We are officially a family without a church

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by mizpeh

But what if you had stayed? Maybe you could have been the spark that led to a full blaze of revival fire in that church.

At every church we were at, we stayed until it was made clear to us that we needed to move on. We tried to encourage and exhort the brethren to press forward, to persevere in prayer, to seek God for a mighty revival, to just let God have his way with us... and in some places things began to move along... until it was shut down.

There is a reason Paul said 'quench not the Spirit'. I don't know if any of this makes sense to you, but we certainly did not take the attitude of going to a church, not finding everything to our liking, and then leaving in a huff. We literally laboured and travailed for every church we were at, until it was made crystal clear that we simply were not going to fit in whatsoever.

Again, not sure if this makes sense to you or if you can relate.

Imagine... you go to a church... in your spirit you perceive that the Spirit of God is not allowed full sway, as evidenced by every meeting going like clockwork with nothing SIGNIFICANT happening... milquetoast... so the burden is there. Not a 'gee, these people are lame' mindset, but a YEARNING FOR A MOVE OF GOD, an almost palpable sense that minds are clouded to the spiritual realities that await them if ONLY they would turn loose of their man-made programs and ideas and SEEK GOD.

So you pray. Before meeting, you are praying, for God to have his way, for blinders to be removed, for EVERYTHING THAT HINDERS in yourself to be exposed and removed, for EVERYTHING THAT HINDERS in others in the meeting to be removed, for ONLY GOD TO RECEIVE GLORY, for God to glorify His name by stretching forth his hand and SAVE SOULS and heal bodies. This is no ordinary prayer 'for revival', this becomes a TRAVAIL, literally like you are in labour in your spirit. The entire meeting you are constantly praying, quietly. Sometimes you spend the entire meeting on the floor under a pew seeking God, beseeching God to remove all flesh and carnality in you and in this meeting, earnestly, FERVENTLY praying for God to answer by fire, to fill this place with his GLORY...

Sometimes others get the burden as well, and I have seen a couple meetings ascend into full blown prayer meetings like old times... But then... as you can literally FEEL IT reaching a breaking point, where expectation begins to fill the air, when not only you but OTHERS AS WELL begin to pray on a new level in the holy Ghost.... SUDDENLY...

The preacher is at the microphone telling everyone what a wonderful time we all had and be sure to come back next week and don't forget the peanut brittle sale is starting up in a couple weeks... and even as you ignore the 'announcements' and try to PRESS ON in the Spirit, you feel it... you feel it lifting... the atmosphere of HOLINESS begins to depart... frivolity and 'business as usual' sets in, everyone leaves off praying... until you feel empty and depleted and it's almost like you can feel the Spirit of God being shoved out the door and hurry turn off the lights and can't wait to get to Pizza hut...

And you leave... and you pray at home, and the burden stays with you for days, weeks, months... and every single meeting you see this STRUGGLE, this WARFARE in the spirit, between the forces of carnality and MAN's glory on the one hand, and the Spirit of God who wishes to SHAKE THE PLACE WHERE WE ARE ASSEMBLED....

After several months, one time you come to meeting... and there is a difference. The burden is simply... GONE. You have a peace, albeit a sad peace. There is no burden, there is a significant assurance that people have chosen what they wish to have, the battle is over, and God has been placed on the shelf. Perhaps another time, perhaps another generation.

Perhaps Ichabod.

But in any event, you know in your heart, you cannot stay, lest you become like them - complacent, satisfied...

'I'm satisfied,
I'm satisfied,
I am satisfied, with Jesus!
But the question comes to me,
as I think of Calvary,
Is my master, satisfied, with me?'

You leave, not with a prideful arrogance, not with a 'ha, they are so spiritually dead, thankfully *I* am alive' kind of attitude, but just a sadness... sadness for them, sadness for yourself, sadness most of all for this generation that has not seen a REAL GENUINE MOVE OF GOD, sadness for how much God wants to do on our behalf, how much the Lord wishes and desires to show us his glory... yet we shrink back, we run from his presence, it's too much, too uncomfortable... and yet we claim to be 'pentecostal'.

A great many Pentecostals have no idea what Pentecost is like.

And that is just sad.