Worship
Scripture
“‘Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.’
“When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites, “You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.”’ So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.
“Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting.’ Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” -Exodus 33:3-11
The Heart of Revival
Here was Moses, leading the charge, called to a “stiff-necked” people whom God was ready to send into the Promised Land without Him. They were steeped in idol worship, distracted, discontent, and wandering. Their Promise Keeper was going to deliver them to the Promised Land regardless, but there was the possibility it would be without His presence. They were faced with a question that took a deep soul searching:
Did the people of God want His presence or only His blessing? This is the heart of revival.
“… to be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realisation of the presence of God, having his fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else.” -Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Revival”
When faced with the reality of God withholding His presence, sadness and grief ensued. What had they been pursuing all this time? Holy repentance came, and they took off their ornaments. They stripped down the things that were not of God. The beautiful and redemptive part of this act of surrender was that these very ornaments would be used for the building of the tabernacle. God redeems all things!
Leadership Through Example
Then we see Moses sets up a tent of meeting where the people could go and seek the Lord. Did they really want intimacy with Him? Were they willing to travel even a little bit to meet with God outside the camp?
“This was not something that Moses organized or planned or strategized. He sought God, radically and spontaneously. When Moses did that, God touched the hearts of the people.” -David Guzik, Exodus 33 commentary
Leaders, I implore you to “go there” with God first so that others can follow you! Where you go with the Lord in intimacy, others will follow. Let them see your desire for Jesus and your sacrifice to go and do wherever He is calling, no matter the cost. Personal revival will spread to others like wildfire! Not everyone would go to meet with God outside the camp; it took a significant effort and desire to go. But Moses went, and others followed right behind him.
“… when the Holy Spirit of God begins to deal with any one of us, there will be this separation. It will not be paraded, it will not be the Pharisees’ ‘I am holier than thou’ attitude. No, once a man begins to be burdened for the glory of God and the state of the Church, he immediately feels the call to consecration, he ‘goes out’ as it were.” -Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Revival”
Moses showed the people how to worship God. There was something very special in his relationship with Him that made others hungry. People were compelled to worship because of Moses’ life of intimacy. And we see Joshua, specifically, Moses’ servant who was being raised up and prepared to lead, not wanting to leave that tent of meeting even after Moses would leave. Moses’ hunger stirred up Joshua to pursue that same level of intimacy that Moses had with the Lord!
The Promise of More
Our own personal revivals will impact those who are close to us. Sons and daughters will be stirred up, raised up, and catapulted forward!
“Revival always comes through revivalists, men and women of God who become so gripped by a passion for God’s Kingdom and so surrendered to the King that He commissions them with authority and power to bring the Kingdom through prophetic revelation and signs and wonders. They are pioneers and trailblazers, bushwhacking their way into enemy territory and claiming it for the Kingdom. They are given spikes in human experience that can be clearly recognized as the fruit of a spiritual anointing.” -Kris Vallatton, “Supernatural Ways of Royalty”
Moses had an obsession with God. Do you? His face-to-face relationship with God was everything to Him. He wanted to know the Lord so deeply and intimately that He sought Him for not only himself but also for his nation. He wanted His presence more than anything! This would differentiate them from all other nations of the Earth. God’s presence with them would be their greatest descriptor. As Moses “went there” with God, he also stood in the gap for the people God had assigned him to lead. He stood in intercession for his nation before his Friend and His covenant-keeping God.
Has God called you to a personal revival in this hour? I believe He has. Has He called you to lead people into intimacy with Him? I believe He has. Has He called you to stand in the gap for your nation or nations? I believe He has. If you are following this whole movement of Arise because it has captured your heart and attention and you are longing to be a powerful force for the Kingdom of God, then this word is for you today. It’s time to stretch out in surrender and pursue Jesus with your whole life—nothing held back and nothing reserved. Sounds radical and maybe even impossible. But I believe with my whole heart that if we even give Him a seed of desire, He will bring forth a harvest of revival in and through our lives. We hand Him the seed and allow Him to water it and grow it into something even our own eyes have never seen or our minds have comprehended.
A Challenge to Surrender
Sisters, it’s time to come out from the shadows and off the sidelines for this next era of a massive move of God. It’s my passion and calling to see an army of women arise in this hour who desire personal revival and who will lead others to that same place of intimacy you have dared to go with God, no matter the cost. It’s our hour to then lead others into that same place, just like Moses did for Joshua and his nation. Families, neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries will be ablaze with the fire of God!
“This is who we are—made in God’s image, bearing His heart, and marked with the fire of heaven. We are the wild lovers of God.” -Nate Johnson
“Then the Lord said: ‘I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wondersnever before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. Obey what I commandyou today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.’” -Exodus 34:10-14, emphasis added
And here God came with even more promises for His people, not based on anything but their repentance and surrender. He was promising even more wonders—more than they had ever seen in any nation in the entire world. The people stretched out, and God responded beyond what they had even longed for. He’s so wonderful like that! We are happy with a crumb of response from God, and He’s ready to set before us a banqueting table of wonder! I believe it’s time to expect and ask for impossibilities to be our realities! But let’s not forget what He did desire from them—their obedience and hearts fully submitted to Him, not tolerating worship of anyone or anything but Him. And that holds true for us, women of God, right now. Nothing but Jesus.
I leave you with a very challenging and thought-provoking quote from Charles Finney:
“Young converts should be taught that they have renounced the ownership of all their possessions, and of themselves, or if they have not done this they are not Christians. They should not be left to think that anything is their own; their time, property, influence, faculties, bodies, or souls. ‘Ye are not your own;’ all belong to God; and when they submitted to God, they made a free surrender of all to him, to be ruled and disposed of at his pleasure. They have no right to spend one hour as if their time was their own. No right to go anywhere, or do anything, for themselves, but should hold all at the disposal of God, and employ all for the glory of God. If they not, they ought not to call themselves Christians, for the very idea of being a Christian is to renounce self and become entirely consecrated to God. A man has no more right to withhold anything from God, than he has to rob or steal. It is robbery in the highest sense of the term.” -Charles G. Finney, “Lectures on Revivals of Religion”
A Few Key Notes
- An Arise short-term mission team will be sharing the gospel in Vancouver, Washington next month, and we need prayer warriors to intercede for this team over the week. Email me at [email protected] for details on joining the prayer team.
- The last Arise worship night is August 10. Worship will be led by Jordan Gaudet, Lizzy King, and Julie King. Please RSVP by emailing me at [email protected]. The first 30 people to register are welcome!
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Lewisville, Texas
- Mark your calendars for three things coming soon from Arise:
September 1: a 40-day fast and devotional series
October 1: fall Arise luncheon
October 22-23: Midland Harvest Day
- I have a new book coming out soon! Keep an eye out for details on purchasing “Revivalist Arise.”
