Entry 08: Could Revival Look Like Love?

I love my kid (like most every mother on the planet, I’m sure). He’s on my heart 24/7. I cannot even think about him without all the feels and depth of belief. I’ve thought about how powerful that is. Love. It’s a force. A fierce steady stream of affection and protection that runs through the veins. For me, I cannot think about it without thinking about the Lord. He’s the definition of it and the never failing essence in it. 

So, what if... revival was bedded in love? What if love was the open door to a whole new dimension of experience? It’s pretty obvious that when one feels or lives in strife, it is like living in toxicity. If not dealt with, it can erode the soul. Yet to live opposite of that has proved to add years to ones life. 

Looking around at the hate and fury in our country’s feuding political sides, it is hard not to feel that we have teetered off the edge with strife and fury and have forgotten about loving at all. It’s as if opinion rules the tongue. Responding in demand and opinion seems to have drowned out giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. It’s become a heated direct-deposit of opinions. There isn’t health in it or even balance. It just feels like fists and fury. No love, patience or control. 

If kindness at a grocery store can make someone’s day, why is it we cannot realize that that kind of posture is healthier and actually has a love language attached to it! There is a song from my childhood by Jackie Deshannon. It’s lyrics are: 

Chorus

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It's the only thing that there's just too little of

What the world needs now is love, sweet love,

No not just for some but for everyone.

V1

Lord, we don't need another mountain, there are mountains and hillsides enough to climb

There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,

Enough to last till the end of time.

V2

Lord, we don't need another meadow, there are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow

There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine

Oh listen, lord, if you want to know.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It's the only thing that there's just too little of.

Jackie was on to something. 

We have eras in our countries history that have peace and love attached to it but the reality in that is, it kind of got weird fast. So, while I am not talking about free hippie/acceptance love, I am talking about the love of God actually being swallowed and digested by his people and the result is us living completely awakened to it. Would that not start revival? What is it to be awakened to a love that revives? I feel something in this deep, and it vibrates when I think about the love I have for my son, my family, and my true friends. It’s like there is a power to change anything nestled in the middle of it. A power to divide hate and send it scattering. It feels like it’s fully alive and at attention. 

To surrender to such a love is not without the need for a carnal release of what keeps us bound in our areas of weakness. Can we love deep and still be in chains? Yes! But I’m persuaded to think that is because we have not let that love guide us to it’s true encounter and power. The love of Jesus laid it’s life down for us. In doing so, power was released in that very love. To just receive it has power to free us. 

At any rate, maybe I’ve been staring out windows in too many airport lounges or dreaming of hope’s renewal while listening to too much instrumental trap music. Go figure. I just think revival is coming. I don’t think it’s coming like we’ve ever seen it come before. I think this time, it’s not about lining up outside a church building. I think it’s sitting in the middle of my chest, and it’s waiting for me to stand up and start walking in the power of it.

After all, love is said to never fail.

-Rita