Two Great Truths of History: God's Inititiative and Practicality

Two prevalent, but thankfully fading ideas in the church today are ideas along the lines of sheer human initiative and sheer human practicality in getting anywhere (humanism anyone?). Initiative has to do with human decision being supreme and practicality has to do with human effort being supreme. The key words are sheer and supreme, because human decision and effort are out of bounds when they presume to be sheer and supreme. These two assumptions are based on two myths: God does not speak anymore and God does not act anymore (at least not the same way as He did in biblical times).

The two greatest cries of life calling are that God does speak today and God does act today, just as He did in biblical times, yea He speaks and acts through the Scripture in our daily existence. My greatest moments in life were when God went from being the dead God of a "Christian religion" to a living and active God who governs all reality and this happened when God spoke to me and acted around and with me. These are the great calls of my life as a revivalist because when the Church-at-large sees and operates with the God who is alive, and talks and acts with His people right now, spiritual awakening will blanket the whole earth.

Human decision and initiative are involved or else God would not have given these capacities to us in any measure, but these capacities are inherently incomplete without a subordination to and intimate partnership with God's decision and initiative, that is, God's speaking and God's act, and God's Word and God's Spirit. God's decision, speaking and Word are synonymous. And God's initiative, act and Spirit are synonymous. This however, is another deeper discussion for another time.

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