Sitting in Starbucks, listening to some tunes and getting a little work done… God decided to interrupt my time and drop some revelation on me.

I was listening to an older worship album and they were saying that God was about to release a “new season” in the lives of the worshippers. The exhortation was that the veil was about to be pulled back and what had been held back was about to be unleashed on the Body of Christ.

In a lot of ways I love the language, I like the prospect of God pouring out things that are stored up in heaven and I think there is biblical premise for this (see Rev 8:4).

However, I felt God speak that the new season… the really crazy new season was already unleashed when Jesus died on the cross. Is there yet to revival poured out? Probably (and it’s probably waiting on some people to pray) but what about the continuous revival that we are supposed to live in?

I had a professor in college who was adamant that revival has a beginning and an ending. He would reference all of the ‘great’ revivals of the past 2000 years and point to their rising up and their fizzling out if you will. This prof believed that God brought Revival to us in “seasons” to reinvigorate the church or to do something really special for a while. We would be foolish and immature to believe that God had continuous Revival in mind.

Looking back, I can see where this man had formed a theology around his own experience and not the promises of God or our identity as Sons and Daughters. Forgive me, but I don’t see Sons and Daughters getting a day off from their identity. Now, they may have “seasons” where they aren’t living in awareness of their authority over sickness and the kingdom of the air but that isn’t a reflection of the heart of God as much as our own unbelief and fallen nature.

I’m excited about revivals to come. Seriously. Stoked about them.

But I want the revival of now. The season of identity, authority and power. It’s not something to come, it’s something that is. To believe anything less is to doubt the fullness of the cross and resurrection.

If you are waiting for a season of rain… step outside. It’s been raining for years.

 

“Could you meet with the President and not tell anyone?” -Bill Johnson

That question cut me like a hot knife, could I? Am I capable of such a thing?

Am I able to keep secret things a secret? This has always been hard for me, I’m a talker and a connector. I want to share with you the deep things of my heart and my life, partly out of an effort to live honestly and partly out of a desire for you to accept and respect me.

It’s a battle I’ve been fighting for some time, learning to hold onto and treasure the secret things of God, the intimate places of friendship. I’ve always struggled with others accepting me and part of that has led, in the past, to a dishonest and boasting life. There is something freeing about living in honesty and intimacy that challenges our human nature.

A week ago, Jennifer and I were finally married in front of our family and friends. It was the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen (I’ll post more on this later!) and incredibly meaningful. One of the elements we included was a Chuppah (Hoo-pah) which is a Jewish wedding tradition and symbolism of our relationship under the Shekinah of God. There is a great chapter on the Chuppah in Rob Bell’s book Sex God, which I highly recommend you give a read.

The Chuppah is a place of intimacy and togetherness under which only those who stand under it experience. For our marriage, it’s just Jenn and I standing under the presence of God. It’s about keeping our convenant relationship pure before the Father and dedicated solely to Him and to each other, private things, pure things, intimate things find their place under the covering of God. In layman’s terms, no one else is invited into our bedroom, that is a place for us alone. It goes further to an understanding of holding Jenn’s heart in my hands with all of her dreams, insecurities, thoughts and desires.

For there to be real true intimacy, she has to trust that I will keep us in total confidence.

This is a picture of our relationship with Holy Spirit. There is trust between the two of us, trust that I can hold the secret things of God in my heart, trust that I can participate in the marriage of the Spirit without cheating or betraying our covenant relationship. Yea, there’s the lived out part of all of this, just like in my marriage… you will know that I’m married by how I act publicly but there will always be things that only Jenn and I will know.

This is the picture of  my marriage to Holy Spirit, fully there  and out in the open but also fully confident and intimate. I’m learning to cultivate the secret things of God and hold them dearer than my own acceptance.