March
1
I will open the windows
of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough
room to take it in! (Malachi 3:10 NLT).
There is very much
prayer being made, and appeal being pressed for revival.... If the Spirit of
God either ignores or transcends so much that marks the Christian system, and
makes it as though it counts so little, (and the Holy Spirit never compromises
on what is vital and really of God), does it not mean that He calls for a
reconsideration of very much that obtains? The days of the Church's greatest
spiritual power and impact were days when ecclesiastical forms, architecture
and ritual were nil, and the Lord Himself was everything.... To get away from
the lesser things we need a mighty visitation of the Spirit of God; this, and
this only, will do it. Most people agree to this, and we have heard very much
said along this line. What has always perplexed us is that, while things of
this kind have been so repeatedly and strongly stated, the implication seems
never to have registered itself with sufficient strength as to result in
practical adjustments. So, on the other hand, if we seriously faced the things
which the Spirit of God has again and again ruled out when He has had His way,
would not the way be opened for a more permanent high level of
spiritual life, fullness, and effectiveness?
Is not reformation an
essential part of revival? Does not the Lord call for certain drastic
adjustments before He can "open the windows of heaven"? (Mal. 3:10).
Whenever and wherever, by a new revealing of Himself, His purpose and method,
the Lord has secured those who have moved out on to the ground of Christ only and
in fullness, they have always had to meet a great and painful cost. Usually it
has been their own brethren in Christ who have exacted it.... How difficult it
is for organized Christianity to believe that anything very much of real value
can go on without machinery, publicity, and all the framework of organized
work! May it be well to pause and consider whether God's mightiest and most
fruitful works in nature and in grace are done hiddenly, quietly,
unobtrusively, and – in many cases – done before anyone knows about it? What of
the resurrection of nature every Spring-time? The law of God's highest work is
the biological, the law of Life; it is organic.
By
T. Austin-Sparks from: The Release of
the Lord - Chapter 7
This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.
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