Dear Church,
At the time I am writing this article we have just finished revival services with Steve Freeman. I want to say thank you for faithfully supporting the services in spite of the fact that the weather was awful with all the rain we had over the course of the week. I know that you were blessed as I was by Steve’s encouraging and challenging words. I am grateful to have known Steve through the years and I know that he doesn’t just say the right things he walks out what he preaches. Your kind expressions to him and generosity in giving I know were a real blessing to him.
It is my prayer; however, that revival has not ended but instead is just beginning. I am more convinced than ever that God wants to do great things in our lives and in the life of this church. If we want to see God work in a mighty way then we must be willing to let Him do whatever He needs to do in our lives even if it is a little painful. We can trust that what He wants for us is in our best interests.
I remember one time being at a friend’s house and noticing that their young daughter was limping around. I quickly found out she had a splinter in her foot. Her parents were both real tender hearted and didn’t want to hurt her to remove it so they had allowed it to remain. I asked them if they minded if I removed it from her foot and they said I could. I gently followed the path of that splinter and it just a couple of minutes removed it from her foot. There was a little pain involved but the result was her foot felt better and ultimately healed.
We may have some spiritual “splinters” that need to be removed for us to experience genuine revival. It may hurt for a moment to go under the “needle” and “tweezers” of God’s conviction but we must allow Him to remove that splinter. When we do allow Him to remove it we will experience healing and ultimately be much better off for whatever pain we might endure than the pain of not letting Him remove it. Ask God to remove anything He needs to remove to bring spiritual healing and revival in your life and in the life of the church.
In His Amazing Grace,
Dan