SET OUR HEARTS ON FIRE

       CHAPTER THREE

                        Preparing the Way

They said to him then, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." John 1:22-23

In chapter one I defined revival as the work of the Holy Spirit in which hearts are urgently awakened to the reality of Jesus, moved to repentance and set free to live consistently in God's redemptive will.

Why isn't this happening all the time in each of our lives, in all of our churches? After all, isn't this God's desire? Did he not send his Son into the world to suffer and die and rise again to open the door for us to exactly this experience? Why isn't the Spirit continuously revealing Jesus' nearness to our hearts, moving us to repentance, setting us free to walk consistently in the Father's will?

God continually sends his Spirit to us, to revive us. He desires (more than we could ever know) to flood us with his life. But if our hearts are cluttered with self-centeredness and self-righteousness, the Spirit has no access. If we are unaware of the amount of this world's debris which lies within our souls, it becomes even more difficult for the Spirit of God to convince us of the steps we need to take to prepare the way. Before our Lord Jesus could begin his ministry, John the Baptist was sent to call the people of Israel to prepare their hearts for his coming by repenting. And every revival since has been preceded by people preparing the way, men and women at prayer. Sometimes these people are visible. Sometimes they are seen only by God.

It was no accident, for instance, that the Canadian revival of the early 1970s made its first appearance in the small Ebenezer Baptist Church in Saskatoon. This church was pastored by a man who saw the need for revival and understood the things that hindered its coming.

Five years before the revival broke out, Pastor Bill McLeod and his people were on their knees crying out for fresh life from God. Faithfully and consistently these men and women prayed, privately and together in a weekly prayer meeting, that new life would fall upon the people of God. All the repenting and rec­onciliation that was to take place when the revival arrived was already occurring in the hearts of these intercessors. They were preparing the way because they saw the need and were aware of the obstacles to spiritual health that existed in the professing church – and in their own hearts.

Before we can experience personal revival, a similar prepara­tion must take place in our hearts. Our prayers for personal renewal need to be accompanied by specific changes in specific areas of our lives. Here are some examples.

"God, I Thank Thee That I Am Not Like Other People!"

A major obstacle to personal revival is our secret belief that, compared with most people, our lives are not so bad. If God is measuring us against the rest of the world on a scale of 1 to 10, we come out somewhere between 7 and 10. We might be hesi­tant to admit it publicly, but we're fairly confident that we deserve blessings and good treatment from God. After all, we sometimes go out of our way to help needy folks. We support the church. We know our way around in the Bible. We pray. People even look to us for guidance. Doesn't this modest goodness count for something?

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get." But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

Luke 18:10-14

As long as I think my righteous deeds give me a claim on God, I hinder the flow of God's grace into my life. My only claim on God is the cross of Jesus. Jesus died on that cross for me, because his atoning death was my only hope. Jesus died on that cross to deliver me from my preoccupation with myself, which is the root of all sin. And my sin is most blatant when I congratulate myself in God's presence (as the Pharisee did) that I am morally and spiritually better than others around me.

I am a sinner saved by grace. Any righteous deeds I perform are made possible only by that grace. Apart from that grace I can do no good thing. I serve God out of thanksgiving as one who is absolutely indebted to that grace. If I lived on this earth a million years in self-giving service, I could never pay back the debt I owe to my Lord Jesus for his death on the cross for me.

Personal revival can never come to us until we begin to see that all our "righteousness" evaporates in the presence of a holy God. "For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eter­nity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite'" (Is 57:15).

Your Program or God's Program?

If we are serious about experiencing personal revival, we have to decide whether we are willing to allow God's program to take priority over our own. For in many of our lives our own program always manages to come out on top. I'll serve you, Lord, but you need to know that Wednesday night is my bowl­ing night. Or, "Here's how I plan to serve you, Lord. I plan to help make New Life Christian Assembly the largest church in the city. Or, I'll serve you, Lord, but you might as well know that I work with adults, not with children." Imagine a genuine servant outlining to his master the para­meters of his service!

One time the phone rang, and the man on the other end explained that he had visited our church several times and had decided that he would like to make our church his home. He also informed me that he was skilled in the area of finance and offered to be our treasurer. I thanked him for his kind offer and explained that our church already had a treasurer who was faithful and competent. We'd be delighted to have him just come and be among us. No, he insisted, if we couldn't use him as treasurer, our church was probably not the place for him.

He was right.

God's program and our program are not only different, they are incompatible. If God's program is to take hold of our lives and change them, our program has to go. Repentance is more than turning away from obvious sins. It is turning away from everything in my life that has me in the center of it, so that God can be in the center. I need to repent of my insistence on doing things my way, seeing things from my point of view, trying to make the kingdom adjust to my habits and preferences.

By your grace, Lord, I'll do it your way, see things from your point of view, adjust my habits to your plan. Your will, Lord, not mine – in all things!

Radical Commitment to Jesus

To kinds of people followed Jesus on his journeys through Israel: groupies and disciples. Groupies loved to watch and listen and "hang around." But whenever Jesus' words became demanding, or whenever persecution appeared to be imminent, the groupies disappeared (see Jn 6:66). Disciples were the people who were committed to Jesus – radically committed.

Jesus does not send his Spirit to Christian groupies, only to radically committed disciples. "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt 10:37-39). That is, commit your life to me and withdraw from every attachment that tries to compete with your commitment to me. Leave your old life behind.

My friend Bernie is not much of a talker, but when he opens his mouth he usually says something worth hearing. Men often go to Bernie's barbershop not just to get their hair cut, but to pick his brain about the things of God. They know Bernie won't sicken them with platitudes.

Perhaps they find Bernie easy to talk to because there was a time when he was on the outside looking in. For years Bernie went through the motions of churchgoing simply to keep his wife happy. He didn't claim to be a Christian. It's just that things went better with Sonya and the kids if he went along on Sunday morning. So he'd sit there half asleep. He'd stand for the hymns and try to stay awake for the sermon. But one thing Bernie refused to do: he would not take communion. To him, taking communion meant that he really "believed this stuff" And he didn't. Bernie knew Sonya was praying for him. Fine, let her pray. If it hits me, it hits me.

One day, to his own amazement, it began to hit him. Through all those layers of cynicism about churches and hyp­ocrites came a call. At first he fought it. I must be turning weak. This can't be the Lord. I'm imagining things. But the call per­sisted, and Bernie knew that the One who was calling him was asking for more than a token surrender. He was asking for his life.

Only God and Bernie know how many weeks the inner struggle dragged on until one Sunday morning, there he was, next to Sonya, taking communion. For Bernie, this was not a ritual act. He was committing himself to Jesus all the way. As Bernie communed beside Sonya, he was joining himself to Christ's death, putting his old life behind him.

That was the day the Spirit began to move with power in Bernie's life. Today, seven years later, the life of God in this man is still on the increase.

There is only one level of Christian commitment: radical commitment. Commitment that requires us to put our hand to the plow and never look back, to leave the dead to bury their own dead and go out there with Jesus and proclaim the king­dom. "Lukewarm commitment" is a meaningless phrase.

Childlike Obedience to Jesus' Commands

Jesus kept placing before his disciples the example of a child. "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3). He was encouraging in them a spirit of childlike obedience: obedience to his word that simply accepts it and does it. If Jesus says,  forgive," it forgives. If Jesus says, "Love," it loves. If Jesus says, "Believe!" it believes. It goes where it is sent and does what it is told.

Most of us lost that childlike approach to Jesus by the time we were seven years old. We were already learning to weigh the consequences of adult orders. If Mother asked us to wear something that would make us look weird in the eyes of our classmates at school, we balked. "No way! I'm not going to wear that!"

By the time we reached maturity, we were skilled at manipu­lating authority for our own advantage. "Yes, sir!" we would exclaim to the boss. "I'll have that taken care of by four o'clock this afternoon." But if we decided that the matter wasn't really as urgent as the boss was making it, we'd calmly place the order on the "maybe" pile. Think of how many commands of Jesus you have placed on your "maybe" pile. For starters, consider these:

             "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Mt 5:44).

             "Do not be anxious about tomorrow" (Mt 6:34).

             "Judge not" (Mt 7:1).

             "Forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Lk 6:37).

"Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together,

running over, will be put into your lap" (Lk 6:38).

Jesus insists that unless we turn and become like children we will never enter the kingdom of God, because little children who trust their mothers do not have a "maybe" pile. They obey. And we are called by the Master to repent of our arro­gance before the living God and become children before him. Obedience and faith are twins that always travel together. If faith seems to be lagging behind in our experience, it is usually a sign that obedience has been neglected. Nothing builds faith (in those who have already heard the word) like obedience. Every command Jesus gives us is given in love ­for our good.

Mending Broken Relationships

So 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.

Matthew 5:23-24

In chapter eleven we will observe how a spiritual awakening always calls for obedience to Jesus in the area of forgiveness, and how when the Spirit moves with power, he becomes exact­ing about our need to reconcile. Revivals spread when we rec­oncile and fade when we refuse. Even at the outset, to prepare the way for the Spirit to ignite our hearts, we need to repair the -Token relationship. "Leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Not long ago Jean and I went to visit a friend in the hospital who had recently decided that his marriage was intolerable. He walked out and moved in with friends from his cell group.

Now he was lying in a hospital bed, waiting for test results. Was the tissue malignant or benign?

While we were there, his wife surprised him with a visit. As she entered the room, the atmosphere became tense. There were shy spaces in the conversation, but beneath their reserve a spark was discernible. He was glad she had come, and so was she. The four of us held hands and prayed, then Jean and I left them with each other. Two people who love Jesus and love each other were trying to take the first step toward healing the hurt in each other's heart. One could almost hear the Spirit of the Lord nudging them along, "Don't be afraid. Keep going. You're on the right track."

It comes down to this: are we thirsty enough for the fullness of God's Spirit to swallow our pride and reach out to that per­son on the other side of a broken relationship? We need to understand that if there is one person in our life from whom we are withholding forbearance or forgiveness, we are working against the very revival for which we pray and placing ourselves in a precarious position before the throne of God.

Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.

Matthew 5:25-26

Start Asking

Not long ago at a family dinner we were sitting around the table drinking coffee, when someone asked, "Where were you when you proposed to your wife?"

The men began to describe what they went through trying to "pop the question," and the women gave their versions. It was funny, but it was also moving. It caused us all to look back and remember one of the most important decisions of our lives. The men recalled what it was like to ask another human being to come into their lives for the rest of their days on earth. The women remembered thinking of the implications of such a momentous step: Does he understand the consequences for him if I say yes? Is he prepared to fulfill his part of this covenant?

Inviting the Holy Spirit to come in and take charge of our lives is like a proposal, only more so.

Sometimes we approach the matter of asking for the Holy Spirit like a man who proposes to a woman without grasping the import of what he is saying. "Will you marry me?" he asks. But he hasn't considered the changes her presence in his life will bring. It will mean that she will be there with him from now on, with a will of her own, views of her own, habits that may be different from his. Her moods will not always coincide with his. Nor will he be able to predict what she will think or how she will respond. He will no longer have just himself to consider when it comes to how he uses his time or where he spends his money. In fact, it won't be his time or his money any more, but theirs.

When we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives we are inviting another person into our lives – to stay. We are making a "proposal" of far-reaching consequences that will change everything in our lives. For the Holy Spirit has only one will: the will of the Father; one mind: the mind of Christ. He comes to set fire to our hearts. But this fire belongs to God, not to us. It takes charge of us, directs us on a new path and leads us to a cross as surely as the Spirit led our Master to a cross. If you are ready to make this proposal, then start asking.

Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him"; and he will answer from within, "Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything"? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

Luke 11:5-8

Don't be discouraged if your "proposal" is not answered immediately. In the above parable Jesus is showing us that we need to make our "proposal" persistently. The man who went to his friend at midnight and pounded on his door got a bad reception.

We can picture one of our own friends treating us the same way. "Are you crazy? Coming to me in the middle of the night! Waking my kids! And then you expect me to get up and give you bread? Go on home, I'll talk to you tomorrow"

But we persist. We need the bread, and we know our friend well enough to believe that if we keep after him, he will relent and give us the bread we need. "Come on, Jack, I know you have bread in there, and I need it for my friend. I'm not going to let you have any sleep until you give it to me." At last our friend gets up and gives us bread. Not because we're friends, but because we have badgered him.

More than once Jesus uses the example of someone who is relentless in pestering God for help. He presents the widow who hounds the unjust judge until she is vindicated as an example of how believers should "pray and not lose heart" (Lk 18:1). He teaches his disciples the value of tenacity as he "holds out" on the Canaanite woman who seeks healing for her demon-possessed daughter (see Mt 15:21-28).

Jesus encourages us to pester the Father for renewal in the Holy Spirit. The Father won't be upset. He desires to give us the Holy Spirit far more than we thirst for him. But he waits. He lets us knock for a while. He gives us a chance to prove to ourselves that we're serious about receiving life from above. People who aren't urgent enough to become pests aren't urgent enough.

Keep "proposing." Keep asking. Jesus promises that if we ask, we will receive. But we have to ask with a heart that's pure enough, and urgent enough to keep asking.

What father among you, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scor­pion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!                                                                                                Luke 11:11-13

There is no such thing as approaching the Father for renewal in the Holy Spirit and being refused. This is a prayer that is always answered with a yes. Everyone who asks receives. Every­one. This is the gift Jesus came to give us. To make this gift available to us, he laid down his life. The fire of heaven is yours for the asking.

Have Faith in God

You are asking for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And now you begin to live in expectation of the answer. You are certain that the Holy Spirit in all his fullness is about to follow the path you have cleared for him right into the center of your heart. Faith that this will happen is not a matter of how you feel about it. It is a matter of the will. Jesus commands you to trust God in this matter, so you obey.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

John 14:15-17

You may feel nothing, see nothing, experience nothing but your own yearning. Never mind. Keep asking. Keep believing. God is about to set fire to your heart, because you have demonstrated that you mean your "proposal" by preparing the way.

From "Set Our Hearts On Fire"  published by Servant Publications 1998  

CHAPTER 4   -  OTHER PUBLICATIONS