For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Dear friends,
I pray you are well. I, as many of you, have a cry in my heart for revival in our nation. So what is revival? I really feel that revival comes as a result as a greater revelation of God's glory. The revelation of His glory reveals our lack thereof. I believe that is why the revivals of the past were marked with repentance and confession. I am convinced that what the church needs today is not more preaching and teaching and I am by no means lessening their importance. Too often there is a lack of understanding of the word and a lack of spiritual depth. Those are essentials, but what we really need in our churches today is a God encounter. Let's look at a few "close encounters of the divine kind."

Jacob- Jacob had a couple of God encounters. The first was through a dream after he had left home and was heading to Haran. The dream was of angels ascending and descending upon a ladder into heaven. It is interesting that Jesus said to Nathan that he would see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. I can't help but believe that ladder represented Jesus who is our access to heaven and the Father. Jacob set up a pillar there, poured oil upon it, called the place Bethel (House of God) and made a vow unto the Lord. That was in Genesis 28. In Genesis 32 he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord believed to be the pre-incarnate Christ and he was changed. He received a name change from heel-grabber to Prince with God. A God encounter can change your name.

Job- Job was described as a blameless and upright man, and one who feared God and shunned evil. In His distress he refused to speak evil against God, but he held fast to his own righteousness. It seemed he had things figured out despite his friends' objections, when God showed up. After the Lord had challenged Job, this man among men could only admit that he spoke of things he knew not and finished his response with these words, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." A God encounter will quickly expose any pride or self-righteousness.

Isaiah- Isaiah was an established prophet when in a sad and desperate time, he received a vision of the Lord. In Isaiah 6 we read of what he saw and heard. What was Isaiah's response to seeing God? "Woe is me, for I am undone! (ruined) Because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. A God encounter revealed his iniquity. He was cleansed, commissioned, and sent.

Peter- Jesus got in his boat. They had already stopped fishing and were cleaning their nets.They had caught nothing. Jesus sat in the boat and taught the multitudes and after a while Jesus told them to launch out into the deep and let down their nets for a catch." Reluctantly they obeyed Him and when the haul was so great the boats were in danger of sinking, he didn't say, "Wow! Jesus how about joining up with us and be our fish finder." I think he realized at that point that Jesus was more than a teacher and he was broken before Him.
Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" Instead of Jesus departing, Peter would change his pursuit and become a fisher of men.

In looking at moves of God in the past, they may have manifested themselves in slightly different ways among different groups of people but the common factor in all of them was the manifest presence of God. The essence of His glory is His goodness. Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4
It is not only the extension of His goodness to us, but also the revelation of His goodness that reveals man's lack thereof. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 Lord, we ask for a greater revelation of your glory in Your church and this earth. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.