Being Available to God

For the last few weeks I’ve been sharing the experiences I had and the things I learned during a season of God’s outpouring. One of the most significant lessons during this time was the importance of being available to God. Being available requires flexibility-something that does not come naturally to me. I am a creature of habit. I love routine, predictability and discipline. This serves me well for the most part. I am like clockwork when it comes to prayer, exercise, devotions, Bible study and Scripture memory. The problem is that I can be so locked into my routines that I miss the opportunity to let the Lord interrupt my plans to accomplish His purposes!

In the first days that God moved, it was as if He took my rigid adherence to my schedule and blew it to pieces. My awareness expanded beyond my routine to the people around me God wanted to touch.  I gave God permission to interrupt me whenever He saw fit and He saw fit a lot. This did not always happen without a struggle on my part but this newfound availability led to all kinds of divine appointments.

One morning my wife Char and I were praying together for revival to spread through our public high school in Lebanon. I had a strong sense that we had hit on something close to God’s heart. Spontaneously, we decided to walk around the campus and pray.

Less than a minute into our walk we were met with a congregation member who cried out: “I’m back!” She was referring to the fact that God had lifted her out of depression and restored her joy. On that same walk we stopped by the office of a person who was relatively new to town and informed him that we were there to pray for him. Little did we know that he was concerned that a news story was going to break that could do damage to his work and reputation. He said: “I can’t believe God sent you to me” at this time.

Another time, we stopped by the high school and were asked by an employee how we could be helped. Not having a definite plan, I inquired about a particular principal. We were ushered into her office as if by an angel. We simply told her that we were there to pray for her. With tears in her eyes she shared the pressures and stresses of her work. She said that no one had ever done anything like this for her. She was deeply touched.

On another occasion I was sitting in a restaurant and I noticed the personal business office of a local government official across the street. I did not know this person but felt prompted to enter his place of business and offer to pray for him. His secretary was reluctant to give me access to him because he had been under heavy public criticism and feared that I would be one more critic. She reluctantly let me in. My offer to pray for him led him to share that he was discouraged and was considering resigning from his position. Our conversation and prayer together encouraged him to endure.

Through these and many other “divine appointments”, I learned in a fresh new way the importance of being available to the Lord. God kept bringing me to the right place at the right time. How about you? Will you choose to live with a sense of expectancy that the Lord is at work around you? And will you choose to be fully available to Him so that He can accomplish His purposes through you?

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

God Gave Me Boldness

What God did in me during our mini-revival was incredible. Picture the Christian life as a climb up a mountain. It was as if the Lord took me from where I was on the climb and at once lifted me up to the summit. Eventually He dropped me off somewhere between where I was and the top. He gave me a taste of what the Spirit-filled life could look like particularly in the areas of boldness, living without fear and being fully available to Him.

This was different than the normal spiritual growth I had experienced. Formerly, the Holy Spirit would bring conviction about some issue and I would confess my wrong and pray for strength to change as I committed that area to Him. Sometimes I would set up accountability with another person on that issue.

But during this season, God allowed me to experience the Spirit-filled life. I could look back at how I had been thinking or living and see that it was not God’s will but I was already experiencing the joy of walking with the Lord as I should. It was not a struggle to get to that place.

I could really relate to Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…” I am an introvert and I am often shy in a new setting or around strangers. Unlike most people, I am more comfortable speaking to a group than talking one-on-one or with a small group of people I don’t know. Yet now I found myself boldly approaching strangers such as teens who were smoking nearby or people in the hospital emergency room. I testified to nearly everyone that came across my path including salesmen, believing and non-believing relatives, and people at the Rotary Club.

At one point I made the decision to “go for broke,” which meant to abandon myself completely to the Lord and his purposes and to put all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. Believing that his Word is true and that he is worthy of my full devotion, I wanted to go all out for the Lord. My passion was that whatever remaining years I had would count to the max for building his kingdom.

As a leader, one of my weaknesses is being overly cautious. This came out of a fear of offending people with my decisions. But now I was experiencing a boldness I had never known. 2 Timothy 1:7 became precious to me, ”For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” Psalm 27:1 also brought me strength and courage: “The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid?”

Many times as I was tempted to be scared or careful in a particular situation I reminded myself of my earlier decision to “go for broke,”

One Thursday evening as I was sitting at the dinner table alone I felt compelled to tell the story of what God had been doing in my life and ministry. I was so excited about all this “God activity” that I wanted to share it. I wondered who I could tell. Then I remembered that a local church had their youth meeting that night. As I thought of going there and offering to tell my story, my heart began to throb. I took that as a “yes” from the Lord.

As I headed down to Lebanon Chapel a competing voice stepped up in my head saying: “Ed, what are you doing inviting yourself to speak last minute? This is rude. I can’t believe you are doing this!” But I drove on.

When I arrived at the church the youth pastor, who I knew as an acquaintance, was finishing his last minute preparations for his teaching that night. I told him what was going on in my life and asked if I could share both my conversion story and the “move of God” I was experiencing. He was understandably reluctant and said: “We’ll see.” He already had his own plans for the meeting.

However, I do believe he sensed God was up to something and he let me share with his youth. After I shared my story and poured out my heart, seven young people came forward to surrender their lives to Jesus for the first time and about 25 came forward wanting to be Spirit-filled. I was learning firsthand that God shows up when we follow His leading and take risks.

Friend, what might the Lord be wanting to do in your life if you stepped out of your comfort zone and “went for broke?”

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

God Came to Church: What He Emphasized?

If there was one theme that God kept bringing back to us repeatedly during the season in which the Lord poured out His Spirit, it was this: God wants full control of our lives and He wants full control of the church.  Some of the following passages were brought to our attention:

Luke 14:33. Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Matt. 16:24-25. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 

Jer. 10:23. I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.

Rom. 12:1-2. Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God which is your spiritual worship.

1 Cor. 6:19-20. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Some were puzzled as to what it meant to give God full control of their lives. I see it as primarily as this kind of attitude: “I belong to God. He has a right to all that I am and have. I am available to Him and am willing to be whatever He wants me to be, go wherever he wants me to go and do whatever He wants me to do.”

Concerning the church, giving him control meant, first and foremost, that we recognize that Jesus’ headship gives him the right to do with her whatever he wants. Practically, this meant that in decision making we were to ask the Lord for guidance and then wait and watch for his leading. This would give God the opportunity to direct us in everything from planning a worship service, to selecting workers to ordering curriculum. This required a major shift in thinking since most people are used to doing what seems best to them without consulting the Lord and waiting on him. He was calling us to take Proverbs 3:5-6 seriously: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Following the prompting of the Holy Spirit was another key to sustaining the move of God. For example, someone might have been compelled to give a testimony and that testimony would begin a series of events in the worship service.

I felt that it was critical to welcome divine interruptions in our services allowing for God to do whatever He wanted. Once there was an “interruption” or once God was emphasizing a particular truth, it was vital that we rode that wave as opposed to following the planned songs and order of service. Let’s be honest: few of us are comfortable with letting God be in control.

When God speaks, he is worth listening to and it requires an adjustment on our part to go the direction He is going. This can be difficult to do for a worship team as they may want to know ahead of time exactly what songs will be sung. It can also be challenging for the one leading the service. That person needs to balance paying attention to God’s leading while not forgetting the time, the offering, the announcements, etc. It is a delicate “tight rope” to walk.

The importance of obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit was reinforced a few years later.  Shortly after I started my Heart of Revival ministry I was scheduled to speak at the East Linn Christian Academy chapel service. When I woke up, I felt that God wanted me to change my message, which I did. Furthermore, on my way to the school I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to open the microphone at the end of my message and invite students to make a complete and public surrender to Him. This was a high-risk idea since I would feel rather foolish to do this and have no one respond, which was highly likely if God were not in it. I obeyed the prompting. At the end of my message I invited students to come to the microphone to make a public surrender or to pray for revival. About fifty young people came one by one. Their public testimonies ran clear through the next class period. They confessed sin, surrendered, exhorted and made requests. Many said that they would not normally speak publicly but felt compelled to come to the microphone. It was one more reminder that God can do amazing things when we listen to him, have courage to obey and risk looking foolish.

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

How God Showed Up Beyond Our Church

Nothing is too difficult for God. Do you believe this? Do you believe that He can show up in our gatherings in such a way that people are astounded and certain that the Lord has been among them? Jesus, in his grace, has allowed me to experience this several times.

In one instance, I shared the story of what God had been doing in my life, ministry and church with a group of about 150 seventh to twelfth graders at a local Christian school. After I challenged them to abandon their lives completely to the Lord, there was a pause. Then, with teachers stationed across the front of the room, about half of them came forward for prayer. One boy came up the isle crying and saying, “I’m lost. I’m lost.” The Spirit of God was showing him his lost condition. I explained the gospel to him and he stood and confessed his newfound faith in Christ before his peers. Another female exchange student gave her heart to the Lord. A group of eighth grade boys gathered in a huddle and cried out to God with great intensity.

Students, including boys, were weeping and hugging one another. I realized that it was student lunch time and asked the principal what he would like to do. With the announcement that it was lunch time, very few of the students left to eat. They chose to stay and linger in the presence of the Lord. When God’s presence is so strong like that, people realize that the things they thought were important aren’t so important in comparison with enjoying his presence.

In another incident, I had the opportunity to share with a youth group from a local church. 23 of the 25 young people came forward for prayer. God was working in a powerful way that went well beyond anything I had ever seen.

I recall walking in the hallway of our church and being overcome with weeping. I was actually experiencing the thing I had prayed into for years, a mighty move of God. It was overwhelming. Some of the things that I had only read about in revival books were actually becoming a reality in and around me.

What I had longed for was happening. Now I felt like the Lord could take me home.  I felt what I imagine Simeon felt when he got to hold the baby Jesus:  “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
 ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace’” (Luke 2:25).

As my 50^th birthday approached, my wife asked me how I would like to celebrate. I wasn’t much help to her because I could not have cared less about a birthday celebration. I was so thrilled and satisfied with what God was doing that something like my birthday party paled in comparison.  

I had the opportunity to share what God was doing in various settings and was able to personally pray for about 500 individuals.  I was very eager for everyone to experience this inner strength and fullness of God that I was experiencing. Time and time again the Holy Spirit brought specific Scriptures to my mind as I prayed for people.

I shared this illustration many times: Several years ago a young man of nineteen approached the foreman of a logging crew asking if he could be hired. The foreman replied: “That depends. Let me see you fell a tree.” He did a nice job and was told he would be hired and could start on Monday.

He worked hard for four days. On Thursday he was told he could pick up his pay check. Puzzled, he said: “I thought you paid on Fridays.” “We do,” the foreman replied, “but we are letting you go. Our charts show that you were our most productive worker early in the week but you have become our least productive employee.”

The young man responded, “But I work hard and don’t even take my breaks.”

Sensing his integrity, the foreman asked if he had been taking time to sharpen his ax.

“No, I haven’t had time,” was his reply.

This story is a picture of the Christian life for many professing believers. They work hard putting out a lot of energy but see little fruit just as the young man in the story kept hacking away with a dull ax but with little productivity. Spiritually, what can change this fruitlessness is relying upon Jesus and tapping into the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Without this, we hack away in our lives as with a dull ax.

As Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5) Human effort falls short when it comes to producing spiritual fruit for God’s kingdom. Being connected to the source of power is considerably more important than being intelligent, skillful, or hard-working. Strong planning and excellent programs are no substitute for the work of the Holy Spirit. Having tasted what God can do, I am thoroughly unsatisfied with what mere humans can do. I hunger for genuine God-activity. How about you?

                                     

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.