Empty-handed

The only reason we don’t have revival is because we are willing to live without it.

Leonard Ravenhill

We want revival. We want God to do a new thing. We want a move of the Holy Spirit.

But we want it in the perimeters of our convenience and spare time. And that’s just not how it works.

Please don’t think I’m nagging you. I’m just writing down what God has been telling me.

Revival by definition means to restore something to life. That means something, first, had to die. So before you pray for revival, what are you willing to crucify? I know it might sound harsh, but hear me out.

God isn’t asking us to kill anything that benefits us. Only the things that handicap us. At the root of it all, if it’s not propelling us forward in our call then why would we want to salvage it anyway?

“I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'” Psalm 16:2 (NIV)

What if, in order to move forward in our calling and in the anointing we need to kill some things? Are you prepared for that?

What if we need to kill our opinions, and perceptions, and ideas of how God needs to move and instead, just give Him free reign to do whatever it is He wants to do.

Because I can guarantee that His ways are better than ours.

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'” Isaiah 55:8-9(NIV)

So I strip away my timelines, my schedules, my expectations, and demands. I bring an unveiled offering to the mercy seat of Jesus. I hand over all of me.

I hold nothing back.

When we can honestly come to the Father and lay every part of our lives at His feet, we prepare ourselves for real revival.

When we allow God to take over the dead things in our life, He resurrects them better than before.

Revival doesn’t bring dead things back dead.

They aren’t wilted and dry after God gets His hands on them.

When we allow our tainted handle on life to die, God sanctifies us with revival. It brings holiness to our history.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20(NIV)

Don’t forget you’ve been crucified. Don’t forget that it’s no longer you that lives, but Christ in you. Don’t forget to live everyday dead to self, but rather alive, thriving, and flourishing in Jesus.

I know this all sounds daunting, but I promise, God can be trusted in all His ways. It is safe to surrender. He is a good, good Father. His plans for you are good.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” Jeremiah 29:11(NIV)

God wants to bring revival. He is not withholding any good thing from us. So if we are living dry, it must be because we are refusing to give up the parched places in our lives.

At the end of the day I want to be empty-handed. Empty-handed because I gave over every part of my life to God to be used or renewed. Pouring out all of me so God can breathe into me.

God won’t waste anything that is given to Him. And it doesn’t have to be only the good parts. In fact, I think God does more with our mess than with our best.

We hand over our mess with no conditions. We don’t see how it could be anything beautiful. We lay down our broken pieces with no restrictions because we don’t want them anymore. This free reliquinishment gives God room to do as He pleases.

But with the parts of our life that we like- the areas that we enjoy and cling to, those are much harder to surrender. Our dreams, hopes, and desires are difficult to lay down. Sometimes even our gifts and talents have to be wrestled into God’s will because we think we know best how they should be used.

Give it all. The mess and the best. Everyday, end empty-handed. Because God will not fail to revive, restore, renew, and resurrect everything that is entrusted to Him. We serve a God that can be trusted.

There is something truly beautiful about an empty-handed heart. God can work with that.

Be blessed!