Glen Hartline

I keep hearing people talk about and cry out to God for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit, or another visitation of His presence. That really sounds wonderful and tantilizes every emotion we have. After all who wouldn’t want God’s presence, who wouldn’t want Him to move and revive our nation? It brings back memories and emotions of the time I heard God’s audible voice, the times of visions, and visitations. Those are wonderful times, who wouldn’t want to feel those things again.  Even though I would be first in line to get anything God is dishing out, I’m sorry to say those prayers are not biblical and even inhibiting the progression of the Kingdom of God in our nation.  Let me explain.

1. God has already poured out His spirit. Peter clearly declares in (Acts 2:16-17) that what the people experienced and others were witnessing over 2,000 years ago was God pouring out His Spirit. If it is already done, why do we think God needs to do it again. Why are we saying that God has been holding out on us all these years so we need to beg Him to finally give us what we need to see things change.
2. To get another outpouring implies that we may need more than what we have been given. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that if we have been united with Him then we are one spirit with Him. We have been given the fullness of Jesus in us. (Colossians 2:9-10) What else do you need? God has already poured out His Spirit and poured Him into us. Now we are to walk in all authority and power as Jesus did. That makes it sound like the problem is with us and not God. Exactly! We need to stop asking God to do what He has already done. Stop begging Him to do what He has commanded us to do.  The so-called leaders of the church in America need to stop blaming God and the non – christians for what is wrong with this country and start taking responsibility for their inaction. Yes every believer is to blame but those who have embraced leadership take the bulk of the responsibility for their lack of action and for teaching others the error of their own ways.
3. Another implication of asking God to pour out His Spirit again is that you are saying that the Holy Spirit is no longer with us. You can not give something that you have already given. There are not two Holy Spirits. He promised to never leave us or forsake us. If He was poured out way back then, He is still with us.

We need to quit prophesying what should happen then think we actually did something. That is like me declaring that I will feed my kids but never fix anything to eat. I’m not against prophesy, we need it. It is the testimony of Jesus. We should never despise the proclaiming of what our Father is saying to us. However, to prophesy without acting on that prophesy is like faith without works. If God warns us of a tornado, earthquake, catastrophe of any kind we need to understand what He is saying. He is declaring to us the plans of the enemy, with the implication that we are to then act like the sons of God we are and stop it. We have been given dominion over this earth with the authority and power to execute that dominion. We need to stop declaring the enemies plans as if they are the will of God. This nation, and even the world for that matter, will never change until we stand up and act. Stop acting like a spiritual welfare state, always expecting God to bail us out, and do what He has empowered us to do. The kingdom of God is within every believer, we must teach and demonstrate to them what that means and how to act like kings in this Kingdom so that we will see the transformation that everyone is begging God for.