There must be something greater. There must be something more. This simply cannot be it. Birthing within the hearts of our young people is a cry for something greater than the lifeless and pretentious routine called church. There is a longing for a true spiritual experience of God, a longing for God Himself. Enough with the empty talk. We want the real thing.
Perhaps such a concept is not as unbiblical and new age as some would have us believe. After all the bible with replete with such examples. One of the most noteworthy is the manifestation of God in the temple after Solomon has dedicated it. God had given Solomon the blueprint for the building of the temple. The temple has just been built, the sacrifices made and Solomon dedicated the temple. Then look what happened:
“When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’s house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.” (2 Chron 7:1-4)
This is what many have called the manifest presence of God. It is when the presence of God is so real that we can feel Him, almost touch Him. This is what happens that God shows up in the church. You walk into the service and know that God is here. Our prayers take on a different dimension, our worship is lifted to a different plane. The presence of God will bring men to their knees in tears and conviction of sin. The Holy Spirit manifests in signs and wonders. Tongues, prophesy and miracles abound. I don’t know what is your vision of revival. This is mine.
How to we get there? How do we move from where we are to where God wants us to be? This glorious state where church becomes transformed into the spiritual temple of God where His manifest presence dwells? The bible itself gives us the answer. God Himself answers the question to those who have ears to hear.
“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.” (2 Chron 7:13,14)
When there is spiritual dryness, when true spirituality seems absent, when it seems as if God has not showed up in our congregation for a long time, God himself steps in to tell us what to do. The first – hunger – “If my people will…humble themselves and pray and seek my face”. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. I feel that as a church, we are simply not hungry enough. We have long deceived ourselves into spiritual complacency that we simply do not see our need for God, and hence there is no hunger. We must come to a state where we realize the immensity of our spiritual poverty, how sinful and fallen we are, how far from God we have come and how much we need Him. God waits for us to want Him so badly, to want Him more than anything else that we are willing to give anything to get Him.
The next condition is “turning away” – “…and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” It is not enough just to acknowledge intellectually that we are sinful. True repentance involves turning away from everything that is not of God, and turning back to our one true love, the God who loves us. We cannot love God and anything else at the same time. To turn away involves an active involvement of the mind, the emotion and the will. Our entire being inclines towards God, the compass of our souls. Grace may be free but it will cost us our every love and our very lives.
Are you content to play church Sunday after Sunday? The eyes and ears of God are open and attentive to the prayers of His beloved. God is waiting, waiting to pour out His Spirit in immeasurable abundance, waiting to manifest His presence in His holy congregation. The question is are we hungry enough to ask?