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Obstacle 3: Stand Up – Or Remain Seated

A third potential obstacle to personal revival and spiritual awakening is the very real fear of not being accepted (and feeling rejected) by others. Imagine Jesus being so real, so close, and so alive that you begin to devour the Scriptures with a voracious desire to know Jesus in a way you’ve never known. As you grow to know Him more, sins you once rationalized or ignored now feel like damaging, personal affronts to your best friend. This 180-degree turnaround is true repentance.

When people want to know, “What’s different with you?” you know the answer. A thousand thoughts go through your mind, among them: What is he or she going to think about me once I start talking about God? This is the deep human need to be liked by others; to be accepted even if it means silencing the undeniable truth that God is alive and at work in you.

During the summer of 1992 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was one of more than a thousand believers packed inside a Baptist church for a pre-Billy Graham Crusade meeting. That evening, God’s Spirit began to move mightily in ways I had never observed. One moment, people were standing in the aisles lifting their hands in praise to God. The next moment, they were dropping to the floor, catatonic, without anyone touching them.

I should have been celebrating this great work of God! Instead, I became terribly anxious inside. I looked around at people on either side of me and thought to myself, Oh God, please don’t touch me like that. Instead of praising God, I worried, Oh God, don’t let this happen to me. I don’t want to be embarrassed!

For God, our lack of courage is not an ultimate obstacle to revival, but an opportunity to work through fragile egos and sweaty palms. So whether it’s in a church in Argentina or in your own congregation, we can know that our need for human affirmation and acceptance is no obstacle for a God who is not ashamed to be seen with us. Even though He knows we are flawed vessels, He is ready to pour His Spirit into those who are willing to acknowledge the potter and be remade by Him.