Revive Us Again Part 2 - Re-igniting Revival Fire by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

We Are Changed by the Word

Miracles only happen to validate the speakings of God. The way God works is to first send forth his word. When the word is sent, the power of God can back the word of God. The assignment of the power of God is to give validation and credence to the speakings of God. If the word is not sent forth, it becomes very difficult — if not impossible — for the power of God to be fully active in the midst of his people.

Summary of Part One: The Architecture of Rebellion

Part one unmasked Satan's agenda — how he weaves himself through a system to bring territorial decline. Four thoughts were established:

• Two kingdoms operate upon the earth. The kingdom of light, where Jesus is Lord and King (Colossians 1:12-13), and the kingdom of darkness — a counterfeit kingdom. A counterfeit means to imitate the truth for the purpose of deception. It is a counterfeit but a real kingdom.
• Both kingdoms are spiritual but operate through physical infrastructures. Three channels carry their influence in the world of men: men themselves, belief systems and ideologies, and systems or institutions.
• Both God and Satan have defined agendas for mankind. God's two-fold agenda: to establish the lordship of Christ in the hearts and minds of men, and to extend the value system of the kingdom across every strata of human activity. Satan's fourfold agenda: to stop men from encountering Jesus; to propagate everything antichrist in nature; to sponsor hostility against those who love Jesus and against any pro-kingdom program; and to stop men — including believers — from accessing light, illumination, understanding, and the grace required to live a life of dignity, honor, victory, and dominion.
• There is a sequence to how Satan attacks a territory. First, he attacks the spiritual voices within that territory — both their character and walk with God, and the purity of their message. What makes a messenger powerful is the message he carries. If the message is corrupted, it discredits the messenger. Second, he attacks the church — the corporate body of believers — through divisions and discouragement. Finally, he corrupts and influences the institutions within that territory. When the value systems of the institutions that make up society come under the influence of the devil, revival dies.

God is always ahead. Satan will not have the last laugh over the destiny of Europe.

Part Two: Re-Igniting Revival Fire

The goal this morning is to show how God intervenes over a life, a family, and a territory that has lost its fire.

Jeremiah 24:4-7 — thus says the Lord: I will set my eye upon them for good, I will bring them again to this land, I will build them and not pull them down, I will plant them and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

2 Chronicles 7:13-16 — if I shut up the heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people — if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attend to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

When priesthood or the spiritual voices within a territory get compromised, weakened, or fall below God's standard — and when the church fails to shine as light and salt — and when institutions embrace value systems that fight the program of God, God's salvation program suffers greatly and revival fire eventually dies.

Revival does not just die arbitrarily. There is a sequence of activities that precede it. And God has a strategy for intervention — a strategy for the reformation and the reignition of revival fire.

God's First Restorative Response: Finding a Man

When revival fire dies within a territory, when darkness seems to prevail, when decline and decadence seem to be the order of the day — God's first restorative response is to find a man or a group of uncompromising people.

It is impossible to not have a witness in any territory. That was the mistake of Elijah. He thought that because of the decadence of his day, he was the only one still standing. He went to God and said, God, I am the only one. Everyone has compromised — not knowing that there were 7,000 others. There will always be an uncompromising remnant. There will always be a witness within every territory.

In Genesis 6, when the world grew wicked and God repented that he made man — the Bible says, but he found Noah. Noah was a righteous man. And alongside Noah he found eight who became the ones used to preserve the earth through the flood. In Isaiah 6, after Isaiah saw the Lord, the Lord asked, who shall we send and who shall go for us? And Isaiah said, here am I — send me.

In Ezekiel 22:30 — and I sought for a man among them that he should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

In our case, God has found an army.

The Divine Burden

When God finds that man or group of people, he begins to place a dissatisfaction within their spirit. The spiritual name of that dissatisfaction is a burden.

A burden is a spiritual constraint. A burden is a strong feeling of heaviness — weight, not physical weight — unrest, dissatisfaction in one's spirit. This is how revival is reignited. God will find a man or find a group of men and he will transfer that burden to their spirit. Regardless of how fine things look, there will be a sudden dissatisfaction, a strong heaviness, a feeling of unrest.

There are three kinds of burdens according to scripture:

• Demonic burdens — oppressive, destructive (Isaiah 10:27). The yoke shall be taken from your neck and the burden shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
• Burdens of natural origin — your day-to-day needs, worries, and anxieties. Galatians 6:2 — bear one another's burdens. Philippians 4:6 — be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let those burdens be known unto God. 1 Peter 5:7 — cast your cares upon the Lord because he cares for you.
• God-initiated, destiny-activating burdens — connected to the birthing of your assignment and to the birthing of God's restorative plan. This burden that God puts in your heart is the initial invitation for the God-man partnership that restores revival fire within a territory.

This burden is the seed for the reignition of revival fire. It comes in various ways. It can land upon you and you have no appetite to be around people. Sometimes you cannot even explain what is happening to you. You want to isolate — but this is not depression. Depression needs deliverance. The burden of the Lord can come upon a man and you wake up every night, every other day, finding yourself praying. Such compassion wells up in your spirit. One of the ways you know it is a burden is that you will find like-minded believers easily — you sell the idea and without difficulty they receive it, and you begin to build momentum as you pray.

The burden that came upon Anna the prophetess is an example. When there was need for Jesus to arrive in the flesh, Jesus did not just arrive because he was the Son of God. There was a woman who received that burden. For 65 years as a widow, she was at the temple praying every day for the consolation of Israel.

Some of you, the dissatisfaction you have been having is not because anything is wrong. It is because God is trusting you with a burden.

The Rise of Prophetic Intercessors

These burdens come with an intense grace for prayer, and that leads to the rise of prophetic intercessors. The first ministry that leads the way for the reignition of fire is the prayer ministry — prophetic intercession.

2 Chronicles 7:14 — if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray. The first port of call for reigniting revival fire in your life, your family, and your territory will start with the prophetic intercessory ministry. This is not a one-off thing. When a burden comes, it goes beyond one day, one hour. You literally do not have a prayer point. Sometimes you do not even know what drives you to the place of prayer. One day becomes one week, one week becomes one month, one month becomes one year, and you are pressing.

When prayer does not ascend to the heavens, the move of God is limited within a territory.

• In Acts 2:42, the early church continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayer.
• In Acts 6:4, the apostles said: we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
• Paul and Silas prayed at midnight when bound in prison.
• Jesus himself prayed. Luke 18:1 — he spake a parable that men ought always to pray and not to faint.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:17 — pray without ceasing.
• Mark 11:24 — whatsoever things you desire when you pray.
• James 5:13 — is any man afflicted? Let him pray.

An attack on your prayer life is an attack on your spiritual efficiency. An attack on the prayer altar is an attack on the prophetic destiny of any territory.

Prayer is such a threat to the kingdom of darkness that a parliament came together to put a law that for just 30 days — theologians purport that 30 days of no prayer can wreck territorial havoc.

Prayer is not just for prayer warriors or intercessors. It is for all men. Every family must have a prayer altar. Every business must have a prayer altar. You cannot compromise on the spirituality of things and expect to last. There is no level of excellence that crosses a certain threshold in life that does not have a spiritual root.

When men pray, they release the power of God. When men pray, they activate the ministry of angels. When men pray, the Holy Ghost begins to move, birthing the program of God.

Elijah prayed to shut the heavens for 3.5 years and then prayed again to restore the rain. He assumed a birthing position. He prayed once and sent his servant to check — nothing. He went back to pray again and again. Praying again is not unbelief. Praying again is proof of faith. When you pray and stay, that is proof that you believe God.

I pray for you: every attack on your prayer life — for those of you who in honesty know that your prayer life and your zeal for the things of God has gone down — I pray by the power of the Holy Ghost that fresh fire rest upon your prayer altar. Fresh fire upon your prayer altar. Fresh fire upon your prayer altar. Businessmen, fresh fire upon your prayer altar. Churches, fresh fire upon your prayer altar. Jesus prayed. The apostles prayed. I release fresh fire upon your prayer altar in the name of Jesus.

When there is no prayer, there cannot be revival. Prayer answers to the need for revival.

What Happens When People Begin to Pray

A strong, vibrant, and consistent prayer investment over any territory begins to stir up divine encounters. It brings brokenness and repentance, and it ushers the evangelistic and the apostolic to begin carrying out their ministry within that territory.

• Encounters begin to happen. When the cloud of any territory becomes thick through the prayers of the saints — prophetic intercession — encounters begin to break out across schools, churches, homes, the street, unusual places. The Saul-to-Paul encounter only happens when men pray. God will respond to prayer by raising or sending apostolic emissaries to that territory, who lock hands with those praying and begin to engender soulwinning activities.
• Soulwinning activities begin to happen. Men of God do not choose where to go — they are directed. It is the prayer of the saints that draws people and anointings to a region. You can draw an anointing to your region through consistency of prayer. Crusades, soul-winning activities are a direct response to the prayer of the saints. Did you not read that there was a Macedonian call? The apostle was told to go to the house of Cornelius — that is where the salvation of the Gentiles started. Peter was praying and had a vision. He was sent. While he yet spake, the Holy Ghost fell on all that heard him.

Most of what we call revival right now is just an ignition. It is not yet a revival. We celebrate the ignition and leave the substance. Souls are getting saved and there is no infrastructure to disciple them. That is why moves do not last.

The Teaching Ministry: The Preserver of Revival

The next port of call is the emergence of the teaching ministry. This is the preserver of the move of God. No matter how spectacular the ignition is, if the teaching ministry does not come to bridge what God is doing, the move will not last.

In Acts 8, Philip the evangelist went down to Samaria and preached Christ. Demons were crying out and there was great joy in the city — but Philip knew that if he stopped there, the move would be wasted. So he sent for Peter and John. The apostles came not merely to minister miracles, but to pray for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost — and then they began to teach them, to mentor them.

In Acts 19:1, Paul came to Ephesus and found certain disciples. He asked, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? They had not even heard if there be any Holy Ghost. He explained and got them filled. Then he stayed and began to teach them systematically.

In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul wrote to a church where a mighty move of God was happening — but there was disorderliness. Prophets were prophesying without guidance. People were taking communion and getting drunk. Paul called them together and began a conference to arrange what God was doing decently and in order. That is the apostolic teaching ministry at work.

There are three errors that proceed from the teaching ministry and can abort, corrupt, or destroy the move of God:

• Falsehood or apostasy — a total deviation from the truth as revealed in scripture. 1 Timothy 4:1 — the spirit expressly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrine of demons.
• Corruption of truth — an accurate spiritual principle, but the approach and application of it is where preachers go wrong. There is a way fatherhood and sonship — a godly principle — can be taught that leads to slavery. There is a way giving and finances can be taught that produces bondage. There is a way grace can be taught that becomes a license for lasciviousness.
• Imbalance — exaggeration — not keeping truth within the boundary of its relevance. There is a way prayer can be taught that makes it seem like no other force in the kingdom is relevant. There is a way to teach the word that makes you downplay prayer. There is a way to teach the mind that almost becomes occultic. Line upon line, here a little, there a little. You find a people who are prayerful but know nothing about scripture — so any spirit can speak through them, because there is no doctrinal foundation. And you find those who know the word but become legalistic scribes and Pharisees because the spirit component is missing.

The assignment of the apostolic ministry is to bring all these mysteries together and combine them with such wisdom that you produce a balanced, refined, reformed, empowered believer. This is the kind of army God is looking for.

Only revived men can revive territories. Only transformed men can transform territories.

For as long as prophetic intercessors keep the prayer fire burning — for as long as soulwinning activities never cease — for as long as ministers of the gospel keep building, refining, empowering believers — for as long as the king-priest dominion strategy is practiced where believers are involved in matters of the altar and also matters of state — revival will never die.

The King-Priest Dominion Strategy

A true apostolic Christian cannot separate himself from matters of society. It is an anomaly. It is poor training. The definition of darkness is any society without the presence of the saints. But not every kind of believer — there are vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor.

For a very long time, Christians were subliminally programmed to alienate themselves from matters of governance and politics. But the body cannot run away and be falling under the anointing in churches while antichrist policies are being passed. There needs to be an apostolic generation of believers who are vibrant on one hand but policy makers on the other hand.

Imagine the president of a nation being a genuine authentic prophet that sees. One day of a man suggesting a leadership economic solution by the spirit saved a nation seven years of famine. That man was called Joseph. Joseph did not go to Pharaoh to prophesy — he took advantage of a healthy altar and manifested the king-priest dominion strategy. He went and said, Pharaoh, what you saw is not about cows. It is a revelation from God.

Daniel — the king had a dream and forgot it. Satan withdrew that dream because there was a mystery in it. And a man with a healthy altar, who knew how to translate the health of his altar to the marketplace, said, King, do not be hasty. Give me time. He went back and prayed. Then the secret was revealed.

Jeremiah 33:3 — call unto me and I will answer and show you great and mighty things. If you lack kingdom influence, it does not matter what you see — it cannot be executed. It is a waste for God to grant you national visions when you do not have the influence to execute them. Influence plus the gift of the Spirit produces potent results.

The same prayer ministry releases the spirit of wisdom and revelation upon men and women to understand the scripture and the ways of God. This gives rise to teaching priests. As the saints are built, the mentality of an apostolic Christian is cultivated in them — one who has been trained to understand the God-man partnership, that the advancement of God's program depends on God and men together, and they are ready to assume that responsibility.

Four Elements of an Effective Teaching Ministry

1. Doctrine — the foundation. The Greek word didascalia. A body of knowledge that transforms a student to match the status of his teacher.
2. The principles or mysteries of the kingdom — the modus operandi of the kingdom. Matthew 13:11 — it has been given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. Believers must be taught how to function in the kingdom.
3. Wisdom for living — knowing how to walk as sheep in the midst of wolves. This is not doctrine — it is the wisdom of the just. Teaching people to save their money so they do not fall into penury is wisdom for living. Learning the law of honour is part of this wisdom. You can be a righteous person and dishonour a non-believing boss and remain stunted and unpromoted, because you lack the wisdom to excel within the cosmos. The Bible says to honour all men, then says to honour the king.
4. A word-compliant worldview — the way you interpret and assess the happenings in society must come through the lens of scripture. Many genuine, anointed men and women of God do not have an accurate worldview. They cannot sit in a board meeting or handle a secular interview and articulate intelligent matters of society from the lens of scripture. That is the reason God cannot trust certain ministers with quality members — because there is no message for them. Our worldview is small, perverted, inefficient. When we speak over nations, it must not be ignorant prayer — we must have the wisdom to counsel a president in five minutes on something that shifts the economy of a nation.

The rise of accurate, effective, and balanced teaching ministries will lead to the rise of strong, revived, vibrant, enlightened, and transformed believers who can shine as light and salt and become change agents in society.

The Pattern of Reignition

God releases a burden. Men receive that burden. They pray. When they pray, encounters begin to happen. Soulwinning activities begin to happen. The apostolic ministry receives that and begins to mature the saints. As they build the saints, the mentality of apostolic Christians is cultivated. And then those apostolic Christians go out — into government, medicine, business, education, the arts — and the kingdoms of this world begin to become the kingdoms of our God.

There is an emergence of an apostolic generation coming. Vibrant, transformed, refined, balanced, empowered, knowledgeable, filled with wisdom, filled with faith, filled with power.

Here comes the apostolic generation — passionately in love with Jesus, trained and refined toward the ways of God, king-priests who are men of the altar and men of dominion.