#CodeOrangeRevival Night #3 - The TIME of REVIVAL is NOW!

Night 3 of #CodeOrangeRevival was another amazing night of worship, preaching and God showing up amidst his people!  Christine Caine, my Aussie sister from another mister, was at the pulpit tonight.  I cannot tell you how excited I was leading up to Sunday night's service because I knew, Chris was preaching and I love the style and tenacity with which she expresses the heart of God.

So we've had the Rhythm of revival, and then the Sound of revival, tonight's sermon was all about the TIME of revival, and that time is NOW!

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: let my people go, so that they may worship me.  2 If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.  3 The Nile will teem with frogs.  They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.  4 The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.' "  5 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.' "  6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land.  7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.  8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord."  9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile."  10 "Tomorrow," Pharaoh said.  Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God.  11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials, and your people; they will remain only in the Nile."  12 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh.  13 And the Lord did what Moses asked.  The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards, and in the fields.  14 They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them.     -  Exodus 8:1-14 (NIV)

Okay, so we're talking the second plague of Egypt.  There are frogs everywhere and basically, Moses says to Pharaoh "My God will get rid of the plague of frogs, when would you like that to happen?"  And Pharaoh replies to Moses, "Tomorrow."

All too often we have our own frogs (figuratively speaking), whether it's stuff that we should be doing and we're not or stuff that we shouldn't be doing but we haven't stopped yet.  Our response is Tomorrow.  I'll stop or start that tomorrow, Lord.  And before we know it, 10 years have passed and nothing's changed and we are still saying, "Tomorrow, God."

But God is saying the time is here and the time is now; this day, this moment.  Yesterday is over and tomorrow is never promised, will you make the choice, Today?

Just as it was with Pharaoh, God was willing to get rid of the frogs today, God was able to get rid of the frogs today, God wanted to get rid of the frogs today, but like Pharaoh, we say Tomorrow.  Chris asked a great question,

"What are the frogs that are in you, on you, around you?   

What are the frogs keeping you trapped in bondage?"

Most of us live in yesterday, exist in today and never step into the fullness of the tomorrow God has for us.  We sincerely want break through.  We don't want to spend eternity stuck in a moment of mistake, heartbreak, shame, failure, fear, disappointment or regret from the past.  And so we go to church or a conference and hear a great message and think, "that's a great idea, I'm going to do that, I am going to make that change, implement that new thing/idea/habit in my life - but I'll do it tomorrow."  I am so guilty of that myself from time to time.

But the thing of it is, we will never fully step into the fullness of what God has for our tomorrow if we don't deal with our yesterday.  We need to make the conscious choice today to apply the teaching today, to forgive today, to heal today, to reconcile today, to fall on our knees before God with whatever it is that has kept us stuck and say "God, I am ready to deal with this today."
Isaiah 43:18-19 says,

18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  19 See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

Our greatest days are ahead of us because God is doing a new thing.  But in order to perceive the new, we need to deal with the past.  Because the enemy would like nothing more than to keep us there.  Being a Christian doesn't automatically give us amnesia when we get saved, even though our sins are washed clean and God has forgiven and forgotten them, why can't we seem to let go?  Just because we can't change the facts of the past, why do we let one moment in time, one mistake, one event ruin the rest of our tomorrows?
There is a life beyond our past.  There is freedom for our future.  

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."  -  Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

We could build up our life on the facts and stay there; wallow there. Believe what others say about us.  Believe we are what the medical reports say or the exam results say.  We can't deny the facts.  But there are another set of facts, written in black and white, and that is the truth of the Word of God.

Some of you may have heard Chris' testimony before, but if not I'll give you the cliff notes version.  She was born unnamed, unwanted, and abused. She could have chosen to stay stuck, ruled by the facts of her past, for the rest of her life.  But instead, she looked at what God said about her and chose to move forward, believing the truth of His word.
Her birth certificate said Unnamed, but the Word of God said:

"Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name."  - Isaiah 49:1 (NIV)

The letter from the hospital said Unwanted, but the Word of God said

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."  - Psalm 139:13 (NIV)

She was Abused for 12 years, and the Word of God said:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."  -  Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Does it mean that God does bad things? No.  But He promises to take all things and use them for good.  And now every day she makes the enemy wish he had never messed with her

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."  - Genesis 50:20 (NIV)

by living an unashamed life, for the glory of and in the service of, God.  Preaching, teaching, rescuing people out of slavery and bondage from around the world through her A21 campaign.  Faithfully loving her husband of 20 years and raising their 2 beautiful daughters to love and serve the Lord with their whole heart.

So I will leave you with this final challenge/thought: Make the choice TODAY, not tomorrow, now, in this moment, to allow God to help you deal with or get rid of your 'frogs'.  Because the degree to which we allow God to go deep and do a work in us will determine what God can do through us. 

"YOUR DESTINY IS GREATER THAN YOUR HISTORY!"

- Christine Caine

P.S.  If you want to know more about the A21 campaign you can check out their website
and if you're interested in donating to Christine's 50th birthday fundraiser for freedom, you can click here.


See you tomorrow for night #4 - Joyce Meyer