Every spiritual awakening, revival, or whatever you’d like to call it, has certain visible characteristics. This is the third and final post in the series, “Revival Characteristics”.
Fences are repaired.
The boundaries of truth.
Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set. Proverbs 22:28 NKJV
Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers set up by previous generations. (Proverbs 22:28 NLT)
I’ve noticed the idea of absolute truth is hard for some (most of us) to handle. Some use it as a way to control others. They hold “truth” over other lives like a club of sorts. They even blame God for the way they act, saying they’re just “defending truth”.
Others propound the idea that truth must be redefined for each generation. But as Proverbs talks about not moving the “ancient boundaries”, to change the meaning and substance of truth every twenty to thirty years is like moving someone’s property line every so often. Someone is going to be cheated.
Each generation struggles with the process of handing off the baton of truth. Because truth can be very uncomfortable and demand much change, it is easier to compromise a little to make it more acceptable and less divisive.
But someone gets cheated! Someone loses each time the fence is moved. I believe each generation has become “cheated” in a greater way than the previous one. As the world continues to spin, almost out of control, the church is allowing more and more “property lines” to be violated.
This is the hour to stand for truth. The Holy Spirit wants to show us where the old “fence posts” of truth really are. To give us revelation from the Word so we can regain the ground lost through compromise. Future generations are right now in our care, desperately needing to know the difference between truth and error.
Searching the Scriptures and the God of the Scriptures is like rebuilding a fence. The Lord will show us “the property lines” like He did for Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, when we seek him with all our heart.
The Lord recently gave me this word:
“This revival, this awakening will not come from above as much as it will be a peeling away of the old calloused ways. As in Noah’s day, when the heavens were opened, first the deep was broken. More water poured forth from the depth than from above.
“I have deposited more than is required. For generations I have poured forth, deposited revelation upon revelation; power and glory incrementally.
“I’m not requiring my church to learn new things, as some may teach. If my people will simply learn my ways, and follow the path I have set before them, the grace to win the lost and raise the dead will certainly accompany their steps.
“So now it’s time to rebuild the altars, reclaim the wells, and mend the fences. Prepare for glory.”
Rebuilding, reclaiming, and mending is not something to be taken lightly. The enemy, the “Seven Spirits” of the land, do not simply step aside to allow the Kingdom of God to dominate. The devil will do everything possible to keep you and I preoccupied, too busy, indifferent, or whatever; just as long as we don’t attempt to lay claim to the promises and power of God.
But we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.
Jan Grace 