Shining Lights in the Next Great Revival

We all know how blessed we are to have been exposed to the faith message and to come into the knowledge that God has a solution in His Word for every problem we face in life. In fact, most of us feel that we were actually part of a great revival, a move of God in this generation that blessed us with spiritual understanding of the whole counsel of God’s Word. We were, in fact, blessed with the anointing to rightly divide the Word of truth.

As ministers of the Gospel, our assignment is to bring this fundamental truth to everyone we are ministering to. No matter what office of ministry we stand in, we are filled with a passion for all believers to know and understand the redemptive truths that transform a person’s life into one of true victorious living.

Also, as ministers of this great grace, we know that we are always going to be at the forefront of having to live these truths out in our own lives before we have much credibility in delivering them to others. We know that because we will be living as the “tip of the spear” in God’s arsenal, we are going to have the greatest opposition from Satan of any believers.

“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I remember the sage wisdom I heard from Pastor Bob Yandian once, when he said, “There are only two times that the devil will attack your life. One is when you are outside the will of God, and the other is when you are inside the will of God. Isn’t that comforting to know?” Yes, we all know that we will face, and have faced, a lot of opposition from the devil in our lives and ministries. And when the opposition comes, most of the time it is not because we have opened the door; it is just simply going to come. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I personally was born again right after reading this verse, and having Jesus speak to me in what I thought at the time was an audible voice. He said, “Doug, I am alive, and I am the Lord.” I had started reading the Bible because of what someone said to me about Jesus, and after reading Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I then came to this life-changing part of the book of John and began my Christian pilgrimage. That was 46 years ago, and as I look back, I realize the Lord was preparing me from the very beginning for the opposition that ministers face.

We know that Satan tried to kill Moses as an infant. He also tried to kill Jesus as an infant. And I submit to you, he has tried to kill every ministry in its infancy, when it is the most vulnerable. The opposition at the beginning of pioneering a work for God is designed to kill it before it even begins. But there will be opposition all along the way. There are seasons that the opposition is so relentless and of such a long duration, it is obviously designed by our adversary to kill the ministry. I firmly believe that this opposition usually comes just before the greatest breakthroughs, victories, and advancements are about to happen.

Satan is a spiritual moron, and he is certainly insane, but he is not stupid in warfare. Yes, he always fights dirty, but he never understands the secret, spiritual weapons that God has given to His army, and he always overplays his hand.

I believe that much of Satan’s opposition comes at the midway point in a minister’s assignment. It is designed to wear them down and to cause inescapable discouragement. We have all faced those feelings in the midst of prolonged opposition. The opposition can come in many forms: division and disunity in the house, financial and health challenges, major losses and setbacks, etc. But the good news is that this is an indication your assignment is only halfway over, and the second half will be far more glorious than the first.

Practice What You Preach

What do we do? We practice what we preach. We go to the Word and we stand on the glorious promises of God. Psalm 5:11-12 encourages us: “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You: Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those who love Your name be joyful in You. For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous: with favor You will surround him as with a shield.”

As a minister, you started this journey because, deep in your heart, you love God’s righteous cause. Psalm 35:7 says, “Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause: And let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”

While the entire world around us is being shaken, we are being preserved to be the shining lights of the next and imminent great revival. Psalm 37:18-19 says, “The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”

Iron Sharpening Iron

I know that, as ministers, a message like this can sound like preaching to the choir, but take this as it was intended to be: encouraging words as a result of our abiding care for one another, designed to continue the “iron sharpening iron” process.

You are not alone, and we all face the same challenges. Together we will attain the team victory. Jesus gave us the authority to say and to do exactly what He did: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I call you victorious!

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