By REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON
Cherokee Pentecostal Church Pastor
Transcribed by Myra D. Colgate
Read: Psalm 91; Isaiah 40:1-31; James 4:7-10; Mathew 6:3-4; 17-18
“Does anyone know what will happen when a revival fire or any fire starts burning?”
“We have a wood stove at our house. For the nighttime, we may throw in 8-10 pieces, really stuffing them in tightly. It will burn brightly and will heat the entire room. I can do one of two things. I can just shut the door or I can put the dampers out and let it go out. It will heat the room all night long, but when I get up the next day, there aren’t even any embers. There’s not any fire left. The stove has begun to cool off. Why? It’s because it has all burned down to ash.
“What the Lord seems to be doing right now is setting us up; setting us up for a might move of God. I began to read in the media that they had told the students what they needed to actually do is to take the ‘Fire’ to their homes, to their churches, their classrooms, to their workplaces, because a true revival is more of a series of services, and only when a couple of shouts and a few miracles here and there.
“When I looked into the Bible, I didn’t see any real revivals like we would call a revival today. I did see an entire city named Nineveh coming to repentance because a preacher (Jonah) got up and preached. How many know that was a revival!
“Then, I saw one when Peter came out in the street, and he preached, and thousands of Jewish people came to know Jesus. When they went to the Gentiles, while he was still speaking, the Holy Ghost fell on them in the room and baptized them. Why? It was because they simply believed.
“Now, everywhere I see a revival, most everywhere they went, God began to do some things. We saw Paul and Silas badly beaten, put in jail, and there, in the midnight hour, they began to pray, sing, and praise. As they did, the jail was shaken by an earthquake. The prisoners all heard them singing and later the jailer’s family heard and gave their hearts to Jesus. That is what a real revival is.
“I admit to you. I’d like to have church on Sundays where some are laying there weeping, or fallen prone on the floor, or when God’s people are shouting. I enjoy that kind of thing, but if we make a whole lot of noise here, and still make no difference out there, it can be said, it wasn’t a revival.
“That’s why Matthew 6:6 declared this and verses 17-18 about fasting are added.
“In fact, God is doing a new thing in this Last Day. ‘There’s nothing new under the sun.’ I agree with the Word of God, but I will guarantee it will all be new to each of us. ‘What we pray in secret, He will reward openly.’
“Whatever we’ve been doing behind the scenes. None of us knows what others have given away when nobody was looking. All that’s seen is what God has rewarded openly. I’m trying to help us.
“There’s a theme coming out of this. Whatever one gives to the Lord in secret, God turns around and blesses any person, doing what’s been shown to him, openly. We may even want to see God work openly, but if the persons assigned aren’t doing anything in the Secret Place…What I see is that God rewards anyone for things done just for Him, by honoring them and no one else.
“So, it matters what we all do every day of the week, not just Sundays. Whether it’s privately worshipping God, or fasting, giving to someone they are shown is in need, or studying His Word or what the Lord has directed. Whatever He wants them to be given, we should just do it. A person can blame it on the preacher all they want, but the fact of the matter is , there’s just one of him and a whole lot more of others who should remain involved.
“We’re not telling anyone. They didn’t pray or do something. One can just tell by the tenor or the temperature of the church what the week was like for a Body of Believers. Sometime I go in and say, Lord, some people might need some trouble, because the only time we seem to grow is when there’s some trouble. At least then they’ll pray in Psalm 91 over themselves and their families in the Secret Place.”
