Dharius Daniels - Are You Ready for a Revival?

Jeremiah chapter 1, chapter 18, verse 1 says, «This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.» So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hand, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me, and he said, «Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does? Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.»

The topic of tonight’s teaching will be posed in the form of a question: Are you ready for revival? Are you ready for revival? Tonight, we begin what we have dubbed and designated as our Awakening revival. I’ve used the word «Awakening» intentionally, because it’s a term historically used to describe a period of great spiritual revitalization in the 18th century that swept through Europe and the American colonies; it was called the Great Awakening. This period was unique because it left, listen to this, a permanent impact on American Christianity. It wasn’t a time filled with empty emotional antics; it wasn’t a season saturated with simply spirited services. It was a season of radical expansion facilitated by personal transformation.

I’m believing that this is a picture and a portrait of what God wants to do in our hearts this week. I believe that God wants us to experience unique and authentic encounters with Him that are so evident that they leave a permanent imprint on our hearts and make a permanent impact on our appetites. I hope your appetite is ruined after this week; I hope that what you used to stomach easily now gives you an upset stomach. I pray that your capacity to receive is so enlarged and expanded that you will no longer be satisfied with status quo spirituality. I pray that your appetite becomes so radically adjusted that you develop allergic reactions to anything that does not reach into the depths and resources of your soul.

I believe that just as God did it during the 18th century, He can do it in 2017. I believe that this week, He can change not everything, but some things permanently. I just said something right there; I said He may not change everything, but this week, in these three days, He can change some things permanently—not periodically, but permanently; not for a week, but permanently; not for a month, but permanently; not for a year, but permanently. Because the Jesus revealed in the Scriptures was a Jesus who altered things permanently; when He changes it, it stays changed. When He fixes it, it stays fixed. When He repairs it, it stays repaired.

And I want to know, is there anybody in this place, anyone watching online, who says, «I’m ready for some stuff to change permanently»? As a matter of fact, I’m expecting some things to change permanently once I step out of some situations this week. I do not plan on stepping back—permanently. Jesus specializes in eternal alterations. When He saves you, when you experience authentic conversion, the question is not, «Can you lose it?» The question is, «Did you ever actually have it?» But when He saves you, your salvation is so permanent that your name is already written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. He says, «Because when I do it, I do it permanently.»

If you have experienced periodic alterations, that is an indication that God is not through. Because whenever God is finished, it is permanent, it is done, it is finished, it is over. Somebody say «permanent»! He specializes in eternal alteration. And I believe revival is a space where God accelerates these alterations. He doesn’t do it all in a revival, but He can do more in a revival. Did you hear what I said? He can do in three days of intense spiritual focused ministry what I couldn’t do in three months. It’s a space where He accelerates things; He accelerates these alterations. Am I making sense?

Therefore, listen to this: Revival isn’t just about fervor; it’s about formation. Revival, from God’s perspective, isn’t just about excitement; it’s about adjustments. So if I leave revival with fervor but not formation, excitement without adjustments, motivation without a metamorphosis, then I have mismanaged the move of God. And it’s possible, especially in charismatic Christianity, for us to leave services talking about the experience we had—a move of God—but there’s another question that needs to be asked, and that next question determines what happens in your life after the revival.

The question is not, «Did we just have a move of God?» The question is, «What did I do with the move of God?» It’s one thing to have it; it’s another thing to steward it. It’s one thing to experience it; it’s one thing to properly manage it. And I believe that one of the challenges of historic charismatic culture is that we have enjoyed spirited services that have not adjusted anyone. A lot of revivals offer few adjustments because when I don’t understand the purpose of something, I mismanage it. Just because I benefit from it doesn’t mean I’ve been changed by it.

And the question we have to ask ourselves as believers is, «Have you settled for better when change is possible?» Don’t make me run out there. I said, «Have we settled for better when change is possible? Have you settled for less than God’s best?» Are you hearing what I’m saying?