In less than 24 hours I will be uniting with some World Racer buddies and I could not be more excited. Julie and Cristie are joining me in Georgia tonight and then we are traveling tomorrow to Lakeland, Florida.
Many have heard about the huge sweep of God that has occurred there in the past 2 months and we decided it was worth checking out. In true World-Race fashion we are unsure of our travel plans, sleeping arrangements, how long we will stay, etc…but we are confident that the Lord will work out all the details.
In my understanding the Lakeland Revival started almost 2 months ago when a Canadian named Todd Bentley was asked to preach at Ignite Church in Lakeland, Florida. The Lord called on him to remain there preaching and the Holy Spirit has truly fallen on the place and thus a revival was born. 
Being the good little skeptic that I am, I didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention at first. When I hear words like “revival” and “Pentecostal” I get a little squirmy and automatically assume that it is not for me. I continued to hear reports of healings, amazing displays of God’s power and multiple people raised from the dead and my curiosity was peaked. Because a few of us don’t have any pressing plans we decided to make the drive and see what it is all about.
I have never attended a revival and I can honestly say that I have questioned on multiple occasions if I should really go. For the sake of my own processing here they are:
1. I can not continue to chase the emotional highs of Christian life. I have just returned from an amazing experience and at some point am going to have to come to terms that life does slow down and requires us to do seemingly mundane things like pay bills, work, grocery shop, etc…
2. How do I know it is real?? I do not feel anywhere near educated enough to go down and discern what is happening there. The Bible says to “test the spirit” (1 John 4:1) and I will follow that teaching, but sometimes that is harder than you would think. How do we know if all those hundreds of people who claim to be healed were really sick to begin with?
3. I am just not sure I agree with everything happening. I watched the Revival on GodTV a few times last week and I really couldn’t make it past a few minutes. Todd appears to have an aggressive style and honestly it ticks me off. So, why in the world do I think I should go down and listen in person??
4. I am not sure where I stand on all the Holy Spirit stuff. Sometimes it feels to me like one, big circus with everyone shouting, falling down, rolling around and shaking. To this point, God has not touched me in this way so it is hard for me to grasp and comprehend what is happening. I do NOT want to judge, or put my God in a box—so I accept the circus, but am unsure how to respond. A part of me wants to have that experience too. It makes me wonder what I am doing wrong if I don’t fall over or roll around, but at the same time I remain skeptical. Most of the time I think my head gets in the way. I am too busy analyzing and thinking it all through to truly get at the heart of God.
I am not listing all of my hesitations so that you can refute them (although you are welcome to try!), but simply so that you understand where I am coming from when I write this week. It is my hope to keep an online journal of our experiences and share with all of you who can’t travel to Lakeland what we are seeing. I would love to get the answers to my questions and to yours as we are there.
This week I have been studying, praying, reading and listening about the word REVIVAL and I am struck by Charles Spurgeon’s words:
To the many people who have asked why I am going (especially in light of all my hesitations) my reply is simply: why not?
Why not see what God is up to? Why not spend some more dedicated time in praise and worship? Why not rekindle a flame that that may be burning a little less brightly than 2 months ago? Why not partner with 10,000 other people who are seeking a touch from God? WHY NOT?
Maybe your answer to WHY NOT looks something like “I have a job”, “I have a family I can’t leave”, “It is too far to travel”, etc…I respect all those answers and understand that life sometimes gets in the way, but let’s maybe do this thing together.
PRAY for all of us going down there. Pray that we would be able to discern the moves of God, pray that we would be refreshed, encouraged and emboldened to live more like Jesus, and pray that all our daily needs would be met (food, housing, etc…).
WRITE your questions to us. I bet they look similar to ours and how cool to partner as we seek truth together.
READ. There are so many places in the Bible that challenge our modern-day thinking. I challenge you to take a deeper look at Scripture and the way of life that Jesus calls us to. Read some of the following articles about the revival and what is going on down in Florida.
WRESTLE. With me, with your neighbors, with God. Ask the hard questions. Seek the Truth. The Word promises that when we ask we will receive. Ask the questions and be ready to receive the answers.
Friends, the journey continues…see you tomorrow in Lakeland!
Here are some articles that I have read that have some good perspective:
Testimonies/Thoughts from Lakeland
