Chuck Bridges Blog

About two or three months ago I was looking through some literature, book studies, and other small group material at a local book store for our “Connecting Point” groups to study this year. One of the “courses” that caught my attention was a study by James MacDonald. Since I am familiar with the writings and teaching of MacDonald, I purchased the study guide to see if this would be something we could use in our Connecting Point ministry.

I started working through the book for my daily Bible study and realized very quickly how desperately we needed to get this message to today’s church. Not only was I interested in using this material in our Connecting Points, I immediately knew it was something we needed to talk about on Sundays! After considering the way the material was arranged, we determined that it would be hard to use it with our small groups. But, there was no doubt that this book would be the guide I would use to formulate the messages to begin this New Year.

MacDonald uses a very simple concept to approach a subject that is anything but simple. The “DOWNPOUR” analogy simply advises God’s people on what to do when and if God does actually “RAIN” down on us with His transforming grace and LOVE! Most of us use an umbrella to keep from getting soaked when moving around on a rainy day (this is something we can relate to in our area right now, Praise the Lord!). MacDonald’s concept encourages true Followers of Jesus Christ to cry out for God to send this “DOWNPOUR” on our ’spiritual’ drought and then put away our ‘umbrellas’ that would keep us from being soaked by this outpouring of renewing “RAIN.”

For the first six to eight weeks of this New Year we are going to focus on the subject of REVIVAL/RENEWAL for those who have had a personal experience with a Living God! It is my conviction that the church of Jesus Christ is about as “DRY” as it can possibly be. Except for a few churches that seem to be doing some amazing things for the Kingdom of God, most established, organized churches are either dying or are just meeting each week without much to talk about after the final AMEN! I fear that it has been so long since God’s people experienced a “DOWNPOUR” from Heaven that we actually think things are going fine! In our self-consumed society, many Christians think everything is fine because they are “getting fed” the Word! These “blind” sheep don’t seem to have much grief over the state of the church as a whole or the fact that the population grows each year while we report fewer salvations each year!

We can easily read about numerous Supernatural movements of God’s Spirit on His People in past history. Each time I read about the Spiritual Awakenings or the Hebrides revivals sparked by itinerant evangelist Duncan Campbell I get fired up wondering what it would be like to see God once again move in such powerful ways. Honestly, I also wonder if God would even bother to invest such a movement of His Spirit on today’s church! What would the response be among most typical church attenders in the event of such a Spiritual manifestation?

I could write much more on this topic but need to close this post. I just want to encourage anyone who reads this blog to do this: Make the necessary PREPARATIONS in your own life to meet God’s conditions for a DOWNPOUR; and pray for God to allow us to once again witness His Power being manifested among those who claim to know Him! Churches are still in a position to inspire needed reform in our digressing society. Will you join me in asking God for this DOWNPOUR before it is too late? Will you meet His conditions for REVIVAL? (you can start by reading 2 Chronicles 7:14)