Are you hungry to experience more of God in your life? My guess is “Yes,” since you are reading this article. In this article, I will Biblically show you what true hunger for God looks like and then share three practical ways you can increase your desire to experience more of Him in your life.

Last week, we celebrated 20 years of revival and outpouring beginning with 1994’s Toronto Blessing. One of the phrases that became notorious during that particular era—and is continuing on with great strength—is the simple cry, “More, Lord.” This was not merely some Toronto catchphrase. I can remember watching old videos of Evangelist Steve Hill at the Brownsville Revival, praying over people, and crying out: “More, Lord!”

Let me be completely honest. At first, this “prayer” for “more of God” offended me. How are these people asking God for more of Him? I wondered. Don’t they understand that they received the Holy Spirit when they got saved? They have God living on the inside of them! To ask God for more of Himself is like thinking there is an upgrade from the Holy Spirit—which, of course, there isn’t!

Needless to say, God has opened my eyes since then—big time!

If You Have the Holy Spirit, You Are Not In Lack

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, hunger for God is not about seeking some new blessing to come out of Heaven. The desire for more of God is not birthed in the place of lack of God; rather, it’s birthed in a perspective of fullness. A “lack” perspective believes that the Heavenly Father is actually holding out on us, placing boundaries and restrictions on how much of Him we can experience this side of eternity. The “lack” perspective—which tends to be popular in some Charismatic circles (ironically)—tries to convince God to “rend the Heavens” and send something new down out of the sky when in fact, the Holy Spirit is more interested in releasing something old out of His church.

What is the old? It is the agenda of Jesus that never changed since the Book of Acts. Souls saved. Nations ushered into the Kingdom. Systems transformed. Bodies healed. Minds delivered. Addictions broken. Jesus actually believed that His church could accomplish the Great Commission, otherwise He would not have given it to us. What fueled His confidence? It was not in our ability, but rather, in His empowering presence. Pentecost.

Jesus was so confident in the Holy Spirit, He has no trouble deploying His disciples to go into all the nations of the Earth, not only seeing people come to faith, but actually witnessing entire nations, regions and people groups discipled. Jesus would not have instituted so great a commission if the Father had planned to hold back a portion of the Holy Spirit.

The Fullness of Pentecost Is Yours to Steward

Consider how your pursuit for more of God changes when you actually believe that God Almighty lives inside of you. Because of Calvary, you have received an eternal inheritance. The presence and power of God are dwelling within your mortal frame. Your lips have been privileged to carry fiery words from the throne room. You don’t follow signs and wonders; they follow you. Everything changes when you embrace a “fullness” perspective. This view actually intensifies your pursuit of more of God, for you are no longer waiting on Heaven to send something down. Instead, you are compelled to press in to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures to discover how to steward and live out what you have already received.

The moment you were born again, you received everything you would ever need to live a powerful, transformative Christ-following life on Earth.

Paul reminds us that “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11).

Be Shaken By a Fresh Filling

Consider Acts 4:23-31, a popular portion of Scripture that people reference about pursuing more of God or a receiving “fresh filling.” To summarize the context, after experiencing a very intense warning not to speak or teach in Jesus’ name, Peter and John return to their fellow disciples, join together, and offer up a unified prayer for boldness in the midst of persecution. One of their requests is for an outpouring of signs, wonders and healing—demonstrations of the outstretched hand of God in their midst.

This brings us to verse 31, where we read “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” Notice that Pentecost was not repeated. Nothing new came down from Heaven. Instead, the text would lead us to believe that something rose up and was released out of the disciples—those offering up prayers for “more.”

The disciples’ fresh filling with the Holy Spirit directly correlated to the building’s physical shaking. Two houses were shaken after that prayer. The text directly describes the building where they met, but also, their bodies were shaken that physically carried the presence and power of God. Something new rose up within them. Fresh fire. Supernatural boldness. The presence of God was already living inside of them.

They didn’t need an upgraded Holy Spirit; rather, they desired an expression of Christianity that was in greater agreement with everything that Jesus modeled, demonstrated, and promised to them.

There Is More of God For You To Experience  

The song of Heaven as revealed in Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8 is all the evidence you need to conclude that there is more of God for you to experience.

Consider the angels’ eternal cry. They don’t sing “Holy, holy, holy” because they have a limited, finite vocabulary. If anything, Heaven’s vocabulary—“tongues of angels”—is infinitely superior to anything we can muster up here on Earth. That must tell you something about the vastness and brilliance of Almighty God. The angels, with every conceivable word and syllable at their disposal, simply cannot graduate beyond “Holy.” I have to believe that even if the host of Heaven were getting ready to move on to some other word or phrase to describe just one aspect of God’s divine nature, an ever-so slight movement on His end would, all of sudden, subject their gaze to an entirely new dimension of His expansive frame to respond to. It’s back to “Holy, holy, holy,” all over again.

The God Who is eternally worshipped by the angels—a choir of Heavenly host that cannot transition past one single word to describe His infinite glory and beauty—is your God.

There is more of Him for you to see and in turn, more of Him for you to respond to in worship. A “boring” Christian life suffers a horizontal gaze. If we were truly lifting our eyes above the mountains and above the distractions of life, intently looking upon Him, our attention would be captured and fascination awakened.

Your Increased Hunger for God is His Promise to Reveal Himself

God is not in the business of awakening appetites within you that cannot be satisfied since He is not a man that He should lie (see Num. 23:19). Your God wants you to experience more of Him so that, in turn, you can represent His nature with greater accuracy and clarity to the world around you.

Where is your appetite for more of God awakened?

The Presence. When you engage God’s presence, whether it is through worship, during a meeting, or alone in your closet, you collide with One Who is limitless, eternal, and infinite. Such encounters awaken us to ultimate reality. The God within you is greater than anything. What you are presently experiencing of Him is only a taste of what is available. This should not disappoint. Only in the Kingdom does this paradigm actually make sense. You “taste and see” that God is good. The present measure of His Presence satisfies, but it also leaves you hungry for more. Only in His world does eating make you hungrier, and this hunger satisfies.

The Word. Start in Hebrews 11 and then 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. The key is reading without any distraction, and by distraction, I mean the religious voice that so faithfully whispers in our ears, “Yeah, but those types of experiences with God were for the special people. The saints. The heroes. The ancestors. The forerunners. The forefathers. They aren’t for you today. Christianity is nothing more than going to church, reading a Book, living a good life, and going to Heaven when you die.” This is the lie of religion. If you genuinely believe in Christ, sure you will go to Heaven when you die, but the shame is neglecting the power of Heaven you can experience today. Scripture reveals what is available to every man or woman willing to say “Yes” to God.

The people listed in Hebrews 11 “Great Hall of Faith” were not extraordinary individuals. They were ordinary people who caught a glimpse of the extraordinary God and were absolutely ruined for the mundane. When we read the Old Testament side by side with the writings of Paul (such as 2 Corinthians 3:7-18), we are reminded that what they experienced back then, we can experience today. And a step further, we have something that those under the Old Covenant did not, and that is the indwelling Presence of God. As a result, we should expect greater levels of glory and encounter.

The Testimony. When you hear or read about the great works and wonders of God, you are challenged by this fact: there is more and real people throughout history have experienced the “more” of God. This is what makes a revivalist. I am truly convinced that continuous exposure to testimony is one of the key characteristics of a history-making man or woman of God. They are not extraordinary. They are everyday people who become gripped by these glimpses of what God has done, and cannot press on with life as normal until they see the God Who invaded the past, invade the present and transform the future. This is what testimony does to you.

We never graduate beyond hunger, for the moment we stop being hungry for more, we have concluded somewhere in our minds that “I have experienced all there is of God.” This is absolutely impossible!

This week marks the 20^th anniversary of the Toronto Blessing, a powerful renewal of the Holy Spirit that has significantly impacted the world and is producing sustained spiritual fruit to this very day. So what’s the secret? Is it possible for revival to go beyond a few years, a season, or even a single generation, and be carried into the future with increased momentum? Toronto reveals that yes, such a reality is truly possible.

I love reading the stories of revival because they show me how available it is. Toronto is a perfect example of this. For the most in-depth and personal accounts on the birth of this powerful outpouring, I encourage you to read The Father’s Blessing by John Arnott and There is More by Randy Clark. Reading it in their own words, you will see that God was not responding to the cries of spiritual supermen, but hungry hearts desperate to experience a “new normal.”

What Was So Special About Toronto?

John Arnott puts it this way: “Many people have asked me what led to this outpouring of the Father’s blessing. They want to know, Why Toronto? Why us? That’s something I’d like to know, too.”[1]

Before the Toronto Blessing, John and Carol Arnott were burnt out pastors, desperate for a fresh touch from God. They had gone as far as they could in their own strength. The majority of their ministry emphasis focused on dealing with demons, overcoming the darkness, and fighting the devil, “instead of receiving more of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power as a main emphasis.”[2] This approach is prevalent in many Spirit-filled churches today, where instead of focusing more on Jesus and embracing the move of the Holy Spirit, we seem to always be dealing with the devil or fighting some demon—as if we are fighting to achieve victory. The truth is, we fight from a place of received victory. Embracing this perspective shifts everything, and is one of the transformative truths that has emerged out of the Toronto Blessing.

So what made Toronto special? Does God pick and choose regions to bless, or not bless? Or, is there a common denominator that attracts an invasion from Heaven? The common denominator was hunger. John and Carol were hungry enough to expose themselves to what God was doing in other places around the world, through other people. They were not becoming conference junkies; they were desperate to catch a glimpse of what they longed to experience as normal in their lives, in their church, and in their region.

This culminated with a powerful impartation that they received from Claudio Freidzon in Argentina. It would be tempting to look at something like Freidzon, whom God had been using powerfully in South America to establish a culture of revival, and conclude this man was some kind of “spiritual giant.” Not so. Read his book, Holy Spirit, I Hunger For You, and you will quickly discover that Freidzon, like John and Carol, was another spiritually hungry person that pursued the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, no matter what it cost.

Heaven Breaks Out

John and Carol go on to invite Randy Clark to minister for a series of meetings up in Toronto. At the time, Randy was pastoring Vineyard Christian Fellowship in St. Louis Missouri. The Arnotts heard that Randy’s church was experiencing a powerful move of the Holy Spirit and that people were powerfully touched by God as he ministered.

Humorously enough, John recounts, “Randy and I were in fear and trembling hoping God would show up in power, but uncertain about what would happen. We were not exactly full of faith—but God was faithful anyway.”[3]

This tells me that God responds to our desperation and hunger, even if there is uncertainty and faithlessness on our end. He is overjoyed by humble hearts that simply desire Him!

Immediately makes me think of what Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Those with hearts that are humble and hungry are truly positioned to experience the power of God’s Kingdom.

The result is now history. On January 20, 1994, the power of God fell on the 120 people who were gathered at the Thursday night meeting in the Toronto Airport church. The immediate fruit was incredible. It has been noted that “by the end of 1995, 600 thousand people had visited Toronto from almost every nation on the planet.” In addition, “there were over nine thousand first time conversions in the renewal’s first year.”[4]

While this is all very exciting, it is most significant to note that the revival has been continuing and even increasing in global momentum! Churches and ministries across the Earth trace some of their “roots in renewal” to the Toronto Blessing such as Holy Trinity Brompton (U.K.), Bethel Church in Redding, CA, and Heidi and Rolland Baker of Iris Ministries.

So why is Toronto still continuing after 20 years—and why do I believe it will be a vital stream in the revival that never ends?

Three Keys to Sustaining Revival

1) Revival is not personality-driven, it is God-focused: Toronto was not about Randy Clark or the Arnotts. It was not about any of the speakers who preached from their pulpit. It was about a radical corporate hunger for God that transformed a little warehouse church in Canada to a center for historic outpouring. Are we hungry for God? Not breakthrough. Not blessing. Not keys to improving our lives. Not even manifestations of revival. How much do we simply want to know and experience God and see Jesus receive all the glory?

2) Revival is sustained in a culture of testimony: When we recognize that as God “freely gives” to us, we are called to “freely give” to the world, we become catalysts to carry revival. What have we been freely given? Our story. Our testimony. This ranges from our salvation experience to a healing, deliverance, restored marriage, victory over addiction, encounter in God’s presence, etc. Our testimony is what we offer the world.

As we talk about the supernatural things that God has done for us, our words release new options to the people listening.

They may have never heard that God is a loving Father. They may have never known that Jesus still heals today. There is a good chance that they had not been introduced to the Savior whose blood made complete atonement for all of their sins! By sharing your testimony, you introduce new options to other people and along with those options, faith is released. Testimony declares that the same God who moved for you can also move for anyone else, since God is no respecter of persons. This is one of the key factors that birthed Toronto, as the power of God started to be released as Randy Clark shared testimony of how the Holy Spirit so dramatically transformed his life. From that moment until today, testimony is a key cultural component to the Toronto Blessing. As people would get up to testify, the power of God would powerfully hit them, and inevitably, fall upon the entire congregation. When testimony is communicated from generation to generation, people are constantly talking about and listening to stories of God’s mighty acts. This reminds us that Jesus is alive, and that the Holy Spirit wants to continue to release His power today—through us!

3) Revival is sustained when people practice true repentance. Revival dies without repentance. This is not God’s will. Repentance is the key to living in the sustained, lasting fruit of spiritual outpouring. There are two dimensions to repentance. One, we must confront the chasm of our sin. This confrontation produces true godly sorrow, as we recognize the level of disagreement between our lives and what God has made available. Too many people, however, preach a version of repentance that lives in the place godly sorrow—but never gets out. If we never graduate beyond sorrow, we will not embrace the fruit of repentance.

Sorrow over sin is not designed to produce depressed, condemned believers. It awakens us to the chasm between what we are presently experiencing of God, and what He has truly made available.

The chasm causes us to confess and repent for our sins and pursue God with greater passion. As a result, we begin to experience the river of God. Signs, wonders, and miracles start to breakout. Healing—physically and emotionally—flows in an intense measure. People are dramatically touched by the power of God. We celebrate and enjoy all of this. Toronto surely did. However, the reason why Toronto is still continuing today—on a global scale—is because they embraced the second dimension of repentance. This involved the leaders embracing a “new wineskin.”

Read the testimonies, and you will constantly see people experience godly sorrow over sin. However, as the “new wine” of the Holy Spirit was being released, the leaders had their ears bent toward Heaven, humbly asking God, “What changes do you want us to make in our lives and in the way we do church because of this outpouring?” This is absolutely fundamental if we want to see revival outlive a single generation, region or people group. We must be willing to also “repent” for embracing a certain system or structure over the Holy Spirit. This is not a call to chaos; it is a return to organic Christianity, where rather than taking all of our cues from the latest greatest gimmicks or church growth strategies (many of which are good), we look at how the Holy Spirit has been moving and ask, “How do we continue to host His manifest presence among us?”

Recently, I published an article posing the question: “Is it wrong to pray for revival?” The responses were varied and interesting. One response perplexed me, as the individual seemed convinced that revival was not sustainable. It all depends on how you look at it. The Arnotts did not beg God for something, as if He was some austere Heavenly Father, making His kids squirm. Not at all. The Arnotts sought nothing new to come out of Heaven. Rather, they looked at how the Holy Spirit had already been moving, concluded that if the same Holy Spirit who moved powerfully through Kathryn Kuhlman and Claudio Freidzon was also inside of them, He could release the same measure of outpouring in Toronto! This birthed a radical hunger within them to return to a new normal kind of Christianity. Something so old, it would be considered “new.”

Revival exposes us to what normal looks like from God’s perspective.

The outpourings that we call “revivals,” whether they are initiated by spiritual hunger or pure divine sovereignty, are exciting, yet sobering summons for us to recalibrate this thing called “Christianity” to God’s standard. Toronto is a powerful example of hungry, imperfect people who simply bent their hearts and ears towards Heaven. As a result, they have something truly extraordinary to celebrate 20 years later. Not just a memorial to some memory of the “good ole days,” but a powerful testimony to something that started in 1994 and is continuing today, with no signs of slowing down.

The question: What are we doing about it?

I issue an immediate disclaimer: God is not upset about this! Heaven is not worried. The Father is not pacing the throne room wondering what He is going to do. Our intentions are not even being questioned. The key is stewarding what we received when God, the Holy Spirit, took up residence inside of us.

In Spirit-filled circles, the cry for revival is certainly a popular prayer. In essence, we are giving voice to Isaiah 64:1, Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence (ESV). This is common language, particularly when we join together for intercession on a local, national, or global level. We pray, “Lord, rend the heavens and come down!” I have prayed this several times, as it truly reflects the cry of my heart. I want to see the presence and power of God touch the world in a fresh new way. I want to see the spiritual landscape shifted, thousands ushered into the Kingdom and entire nations transformed. The Message Bible gives some powerful clarity on what the expression of “rending the heavens” actually looks like: Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend, make the mountains shudder at your presence.

Is Isaiah 64:1 an appropriate prayer for us to be praying—or has it been fulfilled? I want to take you on a fascinating journey from Jesus, to Pentecost, to present-day Christianity. My prayer is that we would catch a fresh glimpse of the inheritance we received and take our place as the generation that lives like we are truly indwelt by the presence of God.

Jesus, The Answer to Isaiah 64:1

Jesus Christ fulfilled Isaiah 64:1. In fact, this took place at His baptism. Pay careful attention to the language of Mark 1:9-10, In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. (ESV).

We read that at Jesus’ baptism, the heavens were “torn open.”  Could it be that since that glorious day, Heaven has remained “open for business?” There is surely no mention of it closing back up. Truly, Heaven long-awaited the day when a Man walked the Earth who would be a compatible vessel for the Holy Spirit. Jesus was the Man, since He was the perfect, sinless Son of God. He fulfilled Isaiah 64:1, making it possible for anyone without sin and filled with the Holy Spirit to walk in the same supernatural reality, where there is a consistent provision of power flowing from one world (Heaven) into the Earth through those anointed by the Spirit.

Calvary Sustained An Open Heaven

The Cross dealt with the sin issue that prevented humanity from being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was the example of what the Father desired to produce in every single believer: A lifestyle characterized by the abiding, indwelling presence of the Spirit.

In the Old Testament, people might have received temporary empowerment from the Spirit, but it was always for a season or specific task; never a sustained lifestyle. There was no permanence to His presence and power in their lives because of the chasm of sin. The only remedy to humanity’s great disease of sin was the precious blood of Jesus. Even the most celebrated prophets and honored heroes of the faith could not enjoy the indwelling Presence that we have today. Truly, the blood of Jesus kept heaven open even after Jesus left the Earth. His redemptive work made it possible for people throughout the ages to receive the Holy Spirit and walk in the same power that He did, bringing His Kingdom to the Earth.

Pentecost Released An Open Heaven

Calvary dealt with sin and made it possible for every believer to live under an open heaven, where the power and presence of God was not seasonal, but sustained. Pentecost was the glorious byproduct of Calvary. Heaven was not simply opened; its power was released and deposited into every believer gathered in that upper room. And this power was a person—Holy Spirit.

Consider Acts 2:38-39, as this brings us right into the modern era. On the tail-end of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, the emboldened apostle replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (NIV) The promise of Pentecost was never meant to be exclusive to those in the upper room, the Christians living during the first century, or for the church prior to the closing of the Scriptural canon. It is for all whom the Lord would call into redemption.

Sovereign Outpourings

I absolutely love revival history. It is healthy for us to be stirred up by the great revivals and outpourings of yesteryears. You know—those moments in history where God seemed to sovereignly break in and move with unusual power. At the same time, it is unhealthy for us to throw everything up to “sovereignty,” hoping that should God feel like it, He will send us another “sovereign outpouring.”

I propose that the sovereign outpourings of both past and present were never intended to make us dependant on some situation where God randomly showed up at certain times in history, and released some special, sovereign blessing.  Everything that appears sovereign must be carefully studied, for every outpouring of God contains vital keys that were meant to transform Christian culture and unlock a lifestyle of sustained revival. The problem that prevents this is our tendency to get so caught up in the passion, excitement, and manifestations of revival that we miss the foundational things God wants to show us. Yes, we celebrate His supernatural during that season, but also, we must ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to carry revival from one generation to the next.

What begins as an outpouring in one generation should continue as a lifestyle in the next.

Healing Revivalists

Finally, I think of the season of the healing revivalists/evangelists, beginning with historic figures such as John G. Lake, Alexander Dowie, F.F. Bosworth and continuing on with Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Jack Coe, T.L. Osborn, and others. God unusually graced these men and women to represent Jesus through the healing ministry. They became voices of revolution, reminding the world that the power of God was still very much alive and moving. Again, it is easy to simply look back with celebration on these individuals, memorializing the great exploits that were accomplished under their ministries. However, there is more.

What God accomplished through these ordinary men and women is also meant to be a divine summons for an entire generation. What they walked in is available to all whom the Lord our God will call. These were not extraordinary men and women; they were ordinary people anointed with an extraordinary Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that you have living inside of you. The key was stewardship. Kingdom history is made by ordinary, imperfect people who recognize that heaven is open over them, that God lives inside of them, and they live as though these Truths are in fact reality.

The cry for revival is truly noble. How wonderful to know that what we are looking for is not merely some experience, it is a Person. In fact, we do not need to convince God to send something new out of Heaven, for He has already filled us with the glorious catalyst for global revival. Revival is not going to come out of heaven; it is going to come out of a people who truly know Who lives inside of them.

Holy Spirit lives inside of you. Instead of crying out for something else to fall upon us, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to flow through us in an increasing measure. It all begins with recognizing Who we received and living as though God is actually in us and with us.

The men and women who live like this will truly shape history. Will you take your place?

Harbour Live Sets A High Bar With Exceptional Debut Worship Album

Even though Harbour’s debut album, Here We Are has been out for a few years now, it is completely worth recognizing for being a fresh breath of air in the worship community. There are others, don’t get be wrong. But as far as delivering new songs and new sounds, Harbour Live continues to deliver the goods.

Experience Worship That Says “Yes” to All of the Right Things

In fact, I cannot recommend this recording enough. From beginning to end, you are invited into the very experience that this incredible church enjoys on a weekly basis. The songs and sounds of Harbour are not exceptional because God decided to grace one church, while passing by others. Surely not.

Rather, the leaders in this worship community have said a resounding “Yes.” Not to fame. Not to Christian pop. Not to radio friendly-ness. Not to becoming the “latest and greatest craze.” They have said “Yes” to the Presence of God. They have said “Yes” to Kingdom creativity. They have said “Yes” to “encounter-birthed songs,” where the lyrics are actually written out of revelation, experience, and solid God-centric theology. Because Harbour has said “Yes” to the right things, their worship actually carries the Presence of God and brings you along for the powerful, intimate journey.

Worship leaders, Justin Jarvis and Mary Kat Ehrenzeller, have rightfully been acknowledged for what they bring to the table in this recording. If you have listened to the phenomenal cuts on the Jesus Culture Emerging Voices recording, you will have been exposed to the songs of Harbour Church. Mary Kat led “Who Can Compare” (which is also on Here We Are) and “Mighty Fortress,” while Justin Jarvis led “Here We Are” (the title track of Harbour Live’s album) and “Be My Love.”

Songs that Stir Your Heart To High Praise and Intimate Worship

I would encourage worship leaders to specifically invest in this album due to the quantity of up-tempo, praise songs. Such tend to be lacking today—at least songs of praise that are well-written, reflective, prophetic, and engaging. Here We Are delivers on all fronts. From the explosion of praise and faith of the first track, “Rise” to the prophetic “Here We Are,” to the intimate (yet up-tempo), “We Are One” and the declarative, “This is Our God,” Here We Are is not lacking for anthems of praise. And each one is exceptional.

Truly, this album delivers with stirring announcements of praise and deeply intimate love songs of worship. Mary Kat’s “Who Can Compare” is simply stunning, reminding listeners that God Almighty is truly incomparable and yet, He is the very One Who personally leads us through every season of life, lifting our heads and filling us with His hope. There is an unusual grace on this song.

“In the Middle” is another song that I cannot get enough of. Justin Jarvis penned a powerhouse devotional, reflective worship anthem that tenderly contemplates our intimacy with God, while dynamically inviting His Presence to invade.

It is a rare worship album that is capable of sending you to soaring heights of praise while also bringing your heart into deep, intimate moments of worship. Here We Are delivers on both. The project does not simply surprise; it overwhelms. Get ready for a treat!

Check out Harbour Live: http://www.harbourlive.com/

Check out Harbour Church: http://harbourchurch.com/

When God has a message that He wants to give His people, He is not often subtle about it. He might not shout it out loud in a James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman voice, but for those with ears to hear and eyes to see, the Word of the Lord is made abundantly clear. In fact, He tends to be quite repetitive. The message seems to come up everywhere. Every sermon communicates it. Your time in God’s Word emphasizes it. The Holy Spirit continues to remind you about it. God has such a word for you and I this year—“I am summoning you into a deeper relationship with My Spirit, for My Spirit is the agent of the impossible.”

As the people of God commit to deepen their relationship with Holy Spirit (individually and corporately)—instead of making Him a side issue because of misunderstanding, fear, or controversy—the church’s level of New Testament experience and demonstration is going to be significantly upgraded. The body of Christ needs nothing new out of Heaven; we simply need to start becoming stewards of the precious, priceless inheritance we received in the Person of Holy Spirit. It is error for us to believe that the revival we desire is some outpouring that will come from heaven. No. Revival will take place when the people of God awaken to what they have already received and live like God is actually inside of them.

God’s Plans are Supernatural

You serve the God of the miraculous. The God of the impossible. While this Truth is great and often provokes excitement, there is another dimension to it. Consider the text from Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9, where he is quoting from the prophet Isaiah:

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

Too many people stop with this verse. This does a disservice to the Scripture and neglects our responsibility and summons into a supernatural life. Context is everything here. Under the Old Covenant, yes, it would be legal to conclude with this verse, awe the fact that Almighty God is so beyond us and that His plans are infinitely superior to anything our mortal minds could wrap around. While this Truth incites awe, it does not produce any type of action. It leaves us with a glorious fact: Yahweh is the God of the impossible. He is beyond, above, and outside of humanity. He is able to do anything and everything. But there is no access to this God.

This was because under the Old Covenant (when this prophecy in Isaiah was delivered), the people of God did not have open access to God. Eyes could not see and ears could not hear because sin separated humanity from free access to the empowering Presence of God.

God’s Supernatural Plans Are Accessible… to You!

I have exciting news for you, believer. Things have significantly shifted for us because Jesus’ blood was shed at Calvary. This is what Paul was unveiling to the Corinthian church. He was getting ready to marry an Old Testament Truth about the greatness of God’s plans for His people (which remains true, by the way) with our glorious New Covenant inheritance, the Person of the Holy Spirit.

The very next verse reads:

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2:10)

Now, read them together and be utterly overwhelmed.

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 

God does have incredible, amazing, supernatural plans for His people—but it does not stop there. He wants to reveal these plans to you through His Spirit and carry them out in your life, in the Earth, through the empowerment of His Spirit. Notice the common denominator: His Spirit.

The Most Important Relationship on Earth

In 2014 and beyond, God wants to take you to a new level in your relationship with Holy Spirit. This is not a trivial issue, by any means. This is a matter of extreme importance and urgency for the body of Christ as a whole. How do I know? Right now, it appears that Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood and scrutinized Person of the Godhead… and this is among Christians!

Nothing made this more apparent than the Fall of 2013, when we discovered how believers could unify over Duck Dynasty and divide over the Holy Spirit (with the Strange Fire controversy). Something is wrong. At the same time, something is very right. Controversy reveals satan’s intimidation. He knows exactly what will happen when believers gather, once more, around the Person that the Acts church deeply cherished. The enemy has seen it, you know. He saw it in Acts. He has witnessed it throughout history. He watched it at Azusa Street. The devil has repeatedly seen the miraculous evidence of a people united around the Person of the Holy Spirit, believing full well that the God of the impossible actually lives inside of them in this consuming Holy Fire.

Holy Spirit is summoning you to know Him deeper. After all, He is God on the Earth. Think about it. The Father is in Heaven. Jesus is seated at His right hand. This would suggest that it is absolutely vital that you know Holy Spirit. He is not some spiritual side issue. He is not the Trinity’s version of crazy Uncle Bob, who—even though he is part of the family—we prefer not to focus on him because “you never know what Uncle Bob’s going to do.”

Holy Spirit is not antagonistic towards other members of the Trinity. He has come to glorify Jesus Christ (see Jn. 16:14), summon people into the Kingdom, and demonstrate the will of the Father on Earth. R.T. Kendall put it best in his prolific (and most timely) new book, Holy Fire—“One of the interesting characteristics of the Trinity is that persons of the Godhead heap praise on one another… there is no jealousy or rivalry in the Godhead.” With hearts that burn to follow and exalt Jesus, our only reasonable option is to pursue relationship with Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit was the emphasis of some of Jesus’ final words on Earth, as the Son of God shared about the transition that would take place after His death and resurrection. He would be ascending to Heaven, but Another Helper would come (see Jn. 14:16). Oh, how vital it is that we begin to love, communicate with and relate to the Helper—the One Jesus promised would “abide with you forever!”

The God of the impossible has made you His dwelling place in the Person of the Holy Spirit. With this in mind, get ready. 2014 is going to be your year of becoming deeply acquainted with the Spirit of God, for it is only by the Spirit that you will step into the impossible things that God has planned and destined for you—individually and as the body of Christ.

Day 24 of the “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:12-13)

Christmas Eve. I sense so much prophetic anticipation surrounding this time of year. In the same way that we stand on the brink of remembering our Lord’s first Advent, I sense that there has been a continuous, ever-increasing advent taking place since Mary delivered glory incarnate in a stable all those years ago. The Advent began at the first Christmas, but an advent has been continuing ever since.

I recognize a clear and defined day will indeed come that marks Jesus’ Second Advent. He will return to the Earth with great glory and fully consummate His Kingdom. At the same time, Jesus commissioned you and I to do the same works He did. I know we are still grappling with that mandate, but if that were not enough, He invited us into even greater. Because this verse scares us, we either move passed it quickly or reduce it to something our human minds can easily wrap around. The context is clear. It’s black and white, and summons Christianity up higher.

Jesus’ works are very obvious. We see them displayed throughout the four Gospels, as He healed the sick, delivered the demon-possessed, raised the death, performed creative miracles, restored the unclean, touched the untouchable, loved the unlovely, and so on. This is not a spiritual smorgasbord we get to pick and choose from. Jesus did not offer qualifiers giving us an easy out of the more “difficult” works, such as the supernatural healing or miraculous stuff. He simply said that the works He did, we will also do, and even greater works.

We are on the edge of a greater supernatural advent than the world has ever experienced—yes, perhaps even exceeding what was demonstrated in the Book of Acts. How is this even possible? For one, Jesus made it legal when He invited us into the reality of greater works (see Jn. 14:12). Second, God’s plan has always involved an ever-increasing, expanding Kingdom (see Is. 9:7) Third, and most practically, there are more believers on the planet now then ever before.

What happens when a mere fraction of these sons and daughters of God recognize their inheritance as those filled with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and begin taking this mandate at face value? The landscape of the planet will change. I believe we are watching this shift take place already.

The Advent and Incarnation of Jesus Christ—God coming to Earth as a lowly babe—is unsurpassed. I am not at all presenting some rival experience. The Incarnation that we commemorate at Christmas is Advent with a capital “A.”

When I speak of a continuous advent, I am talking about a lifestyle where the sons and daughters of God continue to model Jesus to the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is revealed through such a people because that is the primary mission of Holy Spirit—to bring the world into a transformative encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, further unveiling Who He is.

The word advent is defined as “a coming into being or use.” My prayer for you this season is that you would experience a greater measure of God’s presence and power coming into being through you. Remember, Advent is nothing less than your invitation into the supernatural lifestyle.

Jesus was the Slain Lamb so you could receive forgiveness from sin and become filled with the Holy Spirit. Once those two qualifiers were met, humanity was granted permission to follow the example of Jesus, the Anointed One. He modeled a lifestyle that would become available and accessible to everyone who had received His redemptive work.

Remember, when Jesus was getting ready to leave the Earth and return to the Father, He gave us marching orders: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (see Jn. 20:21).

Right after this charge, Jesus breathed upon the disciples and they received the Holy Spirit. Thus, the lifestyle that began for Jesus at His baptism in the Holy Spirit was now being transferred to His disciples. It’s time to run with this charge and see as much of His glory cover the Earth, this side of eternity, as possible.

I encourage you, catch a fresh glimpse of the Christ child this year. His Advent made it possible for you and I to participate in the greatest restoration project in all of history: Filling the Earth with God’s glory! And to think, it all began with a Baby, wrapped up in swaddling clothes and laying in a manager.

Advent Prayer

Holy Spirit, continue to usher Your Kingdom into the Earth through Your anointed people. Here I am, Lord. Use me. Fall on me afresh this season. 

Show me what it truly means to model Jesus and follow His example in my everyday life. Help me to step out and take risks. Show me how to fully depend upon Your power. And may Your glorious Presence become my great quest and top priority.

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Day 23 of the “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

It is common to study passages like Romans 8:19 and immediately try to decipher what they reveal about our identity as the sons and daughters of God. This season, let’s step back and instead of beginning with us, let’s start with God. Let’s start with Jesus, as He was the Son who made it possible for us to be called sons and daughter. He was born to raise the sons of Earth. Jesus’ identity as the Son of God made it possible for you and I to become sons and daughters of the Most High, operating in this identity.

I believe on the day of Jesus baptism, two realms were directly impacted: Heaven and Earth. We see that Heaven was torn open as the Spirit of God descended upon the Son of Man, but also, I believe the Earth recognized that the One had come who would set Romans 8:19 into motion. Since creation was subjected to sin in Eden, it had been tarnished. Its full beauty had been tainted. From the moment of Adam’s transgression, created order began to experience corruption because upon its very soil, sin was being committed. Rebellion took place.

This was not creation’s fault. Man, the delegated steward of the planet, is the one who ultimately gave it over to the evil one in the Garden.

But just as man subjected creation to futility, a Man would one day come to bring restoration and renewal.  This was the Second Adam that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49.

Can you imagine creation’s anticipation when Jesus, the Second Adam, received the Holy Spirit on that glorious day? Do you know what that marked for created order? This was the moment that prophesied the inevitable and complete extinction of darkness, sin and death. After Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, He began to model the lifestyle that every son and every daughter would be able to walk in after receiving the same Spirit.

Scripture tells us that Jesus did many works and wonders—so many that all the volumes in the world could not contain them (see Jn. 21:25). Each one of these miracles actually pushed the influence of darkness back on the Earth, satisfying the eager anticipation of creation more and more. Disease was being destroyed. Demons were being cast out. Darkness was being restrained. The Kingdom of God was advancing and gaining ground.

The thing is, Jesus never meant for His ministry on Earth to conclude with Him. In the beginning of Acts, the author notes that his former account (the Gospel of Luke) recorded “all that Jesus began both to do” (Acts 1:1).

Jesus’ earthly ministry was not over after 3 ½ years. It continued on through the apostles in the Book of Acts and continues on through you and I today. As we take our place as sons and daughters of God, following the example of our Lord, our Savior, and our Model for living, Christ Jesus, we continue to answer the cry of creation.

Advent Prayer

Father, help me to take my place as Your son/daughter. 

I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

I am filled with the Holy Spirit.

 I am empowered to bring Your Kingdom to this world, pushing back every strategy of darkness and filling the Earth with Your glory.

Get the entire “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional from Larry Sparks on Amazon Kindle today. Just click the image or link below.

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Day 22 of the “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional

And his name will be the hope of all the world. (Matthew 12:21, NLT)

Mary gave birth to hope when she delivered her son, Jesus. His Name remains the solution to a barren planet. All one needs to do is simply look around to see that the earth and its inhabitants are currently suffering from barrenness. This is no physical lack; it is a deficit of hope.

Without hope, we are without possibilities. People don’t have faith because they have not first been introduced to hope. In Hebrews 11, the first “faith fact” we discover is that faith and hope are interconnected. Faith is an action word. The Bible tells us that faith without works is dead. Once we have faith, that faith—by nature—is active. It is kinetic. It is not passive by any means. Because it is God-birthed, and God-given, faith is a creative force. It brings resources from God’s world into this one. Faith is the tool that enables you and I to participate in what Jesus describes as “binding and loosing” in Matthew 16. Faith gives us the ability to release/loose on Earth the very things that are released in heaven, and likewise, it gives us the authority to forbid and bind on Earth the things that are prohibited in heaven.

Needless to say, faith is a powerful force. However, it is impossible for us to exercise faith without a foundation of hope. Hope positions our faith to be targeted at specific realities. Hope is what exposes us to the very possibilities that faith ends up releasing. Hope shows us what is normal in heaven and sets those realities before our spiritual eyes. Hope is what adds new possibilities to our belief grids.

And you know what I love about hope? Hope relentlessly gnaws at us. I know this doesn’t sound pretty at first, but just consider the nature of this gnawing—hope makes it absolutely unsettling to live pondering possibilities when we have the tool to make the possibilities realities through faith. Hope shows us what’s available and then faith makes it happen.

Hope makes living in the gulf between concept and reality restless. Hope causes us to press and push. Hope causes us to cry out in desperation, not for something new to come out of heaven, but for realities on Earth to come into alignment with realities in God’s world. Hope stirs up a divine discomfort with the way things are, pushing us towards exercising faith, for faith is the currency that bridges the great divide. Faith takes us from possibility to reality.

But remember, it all begins with hope. People across the Earth suffer barrenness because they are disconnected from hope. As the body of Christ, we need to be the loudest ambassador for hope imaginable. Because of our presence in the world, people should constantly be exposed to possibilities that were off their grids—first and foremost, the possibility of reconciliation to a loving Father through the work of Jesus Christ.

Advent Prayer

Father, help me become an ambassador of hope. May my life continue to introduce people to new possibilities. 

And above all, help me to reveal the heart and will of a loving Father who desires reconciliation with all humanity.

Get the entire “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional from Larry Sparks on Amazon Kindle today. Just click the image or link below.

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Day 21 of the “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3)

During Christmas season, why is it that people seem more open than usual to hear the Gospel? Churches talk about those they brand as “CEOs” or the Christmas and Easter only crowd. Why is this the case? Have we ever wondered, “What’s so special about Christmastime that seems to lower defenses and heighten openness to the things of God?”

It’s not shopping. It’s not presents. It’s not food. It’s not snow or Christmas trees or Santa Claus. Even going to church won’t do it. No natural acts, even through religious expression, have the ability to increase one’s openness to the things of God. This is something produced exclusively by the Holy Spirit.

I’m sure there are more factors than this, but there is a reality that God’s Presence inhabits the praise of His people. If Scripture never gave us some concrete examples of this, I would not even consider Psalm 22:3 to be a strong text to support this Truth.

But time after time, in both Old and New Testaments, we watch as people praise God, and God responds by supernaturally shifting atmospheres. Battles are won in the Old Testament, not because of some skilled military plan, but because musicians were stationed on the front lines. Praise went up to God and in response, God came down and confused Israel’s enemies. He sent ambushes against them. A prophetic shout was responsible for leveling the fortified walls of Jericho. We even see in the Book of Acts that as Paul and Silas praised God in their prison cell, the atmosphere was charged with God’s chain-break power. Paul, Silas, and all of the inmates in the vicinity were physically set free from their shackles because of what praise ushered into that environment.

As praise goes up, power comes down. As glory ascends, it also descends. It is interesting to note that a torrent of praise is being offered up across the Earth at this time of year. Christmas carols blare in shopping malls and public places that boldly proclaim the message of the Gospel. People cannot escape it. Could it be that as praise is being lifted up during this season, Heaven is actually coming down among the people and breaking through those barriers than demand divine intervention? I think so.

When Jesus’ birth is announced, the angels invite us to consider this reality as they sing, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Lk. 2:14).

After reflecting on the lyrics of their praise, it would appear that something offered up to God actually has the power to shape the climate down on Earth. There is something about giving glory in the highest that has a direct impact on the Earth, releasing peace and goodwill. This surely has the ability to shift the atmosphere and prepare hearts to receive the King.

Advent Prayer 

Father, open my eyes and ears to what is going on in the spirit this time of year. 

As glory and praise go up, I ask that Heaven would continue to come down. Release Your peace and goodwill toward men. Prepare every longing heart to receive the King of Glory.

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Day 20 of the “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional

…and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations,and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. (Haggai 2:7)

Let Earth receive her king! As nations shake, they are also longing for the unshakeable. People across the Earth are desperate to fill the void within. They have a desire that goes unfulfilled. They run to and fro, looking for the latest, greatest “it” that promises to satisfy, but in the end, they are still found wanting. There may be temporal satisfaction in a feeling or a relationship or a career or some other good thing, but when we assume these are the very things that possess the ability to close the gap in the core of our very being, we are sorely mistaken.

The deep cry of the human spirit will not be silenced by anything earthly. In Psalm 42:7, we read that “Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls.” If the deep within you is not being satisfied by the deep of God, it will continue to call for the waterfall of His Presence. It will cry out. Nothing can silence it. We may try to turn the volume down for a season, but when all is said and done, the deep of the human spirit will continue to cry out for the deep of God’s Spirit.

Now consider this. You carry the very Person and Presence that the deep place of all humanity longs for. The very spirit of men and women across the Earth cries out for the Spirit of God that lives inside of you. Advent made this possible. Jesus modeled what it would look like to carry the Presence of God, as a human being, and introduce people to the greater reality of the Kingdom of God. This is the reality that all humanity seeks. Sin is what blinds humanity from having an instant “ah-ha” moment, seeing the Light of the Gospel, and running towards King Jesus with wide open arms.

The One Who lives inside of you is the One all nations long for. The Great Gift has been given. Christmas has come. I pray that you would experience a deep revelation of this powerful reality this season. Let’s slow down and not be as inclined to hurry through this precious time—a time where, it seems, the blinders are down a little more than usual. Now, more than any other time of year, that crying, aching deep within the core of humanity is restless for the One Who lives within you.

In Haggai 2:7, we see that the nations shall come to the Desire of all Nations, a temple filled with glory. Because of Jesus, this is you! You are the temple filled with glory because you are filled with the Holy Spirit. As you go through this Christmas season, keep this in mind. What an amazing gift we have received in Christ Jesus, not just for the sake of our own soul, but for the sake of a longing, desperate world!

Advent Prayer

Holy Spirit, open my eyes to the Truth that because of You, the Desire of All Nations now lives inside of me. 

When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, that deep cry of my spirit was satisfied, for only Jesus can fulfill that longing.

Get the entire “What Child is This?” Advent Devotional from Larry Sparks on Amazon Kindle today. Just click the image or link below.

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