Stirring Ourselves

[Albert Finch]

O that God would stir our hearts with passion; that we would encounter Him with such abandon, that we could all say: "God, I'm as hungry for You today as I was at any other time in my life!"

Psalms 42:1-2, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?"

Panting! Thirsting! But thirsting for what? The answer is here: "When shall I come and appear before God?" It's not about us appearing before people. It's about us appearing before God.

Revelation 2:4, 5a" --"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works."

"You have left your first love." We can all think of those days when we were hungrier and more radical for God, devouring our Bible every day. Maybe it was in those first few months that we were a Christian. But now, because of some hard trials, valleys, and disappointments, we realize that we're still walking with God, still reading the Bible and going to church, but there's something missing.
Jesus Christ is challenging us, so let's be honest. We need to FALL IN LOVE WITH JESUS AGAIN--revisit First Love.

There's something about when we begin to remember, and allow the Holy Spirit to move in the imagination, taking us back to the greatest times of God's power coming in our lives. It's important to remember those times when we were really hungry. The problem is, sometimes we just accept being lukewarm as normal, and our attitude is: "I've grown up in the church, and I'm a Christian. I don't need to be all that zealous anymore." But Jesus said to "Remember therefore from where you have fallen," and then He goes on to say, "Repent and do the first works."

There are times when Christians get so hopeless and disappointed; so discouraged.
If there is luke-warmness, you have to take responsibility for it. Hey. It's not always the church's fault. You've got to STIR YOURSELF UP to take hold of God, go to the well yourself, and go to the river of God yourself. You need to say, "I don't just want to go to where the blessing is, I want to be the blessing. I don't just want to go to the revival, I want to carry the revival. I want to be what starts the revival!"

We've got to be at a place where we stop and say, "Soul, what are you doing, and why are you so complacent? I've got to remember from where I have fallen. I've got to get back that love and that passion and that fire; I've got to get it back! I've got to repent and do the first works! Something's wrong here. I'm not going to stay here anymore murmuring and going around this mountain. I am going to do something about it!"

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