As we approach the momentous November 5 elections, may the Lord ignite a fresh spiritual fire in each of us, knowing that, as we burn bright, America will be changed. Revival in the church remains the only real hope of the nation...

I Stand in Need of Oil | Articles | The Line of Fire

As we approach the momentous November 5 elections, there are plenty of people who can offer a more astute political commentary than me, so I’ll defer to them right now. 

What I can do is help ignite a fresh spiritual fire in each of us, knowing that, as we burn bright, America will be changed. Revival in the church remains the only real hope of the nation. (If you are not a follower of Jesus, you may not find the rest of this article relevant. But you’re free, of course, to read on.)

The Irish missionary to India, Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), once prayed, 

“Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God!” Inspired by this prayer, missionary and martyr Jim Elliot (1927-1956) wrote, “God makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitable? God, deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of Thy Spirit that I may be a flame. Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.”

Am I ignitable? Are you? 
Or are we too immersed in the dread asbestos of “other things”? 

Make us wholly ignitable, Lord! We want to be living torches for you.

Speaking of John the Immerser (the Baptist), Jesus said, “John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.” (John 5:35). Speaking of all of us, Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947), known as the apostle of faith, said, “Oh, if God has His way, we should be like torches, purifying the very atmosphere wherever we go, moving back the forces of wickedness.” 

Yet for many of us, this seems like a completely farfetched, unattainable goal. For others still, it is not even a desirable goal, wondering, “Isn’t that a little fanatical?”

Paul called us to offer our very bodies as living sacrifices on God’s altar, which means the complete, unreserved consecration of our entire lives to Him. (See Romans 12:1 – and remember that sacrifices are burned on the altar.) Paul also exhorted us with these words: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11).

The Amplified Classic Bible puts it like this: “Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.” And The Message paraphrases the verse, saying, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. . . .”

God really does want us to burn – with love for Him; with love for this dying world; and with a passion that sets our whole being ablaze.

Yet this is not something we can work up in ourselves. It is only the Lord Himself who can immerse us afresh in the fire of the Spirit. 

That’s why Methodist leader John Fletcher (1729-1785), known for his saintly demeanor, prayed for more oil in his lamp. (The English is antiquated, but the spirit of his words will resonate with many of you as you read.) Fletcher prayed, 

“Lord, I stand in need of oil. My lamp burns dimly. It is more like a smoking flax than a burning and shining light. Oh, quench it not, raise it to a flame!”

Can you relate to these words? Is that how you feel in your own life right now?

“I want a ‘power from on high’; I want penetrating, lasting ‘unction of the Holy One’. . . . I want a lamp of heavenly illumination, and a fire of divine love burning day and night in my heart, as the typical lamps did in the temple, and the sacred fire on the altar.  I want a full application of the blood which cleanseth from all sin, and a strong faith in Thy sanctifying Word – a faith by which Thou mayest dwell in my heart, as the fixed object of my love.”

“I do now believe that thou canst and wilt thus baptise me with the Holy Ghost and with fire; help me against my unbelief; confirm and increase my faith. Lord I have need to be thus baptised by thee, and I am straitened [constrained] till this baptism is accomplished. . .”

Fletcher is talking about a fresh immersion in the love and reality of God. It is something I/we must have. It is not an option if we want to burn bright for Him. 

As Paul wrote to the Philippians (and by extension, to us), 

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life” (Philippians 2:14–16)

The Lord really wants us to shine. He is the light inside of us!

I had the privilege of becoming a close friend of Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994) the last 5 years of his life. He is best known for his classic, life-impacting book Why Revival Tarries, but I remember him most as an incredible man of prayer, a man who carried a deep, broken heart for the state of the Church and shared a beautiful, intimate love with the Lord.

He used to quote the words of old hymns to me, which I share here with you as words of prayer. Perhaps you can pray them as well?

O that in me the sacred fire
Might now begin to glow,
Burn up the dross of base desire,
And make the mountains flow!

Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Till I am wholly thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.

May God ignite a fresh fire of love for Him, a fire that will burn out everything defiling and unclean, everything unworthy of Him. 

May we get the fresh oil we need (see Matthew 25:1-13), choosing to spend quality time with Him and yielding our lives to His will. 

And may we encounter God anew so that we become living torches for Him “purifying the very atmosphere wherever we go, moving back the forces of wickedness.”

But all things are possible to the one who believes (Mark 9:23; Luke 18:26).

Seize the Moment - How to Fuel the Fires of Revival

Turn the Tide - How to Ignite A Cultural Awakening

Saving A Sick America - A Prescription for Moral and Cultural Transformation

Jezebel’s War with America - The Plot to Destroy Our Country and What You Can Do to Defeat It

The truth be told, if we who claim to be followers of Jesus were as passionate about prayer as we were about politics, America would not look the same today. That’s why, for many years now, I have said that my greatest concern in America is not so much the presence of darkness (as much as that does concern me) but rather the absence of light...

A Healthy Church is the Key | Articles | The Line of Fire

Truth be told, if we who claim to be followers of Jesus were as passionate about prayer as we were about politics, America would not look the same today.

The same can be said about studying and applying God’s Word, about living out our faith and sharing our faith, about being disciples and making disciples. If we could put the same energy into those spiritual disciplines as we do into political debates, we could shake the nation.

That’s why, for many years now, I have said that my greatest concern in America is not so much the presence of darkness (as much as that does concern me) but rather the absence of light. 

In my 2022 book The Political Seduction of the Church: How Millions of American Christians Confused Politics with the Gospel, I asked, “If the Lord Himself tasked you and me with the assignment of bringing positive, lasting change to America, drawing up a strategic list of seven priorities for us as followers of Jesus, what would be on your list?” 

The New Mark Driscoll Controversy about the Former Male Stripper at a Church Men’s Conference

This carnal nonsense has no place in the house of God. May the Lord restore holy reverence to His Church.

The New Mark Driscoll Controversy about the Former Male Stripper at a Church Men’s Conference  | Articles | The Line of Fire

I arrived at my radio studio Monday to learn that social media sites were blowing up over the latest controversy involving Pastor Mark Driscoll. 

He had publicly called out the performance of a sword swallowing acrobat as 'demonic' without talking to the pastor first. The pastor, in turn, then called out Driscoll in midstream, shutting down his comments. 

And why was this acrobat, a former male stripper, performing at a church conference?

The plot thickened when I received a phone call from one of my ministry school grads, now a trusted ministerial colleague. “Dr. Brown,” he said, “I go to this church. I know this pastor. He’s a fine man and he preaches holiness and purity. I’m perturbed.”

My colleague also told me that this pastor was involved in restoring Driscoll to ministry after a previous ministerial failure and that they had talked for 30 minutes before Driscoll got up to speak. Yet not a word was said about the performance in question. Why didn’t Driscoll broach the subject then?

After responding to texts and calls from other leaders through the night, I posted this on Facebook and X:

I've been asked by lots of folks today about the debacle with the sword-swallower (who has also been a male stripper!) performing shirtless (with a pole dance!) at a church men's conference and about Mark Driscoll's public rebuke of what happened. 

1) Even if the church had no idea this guy had been a male stripper, there is no possible justification for his pole-dancing, shirtless performance at a men's conference. None! This is completely outrageous, and the only proper response from the pastor should be a deep apology and a complete repudiation of what happened. This is madness.

2) A colleague of mine goes to this church and knows the pastor and told me the pastor preaches holiness and purity. This makes the situation all the more ugly and inexcusable. Again, there is NO possible justification for this in the house of God. You can have some fun as men gathering together -- like play sports or whatever -- but you're ultimately there to be meet with God and be changed by the Word and the Spirit, not see some carnal performance like this, let alone by a male stripper!

3) The proper protocol would have been for Mark Driscoll to speak to the pastor privately, urging him to immediately correct the situation with repentance and an apology, then allowing Driscoll to say what was on his heart too. If the pastor refused, then the right thing to do would be to tell the pastor you could not participate in the conference and then issue a public statement as to why. So, technically, Driscoll did not follow proper order, but no one has a right to complain about this in light of the greater offense that had taken place, namely, the carnal performance.

4) Matthew 18 has nothing to do with this at all. The pastor (or the performer) did not sin against Driscoll personally; he/they sinned against God and those attending in general. Matthew 18 applies to matters of personal offense and sin. That being said, again, the proper order, being under the authority of the leaders for whom you speak while there, would have been to speak to the pastor first, but I'm personally glad that Driscoll said something even if he didn't follow perfect order, and our entire focus should be on why on earth this man was invited (may he really come to know the Lord!) and why the pastor allowed it, not on the protocol of Driscoll's actions.

Very late in the evening, now past midnight, I received a text from another pastor who was at the event, telling me that the performance in question was part of the pre-service entertainment for the men, which had already featured a monster truck demonstration.  (Yes, this was quite the men’s conference!) 

The pastor explained that there were three simultaneous acrobatic performances taking place and that virtually none of the attendees saw the sword swallower’s pole performance as sexual until Driscoll made his “inflammatory” comments.

He acknowledged that the church leaders who invited the sword swallower “were not familiar with this dude’s past prior to inviting him, which obviously was an oversight” but that he was now a born-again Christian attending a church in Los Angeles.

Of course, I had assumed the church did not know about his past. 

But my question was: if you used to be a male stripper and Jesus changed your life, why are you stripping off your shirt at a Christian men’s conference, not to mention using what looks like a stripper pole for your performance? It appears that this young man could use some solid discipleship from some godly spiritual fathers.

That being said, did Driscoll go too far in his comments, before being shut down by the pastor? 

The pastor with whom I was texting said, 

“What I take issue with is Mark labeling this as an ‘asherah pole strip show that invited the jezebel spirit into the conference.’ That is just ludicrous.

Unwise? Unvetted? Unnecessary distraction? That could be a fair critique, and I’m ok with fair critiques. But (in my opinion) Mark's rush to label this in the most inflammatory terms does a disservice to the actual facts of the event.”

In response I left him a voice text saying that: 

1) I do not know Mark Driscoll at all and cannot comment on his relationship with God, but perhaps what he said was true and that this performance was much more demonic than he realized. 

2) As I said in my post, the whole focus should be on why in the world the church allowed this to take place, not on whether Driscoll followed proper protocol. 

3) Most importantly, this is the kind of junk that the fire of God will soon burn up. Enough already with this nonsense!

Having walked and ministered with men like Leonard Ravenhill and David Wilkerson, having seen the fire of God’s holiness touch hundreds of thousands of people during the Brownsville Revival, and knowing that our God is a consuming fire, I can say this with certainty: When God comes in power, carnal stuff like this will be burned up.

The rest of the conference may have been powerful; I was not there. But, to repeat this carnal nonsense has no place in the house of God.

May the Lord restore holy reverence to His Church. 

Listening to this 7-minute excerpt from Wilkerson’s “Call to Anguish” will help start that process afresh.

A Time for Holy Fire: Preparing the Way for Divine Visitation

The older we get, the more natural it is to reflect on questions like: What was the purpose of my life? Why am I here? Does my life make sense in the light of eternity?

You Are Here for a Purpose | Articles | The Line of Fire

In recent months, I have spent a lot of time meditating on and praying about the meaning and the mystery of life. 

None of us asked to be born or created, yet with every fiber of our being, we want to live. And most of us have a strong desire to reproduce as well – to bring children into the world. 

And why are we so eager to bring the next generation into this fallen world? 

The older we get, the more natural it is to reflect on questions like these, especially on a personal level: What was the purpose of my life? Why am I here? Does my life make sense in the light of eternity?

Shortly before he was martyred, Paul wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) 

He knew he had a divine assignment and that he was here on a sacred mission. And he was able to look back and say, “I have completed the task the Lord has given to me.”

He was not simply living to survive. His purpose on earth was not simply to enjoy comfort and get rich. Instead, he was here to do the will of God, to glorify the Lord whether by life or by death. 

But this was not unique to Paul. It is God Himself who put each of us here, and He put us here for a purpose.

That’s why every single one of us will stand before God one day and give account of our lives (see Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

That’s why Paul could exhort his readers to run their race so as to win (see 1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

That’s why Jesus could teach parables about servants giving account to their masters (see Matthew 25:14-30).

That’s why, deep down, most of us want to make a difference while we are here. 

We want our kids to grow up in a better world.

That’s the divine nature working inside of us, even if the image of God has been corrupted by sin in those who do not know the Lord.

That’s the Holy Spirit working within the hearts of believers, as the concerns of the Lord become our concerns and the standards of the Lord become our standards.

That’s why we want to share our faith, to shine God’s light in dark places, to make Jesus known, to correct errors and to right wrongs.

In a deep spiritual sense, it is in our very blood.

Many philosophers and theologians believe that this sense of purpose and destiny points clearly to the existence of God, without whom life would have no real meaning. After all, how can a random, unguided, even ruthless evolutionary process result in meaning and purpose and destiny?

That’s why animals simply reproduce without any sense of destiny or purpose. That’s why a pet doesn’t reflect on having a meaningful life. Such concepts are completely foreign to the animal world.

That’s why it is so crucial for each of us to find out why we are here. 

What is my mission? What is my assignment? Why did the Lord put me on this earth? And to what eternal purpose did Jesus shed His blood for me and redeem me? (The Scriptures state that we were bought with a price and are not our own. See 1 Corinthians 6:20.)

Nate Saint was one of the five courageous missionaries who were martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956. (Their inspirational story was told in an old documentary titled “Through Gates of Splendor.”) 

Saint was only 32 when he died, but he had already counted the cost before that fateful day, writing, 

“People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget they too are expending their lives and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.”

Do these words speak to you today? Could it be that you are so caught up in the rat race of life or so distracted by the things of this world, from sports to entertainment and from personal vanity to the accumulation of wealth, that you have lost sight of the very purpose of life?

Jim Elliot, one of Nate Saint’s colleagues, was only 28 when he was killed. While in college he journaled these words: 

“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”

May we live full lives too! And may each of us embrace and live out this prayer: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

May you live your life with purpose, and may you run your race so as to win.

Seize the Moment: How to Fuel the Fires of Revival

The Refiner’s Fire, Divine Pruning, and the Prayer Movement

Can you imagine how branches feel about being pruned – hacked and cut back and chopped? Yet after a while (if they were sentient beings) they would know that pruning today means flourishing tomorrow.

The Refiner’s Fire, Divine Pruning, and the Prayer Movement | Articles | The Line of Fire

One of the nicest features of the first house Nancy and I owned was the beautiful rose bushes that surrounded the yard. The previous owner of the house loved to landscape, and those rose bushes were his pride and joy. Nancy especially appreciated them as well, being a natural gardener herself.

One day, though, I came home from work and was absolutely shocked. Some vandal had decimated the rose bushes, leaving them hacked and disfigured. Who would do something like this, especially in broad daylight?

But when I walked into the house, Nancy seemed quite relaxed, so I assumed she hadn’t seen what happened. That meant it was my job to break the bad news to her.

With some level of distress, I said to her, “Someone has destroyed the rose bushes!”

She just smiled and said, “No, the gardener was here today and he pruned them.”

I thought to myself, “That’s what pruning looks like? Seriously? Pruning is brutal!” 

Suddenly, the words of Jesus came alive to me: 

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2).

God’s pruning is more painful than pleasant, but it is an act of love, making us less for the moment – sometimes quite radically less – in order to make more of us in the future. 

Can you imagine how the branches feel about being pruned – hacked and cut back and chopped? But after a while, if they were sentient beings, they would know that pruning today means flourishing tomorrow.

But it is necessary if we are to bear more fruit. 

As Jesus said, “every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”

If you want to grow and bear more fruit, you will be pruned. Count on it.

It’s the same principle when it comes to God coming as a refiner’s fire. As described by Malachi: 

“‘I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years” (Malachi 3:1–4).

Gold and silver are thrown into this super-heated fire, precious metals that might look quite pure to the naked eye. But the fire brings the impurities to the surface for all to see – and the sight can be quite ugly.

That is what happens when God draws near to us with His holy fire (read Isaiah 6!). The fire purifies our lives, revealing the dross and burning out the impurities. 

But God does this in order to cleanse us, not condemn us, to help us, not hurt us.

I had the extraordinary privilege of serving as a leader in the Brownsville Revival from the years 1996-2000. Contemporary church historians have called it the longest running local church revival in American history, drawing a cumulative attendance of several million people from more than 130 nations, with at least 300,000 different individuals responding to altar calls to get right with God.

Yet with this divine glory there was also divine fire.

Pastors would tell me, “I brought my people here because I thought they needed a fresh touch from God, but I was the first one to come forward and repent. God showed me the sin in my own life, and I feel as if I was born again all over again.”

I can testify firsthand that the revival fires burned out a whole lot of dross in my own life, leading to deep cleansing and repentance.

I can also testify to seasons of divine pruning in my life where, after seeking the Lord earnestly with fasting and prayer, crying out for a major ministry breakthrough, I received at first what seemed to be the opposite of what I had been praying for.

Instead of a major expansion of our work the Lord brought about a personal pruning in my life, cutting me back for the moment so that I could grow and produce much more fruit in the years ahead. I am eternally grateful to God for those holy (and difficult) seasons.

But understanding what was happening – and remembering those rose bushes – is what helped me to embrace the divine process.

I believe something similar today is happening with the global prayer movement.

This past May, believers and intercessors around the world united in prayer for Israel, possibly mobilizing more prayer for Israel than at any one time in history.

Little did any of us know the hell that would break open in Israel later that same year, 2023.

And little did any of us know the hell that would break open in the global prayer movement, also in 2023, some of it within days of the Hamas massacre of October 7?

But as painful as this process is and as much as sin is being revealed and purged, I see God’s hand at work in the midst of it.

This is a time for purging. A time for purification. A time for refining.

But rather than the prayer movement falling apart or disintegrating, I believe it is God’s intent for the movement to multiply. 

Put another way, there is a division that is destructive and a division that brings growth. And if we will humble ourselves before the Lord and give ourselves unreservedly to His purposes, we can see good come out of evil and a divine plan unfold out of chaos.

So, pray this along with me: “Send Your refining fire, Lord! And start the work in me.”

Should a Christian Actor Participate in a Nude Love Scene?

God calls us to holiness and purity, not out of legalism or rule-keeping but out of love and because we belong to Him. It’s one thing to acknowledge God’s standards and say, “Lord, I need help! I keep falling short.” It’s another to lower His standards. We do that to our own harm...

Should a Christian Actor Participate in a Nude Love Scene? | Articles | The Line of Fire

An article by Kelsey Dallas in Deseret News asks, “Can you be a Christian and play a sinful character on TV?”

“Alan Ritchson, the star of ‘Reacher,’ says you certainly can, and he’s unhappy with ‘supposed Christians’ who have a problem with him taking on a “morally ambiguous” role.”

The article was triggered by a video by Ritchson, the hulking strong man who plays Jack Reacher in a new online TV series. 

Ritchson is known as an unashamed Christian, because of which he has received flak for playing Reacher, a character who, while fighting against the bad guys, is hardly a paragon of holiness.

“I love playing Reacher. I love telling this story. I love playing a character who creates a kind of moral ambiguity that we should struggle against as we consider whether or not what he’s doing is good all the time or morally right. I think that kind of thing is fun and fascinating, and I think escaping to that world as an audience, hopefully it’s as enjoyable for you as it is for me to help bring it to life.”

“But it’s funny to me how a lot of people criticize me, supposed Christians especially criticize me for playing Reacher, as if the only TV that should exist is seeing people silently folding their hands in the pew of a church. I mean, what kind of stories are we supposed to tell?”

I actually agree with him here. Christians should not be limited to acting in Christian roles alone. 

But the bigger question is more basic: Are there any lines that a Christian actor should not cross? 

For example, could a committed Christian be a porn star? 

The Word of God is entirely clear on this, as Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers: 

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” (Ephesians 5:1–3; many other verses could be cited).

It is forbidden for believers to engage in sexual acts outside of marriage (even if you’re “acting”) or for believers to intentionally make themselves objects of lustful desire (which is the very essence of porn). As Jesus said, “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:7)

But what about something less extreme than porn? What about an actor participating in a love scene with partial nudity?

In the case of “Reacher,” this is not an abstract question. 

As one viewer asked in response to Ritchson’s passionate and articulate video, how he could justify doing a love scene in the shower with a topless woman? (Ritchson’s video garnered almost one million views in less than a week, with many professing Christians cheering him on.) 

The Word of God makes clear that, while we are not to make personal judgments about one another, 

“The person with the Spirit [or, the spiritual person] makes judgments about all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15), and the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of “mature” believers “who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

What, then, does God’s Word have to say? What is the standard of heaven? (For the record, I did reach out to Ritchson through his agent listed online, but without success.)

What if this was you or me filming this scene? Or what if this was your spouse? 

And could you say to Jesus, “Let’s sit down together and watch this partially nude love scene I just filmed”?

I understand that actors act. But as one commenter on my X account noted, 

“I believe it was John Piper who helped with this by saying when a man in a film is shot by a gun, the director yells cut and the ‘dead’ man gets up having played the charade of being shot. When a person shows their nude body in a film, that is not a charade, but the real thing.”

So, even though the couple is acting, there are the physical images that everyone sees – which are real, not pretend – and there is physical contact of an intimate nature between people who are not married. (If they were married, should this be put on display for the world to see? God forbid.)

Husbands, how would you feel if your wife was the actress in the scene? If she were the one topless, hugging and kissing another topless man for millions to see? 

Wives, how would you feel if your husband was the one hugging and kissing the topless woman?

Even if there was zero passion involved. Even if the presence of cameras and lights made the whole scene feel quite sterile in real life. The fact is that people are watching the scene – that’s why it was filmed. And without a doubt, it would be sexually provocative to many watching it – and quite intentionally at that. And how could it not be defiling or compromising, at least on some level, for those acting the scene out?

If the Jesus you follow would say, “No big deal,” then you’re not following the Jesus of the Word.

Going one step further, if partial nudity is OK, why not complete nudity? And rather than simulated sex, why not real sex? 

Again, I am not Alan Ritchson’s personal judge. It is God’s Word which judges us, and we both give account to Him.

More broadly, I’m not here to judge those who have struggled with porn or to condemn those who are involved with porn. Many of them are enslaved and want to be free. They need the Lord! 

And all of us, outside of God’s grace and the blood of Jesus, are worthy of damnation. Even on our best days, we still fall short. I live by mercy too.

At the same time, God calls us to holiness and purity, not out of legalism or rule-keeping but out of love and because we belong to Him. 

It’s one thing to acknowledge God’s standards and say, “Lord, I need help! I keep falling short.” It’s another to lower His standards. We do that to our own harm.

That’s why many other Christian actors have refused to do sex scenes or nude scenes. For them, it meant a compromise of their faith. (See here for actor Neal McDonough’s story.)

After all, it is the pure in heart who will see God (Matthew 5:8) and without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ 

“Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’ And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’ 

“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Corinthians 6:16–7:1)

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)

We do well to chew on these words. After all, they represent the heart of the God to whom we will all give account.

How Saved Are We? - Has the Church Fallen Asleep in the Enemy’s Lap?

When real revival finally comes – maybe once in a generation, once in a lifetime, once in a century, or once in a millennium, you cannot let it go. You must dive in with both feet and give it your all. You may never have the chance again...

When God Moves, We Must Seize the Moment | Articles | The Line of Fire

I began hearing about the “Pensacola Outpouring” (or, “Brownsville Revival”) several months after it began in June, 1995. Shortly after that, I read an article about the revival in Charisma magazine which quoted evangelist Steve Hill, whom I had known through the saintly revivalist and intercessor Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994). 

Steve was asked why he cancelled his preaching engagements around the world to devote himself exclusively to the outpouring in Pensacola. 

He replied, “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity.” 

This was something I understood well. When real revival finally comes – maybe once in a generation, once in a lifetime, once in a century, or once in a millennium, you cannot let it go. You must dive in with both feet and give it your all. 

This was something Steve also understood. And so, when the fire of God fell suddenly on Father’s Day of 1995 at the Brownsville Assembly of God and it was clear that revival was breaking out, Steve stayed on for one week, for two weeks, for one month, for two months – ultimately for five years. 

Still, there was something that intrigued me about Steve’s quote: it sounded like Leonard Ravenhill, best known as the author of Why Revival Tarries?, a book filled with pithy sayings. 

Both Steve and I had the privilege of getting very close to Bro. Len in the last years of his life, and both of us committed to memory some of his little slogans and epigrams, such as, “The man who is intimate with God will never be intimidated by man,” or, “Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?” Still, I had never heard Len say, “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity.”

When Steve and I finally talked by phone in January of 1996, he told me that these were, in fact, Bro. Len’s words, spoken to Steve just a few weeks before Len had a serious stroke in September of 1994, from which he never regained consciousness. (He passed away in November of 1994 at the age of 87.)

Those words stayed with Steve, making a deep imprint on his soul to the point that when the revival began in Pensacola, he knew that now was the time to seize that potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 

But Steve was not the only one who felt that way. 

Pastor John Kilpatrick, along with the rest of the church leadership and most of the congregation, also recognized that something sacred was happening. Normal life for the church came to a temporary halt. Revival was in full gear! 

How else could services last for five-eight hours every night? 

How else could people sometimes get home from the evening meeting as the sun was rising? (It was early summer when the Spirit fell, so kids were out of school.) How else could the same worship team and the same workers and the same preacher be there to minister week in and week out, night after night, unless a total commitment had been made to revival? Obviously, the outpouring would have come to a premature end if the church had not seized this sacred opportunity while it presented itself. 

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