God’s keys for restoration and revival

Revival. A hype or a true desire? There’s a big difference between these two options. In the last decade we heard of several revivals in the world. Some of them were real, others were not but were still called a revival. Why didn’t the people of God recognize the false teachings and (in some cases) the demonic manifestations? Because in these days there are only a hand full of people who are willing to test everything. Because many people did not test the fruits of these false revivals, many were/are deceived. We saw how demonic manifestations were presented as the work of the Holy Spirit and heard a lot of prosperity teachings. Not all of these teachings were false, in fact most of it was true. But parts of these teachings were very false. Now you probably say that if 99% of it was true, that you take that 1% for granted. Well, I can imagine why you think that way, but I don’t agree with that way of thinking. Imagine a glass of pure water. Nothing wrong with it, right? Now add one drop of poison to it. What would you do? Take one drop out of the glass and drink the rest? Of course not! That one drop of poison just poisoned the whole glass of water. Satan will never come with only lies. That would make it to easy to recognize his works and fruits. He will come with 99% of Gods truth and adds one drop of his lies to it. Now that is why so many people are being deceived. They hear and see a lot of the truths they learned in Church, from the Bible and from the Holy Spirit and because of that, they assume that that one drop of lies is the truth as well.

"Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?" He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away." Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

Luke 21:7-11

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Matthew 7:15-23

These are very serious warning. It is the difference between life and dead! In the verse from Luke 21 we see an exact description from what’s going on in the world today. The signs that are mentioned by our Lord Jesus can be recognized when we watch today’s news. Especially in this year, 2010, we see a lot of it happen! But the end will not come right away! First there is work to do. In Matthew 7 we see another warning of the Lord Jesus where He warns us to watch out for false prophets. How do we recognize them? By their fruits! How can we tell if their fruits are good? By testing the fruits! I can’t tell you enough how important it is to test everything! Many Christians are living in big (spiritual) troubles which they wouldn’t have had if they would have tested everything.

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

Almost every Christian wants a revival to happen in their Church and area. We all heard beautiful stories of how the Spirit changed whole cities and about how it enriched the lives of the people there. I can’t blame them for wanting that, it’s something I long for as well. I do believe in the work of the Holy Spirit and I do believe that He works with mighty manifestations. Yes, it can happen that people start to shake or doing some weird things when the power of the Holy Spirits comes upon them. The thing I’m trying to point out here is that there is not much distinction among the Christians today. Satan always tries to copy the work of God. That should not be a shocking surprise for us, but knowing that, we should have a constant awareness of it.

How does a revival doesn’t start

What are the fruits of a starting revival? Healings? Deliverance of demons? Other signs and miracles? Inspired teaching’s? No. None of it all. All of these things can/will be a part of a revival, but it’s not how it starts. Yet many people are following the signs and miracles, even without testing the fruits. Now what are the fruits of the Christians who are focused on signs and miracles? It is self-centeredness. The core of this kind of attitude is selfishness. It’s all about their selves, what they want, what they need etc. That has nothing to do with being a Christian. The difference between these kind of people and Christians is that these people are following signs and miracles, while signs and miracles are following the Christians because they are following the miracle maker: Jesus Christ! See the difference here?

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Mark 16:17,18.

Summarizing, our focus has to be on Jesus Christ, on what He wants, on how He wants and on when He wants it. That is the core of the life of a Christian. It is a normal thing that the focus of non Christians is on the signs and miracles, but at the moment we became a Christian, our focus changed. Never forget that. It’s all about Jesus Christ.

The precursor from a revival

Now we know a lot of what isn’t a revival and how it doesn’t start, but how does a true revival start then? There is not a single revival that did not start with Gods judgment. It might sound unpopular, but that’s the way it is. Before our pure, holy, sinless, powerful and fair God can and will come, He will clean up His house first. Why does His judgment comes in the Churches? Because we are to blame for the situations in our country!

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 22:30,31

What will happen is up to God, I can’t tell you that. I do know that the judgment can be reduced when people start to stand in the gap before God on behalf of their nation, their Church, their families etc. However, the judgment will certainly affect the leaders of the Churches that did not teach their flock about true repentance and who did follow their own agenda instead of Gods agenda and His perfect will!

“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For yours is the judgment, because you have been a snare to Mizpah and a net spread on Tabor. The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter, though I rebuke them all. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry; Israel is defiled. “ They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the LORD. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with them. “ With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them. They have dealt treacherously with the LORD, for they have begotten pagan children. Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

Hosea 5:1-7

God will turn Himself against these leaders, but not only against them! Because of the behavior of these leaders, God will withdraw Himself from the whole congregation. They will seek Him, but they will not find Him. This is the time where God will divide those who are real from those who are not. Don’t be afraid when you see these things happen in the Churches around you or even in your own Church. Test everything that happens together with the Holy Spirit and ask Him what He wants you to do.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:11,12

Once this process of judgment and separation is done, the revival and His FIRE will follow immediately. The leaders who did follow His will and agenda will remain and new leaders will take the places of those who were judged (resigned, fired, disposed etc.). That is the part that God does, but there’s also a part that we should do.

God’s keys for restoration and revival

Since I heard so much about revivals and false revivals, and since God warned me to first seek Him in everything, I searched Him for answers about how we can have a revival in The Netherlands (but all of this applies to other countries as well!). At the moment I did that, I just recently started to organize a worship conference here in our country. I was so enthusiastic about it that I totally forgot to ask God what He wanted to do during this conference. He did gave me His approval to organize it, but suddenly all doors were closing and I could no go further. That made me wonder what was going on. Then the precious Voice of the Holy Spirit came and said: “Don’t you want to know what I want to do during that conference? Don’t you want to know what My agenda is? If you search me for My will and My agenda, then I will bless it”. Suddenly I saw that I made a big mistake by not searching Him first. I repented from it and started to search Him for His will and agenda.

While I was searching Him I started to experience a lot of pain and grief about the situation in our country. I became more and more aware of the fact that God’s heart was crying about what this country has become. Then He started to speak again. “The spiritual house of The Netherlands has become a ruin. The walls are heavily damaged and have big holes in it and the watch towers are empty. The enemy can easily walk in and out and they don’t even notice it. The sins of The Netherlands have risen to the heavens. I will no longer tolerate this.” Then He showed me several parts of the Bible that were about His judgment and wrath. Every verse He showed me was about judgment and wrath. It made me very sad and I almost started to feel hopeless about the situation of our nation and the Churches in it. Then I replied: “There must be some solution Lord, please, please, show me Your solution, Your ways for restoration and revival”. Then the Holy Spirit drew my attention to the book of Ezra. While I was reading this, He showed me His seven keys for restoration and revival. It all starts with a huge desire for restoration and revival. This desire is not something of your own, it is God giving you this desire.

…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do…

Philippians 2:13

The original Greek text says here “…For God is the ONE-IN-ACTING in you and the TO-BE-WILLING and the TO-BE-IN-ACTING…”

1. Hearing, understanding and acting according to His call

…the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:1-3

As you can see, it is the Lord who stirred up the spirit of the king of Persia. This man heard and understood the voice of God, but he did something that was just as important as hearing and understanding. He acted according to it. I believe there are many Christians in these days who are hearing and understanding the voice of our God, but only a few take action. Just hearing and understanding His voice is not enough. When God tells you to do something or when He gives you a desire, you should take action. I know there are many people who do not do anything because of their fear of men. Others feel unworthy or think they’re not at the right spiritual level yet etc. If that is the case in your life, then please look again at Philippians 2:13. It is GOD who gave you the desire AND the will! Now what does that tell you about how God sees you? When God gives you the desire, then you are ready for the task! If you’re not sure, then ask the Holy Spirit for confirmation, but don’t ignore this desire because of your own fears!

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10

And what should you do when God didn’t confirm or deny anything? Then you wait until He does confirm or deny. Waiting is the most difficult part, but if you want to hear from God, it’s part of the package. When He did confirm it, then take action and let nothing and nobody stop you. When He confirmed it, you’re going in and with His authority. When you’re going without any approval or confirmation, then you’re going in your own authority, which makes you a very easy target for the enemy. Always wait for His confirmation.

2. Rebuilding the altar

Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.

Ezra 3:2

It struck me for the first time that they built the altar before they did anything else! Even before they started with the foundations. Now what do we offer in the new covenant? Indeed! Ourselves, our lives! How do we do that? In the first place by worshiping our Creator and Savior. When I came to this point, the Holy Spirit started to speak again: “I want the true worship in spirit and in truth to be restored in My house. I want My children to be familiar again with being in My presence. That is where I will restore and heal them and that is where I will speak to their hearts again”. When I heard this, I suddenly realized it! When we worship Him, it creates an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to work in! That is where He can heal and encourage us, that is where He can speak to our hearts, that is where His peace and rest is, that is where the anointing flows, that is where HIS FIRE can be poured out! And even so much more then that. At that place of worship you receive all the strength, wisdom and insights you need to do your task. In fact worship is (re)building your relation with God! I really can write a lot about this subject, it makes me so very enthusiastic! Without worship, without the anointing and all the other things that God gives us at that place of intimacy, it is impossible to do any of your tasks.

Worship is the most important task you have in your life as Christian, as follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s where you build on and work on your relation with God. Without that, your relation with God turns into religion. In worship, at that place of intimacy, your love for God will only grow more and more and you will become absolutely and totally in love with your Savior, our precious Lord Jesus! Please ask the Holy Spirit to show you how important this is! If you think you already know, then ask Him to show the total picture! Wow, wow, wow, wow! That’s all I can say about it. Try to worship Him daily, take the time for Him. Lock yourself in a room and spent time with our Jesus. You will be so richly rewarded… If you’re not doing that already, start doing it from now on! Your life will be completely changed within days!

3. Rebuilding the foundation

Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the LORD. Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites. When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood[d] in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

Ezra 3:8-11

The foundation of God’s spiritual house is the Lord Jesus Christ and everything He taught us! It means going back to our first love for Him, to honor Him with everything we do. I believe the Church missed a lot of the important things He wanted to share with us. Many churches have made beautiful religious stories of the words of Jesus, but never learned the people how to make these words practical in their lives. They never learned their congregation to be totally depended on Jesus, to test everything, how to hear and understand the voice of God, about the baptism with the Holy Spirit AND with FIRE etc. Because of that many Christians are living lives with just a little fruit or with no fruit at all. Hosea 4:6 says that His people are being destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. That knowledge needs to be restored in the Churches of today. All Christians should know what it means to be a Christian and to live according to the words of Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about spiritual battle here, just about the very basics! There is still a lot of work to do.

4. Resisting the resistance

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the LORD God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Ezra 4:1-5

When we start to follow these instructions of the Holy Spirit, there will be resistance. Not from non Christians, but from people who call their selves our brothers and sisters and worshiper of the same God. Be aware that I’m not talking about a denomination here! At this point it’s even more important to test the spirits behind the people. Especially in The Netherlands we have a lot people who are demonized by the spirit of Jezebel and Ahab, but there are many others as well. By allowing these people to help us, it will destroy everything before the work is even finished. Test the spirits! Don’t say yes or no immediately, but take your time to make a decision and do it together with the Holy Spirit in the atmosphere of worship. It will be a challenge, but if you listen carefully to the instructions of the Holy Spirit, you will succeed because God will be at your side.

5. Rebuilding the walls

So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Ezra 6:14

Once you’ve past that point and dealt with the resistance, you can start rebuilding the walls, but be sure that the resistance is defeated. Rebuilding the walls means learning and teaching about spiritual battle. Walls are always made for protection. But what are the walls stand for in a spiritual sense? Being under Gods protection means living according to His will. The moment we aren’t doing that we’re leaving Gods protection. Then the spiritual walls will have weak spots. For example, if we allow adultery into our lives or into our country, then we are living in sin. Is it really that serious? Yes! God is a jealous God and He will never tolerate someone or something to take His rightful place into your life or into our nation. He also isn’t willing to share the first place. Anything that will take His place is considered an idol. God will not bless us if we just take Him and His ways for granted. He expects us to be vigilant. The enemy is inspecting our walls, looking for the weak spots and the gaps in the wall. We have to pray for His protection, but beside that we also have to pray for revelations by the Holy Spirit. He has to show us where the gaps are and what we should do to fill the gaps and to protect ourselves, our Churches and our nation.

6. Fasting and Prayer for Protection

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.

Ezra 8:21-23

Fasting is one of the most effective and powerful weapons in a spiritual war and not a incidental thing in a Christian life, but a essential part of it. In many cases it means the difference between victory or defeat. It is also a VERY powerful “tool” in the restoration process. In today’s Churches you barely hear about this subject. It isn’t popular, but yet Jesus taught His disciples to fast and told them to teach that to other believers as well. That includes the whole congregation. The effects of fasting are truly amazing. The most impressive testimony is the call of Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States of America in 1863:

“Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.”

As a result of this, the United States of America were blessed like not other nation on this earth. The heavens were opened above that nation and the blessings and the anointing were flowing for many decades. Even now there’s still a little bit of that visible. At that time they knew that they were depended from God and it restored their nation.

7. Confessing the sins on behalf of the nation

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this, should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor? O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!”

Ezra 9:13-15

Confessing sins clears the legal grounds for the enemy to be in our lives. At the moment that we confess our sins, the enemy can be sent away. We see this happen with deliverance of people where demons have to leave their bodies because the legal grounds have been cleared. In the same way we can also confess the sins of our nation before God, on behalf of our nation. This was what happened at the end of Ezra, but also at several other places… “Lord, if there is just one person who is righteous, will you save the country?” We are considered to be righteous because we were made righteous through Jesus Christ. But we have to take our position. We have to man the watch towers. Gods heart is always to restore lives and He would love to restore our nation. But we have to confess our sins and the sins of our nation. Only then will God hear us and bless our nation once again.

God is ready to restore The Netherlands and every other country that is willing to meet His conditions. He wants to come with a fresh a new work of His Spirit. He wants to bring revival and He loves to baptise us in His river of liquid FIRE! But we need to have a change of heart. His aim should be our aim, His agenda should be our agenda and His ways should be our ways. This all starts by asking God to give you His heart for your nation. The moment He shares His heart with you, your eyes will be opened. Then further explanation will not be necessary to see in what kind of state we are in… I challenge you to ask God for His heart for your nation!

These keys apply to nations and churches, but they do also apply to our personal lives. It all starts with a interaction between God and one of His servants. I hope these keys will help you in your spiritual life. May the Lord bless you in every single way and let’s do it right from now on. Are you ready to meet His conditions for revival? It can and will happen if you are willing to follow His instructions.

* All used Bible verses are from the NKJV.