PREPARING FOR REVIVAL
How do we prepare for revival? I had a pastor friend of mine tell me, “Kevin, if you really believe revival is coming, you will stock up on toilet paper at your church!” I laughed out loud at that bizarre but practical advice. But more than toilet paper, the calling of the Church is to prepare our lives. How does Jesus tell us to prepare in Matthew 24? It’s probably no surprise to you at this point that the answer is “The Kingdom of God.”
This is how the whole story began, isn’t it? Remember back in the beginning of Matthew, before Jesus changed water into wine and hearts back to the Father. It began with the last of the Old Covenant prophets preaching something important out in the desert.
“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’ " (Matthew 3:1-2).
So how do we prepare for what God has coming next? If you are a hostile foreigner to the Kingdom of God, learn about it and listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting to flee this world’s City of Destruction. Let God's will take sway in your life and make the life-altering, destiny-changing choice to become a broken immigrant to the Kingdom of God.
And if you are a broken immigrant, come in joyfully, knowing that all of Heaven is celebrating your citizenship in the Kingdom where the King's will holds sway! And the King Himself? It's been His will for you to come into relationship with Him in His glory from the very beginning. This is the fullness of His will. Immediately your spirit takes on the righteousness of Christ and soon that brokenness you entered with will begin healing. You will find the path to becoming a loyal citizen.
And if you’re a loyal citizen, then you are in school! This isn’t any regular school. This is the school with one goal only—to make you into the image of Christ. The Holy Spirit will show you how to think like Him, talk like Him, act like Him, and pick up your cross to follow Him. This happens, not because you know about Him, but because YOU KNOW HIM and HE KNOWS YOU. You become like Him because you walk and talk with Him every day. Soon you won’t be happy any more just being in school. Soon enough something will begin stirring inside you and you will find yourself with a passion, and a job as an ambassador.
If you are a passionate ambassador you will be sent into the world to show the way to the Kingdom of God. You go into the world no longer the citizen of a doomed City of Destruction. Instead you burn with the passion of Christ to see freedom come to those being pulled into eternal death by their overwhelming burden of sin. You are going to them, saying, “Look, my friend. Look up there. Do you see it in the distance? That is another Kingdom. That is the place God has for you. That, my friend, is the Kingdom of God!”
“What do I do to become a citizen in that Kingdom of God?”
“You run, my friend. You run to the path, and the cross, and the King. Run. Run to the Kingdom. We are waiting for you now.”
That's how you prepare for the next, last, and Greatest Awakening revival. That’s the Kingdom of God.
That, my friend, is Jesusland!
I’ll see you there.
This is how the whole story began, isn’t it? Remember back in the beginning of Matthew, before Jesus changed water into wine and hearts back to the Father. It began with the last of the Old Covenant prophets preaching something important out in the desert.
“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’ " (Matthew 3:1-2).
So how do we prepare for what God has coming next? If you are a hostile foreigner to the Kingdom of God, learn about it and listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting to flee this world’s City of Destruction. Let God's will take sway in your life and make the life-altering, destiny-changing choice to become a broken immigrant to the Kingdom of God.
And if you are a broken immigrant, come in joyfully, knowing that all of Heaven is celebrating your citizenship in the Kingdom where the King's will holds sway! And the King Himself? It's been His will for you to come into relationship with Him in His glory from the very beginning. This is the fullness of His will. Immediately your spirit takes on the righteousness of Christ and soon that brokenness you entered with will begin healing. You will find the path to becoming a loyal citizen.
And if you’re a loyal citizen, then you are in school! This isn’t any regular school. This is the school with one goal only—to make you into the image of Christ. The Holy Spirit will show you how to think like Him, talk like Him, act like Him, and pick up your cross to follow Him. This happens, not because you know about Him, but because YOU KNOW HIM and HE KNOWS YOU. You become like Him because you walk and talk with Him every day. Soon you won’t be happy any more just being in school. Soon enough something will begin stirring inside you and you will find yourself with a passion, and a job as an ambassador.
If you are a passionate ambassador you will be sent into the world to show the way to the Kingdom of God. You go into the world no longer the citizen of a doomed City of Destruction. Instead you burn with the passion of Christ to see freedom come to those being pulled into eternal death by their overwhelming burden of sin. You are going to them, saying, “Look, my friend. Look up there. Do you see it in the distance? That is another Kingdom. That is the place God has for you. That, my friend, is the Kingdom of God!”
“What do I do to become a citizen in that Kingdom of God?”
“You run, my friend. You run to the path, and the cross, and the King. Run. Run to the Kingdom. We are waiting for you now.”
That's how you prepare for the next, last, and Greatest Awakening revival. That’s the Kingdom of God.
That, my friend, is Jesusland!
I’ll see you there.
*** This is a segment from the book “Jesusland” by Kevin Neville. Kevin has served as a pastor in family ministries in various churches in the US and Canada for over 25 years. He is passionate about the Kingdom of God and NextGen ministries. He currently lives with his wife, three children, two dogs, and a bunny in Rochester, New York where he serves as the NextGen Director for Elim Fellowship and Family Ministries Pastor at Bethel Christian Fellowship. When he’s not in one of these places, he can often be found hiking on the Appalachian Trail or in a coffee shop studying and writing about the Kingdom of God.***