If Only We Believed

          I find myself increasingly concerned with the lack of faith exhibited by many Christians today. Oh, we still believe God can heal, forgive, bring jobs, and send financial help.  Our problem is that we don't seem to have faith that he can bring back the fire of the Holy Spirit in our churches.  More alarming is the fact that we seem to be fine with that.  We look around at all the larger than life issues going on in our world and fail to believe that God can bring back wayward people, change horrific outcomes, and bring back the revivals of which we've only read.  Immobilized with fear over current events, we hunker down in self preservation.  We contemplate our next move like a chess player going for the tournament win.  We forget to pray.  We forget to trust.  We get locked in a spiritual holding pattern.  And we stop believing that faith in God can change it all.
        

         The truth is, we are a bunch of finite humans trying to measure the ability of an infinite God. We are trying to determine what his next move will be instead of asking his next move to be the one thing we need the most.  Revival.  We are desperate for it.  Our souls are dry, barren places that need the promised water poured on them. (Isaiah 44:3) Our world needs us to be revived, because we still have work to do here.  Thus it behooves us to ponder this, what if we reclaimed the faith that brings revival?

            I spend a lot of time thinking about this, and when I do, this is what I see...  Our faith unleashes intense, burning revivals that completely change lives.  Our churches burst at the seams every Sunday.  Our pews are empty because the power and glory of God are so real among us that we can’t keep off our feet.  I can almost hear the shouting, the praising.  It's Heaven on earth.  No one watches the clock. No one sneaks out early.  No one leaves without a blessing.

            Because we live every week in joyous anticipation of the following Sunday, our communities see Christian change—then experience it.  We take back our city, our state, our country for Jesus. The headlines of the news are no longer a list of alleged injustices, but the amazing revivals that are sweeping the land.  Faith in God is no longer the exception, but the rule.  Our hearts are inexhaustible wells of faith, peace, and love.

            If you’ve read this far and find yourself snorting in derision because revivals like this aren't going to happen in our day, stop reading.  Put your Bible on the shelf—or donate it to someone who will use it—and tell God you don’t believe his promises, his power, or his purpose.  For me, I know and fully believe these things: Jesus Christ is always the same, (Hebrews 13:8) the God who spread Pentecostal fire on the people in Acts (Acts 2) is still able to do it for us,  and the circumstances of our world have not shortened his hand nor rendered him incapable.  If your God isn’t big enough to send worldwide revival, then you are serving the wrong God. 

            In Mark 9:17-27, we find the account of a distraught father whose son is on the brink of destruction.  Desperate to see his child delivered from the evil spirit that inhabited him, he brings his son to the  disciples only to find them unable to help him.  In an effort born of helpless distress and intense desire, he came to Jesus, begging for a miracle.   Jesus looks at him and says, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." (v.23,KJV)  The father can hardly believe his ears.  Simply believe?  What if it doesn't work?  What if his faith is misplaced?  But he's out of options and soon will be out of time.  So he musters what faith he can find in his soul, casts it on Jesus, and gets a miracle.

          Are we so different from that father?  Are we any less desperate for a miracle?  Are we willing to settle for a faithless form of Godliness that tricks ourselves but no one else? Or is our faith, our belief in the power of God, enough to pull us back from the brink?  You already know the answer; our saving grace comes only through unwavering faith in our omnipotent God.  The God who promised that nothing was impossible if we only believe.

       So tell me, do you believe?