What It Takes

I heard a phrase today that struck me... "If you want a movement, get moving."

Revival is here. We're in the midst of it. But its come down to action. We can't just pray for it anymore -- we have to open our eyes and see that its all around us. He's all around us. But He's not where we think He is. He's not in church (well, He is), He's out on the streets calling to His lost Treasure. He's out in the darkest places of this world waiting for one person to say "yes!" He's looking for His lost sheep. 

So many people say they want revival, but they don't really want it. Revival is messy. It's not politically correct. It's not normal. Jesus was the most normal Christian in the Bible, and He was radical. He was messy. He was politically incorrect. But Jesus didn't suffer through all of the things He suffered through just so that we could do church. He suffered in the dirt with sweat and blood in order to find those who are in the dirt, sweating and dying. He died a messy death to produce a people willing to get messy to find Him. He's looking for followers who are willing to do the same. He's looking for people willing to GO and sacrifice to bring His kingdom.

It's not about church anymore. It's about living radical lifestyles willing to go way out of the box in order to find the kingdom of God. It's about selling out. If we give anything less, what we find won't be worth it. 

God is looking for people who don't just "go to church," but who are the church. Who aren't bored by the lives they live -- but who spend their time getting people out of wheelchairs by the power and love of Christ. After all, no one who's raised someone from the dead is going to tell you that "Christianity is boring and irrelevant." 

Our lives are about action. About GOING. About bringing the power and love of God into the world around us and declaring that His kingdom is here. We have to be willing to get messy. We have to not care about being politically correct. We have to be DESPERATE. Desperate people see the kingdom.

It's about being fully abandoned. Being fully unashamed. Being fully capable of laying down our "grids" about who God is and what He is doing -- about not saying that "God is normal, so He wouldn't do that." It's about admitting that God isn't normal, He'll do whatever He wants, and He'll do crazy things to get the Treasure He's fought so hard for... even if it means being messy, or ridiculous, or out of the religious box. 

What it takes to REALLY live this "Christian" life is being willing to take God home with you. It means being willing to take God to the grocery store, or to the gym, or to school with you. It's not just about leaving Him at church or at your quiet times... it's about bringing His kingdom IN YOUR HEART to the darkest reaches of the people around you. Then, and only then, will true revival happen in this world. It's not about keeping God in the church. It's about getting Him out to the kingdom of this world through power and love. 

What it takes to bring revival is you. 

Be willing to go out of the box. 

(My favorite quote)

"I wouldn't cross the state line to tell you about my religion, but I'd crawl on my hands and knees on glass - go to Hell and back - to tell you about the love of my Savior."