Revival Hangover, Where Do We Go From Here?

This weekend our church (Liberty Baptist in Dalton, GA) hosted Francois Carr from Heartcry Ministries of South Africa.  His topic for the Sunday morning was cultivating a relationship with God patterned after the example of Moses.  Moses and his brother Aaron were each chosen by God to deliver Israel from Egypt.  Together they witnessed the mighty miracles of God in the Exodus.  But somewhere along the way, between the giving of the covenant and the golden calf Aaron lost his way.  The difference, Carr argued, was that Moses fostered a relationship with God, still seeking new manifestations of God's glory, while Aaron was content only to enjoy the memories of miracles past and to approach God but once a year as high priest in the tabernacle.

On Sunday night Francois preached on "Bridging the Gap" from Psalm 1.  How do we live a life that is pleasing to God in a world so corrupted by sin?  The key to success is found in Psalm 1:2, the righteous man meditates on the law of the Lord day and night.  Enoch, Noah, and Abraham were all able to walk with God in a generation of scorn and rebellion.  These men knew the Lord and provided such pleasure in their life that they were not willing to compromise.  Francois pointed out that here in America, we have the best.  We have many translations of the Bible, we have comfortable church facilities to meet in, we have Bible book stores, Christian printing houses, Christian programming on television and radio, verses sent to our cell phones everyday, but yet we are not living a life that pleases God.  Why?  Because we are failing to realize that to walk with God we need only what Enoch, Noah, and Abraham had, faith.

These messages were weighty on my soul.  Once again we experienced a great move of God in our midst.  But where do we go from here?  Sundays are often so exciting and full of the Spirit I am often left on Monday with a spiritual hangover wondering, what was all of that anyway?

Perhaps my favorite time of the weekend was not in hearing Francois preach, but in getting to drive him from place to place.  Just this morning I spent time with him as I drove him to the airport in Atlanta.  He challenged me with this; that I begin to meditate and ponder on what God was saying to me and to the church?  Why were those messages preached?  What are the common ideas?  What ideas are stirring in my own soul about them today?  What will I do with what I have heard?  How do these messages change the way I relate to my family?

When we experience revival hangover I think we make a mistake in wanting to get over it too quickly and then to look only to what happens next.  In America we seek experience at the expense of meditation.  We go from one high to the next with no moments of clarity in between.  This, I believe, is why we do so much but change so little.

Whether you were at Liberty yesterday or at another place in which God moved greatly in your soul, join me today and let's meditate on what God has said to us this weekend.  Let us be content to allow the messages from yesterday to "hang over us" for some time.