Every individual who was ever born was born to bear the image of God. When God said, “Let us make man in our own image”, He was speaking of people then, now and every human being in between. So, you and I, along with John Wesley, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, Adolf Hitler, and Ted Bundy were created for the purpose of bearing the image of God. What happened to some of the people on this list? Answer: They got bent out of shape.
Have you ever heard of Seth Joshua or Evan Roberts? Seth Joshua preached a message and in that message he said, “Lord, bend us ... God, bend us”. Evan Roberts was in that service and told of how the Holy Spirit spoke to him and said, “that is what you need”. Evan Roberts began crying out to God, “Lord bend me .. Oh Lord, bend me”. From that prayer, the great Welsh Revival was birthed and a nation turned their hearts to God.
Recently, I sent the following text to some very dear friends of mine. The text was this: “If you think about it, the CYCLE below happens to many religious groups. The key is avoiding #4. I want to be a #6 kind of man.
CYCLE OF RELEVANCY
Step 1 - God finds a MAN
Step 2 - God performs a MIRACLE
Step 3 - God establishes a MOVEMENT
Step 4 - Movement becomes a MONUMENT
Step 5 - Monument becomes a MAUSOLEUM
Step 6 - God finds a MAN!
One of the responses that I received in return was in the form of a question: “What does it take to be that kind of man?” That’s a very good question and since God has yet to use me to bring revival to an entire nation, I guess I am looking for that answer as well.
I do believe that at the very least, the answer begins with me. Since God “is the same yesterday, today and forever”, He is obviously not the problem. So, the problem must lie within me. I must have a heart, a mind and a will to allow God to bend me. To be “bent” is to be “turned”, “changed”, or “repositioned”.
To be bent back into shape tells us that the shape that we should be in is not the shape we are presently in. Therefore, we need to be put back into our original design. God has many ways of doing that. Scripture speaks of the refiners fire, the cleansing of vessels, grapes being crushed, wine being poured, wheat being sifted, olives being pressed, branches being pruned, gold being refined, and clay being molded. These are all ways God uses to prepare us for His purpose.
Too often, we have the natural tendency to aspire to levels of ministry that exceed our present level of maturity. When this happens, the result is an eventual train wreck. We want more than we are ready for.So, God lovingly begins His most important work and that is the work that He does IN us. Before God can ever do a significant work THROUGH you, He must first do a significant work IN you! We simply cannot ever stop growing, changing, or bending. It’s not enough to just be called for ministry. You must also be approved for ministry and God has a special way of approving each of us for His service.
How is your spiritual shape? Do you need to be bent? Are you ready to be bent? I have a suspicion that your family, your ministry and your nation need you to be bent toward God. To paraphrase a much-used term attributed to Hippocrates, “desperate times call for desperate measures”. Like the children of Samaria who were “besieged” and it caused a great famine in Samaria, we too are under siege. The end result of their “besiegement” was no harvest to draw from. The wine press became empty and the threshing floor became dry. They reverted to self-preservation by eating donkey’s heads, doves dung and finally, each other (see 2 Kings 6). As you read the story, isn’t it amazing that every time spiritual adults lose focus, children are always the ones to suffer the most?
What will be the end result of Satan’s attempted besiegement upon us? If God can bend a man, He can surely bend a church and a nation. As in Wales, it begins with a MAN, through whom God brings about a MIRACLE, which will manifest into a MOVEMENT. Let’s allow it to stop there. We no longer have the time for MONUMENTS and MAUSOLEUM.