We must take inventory of our lives—so let the heart examination begin! Ask yourself, "Is my life an example of Jesus? Are there areas I need to get cleaned up? Is my life producing fruit for the kingdom of God?"


We must take inventory of our lives—so let the heart examination begin! Ask yourself, "Is my life an example of Jesus? Are there areas I need to get cleaned up? Is my life producing fruit for the kingdom of God?"

Holiness is not an outward show, but it is a continual working of the Holy Spirit to bring pureness to one's heart.

Imagine that you have the job of cleaning up a room that has been completely trashed. It looks a little overwhelming, but you know you have to start somewhere! So you decide to first just pick up all the dirty clothes and put them in the laundry.

Then you pick up the dirty dishes and the partially eaten food. Layer by layer, you keep working until you have a room that is a pleasure to look at. It is a tribute to your hard work.

In the same way, God works within us, cleaning us up, causing us "to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). He corrects us, His own children, and makes us a testimony of His grace.

The apostle Paul explained that God uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the gospel like a sweet perfume:

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life
(2 Cor. 2:14-16)
Notice that the fragrance of our testimony is perceived differently from those who are being saved than by those who are perishing.

The New Living Translation translates these verses more clearly: "But thanks be to God, who made us his captives and leads us along in Christ's triumphal procession. Now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Good News like a sweet perfume."

Our lives are a fragrance presented by Christ to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those being saved and by those perishing. To those who are perishing we are a fearful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved we are a life-living perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?"

The Greatest Miracle
Leonard Ravenhill, a British revivalist from the early 20th century said, "I think the greatest miracle that God can do today is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world, and make that man holy and put him back into that unholy world and keep him holy."

Holiness is not the way to Christ, but Christ is the way to holiness. Sanctification requires unreserved consecration.

God is demanding that His children be holy, but He does it lovingly, and mercifully saying, "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).

There is a song that is sung in our churches that speaks of this prayer for holiness, it goes like this:
Holiness, Holiness is what I long for,
Holiness, Holiness is what I need,
Holiness, Holiness  is what You want from me.
A holy life is a voice—it speaks when the tongue is silent. It is either a constant attraction or a perpetual reproof.

Satisfying the Heart Of God
True revival changes believers who, in turn, change those around them. We must remember what Oswald J. Smith said: "Nothing less than a genuine revival in the body of Christ that results in a true awakening among the unsaved will ever satisfy the heart of God."

God's heartbeat is in the reviving of the Church and in the Church winning souls for the kingdom of God. We are living in a wonderful time, a time of refreshing and visitation of God to His people.

The power of God is moving among us in a great way. After God touches us with His power, we are to go out to a hurting and dying world and tell people about Jesus! We must give people an opportunity to hear and respond.

Source: Revival "The Last Call" by Jack Myers
Excerpt permission granted by World Revival Evangelistic Association, Inc.