Jesus Now! God Is Up To Something BigSample

Obstacle 5: Unwillingness to Believe

In my years of ministry, especially as I’ve marveled at how the interest and prayer for revival have grown, I’ve met Christians who are content to stand back and watch. Something makes them uncomfortable about revival. Their words, body language, or mere absence from spiritual gatherings say, “I just don’t believe.”

There are three possible reasons why their unbelief remains an obstacle. For some people, unbelief is really a reflection of their desire to “know for sure,” not a rush to judge or disown something about which they want to understand.

For others, unbelief is really an unwillingness to change. Why would you want spiritual awakening, an unpredictable and, in some ways, disorderly movement of God’s Spirit to disrupt a comfortable pattern? For others, unbelief is a response to being convicted of unresolved sin.

Revival means admitting to God and to others that we are just like Isaiah who said, “Woe to me, I am ruined.” As I’ve spoken to churches and parachurch ministries throughout North America, I’ve seen the above obstacles “come to life” in the form of attitudes in fellow believers.

Like me, these are people weighed down with the baggage of original sin who choose to keep walking, to keep following Christ. Like you and I, they know the obstacles that keep them from being open to spiritual awakening and realizing our one and only true hope in life rests in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The question I’ve asked them is the same one I want to ask you: How would you describe your need, your desire, your willingness to experience true spiritual awakening? The way to approach the Lord may be inseparably linked to how you approach the need for awakening in your nation and in your life.

The way you approach Him may be described along a “Scale of Spiritual Awakening.” Where do you find yourself? Antagonistic—Indifferent—Acknowledging—Seeking—Involved. Where is your heart beating in relationship to God who is awakening a nation, one life at a time, looking for those He can use?

God doesn’t want any obstacle to spiritual awakening. He just wants you and me to walk with Him every moment of every day – starting now! As that happens, as the number of footsteps in one obedient direction increase, we will join this Jesus-Now Awakening.