Revival

He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John? Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.” (Luke 16:15-16)

The above scriptures talk about revival. Revival takes place in the Church, starting with individual to families in marriage and to children, and the process continues.

 

Reformation

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Matthew 28:19-20 tells us that we should make disciples from all tribes and nations. This is a call for reformation. Reformation takes place outside the Church.

Re-populate, subdue, have dominion, reform, establish systems, become the army of God.

The Church is the macro view of a family, and family is the center of the Hebrew culture. One of the Ten Commandments is, “honor your mother and father.”

The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. You and Aaron are to count according to their divisions all the men in Israel who are twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army. One man from each tribe, each of them the head of his family, is to help you.” (Numbers 1:1-4)

In Numbers 2, the tents of men were built to focus on the tent of God. Each tent had its own flags or banners reflecting the calling of their dynasty. This was their mission statement, and when it all came together, the nation portrayed God’s great plan.

The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each of them in their own camp under their standard. The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the covenant law so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are to be responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the covenant law.” (Numbers 1:52-53)

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “The Israelites are to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.”

So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family. (Numbers 2:1-2, 34)

So, in order to fulfill God’s mandate, families in the revival stage need to nurture their generations to the reformation stage. We need to encourage our children to excel in areas such as politics, economics, law, education, history, science, media, arts, philosophy, music and sports.

Believers need to break out from activities within their churches into community involvement to influence society and their places of influence. The threat to dominion on Earth is always the multiplication process, that is, the reproduction process.

For this reason, Satan’s primary goal is to destroy marriages. He is only interested in stopping God’s generational blessings.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:1-8)

In Genesis 17, Abram was called Abraham, father of all nations. Why did God choose Abraham?

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. (Genesis 18:18-19)

Abraham obeyed God even to the point of sacrificing his only son; this is why God blessed him and chose him. We need to follow Abraham’s example of faith and set our children on the right path while continually trusting the Lord in order to experience the blessings of our God.

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:8, 15-18)

God said that we “will take possession of the cities of [our] enemies,” which means that we will take possession in every area of the earth. That is how powerful the promise is, but it all starts with the family unit. It is that simple.

 

God made the same promise to Jacob:

There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:13-15)

 

The same promise was also made to Peter:

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17)

In Christ, we have been given power and authority, and nothing can prevent us from fulfilling God’s promise. It is our destiny to possess the gates.

In the Old Testament, God revealed His plan over the lives of three patriarchs. We see in Scripture a pattern of God working across three generations. We are His first born; our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – a generational God. We must think generationally, as it is the only way we can fulfill God’s promise and ultimate will.

“Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’” (Exodus 4:22-23)