Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

2 Timothy 4:2

What’s the good word, they ask the preacher?

Be instant in season and out of season.  Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you.

That day, there was a little bit of burning within me.  We all want to see the floodgates of heaven thrown open, and revival sweep the land.

What’s the solution to getting it?

Well, there’s something that seems better than just getting the floodgates opened.  It’s getting the dam out of the way.

That’s right, instead of just opening the doors to the thing, and letting all the water pour out, why not remove the whole dam, and see the river rush on for endless days.

So, what am I saying?  If you want to see revival, get the “damn” out.

Remove from your life everything that causes offense.  Get rid of all the corrupt, and intractable practices, and everything that hinders (Hebrews 12:1).

In the words of Peter,

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Acts 3:19

And, this really is the solution.

We want the glory, but God’s solution, through the mouth of the first apostles, was Repent, that it might come.

Consider these words of the late Arthur Burt, in his book, There Shall Be No Ebb, based on a prophetic encounter…

…You see, so many people want to use God instead of God using them. Theyʼve got it all wrong. God isnʼt our latest modern convenience like youʼre washing machine or hair dryer or vacuum cleaner. So many people take the attitude that they do toward modern convenience. “Oh yes, we’ve got a vacuum cleaner, a lawn mower, a washing machine, an electric oven.” They approach God as if He was another convenience rather than coming empty and saying, ‘I don’t want to use You God, because You are Lord. You must use me. I present myself.’

He recalled a time in this book, a prophecy, given at a meeting.  His record goes something like this…

Right from the beginning, there has always been the ebb. When a tide comes in, it reaches high tide and then after flowing in, it ebbs out. Every move of God has been followed by the ebb. There is something lying ahead that will have no ebb!

I was expelled from the Church of England in 1934 for embracing the Pentecostal revelation, the baptism of the Spirit, speaking with other tongues. Right after that, a prophecy came. I remember it as if it was last night.

I walked over to a piano and looked at the open Bible, it was open there at this Word:

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come….” [Habbukuk 2:3]

At the meeting that night, not a Church of England meeting, but a Pentecostal meeting, the Spirit of God fell upon a young man and he prophesied. I think it’s about the only prophecy I can remember word-for-word in my entire life. It’s like a scar inside of me!

It shall come as a breath…
and the breath shall bring the wind…
And the wind shall bring the rain.
And there shall be floods and floods and floods…
And torrents and torrents and torrents.
Souls shall be saved like falling leaves from mighty oaks swept by a hurricane.
Arms and legs shall come down from heaven…

…And there shall be no ebb.

I remember that, “Souls shall be saved like falling leaves from mighty oaks swept by a
hurricane.” There was another part about “the rich and the poor embracing each other in the
streets of New York.” But the final thing was…“And there shall be no ebb.” No ebb!

–Aurthur Burt, And There Shall Be No Ebb, p42.

Arthur Burt believed there would be coming a time when the revival would not wane, but would continue on without end.

This, friends, is that hour.