Pray Network Forum

I’ve recently been captivated by the story of Jesus turning water into wine (John 2:1-11). I’ve concluded that we all have “water” of some kind that needs to be transformed into wine.

Water is an essential, elemental part of life. But in this story it also stands for the plain, the ordinary, and the bland. Wine, in contrast, has flavor and fizz. Jesus said this kind of wine must be put into “new wineskins,” because it is needs room to expand and grow.

Take a second and ponder what boring, bland parts of your life may be due for a transformation like this. Your job? Your ministry? Your marriage? Your relationship with the Lord?

The good news is that Jesus can turn ordinary things into something extraordinary. If you’ve lost your fizz in some area of your life, He can help you get it back. And if you’ve been stagnating instead of expanding and growing, your turnaround can be closer than you think.

But transformation comes with a price. Jesus’ mother told the servants at the wedding feast, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (v. 5). I guarantee that if you follow this profound advice, your water will surely be turned into wine.

But it’s a pretty radical statement, isn’t it? Are you willing to do WHATEVER He tells you to do? Think about it. That’s the price of transforming your circumstances and your life.

The wedding feast “ran out of wine” (v. 2), and perhaps that’s how you’re feeling today as well. You had money…but it ran out. You had love…but now it seems to be gone. You had dreams…but somehow they evaporated or turned into nightmares.

 At such times, it’s easy to feel frustrated or disillusioned. “I never thought it would be this way,” you moan. That’s exactly how the people at the wedding feast must have felt when they ran out of wine.

But the story isn’t over yet…or at least it doesn’t have to be.

No wine? No problem! All you have to do is find out what Jesus is telling you to do. More often than not, He will tell you to give Him something you HAVE (like water) in order to get something you NEED (like wine). Sounds fairly simple, doesn’t it?

So what do you have today, and what do you need? Like exchanging water for wine, I promise you it will be a great exchange indeed.

Those who taste the newly made “wine” in your life may well be like the master of the feast, who “did not know where it came from” (v. 9). They’ll wonder where you got such peace, joy, and zest for life, even amid difficult times. What a great chance to tell them about Jesus, the one who can turn their water into wine too.

If you’re a Baby Boomer like me, you may have been tempted to feel that life has passed you by and your best years are now behind you. But this story ends with some additional good news. Jesus didn’t just replace the old wine with something new: He saved the BEST for LAST! (v. 10) He can do the same for you, when you do what He says and give Him what you have.

“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:26-29).
 
God is shaking everything that can be shaken. That which is true and righteous will remain. He is awakening us out of slumber and apathy, and challenging us to a radically obedient lifestyle. There is not one of us who does not struggle in our Christian walk with the reality of radical obedience. We may obey in the big issues of life, but when it comes down to every single detail every day, we find it difficult. It is just too hard, but Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that we must be perfect in our obedience just as our Father is in heaven (Matthew 5:48).
 
How can this be possible? We know we cannot attain perfection in this life, but we can do this by seeking to walk in all the light that the Spirit gives us in every season of our life.
 
Let’s make this our primary goal in life: To walk in all the light we have and to live radically obedient for God.
 
If we look back in history, there are several instances where we see how God moved powerfully when His people walked in radical obedience. An obedient lifestyle is key to those who want a powerful prayer life. We read in James 5:16b: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” This is an important verse for intercessors. We must walk in obedience and righteousness if we want a powerful prayer life.
 
The Sermon on the Mount Lifestyle
 
“In every detail of their lives—in business, pleasure, in Christian service, in civil duties—they took the Sermon on the Mount as a lamp to their feet.” Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians
 
The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest evaluation of an obedient lifestyle. It gets down to the nitty-gritty issues of daily life and of whether we are walking in obedience or not. The Sermon on the Mount is the core values of the Kingdom. It is the lithmus test to accurately measure our spiritual development and ministry impact.
 
The Sermon on the Mount was central for the prayer movement and for the revivals. Two examples in history where the practice of a Sermon on the Mount lifestyle brought great results in the spiritual realm were:

• Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians - Their dedication to prayer and the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle led to a 100-year prayer meeting and a worldwide mission’s movement.

• The Welsh Revival - Evan Roberts, the young man who was used so powerfully by God in the Welsh revival of 1904, prayed passionately that God would purify and bend the Church.

Evan Roberts prayed that God would break his own heart over the condition of mankind. His heart was set on obedience, and agonizing prayer was his daily life style. He believed and preached perfect obedience.
 
“Evan Roberts captured the spirit of the whole revival with the theme: Bend the Church and Save the World. James E. Stewart claimed that this is the secret of every true awakening. Christians must humble themselves and get right with God so that the Spirit can break through in converting power upon the unsaved. There must be no hypocrisy; the Christian must bend to all the will of God for His life in perfect obedience before the Spirit of God is released. When we are bent to the will of God we will be intercessors, because as He ‘ever lives to intercede’ for His people, if we are abiding in Him we will do the same.” Rick Joynor   
 
Revival and Radical Obedience
 
Look at Joshua and how he obeyed God. From the standpoint of the human mind, walking seven times around Jericho did not appear to be a wise thing to do for spiritual success. Imagine the pressure and tension he was facing before that battle. Joshua obeyed God and was victorious. It was exactly what God wanted. He loves obedience even when it doesn’t make sense.
 
We must learn to say “yes” to the purposes of God every day of our lives. Many of us are praying for revival. If we want to see revival, you and I must be revived ourselves. God is after us—all of us. He is raising-up a Church that is steadfast and radically obedient. 

When I was a brand-new missionary many years ago, living on an old ship that sailed from nation to nation preaching the Gospel and encouraging the Church, I remember how I felt after the ship left port from my own beloved country. We were sailing towards South America and would be there for the next two years. 

I felt so lost and lonely, not knowing the language and so new to the whole mission’s world. Being young and inexperienced, I felt like two years on board that ship was a lifetime. We had no e-mail in those days, and I would call home only once a year. I was with over three hundred strangers from over forty nations on board and had left everything behind except for a few personal belongings. I was living in a tiny cabin with three others from three different nations, and we had nothing in common but our commitment to Christ. 

Not being a seasoned sailor, I would often feel the movement of the seas and didn’t even know how to swim. And here we were, all sailing by faith towards South America in an immense ocean and with an unknown future. I was feeling deeply the cost of commitment and obedience to God. It was a big step for me during those days, but I knew that God was inviting me to live a life of radical obedience. Since that time years ago, God has challenged me again and again with the same level of obedience:

• Am I willing to give up everything for the cause of Christ?
• Will I let God have His way with me each and every day?
• Am I willing to pay the price of commitment and radical obedience?
• Do I really want revival and a visitation from God?

Where are you with God? Is He wrestling with you over some issue in your life? Can you say “yes” to Him today? Can you say: “Lord, have Your way with me. I will pray for this end-time revival and choose to obey You at all costs. I will live out commitment in my life each and every day in prayer. I am Yours totally, and I accept your invitation to radical obedience.”Are you willing to pray this prayer and pay this price for revival?

When crowds of people came to visit our ship and when there were endless lines of people waiting to get on board, we realized that obedience is no small thing. We had to work when we didn’t feel like working, we had to serve when we didn’t feel like serving, we had to pray when we didn’t feel like praying, and we had to smile when we didn’t feel like smiling. The result? Many came into the Kingdom and turned their lives over to Christ. 

Revival and a visitation from God are not going to be all fun, excitement, and dancing. It will be sheer commitment and a dedicated life style of radical obedience for all of us. Are we ready for God’s visitation? Are we ready for revival? God is raising up a Church that is willing to pay the price.

In whatever way God is challenging your life today, take a small step forward and say “yes” to Him. It’s step-by-step, choice-by-choice, yes-by-yes, one day at a time and one act of self-denial at a time where you will find true life. Jesus calls you to radical obedience and says in Matthew 16:24-25:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” 

When we accept this invitation to radical obedience in following Christ, we find real fulfillment. Let’s prepare for this worldwide revival. It is in daily obedience that we find life and are ready for a true visitation from God. Let's live a radically obedient life and worship God with reverence and awe. He is a consuming fire.  

“When you pray for revival and a visitation from God, you’re asking God for life-shaking experiences that will cost you plenty. Revival is agonizing: It so terrorizes you over your sin that you repent deeply. Revival is consuming: It leaves you no time for hobbies, for chores around the house, for work, for sleep. Revival wrecks your appointment calendar, interrupts TV times, demands your full attention.”
 
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Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise 
International House of Prayer (IHOP) KC Staff
deb@intercessorsarise.org
www.intercessorsarise.org

Within hours of when the Boston bombing suspects were identified, terrorism experts were barraged with an intriguing but misguided question: How did these young men become “radicalized”? After spending several years in the United States, why would they hate us—to such a degree that they would carry out horrific acts against innocent bystanders?

Well, I’m sorry, but this question totally misunderstands what it means to be radicalized. There’s nothing “radical” about hatred or violence. Those are easy traits, certainly not radical ones.

Nor is there anything radical about envy—a prominent feature of humankind ever since the sad tale of Cain and Abel.

You see, radical means “going to the root or origin” of a problem. Hatred, violence, and class warfare certainly aren’t radical by this definition. Why? Because such things only deal with symptoms and external issues, not the root causes.

The Boston bombers weren’t true radicals. They were simply angry, envious, and perhaps demonic young men. Their radicalization was counterfeit, for it failed to address the heart of the matter—which is always a matter of the heart.

Jesus was a true radical, for He warned people they would never enter into His kingdom as long as they held on to hatred, jealously, or unforgiveness. He rejected the Zealots’ call for violence, but He said the answer wasn’t in being religious either—you must be spiritually reborn. Your proud, hard, self-centered heart must be replaced!

What does it look like to be a true radical? Jesus said you must love your enemies and those who persecute you. Instead of killing people who disagree with you, you must lay down your life in serving them and showing them the truth.

We need some true followers of Jesus today—people radicalized through and through by a gospel message that transforms lives and brings a touch of heaven to earth. We need genuine disciples of a Savior who offers the world healing balm instead of bombs of destruction.

We need leaders who understand what it means to go from comfortable Christianity to radicalization for Christ. May God raise up a new generation of radicals like William and Catherine Booth, who mobilized an army of love and salvation that brought transformation to hell-holes around the world.

May we have more leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., who preached that people should be judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin. That message was far more radical than those who prescribed violence as a solution to radical prejudice.

So, are you willing to be radicalized by the lordship of Jesus Christ? Or will you be swayed by counterfeits or an easy-believe-ism that requires nothing but verbal assent to the claims of the gospel?

Lukewarm Christians will neither change the world, nor persuade misguided souls like the Boston bombers to abandon their foolish thinking. The only way to defeat counterfeit radicals like the Boston bombers is to become true radicals for Jesus, the Lamb of God and friend of sinners.