Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not”. Isaiah 6:8-9.
Our world is presently like the time of Isaiah which is almost beyond redemption. Our nation is presently dead. It’s like the dry bones recorded in Ezekiel 37 which the prophet was told to prophesy on. Our present generation is sin-crazy, sin-sodden, sin-slain, sin-dampened and hopeless.
Thick darkness covers the earth and the people. The moral decadence of the society is at its peak. Wars, killings, terrorism, persecution of followers of Christ, wickedness, corruption, and all kinds of vices are ravaging every area, community, city, Nation, and continent on earth.
The light of the Church is dim. Many of her leaders are sin-stained, godless, and mesmerized in evil deeds. Idolatry and unprintable things are rife in the Church. The pulpit has been transformed into the broad door that leads to the gate of hell where multitudes are swept into daily.
Bogus miracles, deceptive healings, demand for funds, and ungodly prayer points are shamelessly advertised and glamorized on our billboards, and newsletters everywhere.
Our present world, the church, and this generation need an urgent change. We need a change that can transform us into the image of the Cross. There is an urgent need for a change that can deliver us from the spiritual buffoonery that is rampant today
We need a revival
Nevertheless, the expected change can only happen through a sweeping move of REVIVAL A revival that can propel life into the dry bones rampant in the world today. Yes, the truth is that the world we are in is full of dry bones that need the prophecy of the reality of revival to bring into their being the spiritual life.
But certainly, revival would not come until the people that God depends on are ready to be an instrument for such revival. Many people hear the word revival but are not acquainted with sufficient knowledge of what revival truly is and what it suggests. Let us come to understand that a revival is God’s outpouring of his spirit (Life) upon dead people to revive, (give life ) resurge, restore, realign, and awaken them unto accessing the fullness of Christ.
” Stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”(Col.4:12).
Hence, a revival is God’s workings by only Him and Him alone, it is the complete working of God through His divine power and Spirit.
Unlikely people God used
Notwithstanding, God’s position is that revival is in the hands of men for its awakening. In other words, you and I are the revival, my explanation is on this scene: every revival first begins with a man.
The revival at Mount Carmel began with Prophet Elijah. The revival at Pentecost began with the disciples in the upper room. Peter was the one who preached a message and 3000 dry bones (lost souls) received life in one day.
Apostle Paul was the one God used to steer up a revival among the Gentiles. Martin Luther was the one God used to steer up the reformation in 1517. Charles G. Finney was the one God used to spearhead the revival in 1830. Joseph Ayo Babalola was the one God used to spearhead revival in 1930 at Oke Oye, Ilesha, Nigeria.
Time would fail me to mention of Smith Wigglesworth, Kathryn Kulman, A. A Allen, Billy Graham, T.L Osborne, Reinhard Bonke, John Knox, Evan Roberts, Marry Woodworth-Etter, Aimee Simple McPherson, etc.
It can be you and I. God depends on you as He depended on Isaiah.
Scripture says In Isaiah 6:1-9 ” I saw the Lord on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his rope filled the temple”. Vs 3 says ” and one cried to another and said ” Holy Holy Holy, is the LORD of hosts”
Oh! Isaiah gazed upon the splendor of God’s overwhelming holiness that led to the revelation of his spiritual dryness and sinful nature. He was so laced with the revelation of God’s extreme holiness and began crying out in contrite compunction ” Woe unto me for I am undone” The word woe suggests damnation and condemnation.
In the presence of the King of kings, he experienced a fresh awareness of his spiritual depravity and nature that brought about the painful expectation of fearful damnation before a “Holy, Holy, and Holy” king.
What Isaiah saw was not Powerful, Powerful, Powerful, Nay! What he saw was a complete understanding of God’s holiness that brought out his depraved nature of sinfulness leading him to contrite repentance and a change of heart. He also saw his depraved nation in the eyes of a Holy God.
Immediately, this awareness was awakened and the action of repentance was achieved, what followed was the experience of God’s mighty power and love to purge sin and its damage at one spot.
Isa.6.6 – “Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal with a pair of tongs”.
Isa.6.7 – “He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
Bravo! Isaiah’s many sins are purged, along with the sin-stained conscience and the condemnation they brought.
I believe Isaiah’s cry was like the cry of Prophet Daniel in Daniel 9:4, ” I prayed unto the Lord my God, and I made my confession”.
The next phase happened as fast as the twinkling of an eye, sin becomes purged, garment cleansed, conscience cleared, countenance changed, heart renewed and revived. Then God places his hand upon Isaiah and there’s an immediate transition into the valley of dry parched bones for a clamouring of ” “Thus saith the Lord”
Isaiah in the hands of God
Isa.6.8 – Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?” And I said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”
Yes! God so purged Isaiah down to earth that what He saw in Isaiah was a brand new tool licensed to be used to cause a change in the valley of parched bones. Oh! He was looking so new like Joshua the high priest who was cleansed from his filth and given a new garment unto purity and promotion. Zach.3:1-7.
Unarguably, Isaiah was on a path of gold, having been made sanctified. He was licensed to be a reformer of a deformed nation. God’s question to the prophet was not ignorant of Isaiah’s present call( Jeremiah:1:5). He was just ringing a revelation into the reader’s mind to gain insight into Isaiah’s new nature.
Isaiah uttered “Here I am send me, ” not with pride, but with clean conscience.” Was this in any way a rude attitude towards God? Nay! But an awareness of his new nature, one that sets one on the pedestal of being ready to be used by God. It is one coming into the knowledge of “You are my mighty battle axe for with thee will I break in pieces the nations” (Jer 51:20). That is what happened when Isaiah’s eyes saw the King of kings garbed in His intimidating holiness and love.
Hence, Isaiah was commissioned just like Jeremiah, Peter, and Paul the Apostles. From there he was transported into the valley of dry bones to prophesy until there was a ‘shaking of the bones’.
Isaiah fulfilled his purpose. He declared God’s displeasure with sin and his judgement on sin. He turned God’s people, Judah, Jerusalem, and all the surrounding nations back to God to avert impending judgement.
Brethren, you and I are the ones God has positioned into the valley of dry bones to prophesy until there becomes a shaking of bones in the valley. Let’s move on.
The most important part in the story of Isaiah’s revelation is when God spoke out those words whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah 6:8.
He rang in our minds the revelation to understand his strong quest for a man to be used to turn this world upside down for him.
Isaiah 6: 8 amongst other scriptures like “I sought for a man” Ezek.22:30 shows God’s quest to find a man, an ordinary person like Isaiah, those who by the disobedience of Adam have become sinners but whom He is ready to transform through the blood of his son.
God is looking for men who have pronounced their doom in the presence of a Holy King. God searches not for righteous men, because no one can be righteous outside the arena where his son spilled his priceless blood. He searches for sick ones who need spiritual health for service unto him.
God in search of men
He is looking for men like Isaiah, men like Apostle Paul in his past years as a persecutor of Christ, and men like Peter an ordinary fisherman. God is looking for men like Zephaniah, Timothy, and Micah. These men were not holy by default but were changed by God to become tools in the hands of God.
You too can become the Isaiah of your generation. God depends on you to cause a move of revival and reformation in a deformed world.
God depends on you to intercede for a nation and church. As spiritually unwholesome as this is, He depends on you to propagate the message of repentance in an unrepentant world. He depends on you to preach to a sinful world. He wants to use you to turn this idolatrous world back to Himself before Christ’s imminent return.
Oh! What great joy would be in the heart of the Father and his son, if the Isaiahs, Peters, Pauls, John the Baptists, Elijahs, Elishas, Epapharas, prophetess Annas, Stephens, Charles G. Finneys, etc were rising in full scale, and even men who would do better than these, that would lead the Church into the fulfillment of Eph.4.12 – For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph.4.13 – Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”. May.24:14,” And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come ‘.
What great joy would be in the heart of the Son, if men are propelled into the valley of dry bones to prophesy until a shaking occurs. Oh! The hand of the Lord is ready to be upon any man who is willing to be used by God to transform this world into a changed one.
The Holy Spirit is ready to be upon anyone ready to speak like Isaiah spoke ‘ Here I am send me’. God is searching for intercessors who would bend their knees in prayer, in agony until a shaking of bones occurs. Apostles who will preach the message of the Cross just like Peter did, Apostle Paul did. Pastors who will shepherd the sheep unto a ‘perfect man’, Evangelists who will work in divine power to preach the Gospel of the Cross to dry bones, Teachers who would not teach fables and itchy messages but the Cross.
He is looking for prophets on whom the hand of the Lord would be upon to be in the valley of dry bones for the work of prophesying ‘o ye dry bones ‘ hear the word of the Lord’.
If Isaiah could be used to spearhead a mighty revival, you can be used too. If Saul of Tarsus could be transformed and used, God can transform and use you.
If Charles G. Finney and Joseph Ayo Babalola were used, God can use you too. If Moses a murderer could be used, God can use you.
If Epaphras can be used, you can be used too. If Reinhard Bonnke and TL Osborne can be used God can use you too.
The Church needs revival, not a revival of the physical structure, but the revival of the people in it. We have lost our mandate in church to preach the message of repentance. Jesus preached and many were converted. Peter preached and 3000 souls were cut in the heart. John the Baptist preached and multitudes were confessing their sins. Elijah preached and the house of Israel were crying out loud ‘The Lord is God’
Jonathan Edwards preached and many were crying out of the awareness of sinking into the fire of hell. God found one man and his Church was revived. A dead nation was revived, dry bones came back to life, captives were set free and the blind began to see.
The prayers of John Knox and Charles G. Finney transformed the body of Christ. Are you ready to speak out like Isaiah whether you are undone or not, because many have accessed salvation, but still hesitate to preach the message of the Cross? Yes, you too can be changed.
All kinds of vices are applauded and promoted among the pastors, Christians, churches, Christian homes, and schools.
From research conducted by the Barna Group -foremost researchers about Christianity, it has been revealed that 90% of pastors remain silent on sinful social and political issues. They have chosen not to address the plague affecting the nation.”
John Piper says, “A church that fails to name sin, denounce it, call for repentance, puts human wisdom above divine wisdom by ignoring the way the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles preached”.
The charge:
Nevertheless, if God’s precious Son’s blood has not washed you, you can’t be among God’s generals to be used. You have to access the reality of your justification achieved on the Cross by believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confessing in your heart that He is Lord.
All you need do is acknowledge your uncleanliness as Isaiah did and was purged. Scream out loud ‘ I am undone’ by praying this prayer of salvation from the depth of your heart, ” Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, forgive and cleanse me of all my sin with your precious blood. I accept you into life as my Lord and personal Saviour today. Thank you for saving my soul in Jesus’ name.
Congratulations! You too can now be confident like Isaiah in reply to God’s quest for men saying ‘Here I am send me”.
And if you are backslidden, among the preachers of itchy fables, or the deceivers on the pulpits, or among the captives of pseudo-Christianity you too can say the same prayer of repentance like Isaiah, screaming out loud “Here I am, send me” by praying one of the greatest prayers of revival. It says:
“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” Psalm 85:6,
” Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness.. Make thy way straight before my face”.Psalms 5:8.
Father, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ for the redemption of humanity. Thank You for Your loving kindness and tender mercies for Your children to have revival in their lives. Your revival brings repentance from sin, deliverance from works of the flesh, lust of the world, pride in life, and other evil. It brings joy, peace, healing, and restoration to their souls and the power of Your Holy Spirit upon them to discover and fulfill Your will and purposes in their lives, churches, and the establishment of Your Kingdom in the heart of non-believers and the Nations. Since revival has always begun from one, Lord let this revival start from me. Thank you for answering my heartfelt and penitent revival prayer for my soul.
John Abiola
Revive Us Again series 92.
nigeriaglobalintercessorsngi@gmail.com
