There are definitely swings of the pendulum – seems like this is human nature. It may also be the hand of God, leading us as His church – where He wants us at various seasons.

I see the point you are making and completely agree, but to quote a line from the movie Radio, “both….I want both.”

I grew up in the river. There was a lot of good that came of that, but there was also a lot of bad, probably at least as much bad as good. I think the reason that the good seemed to stick and the bad fell away was that I was surrounded and taught by some wonderful people who not only knew “revival fire”, but also trusted in and lived their life by that “slow work of God”.

I also know more than a few who were never content with a church unless folks were falling out all over the place and the pastor wasn’t preaching and/or praying at nose-bleed level. Sadly, I think, for many that is the heritage of the pentecostal movement. The purpose and power of the Holy Spirit that the bible actually speaks of gets pushed off to a corner somewhere and some of the more sensational manifestations get placed front and center.

But I think that is just human nature. We have a tendency to gravitate to the extremities. We go through phases where we tire of one extreme, so we swing on the pendulum to the opposite extreme. From my experience, I see the church going from being all about revival – seeking the sensational, face in the carpet, all about us and our relationship with God – and ignoring what He told us to be doing (GO-ing to a hurting world that needs to see and know His love), to being all about meeting the physical needs of the hurting around us and ignoring our own need to spend time with God on a personal level, never recognizing He does offer us times of refreshing and restoration because we are so busy doing.

I don’t believe God intends for us to be all about either extreme. As you stated, the “all about us” revivalism is unhealthy on many levels. It creates “fat baby” christians who are incapable of producing much in the way of fruit. On the other extreme, a social gospel runs the risk of emphasizing so much meeting the physical needs of the people around us that we some times forget that the greatest thing we have to offer the poor and hurting is an introduction to our Savior. Without offering them practical help, we have no right to expect them to listen to us tell them of God’s love, but if all we offer them is practical help, we become nothing more than a social service. We have to offer more.

This is why I believe God desires for us to have times of refreshing and revival – times set aside to experience His presence and His power in ways that are out of the ordinary. These times should not be about manifestations, but about truly experiencing the power of God. I know my batteries run low and I get so caught up in the ordinary every day stuff that I need to have God show me again what He can do, show me that I don’t know everything I thought I knew about Him and His ways and, I think, just mess with my head a little about how He chooses to do things. Those times keep a sense of awe and amazement in my walk with Him – and though they are not to be the focus of our relationship, they do provide great “stories” for me to tell and re-tell myself when I need a reminder.

Although I believe we should have a way of life that lives in the middle of the extremes – in every area of our lives – I don’t believe God intends that we never go to the extremes. There are times when we need to drop all of the spirituality and roll up our sleeves and get physically busy. And there are times when we need to pull away from the noise, get alone with God and let Him do whatever He wants to do to get our attention and leave us speachless. I think we need both.