The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival QUOTES

2 " THE TWO CROSSES Many years ago, A. W. Tozer said that whereas the old cross killed the sinner, the new cross redirects the sinner. Consider his timely words: The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, “Come and assert yourself for Christ.” To the egotist it says, “Come and do your boasting in the Lord.” To the thrill seeker it says, “Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship.” The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public. It would seem that in twenty-first century Christianity, there are two crosses—the authentic and the counterfeit. The authentic cross calls us to surrender all while the counterfeit pats us on the back and assures us that we can take the world along for the journey. This is why true, sustained revival continues to evade us. We are becoming like the system we have been commissioned to transform. In compromising with the world by embracing another cross, we offer a great disservice to the very people who are desperately in need of God. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

4 " A few things that revival is not: Revival is not a series of special meetings at church. Revival is not what a church does a few times a year to simply draw in new converts (although we celebrate true conversions when they take place). Revival is not about the unusual, physical manifestations that tend to happen when people are “touched by the Holy Spirit.” Great Christian author A. W. Tozer made this most relevant observation about praying for revival: “Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late—and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

6 " our hope is that your prayers for revival become richer, most impassioned, and deeper than ever before. But perhaps even more, our vision is to help you position yourself to become the revival that the Church is praying for and that this world so desperately needs. For us to become an expression of revival on the earth, we must say an unqualified yes to everything Jesus requires from us. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

8 " The road to revival begins where we start recognizing our spiritual bankruptcy. And it is out of our sense of desperate need for more of God’s reality in our lives that transformation begins. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

10 " Revival introduces us to the better taste of God’s presence. When He becomes our great pursuit, by default, anything that does not reflect Him or honor Him will be stripped out of our lives; we simply will not tolerate it. Just think about it. If revived Christians lived holy lives, completely dedicated and sold out to Jesus, the industries peddling immorality would go into decline. Take it a step further. When worldly people start being saved, sinful industries not only suffer, they are often infiltrated and transformed. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

12 " The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

14 " THE TWO CROSSES Many years ago, A. W. Tozer said that whereas the old cross killed the sinner, the new cross redirects the sinner. Consider his timely words: The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, “Come and assert yourself for Christ.” To the egotist it says, “Come and do your boasting in the Lord.” To the thrill seeker it says, “Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship.” The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

16 " The cross is not some addition to our lives; it demands our complete redefinition. Our pursuits and passions become aligned with Heaven’s. Our focus is no longer selfish and self-seeking; it becomes thoroughly God-centric. In many places today, the cross is not a call to die to our old sinful nature, but rather an all-access pass to do our thing and be infinitely blessed. After all, everything was taken care of on the cross. To believe such a statement proves that we have little grasp of the weight and glory of the true cross. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

18 " Only when we honestly confront our present condition can we truly cry out for holy visitation and divine transformation. This cry is awakened as we simply discover that where we currently are is not what God has made available to us. "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival

20 " If the way we live outside the building is not characterized by holiness and sacrificial love for the Lord and the lost, that is not revival. And if everything that happens in our revival meetings comes through the hands of human vessels—without the supernatural visitations outside the church, without the abiding presence, without the clear evidence that God Himself has “stepped down from heaven” in power—that is not revival.2 "

― , The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival