I have found that the desire of almost every fellowship or church is that there is revival. Why then do we not have it satisfactorily? Is God withholding the outpour of His spirit from us?

I have learnt to trust the word of God explicitly. If the bible says that God does not withhold that which is good from those who deserve it, it means it. But then, why does revival tarry? I have even taken time to petition God on the issue – by the grace of God, my ministry is prophetic in nature – and He as assured me that revival is not being kept away because He wants to begrudge us. So, why do we not have revival?

This is a multifaceted question which requires a multifaceted answer. But, eventually the answers all amount to the same thing; our faith.

It all amounts to how far we are prepared to submit to God’s authority in His ordering of the church, His method of doing things, His timing, His attitude towards all that surrounds us, and His supervision of the affairs of the church. As long as we want to do things our own way and do not want to be told what to do, He will not force His way on us. As a result, we will not be operating at God’s best; He will not be free to release His grace on us.

It is all about how well we would manage the resources He puts at our disposal. Do we use them to prove our devotion to him or do we use them for our own agendas. It is not just enough to fight a good cause, we must fight His cause.

The Kingdom of God is like the military. Every army has a commanding Officer. To be a member of the army, you must obey without question the instructions of the commanding Officer or be penalized. It is not just enough that you are fighting the enemy, it you do not follow the instruction of the commanding Officer, you do not belong in the army; you are fighting your own private war. The commanding Officer must be able to know that you will be found where he expects you to be when he expects you to be there. No army will invest resources to a soldier than will not follow orders. They will not be able to ensure that the soldier will get the supplies they send; if the soldier misses the supplies, the resources will be wasted or worse, it could end up with the enemy.

In many ways, the church has been wasting the resources of God. Ministers have been using there positions and the anointing to aggrandize themselves rather than to edify the body of Christ. Note that there is a difference between the body of Christ and the “Church”, and there is a difference between edification and pacification. Many ministers simply preach their own message; they do not listen for God’s message but form there own. Many ministries have developed television ministries that God never commanded into existence. In similar manner, many ministries have been distracted away from God’s instructions to other “visions.”

The greatest form of waste that goes on in the church in the fixing of round pegs in square holes. A lot of people are in the wrong ministry. This is further complicated by Church leaders who manipulate church structure to suite themselves. They choose people for all the wrong reasons whereas “the stone that the builders rejected has become the corner stone.”

Many of us would rather interpret the bible to suite us rather than let it correct us. We have developed “positive thinking” rather than the love of truth. Many of us are more devoted to our beliefs than we are devoted to God. This is clear cut idolatry. We would rather follow the dictates of the church rather than the Spirit of God. We time our selves according to the standards of the world, the moods of church leaders or and the church and God knows what else.

We copy each other giving no heed to the plans of God for us as individuals (this is another form of idolatry). How can God entrust the Church with His resources in the mist of all these?

A short while ago, there was a highly publicized crusade in this city, a lot of churches were involved and expectation ran high within the body of Christ that the event that would revive the church has finally come. It was an immense effort. Every one wanted to be part of it, including myself. But, as usual, I sought God’s face before involving myself with the program. I received several visions, two of which I will share with you.

In one, God gave me a puzzle; He showed me a man in a house, there was spiritual foolishness in the man. The man was at one end of the room, his promised future at the other end and a fiery wall of the forces of darkness in the middle of the room. Then the Holy Spirit asked me what He should do. I replied, “It is a good thing that the forces of darkness are standing between this man and his future. If this man is allowed the get to his future with folly inside him, he will destroy his future”, and God said, “This is why I would not give to the Church the revival they are asking for.”

The second vision shown to me was of a man with folly in him and his wife that were driving along in a car. There car was stopped by Policemen and they were thrown into prison. At the back of the car was a set of twin girls that were abandoned in the sun with no one to tend or take care of them. The Holy Spirit interpreted the vision to me thus; the man and his wife are the church leaders and the churches respectively, the Policemen are territorial spirits and the children are the converts that came out of the crusade. The new converts will suffer under spiritual destruction because the churches and there leaders have been trapped by territorial strongholds of darkness.