Personal Preparation for God to Work at Our Staff Conference
Why do we come to Cru at CSU Staff Conference?
Colorado. Friends. Refreshing. Renewed vision. New ideas and strategies. Amazing worship. And more, I am sure.
As I have walked around the City Park lake each morning, I have prayed for something more for each of us and for all of us together here: for a great outpouring of the Spirit of God, for personal and corporate revival and for anointing for the mission He has called us to.
I know the Prayer Team is encircling this campus and all of us with just such prayers. I am grateful for them. And I am sure you are praying something similar as well.
I am certain, though, that I must personally be preparing my heart and mind and spirit as well. I have had the privilege of being part of a Praying for Revival community. As I was preparing to lead one of our sessions recently, God gave me a little understanding of the ongoing cycle of His work in and through me.
I am still meditating on these truths, seeking to understand and apply. I am sharing them with you, as I am absorbing them myself. If you have additional thoughts or insights, please share them in the comments.
Here is what I have grasped so far, is needed as I desire personal revival:
Deep humility (a true recognition of who God is and who I am) –>
Genuine repentance (horror at my sin, hating my sin) –>
True worship (awe, gratitude, adoration, honor) –>
Dependent prayer (I am inadequate, unworthy, nothing, needy)–>
Spirit anointing (now available for every need, asked for, received by faith)
Consistently living out the above will lead to the following being increasingly evident in my life:
Sincere gratitude (not a perfunctory thank you, but true giving of thanks)
Courageous faith (trust in action, no matter what the challenge)
Authentic living (so that my life looks more and more like Jesus)
Real oneness (preferring one another, united in the Spirit)
As these realities are growing in me, they will inevitably lead to actions:
Bold proclamation (I will be talking about my Savior boldly and sensitively)
Sacrificial love (serving others, laying down my life for others)
Compassionate justice (responding in word and deed to pain and injustice)
Yet I must recognize that I cannot do all this. It becomes possible and true in my life because of the BOUNDLESS GRACE of God poured out through His Holy Spirit.
It is not my performance, my good deeds, my hard work. It is all God’s gracious gift of grace, in His presence, to enable me to become like Jesus, to do the impossible, to move on when I fail, to trust when I am inadequate, to believe God can work in and through someone as unworthy as I am.
What about you? What has God shown you is needed for personal revival?
C2013 Judy Douglass
Related posts: