The Power of Surrender: Breaking Through to Revival by Michael CattMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Michael Catt again writes another wonderful book packed with great principles. This book is about revival. Michael is the pastor of the church in Albany, GA that produced the movies: Fireproof, FlyWheel, Facing the Giants, and Courageous. I leave you with this one quote, "We need a divine intervention. Our problems can't be fixed by money, machine, politics, or philosophy. Looking around should make us look up to God. Revival is not worked up; it is prayed down. It is when God breaks through into the life of a person, a church, or a land and puts things back in order."
If you enjoy reading about revival and like for God to use another to bring conviction to your heart then this would be a good book to read.
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Below are more great quotes from the book:
Mark Twain said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t
understand that bother me: it’s the parts I do understand.” p. 23
Not only will revival demand personal preparation but also persistent
supplication. p. 28
No repentance is true repentance which does not recognize
Jesus as Lord over every area of life. ~John C. Chapman p. 33
We cannot stay the same. Repentance must come in the pews
before we can expect to see it in the people of this world. Vance Havner wisely
said, “Many a so-called revival is only a drive for more church members, which
adds more unsaved sinners, starched and ironed but not washed, to a fellowship
where even the true believers have not been aroused for years.” The church
needs to return to the mourner’s bench because the mourner’s bench is for the
members first. p. 39
To talk about a worldly Christian is like talking about a
heavenly devil. ~Billy Sunday p. 40
When I see a bird that looks like a duck, quacks like a
duck, has webbed feet like a duck, paddles in the water like a duck, and
prefers the company of ducks, it is hard for me to resist the conclusion that
it must be a duck?...When I see a Christian who looks like the world, talks
like the world, walks like the world, goes places where the world goes, and
prefers the company of the world, it is hard for me to resist the conclusion
that they are of the world. ~Vance Havner p. 41
Boomers have largely rejected the Word of God as the basis
of their authority and become gods unto themselves, bowing down to five gods
who have “self” as their first name: self-will, self-righteousness,
self-confidence, self-pleasing, and self-exaltation. pp. 46-47
How many churches invite us to come and see how they do
it—how they grow their ministries and organize their programs—when in fact, in
the eyes of God, they are naked. If we could only see our churches the way God
sees them! p. 50
There is a world of difference between a crowd and a
congregation. p. 50
If we fail to repent today, we have one more day to repent
of, and one less day to repent in. Thomas Fuller wrote, “You cannot repent too
soon, because you do not know how soon it may be too late.” p. 55
The characteristic of revival is that a profound
consciousness of sin is produced in many persons at the same time by an
awareness of God. ~Ian H. Murray p. 57
We can get sidetracked by the good, which is the enemy of
the best. p. 71
Our opinions do not matter; what God says matters! p. 77
The foundation of every reformation of the Holy Spirit is
the Word of God made plain to the people.
~Frank Cooke p. 81
Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do not
accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each
other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant
anything, for to go against the conscience is neither safe nor right. God help
me, here I stand. ~Martin Luther
pp. 85 – 86
I go to conferences and listen to pastors talk about how
they no longer carry their Bibles to the pulpit. They just put their sermon and
text on their Blackberry or iPod and scroll down. Are they ashamed to be seen
with a Bible? Like a politician without a teleprompter, they might be sunk if
the battery ever died on their gizmo. p. 86
The Scriptures “are profitable for doctrine (what is right),
for the correction (how to get right), and for instruction in righteousness
(how to stay right).” ~Warren Wiersbe p. 101
Revival is not some emotion or worked up excitement; it is
an invasion from heaven that brings a conscious awareness of God. ~Stephen Olford p. 105
We need a divine intervention. Our problems can’t be fixed
by money, machines, politics, or philosophy. Looking around should make us look
up to God. Revival is not worked up. It is prayed down. It is when God breaks
through into the life of a person, a church, or a land and puts things back in
order. p. 107
Spirituality is not measured by the church calendar but by
our conscious commitment to holiness, without which no one can see God. He is
looking for clean hands and a pure heart. I see a lot of raised hands in
worship these days, but I wonder if they are holy hands. p. 110
We have better church signs today but few signs of His
power—and we aren’t looking for signs of His coming. pp. 110 – 111
Those who are on the Lord’s side need to show up, stand, up,
and speak up. p. 113
True intercession is the costliest of all Christian service.
It is no mere lip service. It is the heart-agony of the Father expressed
through us by the Holy Spirit…We never really pray until our hearts and minds
become the praying-ground of the Spirit.
~James A. Stewart p. 113
Keys to Revival—Richard Owen Roberts: 1) It is
extraordinary. “Without organization, advertising, or even sometimes, human
leadership, revivals have altered the hearts of men, the social attitudes of
millions, and the destinies of nations. 2) It is a work of God. “No amount of
human effort can produce true revival. Everything God has told us to do we
ought to do, but having done it all, we must still wait upon Him to do what He
alone can do.” 3) It produces extraordinary results. “Conduct that has always
seemed acceptable will appear unbelievably wicked.” p. 115
We are called to work out what God has worked in us. If you
are in Christ and Christ is in you, then the world should see nothing else. p.
116
Conformity to the world can be overcome by nothing but
conformity to Jesus. ~Andrew Murray p. 116
David reminds us that what God teaches us in the sanctuary
should encourage us in the wilderness, and what God teaches us in the
wilderness should lead us to praise Him in the sanctuary. p. 122
God, your will. Nothing more. Nothing else. Nothing less.” ~Bobby Richardson p. 124
I am amazed (but not shocked) that all writers on revival
emphasize the same essentials. Praying for revival is not an option—it’s
essential. p. 132
One of the miracles of the grace of God is what He is able
to do with the torn nets of lives surrendered to Him. ~G.B. Duncan p. 133
The Biblical order is revival first (where the church gets
right) followed by evangelism (where the lost are saved). p. 134
Revival is the exchange of the form of godliness for its
living power. ~F. Carlton Booth p.
142
Our actions reveal our attitudes. Our sacrifices reveal our
surrender. A wrong response reveals a wrong heart. p. 149
I believe nothing so distinctly causes the people of God in
any generation to “stand in awe” as when they hear of the great works of God in
awakening his people powerfully.
~John H. Armstrong p. 157
God bombarded me with the awareness that I was a joke. I had
the talk but no walk. There’s a huge difference between knowing about God and
knowing Him personally. Revival and revolution will come when people get to
know God as He is, not as they want Him to be. p. 160
Pray at the start, praise at the stop. p. 165
The problem with most of us is we want to organize, and
we’ve forgotten how to agonize. p. 166
A revival may produce noise, but it does not consist of it.
The real thing is a wholehearted obedience. ~Earnest Baker p. 179
Pentecost was preceded by forty days of waiting and praying.
They knew they couldn’t give what they didn’t have. Repentance and prayer are
the tests of a genuine and deep work of God. p. 191
When the Spirit touches you, you don’t fall backwards; you
fall forward on your face before a holy God. ~Bill Stafford p. 194
Revival is the exchange of the form of godliness for its
living power. ~John Bonar p.
203
God uses people in our lives to stir us and stretch us. He
places people along the journey to challenge the status quo of our lives. They
make us want to do better, be better, pray more, love more, and serve more. p.
207
You don’t have to chase key men when you know the One who
holds the keys. ~Vance
Havner p. 210
My calling is to be faithful and available. p. 210
Never try to predict or underestimate the person God might
use. p. 211
Never move a fence until you find out why it was put there. p. 219
When all that you are is available to all that God is, then
all that God is is available to all that you are. ~Ian Thomas p. 229
Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody.
He spent his second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third
forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody. ~D.L. Moody p. 234
Most people are too big for God to use because they want to
be somebody. To be used of God, you have to be willing to be a nobody. That’s
what servants do. God is not looking for celebrities; He’s looking for
servants. p. 236
God can do much with little. He doesn’t need us, our stuff,
our gifts, or our programs. He needs our availability and yieldedness. p. 237
I am convinced one thing that is killing our churches is our
attempt to do God’s work on our terms. We are serving in the flesh, not in the
spirit. p. 241
If you manipulate and connive and scheme and lie to get
yourself to the top, don’t thank God for the promotion. ~Chuck Swindoll p. 242
We can’t achieve spiritual things with worldly thinking. My
fear is that we measure success in terms of money, buildings, budgets, and
size, not prayer, faithfulness, holiness, and other kingdom-focused standards.
p. 242
If you intend to go on with God, prepare for those times
when He chooses to wean you from his having to always come through at your
appointed time. If He can trust you to trust Him, He will put you in tight
places where your soul is enlarged and your vision is widened. Then you will be
able to delight more in who He is than in what He does. ~Jack Taylor p. 248
Statistics show that professing believers live no
differently than the world. Something is clearly wrong when followers of Christ
are not following. Something is clearly wrong when believers don’t really
believe….We have diluted, watered down and compromised Jesus in our western
culture to the point that he is hardly recognizable. We have made Jesus fit our
culture to the point that he follows us. We call the shots. We direct his
steps. ~Mike Minter p.
251
When God is in control, you’re not. p. 251
God has done something for us; now He wants to do something
to us, in us, and through us. p. 255
Let God have your life; he can do more with it than you
can. ~D.L. Moody p.
257
There is a quote from the Welsh Revival: “Once you’ve
experienced the fire, you are never content with the smoke.” We have become
content with the smoke. We throw water on the alter, not so we can allow God to
prove Himself like Elijah, but simply to produce more smoke: the smoke of
numbers, excitement, emotional experience, being relevant, etc. As long as we
are content with these, we will never see Him. We must become like David in
Psalm 63, recognizing we are in a dry and barren place, passionately longing
for Him, remembering what it is to behold His power and glory. ~Mark Bearden pp. 262-263
It was the angel that fetch Peter from prison, but it was
prayer that fetched the angel.
~Alan Stewart p. 265
We are more bent on having crowds than building a church.
Success is determined more by numbers of people and dollars than by whether or
not God showed up and moved mightily. ~Ronnie Floyd p. 266
Churches all across America are empty. Not just in numbers,
but primarily in substance. Over the last fifteen years I have observed these
indicators that concern me with how far away my generation is from genuine
revival: 1) Worship is no longer about pleasing God but rather pleasing
ourselves through personal preferences in worship. Worship is more about
‘getting’ than ‘giving’ anymore. 2) Our generation would rather be entertained
that exhorted. 3) Leaders are more interested in numbers and accomplishments
than holiness. 4) Prayer is given little emphasis and exercised mostly out of
formality There are so few willing to wait, watch, and wail in the upper room
until power comes from on high! Old timers called it ‘praying through,’ but our
generation appears to be ‘through praying!’ 5) A lack of brokenness and
desperation in our lives. We have become the Laodicean church—‘rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing.’ Our dry eyes are an outward evidence of
an inward void. 6) The church has lost respect and its voice of authority to
the world. We are no longer the measuring stick the world looks to for the
standard of living. ~Alan
Stewart p. 267
Spurgeon’s words hold true: “The true preacher should be
more holy than his people, lest he be unfit for office. He should be as holy
lest he be a hypocrite. Depth of walk with God is the more essential qualifier
for the responsibility of God’s presence.” ~Mark Bearden p. 270
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