When you look at Genesis, you see the perfect will of God being displayed. That picture also pinpoints where spiritual warfare exists at its highest levels. What was going on there, is what the enemies of God are striving with all their might to keep from happening now. First, there was creation culminating with God breathing life into man. The war over that, over men being saved and breathed upon by the Spirit of God is almost beyond description. So successful has this war been conducted by enemies, men are perfectly will to settle for being a lump of clay, formed after the image of God, but absent of the life of God. The Holy Ghost creation (new spirit) baptized and breathed life into (Holy Ghbost baptized) life is constantly under attack. Even those who say they believe in it resist it. They resist it by just redefining what it is so they can say they believe, they have, but in fact they do not.
Secondly, God came down to visit with man. This is "revival". This is the promise of Acts 3:19 "times of refreshing (revival) from the presence of the Lord". The resistance to this is equally as widespread and powerful. The resistance is clever as well. One way the enemy has seduced us is by just confusing "revival" (a time of refreshing in God's presence) with "harvest", the product of that time in God's presence. Harvest is souls saved, prayers answered, victory over our foes, dominance over our own flesh. So seductive has this war been that people don't know the difference. They spend enormous amounts of energy, money, time and everything else trying to have a harvest while studiously avoiding having revival.
When you look at the modern church and you see that it is almost totally focused on man (not God), you will see the success of our enemy on display. Man has learned how, by various means, to have "harvest" of a sorts while resisting revival. Those means might include anything from threats, fear, lollipops, free houses or just well-meaning displays of the love of the brother. All the while we are producing a "harvest" by our own devices, revival is forsaken. Revival is a time with God. The word "refreshing" (Acts 3:19) literally means revival or...a catching of the breath. God comes and we catch His breath...and it is reviving! Many are those who have produced harvest by their own devices who are afraid of "revival" for fear it would disturb their harvest (people). Too much God might drive away those who weren't converted to God to start with. They were converted to the religious, manipulative promises of man.
So successful has this war against the plan of God been, people arn't trained or taught the value of revival. They may value the harvest, but not the revival. This has required redefining of revival since it is in God's Word, God's plan. This has also required redefining, harvest, church, and purposes of God. It is required elimination of "divine order" (loving God first, with all our beingn and then loving man secondly). It has almost eliminated and certainly redefined the five fold ministry gifts and what they should be doing. Now, these ministries no longer see it as their duty or work to lead people to times of refreshing. Getting people into God's presence is not on their agenda. True revival meetings have been abandoned. Since they have not taught people to value a time in God's presence, the people won't show up for it anyway. It is as if that whole idea of revival has been cut out of their thinking. They lead people to salvation, to success, to prosperity, to clean living, maturity...but not to God's presence. They have redefined maturity only as a stable, productive condition. Being thirsty for a "time" in God's presence and able to have such a time, is not part of their defining of maturity. They send the youth off to Bible college and go themselves to conferences where they hope to learn a new earthly methods for have a bigger earthly harvest and they buy into every scheme offered, except the one that requires hungering and thirsting after a "time" with God.
We have been redeemed from the curse in order for God to give us the blessing of Abraham. The religious church does not really want Abraham's blessing. To avoid having it, once again,they redefine it. Some say it was money, some say it was salvation, some come up with other handy dandy definitions. Abrahams blessing? It is so simple, you wonder how anybody could miss it. God came down for a visit. The harvest? You.
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