I am tired of looking backwards in history at moves of God that came and went. Yes, I celebrate all that God has done, and my heart rejoices when I remember some of the great moments I have experienced.
I reflect on the times when I attended the Brownsville Revival in the 1990s. I was just a young man, but I vividly remember God’s power being poured out, and the ministry of Evangelist Steve Hill. But that was yesterday.
What’s my testimony right now?
Certainly, there have been pockets of revival throughout our country and the world since then. Even recently there have been evident moments of great and wonderful outpourings. But are you satisfied? I am not.
Is there a genuine yearning in your heart for more, or are you simply satisfied with what God did yesterday? Are you ready for a new testimony? Are you ready to declare what God is doing in your life today?
I believe God wants to put a new word and fresh testimony on the lips of every believer. Days are coming, says the Lord, when the story will change.
It is an absolute burden and passion in my heart to genuinely see and live in the power of God. We are among a generation that desperately needs the real thing. No longer will stories of what God did in yesterday’s generation suffice. The power of God is the key to answering this generation’s brokenness and confusion.
It’s like the prophet Jeremiah declared in chapter 16, verses 14-15 (NKJV):
“‘Therefore behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that it shall no more be said, “The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,” but, “The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.” For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.'”
When the prophet delivered this word, the people were fractured by war and were scattered. Their faithfulness to the Lord had dried up, and because of that, bondage and judgment had become their portion. Surely this is a prophetic insight for where we are in the United States today.
What led to the promised people of God becoming a scourge and testimony of God’s correction and judgment rather than His blessing and prosperity?
We could go down the list: disobedience, idolatry, sexual immorality … the list goes on.
But the prophet reveals a powerful truth in this verse. It would appear that the people of Israel were still living off of the God of yesterday. Their testimony was “the God who …,” not “the God who is.”
In other words, the ancient moves of God, the powerful demonstration of deliverance and salvation, were simply not sustainable because the Israelites, like many of us today, lacked the confidence and faith that God is still able. When outpourings and moves of God remain in the rearview, they can turn into stories for people to scoff at rather than realities to inspire hope and build faith.
This is the path many Christians have followed. We’ve heard the stories but rarely have experienced them. We share testimonies as stories when testimonies should be delivered in power.
This generation will not settle for stories. They are a group who, being led by feelings, are searching for something real that will impact them emotionally, not simply spiritually. They’ve heard stories of a God who can fill their hearts and satisfy their lives, but are they experiencing it?
I believe days are coming!
Israel’s testimony of their God was merely history to them rather than a present reality. Too many Christians are living with what God did five, 10 or 25 years ago rather than what He is doing right now, in the present. The God of yesterday wants to be the God of right now!
Do you believe that? We must change our posture and begin to seek the face of God with boldness and confidence. The God who did it in years past is the God who can do it in the present!
I sense a wind on the horizon that will shift the atmosphere.
“Days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the testimony of what I did in Egypt will no longer be your story.”
“Days are coming,” says the Lord, “where you will no longer live off of the testimony of ‘that one time.’”
“Days are coming,” says the Lord, “where I will do a new thing and I will put a new story in your mouth; you will declare a new testimony. Days are coming when every day in My presence will bring a new declaration. Days are coming!”
Powerful moves of God are not intended just for small pockets of communities throughout our country. The move of God is for all who will plunge into the current! Jump in and declare over yourself, your household and your community, “Days are coming!”
Aaron Rios is a musician, author and pastor who serves on the North Shore of Beverly, Massachusetts, outside of Boston. He has a contagious passion for encouraging, equipping and inspiring believers to pursue their kingdom destiny for the cause of Christ. Please visit aaronrios.com.
Bill Wiese 
Paul McGuire 
