Is sin more powerful than God?

     Is sin more powerful than God?  Some think so, though they may not say it that way.  Some insist on thinking that the absence of sin will result in revival, that if we get clean enough then God will come and bring revival.  Do you think that way?  You will have lots of company if you do.  However, when Adam sinned, did he clean up so God would come, or, did God come to him as is?   Did Jesus come when sin was absent or sin was present?  Put in a more modern idea, do you have to be holy and pure to get the Holy Ghost or do you get the Holy Ghost so He can lead you to holiness and purity?  Sin does not seperate God from you, it seperates you from God. It makes you hide from Him, not vice versa.  True revival requires you to quit hiding from Him, stop trying to measure up, come out from hiding and seek the reality of God.  Only then can He do His work on us.  While God is looking for us to give us revival, all too often we are hidden from His presence in the forest of religion, burdened with condemnation and historic guilt, repeating the error of Adam, over and over - hiding from God.  

    In our hiding, we are attempting to deal with sin our way, not God's.  We are whiting the sepulcher.  We are dressing up the outside, finding comfort in the shadow of the tree of pretentious religion. We think we are doing okay, since there are so many others behind the trees with us. And, religious leaders are attracted to this approach.  They will preach condemnation, telling listeners that if they got rid of all sin, they could have revival. Then, when revival doesn't come, they can load the folks up with even more condemnation for not being good enough at repenting and self-cleansing.  Of course then, because of the growth of the number of people hiding, they have to build bigger trees, hence the mega-church mentality, people friendly mentality.

   The old time way to revival, which many admire, is to shout "repent" long and loud, insinuating that sin stands between us and God, but did it with Adam?  It insinuates God might come to us if we were only clean enough, but that is not the Bible record.  No, God came looking for Adam. Adam was busy dealing with sin - his way!   Man, without the constant leadership of the Spirit will always put himself in a position to be in control, to take charge and take credit.  "We fasted..repented...chastised ourselves...and God gave us revival".  Really?  That may have appeared to work, but the Bible actually lays out a different approach, one that puts God in the driver seat and us like sheep waiting upon the Master.   It is simple.  If we come to Jesus thirsty for the Spirit, He will give us to drink and out of our belly shall flow rivers of living water and we will have revival (Jo. 7:37-39).   The cost of revival?  Desperate hunger for more of the Spirit, more of our "earnest", more of "new wine", more of living water.  Should we repent of sin?  Yes!  Yes!  And, when you are walking in the fulness of the Spirit, you will do it more often and do it better.