Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

It's been such a long time since I wrote, I think i can't remember how to write or what to write already...but I shall try. Some things of note have been happening lately and I want to write it down before I get sucked into school again and have no more time for myself.

So what shall I write? Let's write about revival.

As usual, I tell my long-winded grandfather's story (please ask my piggy daughter and granddaughter) before I get to the point, so here goes...

Last friday (16th June), we had the sub-ministries gather to pray. Pray for the "Service Showcase" which would take place this coming Sunday. It seemed the most logical thing to do...after we finished painting our banners a few days before. It had been so fun(so beautiful when all the subministry banners are put together), and personally I was very encouraged by the many youths who turned up...most of them who came to paint also came to pray. Somehow I felt prompted that we should not go to God with a list of prayer items, as we often have a (bad) habit of doing, but I felt strongly that we should minister to one another as we prayed. So in went every ministry into the 'GAP' in the middle of our circle to be prayed for after they had shared all their prayer requests and concerns. It was an awesome time and I felt really blessed.

Towards the end we had a question about 'Revival'. I guess many youths have questions about 'revival'. I had also been having my own thoughts on it, but since it was brought up, and there were many youths around, it was a good time to address it. I feel that 'revival' is a term which has been loosely used in our ministry (and perhaps many other places too). Sermons have also been littered with this word. It arouses excitement, a longing for something great that God is going to do, a sense of great expectation. It is an ideal state, the images of which are described by others' experiences of the great revivals of old.

The sad thing is, that many youths (and perhaps even some leaders) have been greatly disappointed. They experienced God in an intimate way, felt His presence, and longed for more. They waited and waited, but the expected 'revival' never came. The unquestioning ones perhaps just abandoned the idea. The ones who dare to ask, perhaps question God about their disappointment.

Perhaps 'revival' has become an ideology. It has something similar along the lines of 'holy war' or 'enlightenment' or 'the perfect society'. We rant and rave about it, we preach it, we yearn for it, but we do not really know what it entails. We cannot really put our finger on what it really is. It becomes our driving force and our motivation, and when we work towards something of which we do not really know what we expect, there is a danger. Danger of disappointment, disillusionment, or even deception. For who can plan or program a revival? Are man's ways higher than God's ways?

Let it be clear that I am not an anti-revivalist. I do yearn for revival and I want revival to come. But we need to examine ourselves and look at where we are headed. If our church life consists of rah-rah and getting fired up and doing things for God, even whatever starts off with the best of intentions will end up in the flesh, if the 'revival' is late in coming. Beneath the external surface of saying the right religious words, raising of hands, and jumping rhythmically(or like a monkey, whichever applies), is the inner life which sustains the soul and the spirit of man. We need to feed on the Word of God (as one sister said) and rest in Him. Keep the Sabbath way of life and not drive ourselves to the ground with work and ministry. In short, we need to walk right. The Word of God is what sustains the inner man and effects the change.

How do we communicate revival to the youths? We need to keep it simple. When we use it loosely as a religious jargon, then 'revival' remains an ideology. When we break it down to identifiable characteristics and explain them, it becomes easily understood by the youths. It is what makes revival 'measurable', and in a sense, items in a checklist which the youths can, so called, check against what our ministry has and has not.

What were some of the marks of revival mentioned in the discussion? They were:

• personal holiness
• a surrendered life
• the fear of the Lord
• love for one another
• passion for the lost
• repentance and forgiveness
• salvations
• the manifest presence of God
• when the church of God is living the way that God wants us to live (obedience to the Word of God)

There are many others marks of revival, and what is central to these marks of revival is obedience to the Word of God. We need to be grounded in God's Word, to "build our house upon the Rock", for outward forms can only carry us so far and when the storms of life come, we will not be able to stand. Youths and leaders in YM must learn to cultivate their inner life, to feed themselves on the Word of God, and to spend time in God's presence. Only then will we be able to know our Shepherd's voice from the one 'who comes to steal, kill and destroy'.

We must be careful about where and how we are driving our ministry towards. My discernment is that striving towards a certain style of worship or certain outward forms of worship, if we do not constantly check our hearts, is akin to idolatry. Because if we are not careful, we no longer seek the Lover of our souls in our worship but the outward expression. We miss the point, and what a tragedy it would be, to be in the presence of the Almighty God but fail to worship Him. As Pastor Alvin wisely put it in the last combined service, YM needs to learn to express our worship to God in a way that is unique to Wesley Methodist Church. And I thought there is a lot of wisdom in that.

The revival will come. I believe that the Lord has put the vision in many of our hearts. But we must be patient. It cannot be at our timing, or when someone cries 'revival' when there is an indelible mark of revival (as listed above) that is observed or experienced in our ministry. It will come at a time as deemed fit by the Lord. And we will know it when it happens...not as a big bang, but gradually. As we faithfully fill ourselves with the Word of God, as the leaders faithfully feed their lambs with the Word of God, and as each of us faithfully serve with our talents, and glorify the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, He will continue to build our ministry up until we are mature and attain the full measure of the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ. That is when we know that we are one step closer to the revival that we yearn for. As we draw closer to Jesus, we draw closer to revival.

In 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Paul writes about Spiritual Gifts (that each of us has), and he writes about how each of us are members of one body (the way we should view ourselves), but the most important passage in context is still chapter 13 where he writes about love, because while Christ is the head and the members of the Body are held together by the ligaments and other soft tissue, love is the blood that keeps each of the members alive in the Body and brings nourishment and sustenance to the members.

As i prayed, i realised that the Service Showcase is not about glorifying the different members of the Body of Christ in YM, but it is about the love that each of us have for one another, because 'without love [we are] nothing'. When brothers love one another and live in harmony, God's blessing and anointing will come upon the ministry. May the Lord be pleased with what we do, and may all of our eyes be open to realise that we all need each other in the ministry, and we need to love one another.

Pray for Unity and Love.

The Lord bless you and keep you in His perfect love as you love your brothers and sisters around you.

God bless!

jiemin =)