Just Do It…now!

Just Do It…Now!

The Nike© commercials urge people to "just do it." They are encouraging people in the area of athletics and to quit being a couch potato. Of course, ideally if you "just do it" you will need shoes and hopefully you will buy their shoes. The more you "just do it" the more your shoes will wear out and they will be rich from the repeat business.

They do not say it, but they are implying that they want you to "just do it" now! That is not a bad thing because Americans as a whole are great at procrastinating. Often what we may think is an impulse buy is really our caving in to the constant bombardment of advertising that we still hear subconsciously and finally wears us down!

Christians are good at procrastination. I do not know an honest Christian that would not say that this country is in great need of revival. With as many Christians as we have in this country, why do we not have a revival? Partly, because we are really seeking a political solution rather than a spiritual solution to the problems. We place our trust in platforms and parties, which is really placing our trust in men rather than God. There is no political solution to a spiritual problem. Yes, we should be good citizens and vote, but it is far better to seek to be good citizens of Heaven and seek revival.

Another reason we do not have revival is that we have relegated it to occurring only when we have revival meetings, which in our age is once a year whether we need it or not. God only shows up on the revival train once a year and those who miss it just have to wait another year.

Sadly, God arrives daily at the station and no one is there to meet Him. The one day a year we actually show up we often bypass Him because He did not show up dressed the way we thought He would or He did not bring His own brass band. So we leave Him at the station and bring in some noted "revivalist" that gets us all wound up with his thunder but leaves us as spiritually dry as when he came.

We may talk about the wonderful program and great sermons for awhile, but only for awhile. We start reading and praying again but this activity is much like a New Year’s resolution that lasts for a few days and then we go back to our normal mundane selfish ways until our emotions are stirred up again next year.

Revival does not come in a meeting. It comes in the heart of the Christian. Revival is nothing more and nothing less than a return to obedience to God. When a Christian swallows the lies of the world and the devil to the point he is choked and unable to breathe the air of Heaven then he needs the Holy Spirit maneuver to get the airway open through confession of the sin and removal of the blockage. Then Jesus performs His CPR (Christ’s Personal Resuscitation) to fill the Christian’s lungs with pure air again and to get his heart beating correctly in the rhythm of salvation’s joy. Christ and the Holy Spirit are ready to do this on a 24/7 basis and there is no waiting. There is no need for an insurance card because the Lord knows them that are His and payment has been made in full.

Quit procrastinating! Be consecrated today! Start a church and national revival with you! "Just do it" now!!!

Exodus 32:29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that He may bestow upon you a blessing this day. (KJV)

Consecrate means to devote yourself or dedicate yourself. In this passage, the words translated as consecrate literally mean to fill up your hands with God. I tried to get some background on this Hebrew idiom, but did not find it. Therefore, I will have to appropriate the phrase and give you what the phrase means to me.

In 1 Timothy 2:8, we are told to lift up holy hands in worship and prayer. This is an act of surrender and gesture of desire and willingness to receive from God what He would give. An old song speaks of God taking away all the things the writer valued most. This grieved him until He heard God say to lift his empty hands to Him. When the writer receives more of God’s eternal riches than he could store he realizes that God can not pour His riches into hands already full.

To fill up your hands with God you first have to empty them of all the vain and useless things that you are holding onto as if they were treasure. You may be holding on to habits that temporarily bring some pleasure to your mind and flesh, but rob you of being filled with God. Drop them like they were fiery coals before they burn you anymore. It may be places you like to go that you don’t want to be caught at if Jesus comes, but who knows when that is so you risk it. It may be friends you refuse to give up though they drag you down into this world’s muck and mire. If they are not helping you to get closer to Jesus then you need to get as far away from them as East is from West. It may be the time that you are wasting when you are commanded to redeem it. Whatever or whoever it is that has your hands full that you cannot receive from God dump it or them. Paul dropped all the things that he had in this world. What was treasure to him and this world before Christ became dung. What dung are you holding on to? Why smell that when you can smell sweet incense of Heaven as He communes with you and fills your hands with that which will be treasure forever and not just a season?