How Donald Trump Would Protect Revival in America - LARRY SPARKS CHARISMA NEWS

I invite you to choose the one who will help protect the revolution produced by Holy Spirit revival. (Vicki Wolkins/Flickr/CC)

How Donald Trump Would Protect Revival in America

 10/28/2016 LARRY SPARKS  CHARISMA NEWS

Revival is not a call to moral revolution; revival is a summons to, once again, reorient church and Christian life around the person of the Holy Spirit.

The inevitable byproduct? A revived church will adjust its agenda to compliment God's. When the distinctive of the Western church is the power and presence of God flowing without restraint in her midst, I believe the Western world will experience a direct impact.

This is where we can begin the conversation about moral and cultural revolution. Apart from the supernatural influence of the Spirit, however, all we're talking about is behavior modification, not personal or cultural transformation. It all begins with the Holy Spirit!

Unfortunately, many Christians inappropriately brand the "move of God" exclusively in terms of politics, ethics or even biblical morality.

No. Revival is not about politics or principles—it's about presence. If our prayer meetings are primarily about convincing God to pass certain legislation or pleading for laws to be executed or begging heaven for the moral climate of the culture to shift, friends, we are missing the mark of revival. Yes, pray about these matters; just don't label them as "revival."

I restate, revival is about us welcoming back the holy, glorious, manifest presence of the Holy Spirit, on His terms, not ours. Revival has an impact, and the question I want to pose through this article is simply this: Which candidate would realistically protect the move of God in the church, so that, ultimately, the outflow of revival could produce a positive moral, societal and cultural transformation in the world around us?

I know this much—one candidate would consider a move of God a blessing (although, he may not understand it), and the other would consider it a target because it threatens to unravel the insidious progressive agenda that propagates a very fluid approach to right, wrong and biblical morality.

What Is Revival?

Hold onto your seats for this one: revival is not biblical. I'd dare even say that the concept we recognize as "revival" today is not necessarily the perfect will of God.

Do you know why? We were never meant to go on and off script.

We were never meant to deviate from the very clear marching orders the Savior left us with, and thus, plunge into century-long cycles of dryness, stagnancy, powerlessness and religion. Revival is Heaven's sovereign jump-start to get the church operating in her inheritance again. 

A dispensational perspective on "revival" and the move of God is downright deadly to a church that is being consistently called by God Himself to operate in her Acts 2 inheritance. This is some fabricated theology saying that God moves in certain "dispensations" or periods of time more than others. 

Theology like this kills our responsibility. We are responsible for revival. Do you want to experience a move of God? Do you, pastor? Do you, friend? It doesn't begin with sovereignty; it begins with a costly decision.

God already sovereignly poured out His Holy Spirit on Pentecost—will you say an unqualified "Yes" to welcoming the Spirit, in your life, in your family, in your job, in your school, and in your church? Remember, it's on His terms, not ours. This is the key to unlocking revival at a truly supernatural level. I believe there are "suddenlies" to revival, in terms of when and how God moves. He's God, we're not—let's cease trying to predict Him. While you may not be able to predict revival, I do believe you can posture yourself to experience outpouring. 

To operate in revival, I believe we need to reconsider focusing on these three timeless distinctives of the Christian faith.

3 Distinctives of Christianity

1. Fulfilling the Great Commission

"Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit'" (Matt. 28:18-19, MEV).

Jesus made our marching orders very clear. All authority has been given to Him, and in turn, Jesus has authorized you and I to make disciples of all nations, first and foremost, ushering those disconnected from God into His family and also, training nations through principles of the kingdom.

On a micro, or individual level, it begins with people being spiritually saved, and on a macro level, it looks like every sphere of society—arts, business, government, media and so forth—being impacted by those who live under the influence of the Holy Spirit. After all, God's great end-goal is all the earth being filled with His glory (Num. 14:21; Hab. 2:14).

2. Holy Spirit Discipleship

"Being assembled with them, He commanded them, 'Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me. For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now'" (Acts 1:4-5, MEV).

What did Jesus speak about for 40 days prior to His ascension? Living and operating in the kingdom of God. This is the way of life for every single Jesus-follower. What does the demonstration of a life under the influence of God's rule and reign look like?

It has little to do with dominating the natural systems and structures of the world, and has everything to do with seeing the influencing forces of darkness being pushed back and the light of God released. All of this is solely accomplished through the Spirit, since Paul clearly states that the kingdom of God is IN the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). We'd do well to study the movement of the Spirit throughout the ministry of Jesus, and in the early church. His work reveals our assignment.

His movement is our invitation to discipleship. True discipleship is not about sitting in some group reading books and sharing feelings; discipleship is about learning how to interact with this wonderful Person called the Holy Spirit. Read the books and have a mentor, yes, but above all, learn the ways of the Spirit.

3. Signs, Wonders and the Supernatural Kingdom 

"'In the last days it shall be,' says God, 'that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy'" (Acts 2:17-18, MEV).

Acts 2:17-18 is the inheritance of every believer, Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal. The Last Days outpouring that is available now is directly associated with the release of signs, wonders, the prophetic and all manner of supernatural demonstration. The outpouring of the Spirit looks like something. It's the people of God arising and shining with His light, unveiling it to the world around them. This light looks like something—love, service, justice and compassion. This light looks like caring for orphans, widows and the marginalized. This light looks like incurable disease being reversed, torment being broken and addiction being conquered. When the church begins to operate in this measure of power again, I believe those disconnected from God will take notice and will hunger for the true otherworldly and supernatural lifestyle only found in the Holy Spirit.

How Will President Trump Be a Friend of Revival? 

What does this all have to do with Donald Trump? I love the fact that Trump is evangelically un-biased. In other words, he will not fight you over cessationism (discontinuation of miracles and the gifts of the Spirit) or continuationism. He will not argue for or against the continuation of the power of the Holy Spirit. He will not look upon the charismatic, Spirit-empowered community with a suspicious eye, the way that perhaps a more pastoral candidate would (who might come with theological baggage).

When the church decides to rise up and be the church—saying yes to the outpouring of the Spirit—I believe the book of Acts is going to be opened in an increased measure. Don't get me wrong, it's been opened since the Day of Pentecost. God never sovereignly closed it; we did. Religious establishments decided that the "power" stuff was too messy, and formalized the church, substituting ritual, liturgy and formalism for the mystical and supernatural. 

So I present this thought to you for careful consideration. As we plug back into the power source of heaven, the Holy Spirit, we will experience a revolution in the Western Church. People will receive the Lord in multitudes, as they did in Acts 2, and they will be discipled into followers of Jesus who move in signs, wonders, miracles, and power. This is the community that has the potential to shift the moral and cultural landscape. Our preaching alone won't do it; His power will, though. This has been the case throughout history. When this happens, who do we want as our President—someone who will protect our religious liberties, or someone who wants to redefine our Kingdom convictions because they are "antiquated" and at odds with the progressive redefinition of morality? 

No, revival is not synonymous with moral revolution; the byproduct of revival, however, will have a dramatic impact on society around us. My prayer is that we would elect a president who would protect the move of God, and every manner of impact it would have on society around us.

The alternative option is chilling to me. Imagine a move of God that is flowing with force and power through the church, and then begins to spill out into the surrounding community. When people live under the influence of the Holy Spirit, their decisions change. They receive new options. Politics are impacted. Perspectives on right, wrong, good and evil are formed based on a biblical worldview. Under a Clinton administration, my fear is that the move of God would be seen as a target, not a blessing. Revival would be targeted, not because of the spiritual refreshing element, but because of its inevitable impact on society.

Vote for the future, friends. 

Revival will not be legislated by a president or government. Outpouring will be a grass-roots movement, just as it was when it began back in Acts 2. The movement of God is not determined by who is in office by any means.

That said, I do believe the individual in office can help accelerate the move of God by "blessing it" or protecting it, or that person can ultimately go to war with the move of God and the "deplorable" impact it creates on morality, society and culture.

The choice is yours. I invite you to choose the one who will help protect the revolution produced by Holy Spirit revival. 

Larry Sparks is co-author of the book, The Fire That Never Sleeps, with Dr. Michael Brown and John Kilpatrick. Larry's mission is to help teach all believers how to experience and sustain personal revival—enjoying a deep relationship with God through encountering the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. To this end, he maintains a blog through Charisma magazine, is a published author, teaches revival seminars, and is the co-founder of Renewing South Florida, an organization committed to uniting the local church for regional outpouring. Larry holds a Master of Divinity from Regent University and presently serves as vice president of publishing for Destiny Image Publishers.

You can receive daily empowerment for personal revival from Larry on Facebook (facebook.com/larryvsparks).

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