There were a number of very personal areas where the Lord ministered to me over the few short days at the Hebridean Revival Conference. The Holy Spirit just highlighted a few phrases from the words of the speakers and in the worship which have been inhabiting my heart and mind since coming home. I’m seeking to be faithful in taking the time out to pray and reflect and listen to the Lord to ensure I don’t miss what he is saying, and so I went to my listening place this afternoon for a few hours just to wait on Him.
In truth, the Lord had already been bringing images and ideas to mind before I went – it’s how God often works with me. He shows me little snapshots, pictures, ideas and then I’ve to dig deep and see how they connect. This is how things sink in for me, and the Lord knows this. The moment that these little things all connect is then the ‘ah ha’ moment, and it all becomes so clear.
Anyone who has held hope for revival, and prayed and laboured in its direction, will know that opposition comes your way. Holding a passion and a fire for the things of God attracts resistance and there are seasons where your battle wounds you. At the very beginning of the conference, this became very plain to me. There was a prophetic word which just revealed to me all the ways in which my heart had been opposed and the ways in which that had wounded me. The question that came was, ‘which of those wounds are still open, and which are now scars which simply tell a story in the progress of the battle.’ I’ll spare you the detail, but the words and impact of others can stay with us for a long time and it can dampen our fire. You just have to release that stuff. Oh, I wept a bit.
The next step is simply to ask the Lord to restore that which is lost – the ‘years that the locusts have eaten’…and ‘afterwards, I will pour out my spirit’ (Joel 2:25, 28). This came with the use of a couple of really old school songs which God used to remind me where I left behind a lot of the passion! It’s not that I haven’t sung those songs over the years, but they were sung with the fiery passion and enthusiasm of an old Sally Army Holy Spirit knees up – invigorating, convincing, militant, and JOYFUL.
Then – I kid you not – whilst the worship team had started the intro chords to a completely different song, someone random right behind me started singing ‘O God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire’ – a song written by General William Booth, the anthem of the salvation warrior and his/her consecration to the Lord’s mission.
To make our weak hearts strong and brave,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
To live a dying world to save,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
Oh, see us on Thy altar lay
Our lives, our all, this very day;
So crown the off’ring now we pray,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
Then, I remembered him. Young Andrew Clark, commissioned and covenanted officer, captain in the Lord’s Army: leading campaigns, doing exploits, training soldiers and warriors, storming the forts of darkness, preaching to the heart, winning the world for Jesus. He could have done with a bit more wisdom for sure, but on he marched.
One of the speakers commented that his youth had been so involved in the passion for revival, but all of a sudden his passion changed because he’d just been run through and battened down. He changed his focus for a few years, but the Lord called him up on it: ‘When did we change the passion for your life, son?’, God said to him. All of a sudden, I’m answering that question: ‘You didn’t, Lord. I did.’
Enough said.
An old Salvation Army colleague wrote this on his blog yesterday:
“You are, for better or worse, what you have invested in crafting, in partnership with God, for the past 20 years/ 30 years / 40 years: your character and experience and skills and personality. Holy is as holy does. If you’ve disciplined yourself in prayer and discipleship, in evangelising and worship, in accountability and community, you’re likely a rip-roaring warrior dangerous to the enemy. If not, you’re possibly just another person with a little star on each shoulder.”
This is the choice we face. To press in to what God has for us, or to resign ourselves to defeat. By God’s grace, we can fan into flame the gift of God within us. We can be defiant in the face our the enemy of our souls and pick up the mantle once again.
Jehovah Nissi – the Lord is my Banner (Exodus 17:15), Tommy MacNeil declared over us. Wonderful – the passage where Moses’ arms are held up in battle against the Amalakites – Moses builds an altar and declares ‘the Lord is my Banner’. Time to raise that banner once again.
Andrew S M Clark 