Unbridled Revival Part 1

Most of you know that I have been getting up around 4:30 every morning to get in some prayer time and Bible study before I face the day. It has been a life changing experience to say the least. As my relationship with Jesus has deepened so have my requests. About three months ago I began interceding for an "unbridled revival." I'm not talking about a series of meetings that gets everybody worked up and lathered for a couple of weeks. I want to see a lifestyle change of people constantly coming to the Lord. I don't want to see temporary "I am sorry I got caught" changes, but life-long changes that reduce crime and degradation. I don't want to see it just in my community but in every place where Christians congregate. That means all over the world and to every creature. Now, if you don't believe this can happen, please get off my blog and don't waste your time on reading anything else I have got to say. Thank You. Whether or not the whole worlds receives Jesus is immaterial. I am going to pray and seek Him for an unbridled revival anyway. When He comes or takes me home, He will find me persuing that very idea.
Late last December, as I woke up, He spoke a word to me that has set me on a life changing quest. There is so much to this, that I will have to give it to you in parts. But hold on to your hearts because this is going to take you farther inside yourself than you have ever been. Why? Because Jesus has always been ready to pour out His presence without measure. We are the ones that are holding back an unbridled revival. I hope you meditate on these lessons and put them to good use. Feedback is always welcome.
The first thing He told me was that unbridled revival comes from unbridled love. Ouch! That hurt me real bad. I have had a life-long habit of holding grudges, unforgiveness and harbouring hatred in my heart. I didn't know all that until He said it. In just five short seconds, He preached me a five hour sermon. Has He ever done anything like that to you? If so, you'll never forget it. Everyone knows me as a pretty nice guy. I try to be pleasant to be around. I try my best to show people how a Christian should act and re-act. The way I figured it, I was about as good if not better than about 75% of the Christians walking the earth today. But you know what? Seventy five percent of the Christians walking around today aren't reaching the lost for Jesus, either. Seventy five percent of the Christians walking around today probably haven't been praying for an unbridled revival.
The point that the Lord was making to me was, if I wanted unbridled revival, I had to walk in unbridled love. That means love with no strings or reins attached. Don't we choose the people we like to talk to and be around? That's love with a bridle on it and you're pulling on the reins. Are there some people in church that we would rather not be around? That's bridled love. Here's a piece of scripture: Rom. 5:8-But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. His love was unbridled. He loved His enemies. He loved the ones that nailed Him to the cross and asked the Father to forgive them for what they were doing. I had to come face to face with the fact that I wasn't there, yet. However, I want unbridled revival so I have to walk into this unbridled love thing. Here are some steps that I took.
I don't know why I never have thought about, or ever heard a sermon about this very thing. God showed me that I was like the monkey with his hand in the jar. When the natives want to trap a monkey for dinner or just to capture it as a pet, they do it like this. They put a piece of fruit in a small mouth jar and tie it to a tree. The monkey comes along and smells his favorite fruit in the jar. He sticks his hand through the mouth of the jar that is barely big enough for him to squeeze his hand into. When he grabs the fruit and makes a fist, he cannot get his prize out of the jar. The natives are then free to saunter up to this monkey which is screaming at the top of his voice and thrashing around in great fear. But, he never lets go of the fruit. The native can stand there and watch him. He can laugh at him. He can jab him with a stick. He can scare him. He can tie him up. He can bash his brains out. He can watch the monkey as he does himself physical harm while he is thrashing around trying to get away from the native. The native can do anything he wants to and the monkey is as helpless as can be as long as he holds on to something he thinks he cannot do without. We are like that monkey. We think we just can't do without our grudge. We think we just can't do without harboring bad feeling toward somebody. We think we just have to hold on to our unforgiveness. And all the time, this native, i.e. the devil, can walk up to us and torment the stew out of us about things. He can keep us tore up with anger. He can keep us tore up with doubt and fear. He will stand there and torment us with ideas brought on by that root of bitterness (Heb 12:15) that we absolutely have to hold on to. We wind up doing more damage to ourselves before the devil kicks our brains out. It brings on destroyed fellowship and causes us to fret so much that we get sick.
When I saw that very good description of me, I decided to get rid of grudges, anger, and unforgiveness. I no longer wanted to be tormented and beat up. I let go of those feelings that I thought were normal and I just had to have. I have made a decision that if I was going to hold on to something, I was going to hold on to Jesus. Am I there yet? No, but I am well on my way.
You can't just let go of these things and leave your heart and emotions empty. You have to fill your heart, your mind and your emotions with Godly stuff. If you don't, the devil will see that your house is swept and clean and he will come back worse than ever. See Matt. 12:44 and 45.
In part two, I will share with you some things that I have found helpful in filling up my empty space. You are going to find that these things are so simple and easy that it will not be hard at all to implement them.