Calling the Bride of Christ to Consecration
If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
The Divine Experiment
There is no shortage today in the American Church of exciting new ideas, revelation and Biblical principles of God’s word are found in abundance. We “know” everything about spiritual life except how to live it! Our excited response to the Lord in the midst of a moving conference quickly becomes a faint memory when we attempt to apply our obedience to our already occupied lives. Our time and space is simply too overcrowded for another “thing.”Simultaneously many believers today are frustrated and grumbling about the lukewarm, compromised Church – complaining into air hoping somebody out there will do something about it! But who?
God is calling those who have become disillusioned and discontent to become forerunners and deliverers for multitudes of others caught in the mediocre compromised status quo. If we don’t respond to God then who And if not now, when? What are we waiting for?
The “Divine Experiment” was born out of the desperation to break free from the routine of the status quo and the bondage of the spirit of the world that has infiltrated the lives of believers. It is also a challenge to those who share the conviction that the Church is in a very dangerous place spiritually and that without God’s intervention on behalf of His people we have no hope…
The Goal
The goal of the Divine Experiment is to prepare the Church to become a dwelling place for God’s presence so that His glory and life would be reflected in us, resulting in salvation of the lost and transformation of the community. This necessarily involves spiritual disciplines such as: prayer, worship, fasting, unity, reconciliation, repentance, forgiveness, pursuit of holiness, health, and healing (emotionally, spiritually, and physically).The Divine Experiment is a time of consecration before the Lord and with one another. This is a personal AND corporate action. After a time of consecration before the Lord, our appetite for God’s presence will have increased! If we recover our hunger for God, and return to Him in humility and righteousness, He will draw near to us in a tangible way. Then the presence and reality of Jesus will be in our midst, bringing forth life and making us effective in reaching the lost and bringing transformation to the community.
Seeking God’s face is an essential component in renewing covenant with God (2 Chron. 7:14). Our faces represent the essence of who we are. Therefore, seeking God’s face is drawing close to Him personally. Jesus addressed this principle in the Sermon on the Mount when He said “seek and you will find.” Jeremiah 29:13 addresses the same principle: “you will seek Me and find me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Seeking Him with all our heart is an undistracted pursuit, giving Him our full attention.
The Divine Experiment prepares us for the presence of God so that He feels welcome in our hearts, lives, families, congregations, businesses, and communities. The first stage of presence-based transformation is focused primarily on prayer and fasting, repentance and seeking God’s face in intimacy. Some key passages of Scripture to prayerfully consider during this stage are: 2 Chronicles 7:14, Joel 2, Hosea 4, Isaiah 59, Rev. 3, etc.
The Divine Experiment is a fast from the status quo and unto consecration and greater intimacy with God.
In the letters Jesus writes to the 7 churches in the Book of Revelation, He rebukes 5 of the 7 specifically for becoming like the city and culture where they were placed. They had assimilated the lifestyle and values of their culture, they had lost their true identity as God’s lampstand. For instance, the Church of Laodicia who Jesus called “lukewarm” and thought she was rich and had need of nothing, when in fact Jesus declared she was “wretched, miserable, poor and naked.” His counsel to them was to buy gold refined in the fire, to take white garments to cover the shame of their nakedness and eye salves so that they could see.
- Using our time in a way that is more conducive to connecting with the Lord
- Removing regularly scheduled programs and non-essential activity for a short period of time
- Repenting of sin and compromise in our own lives, turning back wholeheartedly to God and applying the lifestyle principles of Jesus’ Kingdom to our lives.
Let’s take the counsel of Jesus! Think of the Divine Experiment as a time to “buy gold” refined in the fire – deepening your spiritual equity and authority in God as you cleanse your heart and life from the affect of the spirit of the world.
We are encouraging believers and congregations to set aside our routines and give God opportunity to overtake us in such a way that we will remain changed and become realigned in our hearts toward Him in the days following.
It’s a Divine experiment because our confidence is in God’s desire and faithfulness not only to meet us if we give Him opportunity in our schedules, but also to change us in the process. It’s an experiment because we have not yet tested God in this way or given Him opportunity to break into our “religious” lives and schedules. We may not understand what part of our lives and schedules are presently detrimental to the breaking in of His Kingdom. So we aren’t making permanent and dramatic changes, but we are responding to the question: “shouldn’t we at least pause in our busy schedules for a heart and life realignment? Shouldn’t we at least give God the opportunity to meet us and begin a transformation miracle among us?”
The spiritual sickness in the church is so pervasive, the prescription must be radical. Therefore we are asking those who are willing to participate in the Divine Experiment to set aside 30 days in their personal and church calendar “to humble ourselves, pray and seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways” as a necessary step forward in the preparation stage of community transformation.
Setting ourselves apart and returning to covenant with the Lord, examining ourselves in light of His holiness, and departing from the spirit of the world to pursue life in His Kingdom, are critical first steps in the transformation process of a community.
What the Divine Experiment is NOT:
- It is not a program; it is a living experiment
- It is not a New Year’s resolution on a corporate level
- It is not merely adding a prayer meeting into our current schedules
- It is not a temporary shift and then return back to our former routine and appetites
- It is not primarily focused on praying for the lost; rather it is focusing on the church becoming prepared for God’s habitation and presence
- It is not an activity of praying for others but an examination of our own heart and life before God
Source: TheDivineExperiment.com
