By Andrew Strom.
Practical steps that will “REVOLUTIONIZE” your Christian walk:
For many years now I have studied the accounts of past Revivals
and Revivalists. But when you study this topic, one of the things
you see very quickly is that we in the church today are living well
below the level of Christianity that should be considered ‘normal’.
(-Even a lot of “Spirit-filled” believers today). When you see what
kind of Gospel was preached and what kind of Christian life was
lived in the Revival days of old, you start to hunger for that kind of
Christianity again. And you start to see that there is a kind-of
“Revived” life that is very attainable for us all today – but so few
are walking in it – or are even told that it exists.
In many ways, what I am talking about is the ‘Normal’ Christian
life. It is nothing else but the “new creation” life found in Romans
chapters 6 – 8. There is nothing “amazing” about it at all. Yet it is
so far above the kind of Christianity that we have been led to
expect, that many think it “unattainable”. How very sad – because
it is the free gift of God to us all.
Is it possible to walk before God in a constant state of being
‘clean’ before Him – and knowing it? Is it possible to walk with a
truly pure heart and clean conscience as our “normal” state –
every day? Is it possible to live in true victory over sin – at a
practical level? Is it possible to have the strongholds of sin and
pride in our fallen nature so dealt-with that they hardly bother us at all?
The answer to these questions is ‘Yes’. And one of the key things
that our website has to be about, is how to come into this kind of
Christianity – how to literally have a “personal Revival”.
STEP ONE – MAKE a “LIST”
As all Scripture and Revival history shows – a true Revival begins
with “Deep Repentance”. And in our personal lives, it so often
begins with making a “list” – literally – of ANY sin or compromise
or “cloud” that is in our life – and confessing those sins to God
with real sorrow and repentance. Any person who cannot make a
‘LIST’ like that – and spend time confessing their sins before God
(-and forsaking them!) – is not really serious about becoming
‘Revived’. This is the first place to start.
In fact, please stop reading this right now. Please find a piece of
paper and write down a List of every sin or ‘doubtful’ thing in your
life. Ask God to “shine His light” into your heart and show you
everything that you need to repent of. Then simply get alone with
Him and go through that List – repenting of each thing one by one –
deeply confessing and forsaking them before the Lord.
I believe a lot of people will have a “Personal Revival” just through
doing that! -In fact, I know of many people who have literally been
‘revived’ through this simple process. So please – DO IT NOW! This
first step is so important that I do not believe there is any point
reading further until you have gone through it.
THEN – “WALKING” in it:
Now, after you have been through this Repentance process, what
you are left with is a CLEAN CONSCIENCE. [-This is assuming
that you have already been through the other basic steps found in
Romans 6 – 8. ie. WATER-BAPTISM (-a “death” to the old life)
and also RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT (-without which we do
not have the ‘POWER’ to walk in a truly ‘Revived’ state). Please
see my other articles for more on these two steps if you need to].
Assuming that you have these basic things in place, and that you
have now REPENTED DEEPLY by confessing your sins to God
one by one, you should now sense a RENEWED COMMUNION
with God through having a totally CLEAN CONSCIENCE before
Him. Is that what you are sensing?
The Bible speaks many times of having a conscience that is
“sprinkled clean” by God. -And what a precious thing this is! In
fact, it is fair to say that the Christian life consists of- (1) GETTING
a clean conscience, and (2) KEEPING it clean! -It is pretty much
as simple as that!
So how do you “walk” in a ‘Revived’ state before God? -Simply by
walking in a way that KEEPS YOUR CONSCIENCE CLEAN. That
is what Romans 8 is all about! -That is what 1 John 3 is all about!
-Keeping your heart PURE before God. -Getting a clean
conscience and WALKING IN IT – by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Special blessings to all.
Ian Thomson 