I have been in the Charismatic Church arena for over a decade, and while that isn’t a long time for some, it’s a third of my life. In that time I have connected with a vast proportion of current “revival” culture, which is, in my opinion, a highly involved process of begging God to do what He has already done–to come to earth and pour out His Spirit upon us. At this time, we have entire church groups who fast and pray regularly, even daily, in a flagellant posture attempting to wrangle a few extra drops of heaven out of God’s grasp. Don’t get me wrong–I believe in fasting and how it changes our own internal state. I can literally feel a change in the energy in my body when I fast, but that changes me, not God.

I have spent a considerable amount of my own time praying for revival as well–literally crying over the state of our nation and this world, and the hopeless condition that we are in if God doesn’t send His Spirit down yet again to bring revival. As I have grown in all things spiritual and become more accustomed to the Charismatic Way of doing things, I have discovered that we Charismatics are especially good at praying in such a way as to ramp up our emotions into a passionate frenzy. We use music to bring everyone else with it, then we grab a microphone and begin screaming super-spiritual catch-phrases into it and eventually we are so worked up that tears are literally streaming down our face as we beg God to do things that, I assure you, He has not only planned to do already, but is far more interested in doing than we are. So why all the fuss?

I’m not trying to just poke fun at people here, but I have been in gatherings where this is exactly what we did. In one of these meetings when the girl was screaming into the microphone, we were in a room with a drop ceiling and everyone was not more than ten feet from her. In other words, she could have talked and prayed at a normal volume or even just spoke a little louder and all of us would have heard her just fine. When I say it was painful, I don’t mean just from an emotional perspective, I mean that it was really uncomfortable on my ears. If you can’t get more anointing, go for volume I guess.

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within me. I AM revival wherever I go because I carry within me the One Who Revives. I have within me the faith of God who makes all things new. I have the power to heal sickness, to cast out demons, to create solutions in every problem. Every word I speak produces life or death depending on what I choose to speak. I am a powerful person because God has made me that way–we ALL are! We don’t really need “another revival” — Revival is over. It is time for a Mystic Awakening.

The Christian mystics were people who fell so deeply in love with God that they become consumed by Him. There is something about facing your gaze toward Him that is overwhelming. As we turn our affection toward God, He turns his affection toward us and pours out new measures of his love. Current worship-culture is, in my opinion, far less attractive to God than unbridled private affection, not because worship culture is bad, but because when we gaze into His face in our hearts there are no other distractions. We can’t be carried along in an act of reverence by other people and nice-sounding instruments in spite of a lack of personal engagement, so when our eyes are affixed on how altogether lovely he is, our whole heart is involved. Again, corporate worship is a good thing, God loves it, and angels flock to corporate worship in droves for healing, refreshing, and warfare against the enemy, but it’s not the same as sitting alone with the King.

One thing the mystics are known for is ridiculous miracles–resurrections, translocation, bilocation, and multiplying food are just the beginning strokes. One monk would occasionally make himself invisible or extremely tiny so that other monks couldn’t find him and interrupt his times of devotion with God. Padre Pio was seen by enemy fighters during the War floating high in the air over his town and planes were literally unable to drop bombs–the bombs would not release from the hangars no matter how many times they tried. There is a story of one mystic who was asking his superior what he should do next as he had done everything else his superior had instructed. “Why not be transformed completely to fire?” he said as he began to glow.

If we want to see Heaven come to earth, we need to spend more time in Heaven and bring it back with us. Those who are the MOST heavenly minded will be of utmost earthly good, as those who are so completely taken by God’s affection cannot do anything but let that life overflow into the earth sphere around them. Revival has become a catch-phrase that leads to more meetings and conferences with speakers, products, and mass marketing to other believers whether it carries the essence of Heaven or not. A Mystical Awakening is simply letting our hearts and our whole bodies be consumed by God’s goodness and letting the ecstasy of His affection transform us into living flames of His glory to revolutionize this world. Revival is at an end–let the Mystics arise!

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Reddit

Pinterest

More

LinkedIn

Pocket



Print

Skype



WhatsApp

