy that they had no time for God or His Word, they became vulnerable.
The wrong pace can lead to wrong decisions. Pace is not just a scheduling issue. For the Christian, it’s a life issue.

Deficit Living
Overload is a symptom of deficit living. Overloaded people live in deficit—emotional, relational, or spiritual. When our checking accounts are overdrawn, we experience an adrenal rush that pushes us to find a way to immediately cover that shortfall. But where do you find a surplus when you’re completely out of money?
It’s also possible to get overdrawn in life. We get overdrawn in our marriages, overdrawn with our kids, and disconnected from God. We run out of currency—the emotional and relational “cash” that it takes to live well.
The good news is that God has provided what is needed for life and godliness—an unlimited line of credit in his Word and by his Spirit. But most believers are attempting to live out of the change in our own pockets rather than drawing on God’s resources.
God created us. He designed us with a longing for happiness and love. The problem is that we have searched for satisfaction outside of God’s good and gracious plan.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invited us to overcome overload—not by reading the latest bestselling book or attending a dynamic seminar—but by coming to Him:
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Jesus knew how to live . . . and we don’t. That’s why we’re overloaded. And that’s why Jesus said, “Come to Me.” The very first step in overcoming overload is coming to Him, embracing Him as the sovereign God, and learning from Him.

Revival Report - November 2008

Dear Revival Family,
"It's like a blowtorch--we can't get in front of it."
"If we had the entire army, we still couldn't stop it."
"Wind is king here; it's dictating everything we're doing."

These statements were used to describe the ferocity of the recent wildfire near Los Angeles. But they also reflect what many are feeling about the events of the last month, in which the American banking system almost collapsed, major companies failed, and the stock market lost nearly 50% from its peak value.
Genuine fear swept the country as we tried to comprehend the crushing loss of our retirement savings and the mind-numbing cost of the government-sponsored bailout of our financial system. Many still worry about the security of their jobs, not to mention the future of a country saddled by massive levels of personal and national debt.
Even more troubling than the financial crisis, however, is the moral disintegration it exposed. Stories of calloused corporate greed and widespread political corruption betrayed our public trust and undermined our confidence in those in power. Congressional approval ratings bottomed out at only 11%, and a cry for credible leadership echoed across America.
But most disturbing of all was the fact that at the height of the crisis, when experts were wildly scrambling for solutions, not once did President Bush, John McCain, or Barack Obama--professing Christians--suggest that we stop to pray! The candidates did not even end their debate speeches with the historic phrase "God bless America." Apparently, as far as our leaders are concerned, God isn't part of the solution at all.

The Urgency of Now

The absence of God-consciousness in our society today is what makes this such a critical moment for America--so urgent that I feel compelled to stop everything I was doing in order to send you this special edition of Revival Report. In my lifetime, our nation has never experienced a more dramatic wake-up call with so little public acknowledgement of our need for God.
Regardless of whether the worst of the crisis is now over or whether it proves to be a precursor of even more turmoil in the days to come, there is a vital spiritual lesson we must not miss: God uses times of crisis to call people and nations back to Himself. Times of uncertainty, financial or otherwise, are divine opportunities to recognize the futility of our idols and to embrace the true hope that is in Jesus Christ alone.

Prayer in Times of Uncertainty

The prophet Hosea lived in times very similar to ours. Pervading winds of wickedness and unbelief swept over the people of God. Lust and greed dominated the political and religious landscape as worship of Baal filled the land.
The hope of Hosea's day must be our cry today: "It is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and rains righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12). In times of crisis, our hope is Jehovah God! No matter how dark the hour or how insurmountable the problems, there is no limit to God's power.
A. W. Tozer echoed this belief in the all-reviving power of God in an article entitled "Revival: No Limit to What God Could Do."
There is no limit to what God could do in our world if we would dare to surrender before Him with a commitment like this:
"Oh God, I hereby give myself to You. I give my family. I give my business. I give all I possess. Take all of it, Lord--and take me! I give myself in such measure that if it is necessary that I lose everything for your sake, let me lose it. I will not ask what the price is. I will ask only that I may be all that I ought to be as a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen."
If even 300 of God's people became that serious, our world would never hear the last of it! They would influence the news. Their message would go everywhere like birds on the wing. They would set off a great revival of New Testament faith and witness.
God-sized change is possible for America today. But it is critical to recognize that every revival in history has been birthed, cradled, and nurtured in prayer. That's why now is the time to seek the Lord as never before. WE MUST SEEK HIM! The wind of evil can be overcome by the wind of the Spirit of God, but believers must repent, and we must pray!

Ripe for Revival

As strange as it may sound, I believe the crisis and uncertainty that America now faces are part of God's providential plan to invite America to spiritual awakening and revival. While I grieve over the hardships many are now experiencing, there is a sense that this is the season we've been waiting for--an opportunity for believers everywhere to express their confidence in God and to testify that Christ alone is the true hope of America.
The connection between crisis and spiritual revival is part of American history. In 1857 the stock market dramatically crashed amid loss of confidence in the American banking system and U.S. economy. Five thousand businesses failed within a year, and thousands lost their jobs. Yet in the midst of financial calamity, thousands of businessmen turned to prayer, and the great prayer revival of 1857-58 resulted in almost a million conversions!
The same situation is true today. The change we need in America will not ultimately come from the politicians in Washington or the market leaders at the Treasury or Federal Reserve. According to Scripture, real change begins in the hearts of God's people and is empowered by God's Spirit (1 Pet. 4:17; Zech. 4:6).
That's why I am eager to report that a passion and hunger for God to send a sweeping revival appears to be growing. God is working now in the lives of His people:
Even as I was writing this letter, a pastor called asking what I thought about him starting "prayer clubs" in his county. God had given him this burden: "If we have local Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, and book clubs, why not have local prayer clubs for revival?"

Over 6,000 women gathered in Chicago to seek the Lord for personal renewal. Most signed the True Woman Manifesto to become agents of change through living out biblical womanhood. (Go to www.TrueWoman.com to read and sign the manifesto.)

Sixty churches gathered for a Send the Rain conference in Douglas, Georgia. For the first time in the city's history, God broke down ethnic and denominational barriers. When asked why 3,000 adults felt compelled to gather and seek the Lord in a town of only 11,000, they replied, "We are desperate. Our marriages are failing, our kids are rebelling, and our churches are dying."
A thousand people attended a prayer meeting for revival in a small community northwest of Atlanta. It was followed by an all-day Heart-Cry for Revival pastors' conference marked by unusual hunger for God.

I spoke during the Sunday morning service at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, the weekend their movie "Fireproof" was released in over 800 theaters. Only God could cause a movie saturated with core revival truths to garner a national release and exceed box office expectations.

Sixteen Life Action revival summits and THIRST conferences have taken place in local churches so far this fall, and 40 more communities will be reached by the end of spring. In each location there have been vivid demonstrations of life-change--the kind of life-change that multiples, like in this family from Alabama:
Wow! That is about all I can say. Wow! Fifteen days ago my husband and I had two family members that we didn't have a right relationship with, and he was very hardhearted about what happened between them. After the sermon on forgiveness, my husband woke up and spent one hour with God. He then called his granddad at 6:00 a.m. It has changed him. After 7 ½ years of marriage and going to Sunday school and church services at least once a week, we have found God in our marriage. Fifteen days ago, we were playing mom and dad, husband and wife--now we are becoming a godly family.

Just as this family experienced radical change, God can also take a hardhearted nation and transform hearts, homes, churches, and communities. Widespread revival has happened before--let's urgently pray for God to send the sweeping wind of His Spirit to America again!
Thank you for sharing that vision with us. Our hope is in the Lord. And the time for revival is NOW!

Seeking Him together,
Byron Paulus and the Life Action Staff