From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 4:17

The revival we are seeking is the “revival of repentance”.  We could say, we see a measure and we must prepare our hearts more for the coming thing that God has, but the heart of every true revival must always include a increasing draw towards holiness, from the head to the foot.

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.  The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 12:41-42

Jesus called “Woe” on the cities that saw some of His greatest miracles, but did not repent.  He described that the people of His generation, who had seen His preaching, His miracles, and His wisdom, would be condemned, even by those of the past, because the people of the past had repented with less, listened to less, and He was there with everything, and they still did not hear Him.

Repentance is God’s preparation for the realization of Spiritual Faith (Hebrews 6:1).  True Faith is the requirement for pleasing God (Hebrews 11:6).

The move towards repentance is not only the mandatory preparation for revival, it is the natural byproduct of it.  As faith increases, and as true, spiritual insight and light grows in a group or a body, the distinction between light and dark becomes more sharply distinguished.  Those things which were questionable before are seen, through the eyes of spiritual discernment, as either non-issues completely or as wholly corrupt, and to be avoided.  There has never been a “gray-scale” in God’s plan; it is always one or the other.

Many in the renewal camps may greatly enjoy the river.  But, a common complaint is that the lack of lasting change in some of these groups.  In places like Toronto, where the renewal came several years ago, of those who first experienced the renewal, many were dramatically and permanently changed for the better, after having spent years pressing in for more of Him they received the wine of the anointing in a prepared vessel, but many today, who receive the benefit of their labor at little cost, often bask in the glory of yesterday’s fire, and do not press in to take hold of the new move of revival that God is working.

God is always moving forward, and He is always doing something “new” (that is, always doing what He has always been doing, which often escapes men).  We cannot afford simply to approach the renewal and the river like we have in the past, and simply feel like we are somehow now a part of what was then.  We may be, but if we really are, it will be shown by whether we enter into Him the way that they did.  We can enter into the same level of flow, manifestation, or even the miraculous that those before us did, but if we do not enter into His Will, we are not of them.

When we encounter the renewal, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we must not assume we understand what is going on, when we do not.

But, when we come to it, what better place, in the outpouring of His wine, than to preach repentance?  Perhaps that did not happen in the generation in the past, but perhaps that is because they were already prepared there.  But, this is the basic failing that will confront this generation.  We can come into the blessing of the Lord, but where is it that the Lord desires to direct it’s flow?  Is it towards healing?  Is it towards instruction?  Is it towards blessing?  Or, is it towards repentance?

In this generation, we must hear the call to repentance.  But, what better place than in the outpouring of His Grace?  By listening to the leading of the Spirit, we must not simply rely upon the patterns of last season’s renewal, nor must we assume that last year’s way of administering the outpouring of the Spirit is what God is doing today.

God is unique, He is always doing things perfectly, which is sometimes different from moment to moment.

In this day, as a generation addicted to senses and media come into the real, genuine flow of the Spirit, they must be turned again, and again, to the invisible, to the intangible, to the higher dimension of the Spirit.  It is not about the feelings on the body, but about the one who is causing the feelings.  It is not all about the outer, but the inner, which affects the outer.  It is not the greatest miracle to heal a body, but to regenerate a spirit, to restore a soul, and then to heal a body.

For Jesus, revival and repentance came hand-in-hand.  The motivation for repentance was the presence of the invisible Kingdom.  Today, as we experience the manifestations, the gifts, and the presence of angels and heavenly realities, the miracles must produce a repentance.  As the wine is poured out, could it not produce an even greater repentance?  As we partake of the goodness of the Lord, should not it provoke a generation that does not know it’s right hand from it’s left to take hold of the Lord, to know Him, and to discern the good, acceptable, and the perfect?

Today, the question is not revival or repentance.  It is the revival of repentance.  We must allow the Lord to touch us.  We must allow Him to heal us.  We must let Him enlighten us.  And, as Isaiah cried out after seeing Him, “Woe unto me, for I am undone.  I am a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the Almighty”  (Isaiah 6:5).

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

Matthew 11:20

When the miracles  happen, and the people rejoice only in the miraculous, and not in the King Himself (which would produce repentance), a greater judgement and condemnation is released upon the people.  We must not shut down the flow of the Spirit and the measure of revival we have already, but neither must we become satisfied, merely doing back-strokes on the down-stream of the river of God, and not seeking the Lord continually, most especially when He can be found (Isaiah 55:6).  It is never an either/or issue, but the best, and most effect place to find a place of deep, lasting repentance is in the river itself, where refreshing, cleansing, and washing in the true light can be found.

We must not, no matter what we do, simply fall back into yesterday’s model of administration of the renewal.  What God did then, He did then, and it was good for then.  God is a now God, and today is not the same day as yesterday.  The conditions as well as the resources are completely different, as well as the timing and the intended impact.  If we merely try to re-create what has gone before, we will simply ensure we are ever missing the new thing that God has for us.  We must be ever listening, ever following, and ready to, at His disgression  ready to change everything we have done up to any given point, scrap it, and begin again, knowing that what He has now is, not only better, but is always the best.

Following Him.