Can we do it? Yes we can... if we really want to!

When Barak Obama said: “Yes, we can”, he was making an assumption that everyone wanted to! Can God bring revival to European youth? Yes He can! But the bigger question is do we want Him to?

Now you may think the answer is obvious? But is it? In John 5 Jesus asked a paralysed man: Do you want to get well? The poor guy had been an invalid for thirty eight years. The answer was surely a no brainer, a bit like the first question asked on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? You know the one anyone can answer, even the average Chelsea fan.

And yet Jesus asked it! Do you want to get well? You may say and do all the right things, but what do you really want. Do we really want to see revival come? We may sing, shout and dance about it, but do we really want it?

You see God has given His church all we need to see revival come. Between us we have all the resources, and if we simply pooled them together and stood shoulder to shoulder we would be a mighty army- undefeatable! Remember what David said in Psalm 133: How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity, because there the Lord gives His blessing, even life for evermore. It’s God’s way. The Kingdom is about everybody becoming one body, living and giving for one purpose alone: love for the Father.

On the other hand the enemy’s way is to divide us, make us seek our own ends, and build our own empire instead of the Kingdom. He’s pretty good at it. We won’t lay down our small ambitions, dreams and ministries for the bigger and better goal of seeing the Kingdom come. We’re too scared to let go of our reputation and security and die to self. So we live on, to claim much about God, but bear little fruit for Him. Perhaps the biggest threat to revival in Europe isn’t the nasty secular world, or our demonic enemy. Its probably just plain old selfish you and me!

However last week in Barcelona I sat down with some great folk humble youth workers from Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Holland, Ireland, the UK and US. They talked openly and honestly not just about successes but failures, and not about their dreams but God’s. They talked of partnerships across cities and countries, even if it meant the death of their own dreams. And as they did, I could sense Satan beginning to get anxious. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it can’t bear fruit, Jesus said. There is a cost involved in revival. Can we do it? Yes we can…. If we really want to!