An important part of every believer’s life should be expectancy and openness for God to do a new thing. The body of Christ desperately needs revival and reformation. By and large, we have drifted astray from God’s original design: the Acts church.
It’s rare to see vessels walking in the power of God as the first apostles did. It’s rare to see apostles and prophets accepted and operating in their important role to equip, impart and lead. These aspects of the Acts church are integral to the church today as Jesus says “the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power,” (1 Cor. 4:20, MEV).
The ministry He demonstrated and commanded us to do was preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, to heal the sick, cast out demons and raising the dead. If you’re serious about following God’s Word, rather than the status quo of Christian culture of today, you’ll realize just how desperately we need revival and major change in the church.
God said that His bride will be ready, without blemish, spot or wrinkle before He returns. So that means change must come! God has already begun to bring revival and it’s just the beginning of the greatest revival and reformation that we’ve ever seen.
Knowing that revival and transformation in the church is God’s plan, we must live in expectancy of an extraordinary move of God! We also must expect that God will bring His revival in a way we could never imagine. Every revival of the past and every move of God in the Bible came in a new “outside the box” way, where God used unlikely vessels to usher in the revival.
David was completely discounted to be an anointed leader because he was thought to be too young and he didn’t look the part. Moses was seen as an outsider, having grown up in royalty and part of the family who oppressed the Israelites. Most would disqualify him to be a prophet since he murdered a man and he was not eloquent in speaking.
Jesus was from a town that was known to have “nothing good coming from it.” He was neither a military king nor a son of a religious leader. In the eyes of the religious leaders of that time He was neither qualified to be the Messiah nor a prophet bringing new revelation from God. He was completely rejected by the religious leaders, who were the ones who should have been the very first to receive Him.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. God’s way of coming in a new, outside-the-box way remains, using unexpected vessels. When God wants to bring revival, He doesn’t consult with church leaders of today and ask, “Who do you think should be leaders in this revival I’m bringing?”
God chooses and He always chooses vessels that many don’t like, because many tend to prefer the “inside the box” logical way. It doesn’t matter to God if the vessel He chooses is popular or not. All He’s concerned about is His will. Jesus was not liked by most of the religious leaders, but that did not concern God and did not prohibit Jesus from accomplishing the Father’s will.
God’s history will continue to repeat itself. It’s important that we remember this truth so that we won’t miss a move of God. We must be expectant for God to move outside of the box and use vessels that we would never expect. When one keeps God inside a box and thinks He will only move a certain way and through certain people, then one simply sees anything outside of that box as not from God.
The Pharisees saw Jesus as outside of their box of where and how God moves. Therefore, they considered Jesus “not of God” in their perspective. They called Him a false prophet and accused Him of using demonic powers to cast out demons.
We must have expectancy and the fear of God when it comes to this principle of God doing a new thing—moving outside of the box. Otherwise we run the risk of not only missing a move of God, but even calling what is of God, not of God.
It’s time to humble ourselves and expect God to confound us as He moves in beautiful new ways to bring revival and reformation to the church.
Apostle Kathryn Krick is a rising online influencer, and founding lead pastor of Five-Fold Church in Los Angeles, where many miracles happen and people are healed, delivered and equipped to be powerful vessels of God.
