This is the Truth Network. Welcome to If Not Forgot. Stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick. The Lord has really been doing something in our county, and so we always talk about Alamance County and what the Lord is doing in Alamance County, but It seems like the Lord is moving over in Caswell County as well.
Is that right, Christy? He really is. It's so beautiful. It's incredible to experience a revival once, but to see it twice. It's almost overwhelming.
Yeah, and so you yeah, and you said that you know there was a time, it's not like you just woke up one day and it just happened. There was something that preceded this revival that that's happening right now over in Caswell County. Is that right? Yeah, it really was. You know, it's really just an outpouring of the spirit and.
You know, it really all of it started years ago where people just decided to come together and worship Jesus with no agenda. And God really likes. for people.
So So come to him with no agenda. And no church service. I love the church. I don't want you to hear something I'm not saying, but. Um He just went out and decided to worship God, and he came and then.
I feel like this is just another wave of the spirit move. Where he's doing something a little different, where people are, it's like his breath. He's breathing life on gifts and. Um And just awakening people into their true identity. It's so beautiful.
Okay. It is. And so, you know, one of the things that there was a guy named Bob Jones years ago, and he had, I don't know if it was a vision or a dream, but he saw something that he called. The faceless revival. And he said he saw a billion soul harvest that was going to come to the earth.
And he said that this new revival, and I believe he may have said it was the last revival that was going to come, maybe before the Lord comes. He said, but it wasn't going to be about one person, it wasn't going to be about one preacher who everybody was looking to that one preacher. It was just going to be normal, everyday people. And that's what we see happening in Caswell County. Yeah, amen.
Let it be us, Lord. Let it be us. And really, what God is doing in this season is he's calling a Joel II company, which is actually an army that's led by Christ himself. And it and NJOL too. I don't want to misquote it.
but it talks about people not breaking ranks. And they don't push out in front of each other, and they don't shove ahead, and nobody's behind. And I really feel like that's what we're seeing out in Prospect Hill. We're seeing Joel 2 come alive. Yeah, I mean, because, you know, I think there's been a lot of good things that have happened with, you know, the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening.
And we think about people like Charles Finney or Jonathan Edwards or many others, George Whitfield. But a lot of times, people all came to see that person. And it was all about that person. And I've seen that growing up in my life, and I'm sure you have as well. But what we're seeing right now, it's not about one person, although I guess it is, it's all about Jesus.
That's right. and and what we've done out on prospect hill and what we've done at the porch gatherings is we've created a space and we host the Lord. Like he is the guest of honor. He's the, we host the Lord, and people can come and just. encounter his presence and the person of Jesus.
And, you know, one of the things that nobody talks about with revival. is the the cost of it. And although it costs us nothing, it costs Jesus everything. But I think people. don't realize that The cost of revival is really a life laid down.
It's prayer, it's worship. It's a season of fasting and it's sheer obedience. It's whenever he calls, you obey. it literally makes me want to weep even talking about it like when he invites you you come to the table And what I've really seen is Is that there's a dark night of the soul, and then there's a great awakening. And nobody ever talks about the dark nights of the soul or the piercing and the crushing and the pressing that happens during seasons of awakening and revival.
And those seasons produce crushing and they produce an oil and an anointing. And I wanna tell you that if people are out there and you're in a season of being awakened and revived, revival starts with one person. It starts with one person being awakened. To the presence in the person of Jesus, and that the cross is made alive in your heart. And I'm going to tell you that to count it all joy to be persecuted for Christ's sake.
And God goes with the goers and He does with the doers. you know he doesn't sit with the sitters and a lot and the persecution doesn't come from the lost it comes from the brethren which it ought not be that way but it does And so I just really. people that are out there that you feel this call to go and do and but but you're being heavily persecuted or you're being called a cult or it's witchcraft or it's voodoo because it's a move of the spirit that people haven't witnessed before. Count it all joy to be persecuted for Christ's sake. Yeah, I read Jesus, and I read in the Bible where Jesus talks about a lot of blessings that we're going to have.
We're going to have new friends, we're going to have, we're going to have brethren, we're going to have people who are cheering us on in heaven while we're here. I think that's pretty cool. It says, I think it's Hebrews 12 or whatever, but he also says that we're going to receive persecution as well, Christy. And, you know, I heard a preacher recently out of Raleigh, he said, I love these little calendar books, you know, where one of the verses, it'll be the verse for the month or the verse for the day, and it'll say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Great verse.
He said, I'll see another verse in that calendar book, and it'll be Romans chapter 8, verse 1. There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ, for those who walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh. But one of the verses that it doesn't usually put in those calendars, Christy, it says that anybody who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. I guess that wouldn't sell as many calendars. Probably not.
But you know. The thing about a religious spirit. And that's why it's the brethren. that the persecution comes from because it comes from a religious spirit. And the thing about the religious spirit is that it didn't recognize the Son of Man when he was standing there.
If he did it didn't recognize Jesus, they're not going to recognize you. And you know what? The Lord told me the way to dismantle a religious spirit is with pure adoration and worship of the king of kings. Yes. You don't have to defend it.
You don't have to engage in it. You don't have to get into a theological discussion. All you have to do is live a life pure and holy unto the Lord and worship the Lamb of God. And it will dismantle a religious spirit every time. Yeah, I heard a guy say one time, he said that with a lion, he said, you don't defend a lion.
He said, you let the lion out of his cage and the lion defends himself. I mean, come on. And Jesus will defend us. Like he will vindicate us. And I know for me personally that I've learned over the last, we've been walking in revival for over four years now, and it looked different, and there's been waves of the spirit.
But what you cannot deny is the fruit. You can't deny the people's lives that have been changed and the people that have grown in the Lord and the souls that have been saved. And you can't, it's undeniable. But what I've learned. is that it's none of my business what people say about me.
It's not our business. We live before an audience of one. And if I keep my face, if I have my face fixed like a flint. on Jesus's face and my heart is bent to obey him and love him. then all the other things, they just kind of fall by the wayside.
And God in his kindness will bring you, your other 12, the people that come and lift your arms up and. and hold you up and sharpen you. He'll bring you the sword. But what will always fall away when you're awake? If wood Because what happens when an axe strikes wood?
It dulls the axe and destroys the wood. That's why God calls us iron sharpens iron.
So you can't just strike your sword against anything. Yeah, and Hebrews 10, 25 says, do not forsake the gathering of yourselves, as some of them have done, especially as you see the day approaching. And then it says, for if we sin willfully after that, we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sin, a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for a judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour. The adversaries. And yes, we were talking about this this morning at Dario, Christy.
And we said that, you know, there are some people that you can't hang around. And I remember you telling me one time, you said it's easier to put out a fire than it is to build a fire. But at the same time, we also need to find people who are going to set us on fire. We also need to find people who are able to encourage us. And that's what we're finding on Wednesday nights.
Absolutely. Amen. And you know what? What people really don't um do well is tend to their own soul. And what I have, even in my own life, is I'm still learning and growing, but it's for us to tend to our own soul.
And rest is really important. Rest is important when, and I, you know, and most of the body of Christ is weary. We're not getting enough rest, we're not eating. Our bodies.
So we're functioning at max capacity.
So we don't even have the ability. Two. rest and refresh and and stay sharp. But I do think that that it's really important for us to tend to our own soul. and and and deal with the we're worth what it takes the time that it takes to heal.
you know I don't know why. I just feel this shift in my heart, even in our conversation, to talk about the weariness and the. like intending to your own soul because it's important and we're worth the time that it takes. Yeah, Jesus loves us a lot. I mean, he died for us on the cross and he reaches out to us again and again and again, and he wants us to receive salvation.
But it's not just about salvation, it's also about walking it out here on earth. I think sometimes, Christy, people will say, Well, I had that moment. I received Jesus and I'm good. I got my ticket to heaven, but it does not end there. That's just where it begins.
That's exactly right, and our character really matters. Like it matters to God. And you know, in Revelation, it talks about enduring until those days so that you don't. Lose your crown.
So, you know, it talks about a life that's laid down and enduring a whole life lived. But part of that is our character and walking in godly character. And you know, it's in the Bible, it talks about how the gifts and call of God are without repentance. which is how ministers can walk in high level anointing and very poor character, which it ought not be that way. And that's where a lot of church hurt and people get wounded and we don't tend to our families well and we don't tend to ourselves well.
It's because we don't tend to our own soul. And that part, when it comes to discipleship, I think people. we get a little lopsided. Um It's like we go one way, but we don't tend to the whole body. And the whole person, you know.
Or we'll have strong bodies and still really wounded emotions.
So, everything that we do, like our emotions sabotage the other areas where we were once free. Yeah, yeah. I mean, when you were saying that about having character and having integrity, I'm reminded of Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 through 23, where he says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name do we drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles.
Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. And so, yes, we can go out there and do a lot of good stuff. But, Christy, what I've learned from you is that if we're going to have a real relationship with the Lord and we're going to be effective in this world, we really have to spend time in the secret place. Absolutely.
It's the source of life. It's where you get to know who you are because you get to know God, and that's how you get to know you because you're created in his image. And the Bible was an anchor. And you know, it really is spirit and truth. And that's how people that have the word and the spirit they become religious and legalistic And then you have people that have The spirit, but no anchor in the word and no anchor in truth.
And they start to go off. They may start strong, but they end up going off on all waves of witchcraft and weird doctrines. You have to have them both. And you can't know God just like you can't know a person without spending time with them. And it reminds me of the virgins.
I never understood it, it took me a long time to understand that scripture. But you know, in the parable of the 10 virgins, five were wise, five were foolish, they were all Christians. They were all brides, they were all waiting for the bridegroom. and only five had oil in their lamp. And that oil is intimacy.
Only five knew them. And I remember, and when the door shut to the wedding supper, Jesus said, Depart from me. I never knew you. But in that translation, it means, I don't know. I used to know you, but I don't know you now.
And I didn't understand that. Until one day I had a old friend from high school. call me up 20 years later and ask for money and different things and I hung up the phone and I was like, I don't know you. And that scripture hit me like I used to know them, but I don't know them now. They don't have access to me the same way now that they had in high school.
And it's the same thing in that scripture. I used to know you. You used to love me. We used to be in a relationship, but I don't know you now. Like, where have you been?
Yeah. And I think a lot of Christians sit in that place, and they're sitting there. With A lamp that has no oil in it, and they haven't actually been intimate with God in decades. Yeah, and not only do we have to sit with him, Christy, but. You know, Jesus put it this way, and my dad wasn't even a Christian, but he always would remembered one verse, and it was the partial verse.
He didn't give me the whole thing, but he says, Do one unto others as you shall have them do unto you. The part that he left out was, for this sums up the law and the prophets. And, you know, I think sometimes people they want a form of godliness, but they want to deny the power thereof. And so I've also realized, Christy, that we can, we can do all the work of the ministry, we can say all the right stuff, we can do all the right things, and we can speak Christianese, but I'm looking at 1 Corinthians 13. He says, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and I have not love, I am becoming a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.
And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and through I and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body. to be burned.
Now that's a pretty big thing to give your body to be burned, but he says, But if I do not have love, it profits me nothing. He said that love suffers long and is kind. Love envies not. It's not jealous of that other minister who's doing a little bit better than you. Love does not vaunt itself up.
It's not puffed up. And remember, we've been talking about that too, Christy. And I think when it becomes all about us, or maybe it's just Mike's wick, when it becomes all about Michael's wick, I get in trouble. When it becomes all about Jesus, number one, and then number two, loving my neighbor as I love myself, then a lot of the other stuff just kind of falls into place. Yeah, and I think the hard part about that scripture, you know, the Lord light that.
Down beside me as a plum line one day. It was about a couple years ago. And he went through every one of these verses and he asked me, How are you doing in this area? And it was like, Love is kind. I was like, you know what?
I don't do it perfect, but I'm pretty kind to people. Love is patient.
Well, I don't do it perfect, but I'm pretty patient with people. And he was like, at the end of it, he was like, you're right, you are.
Now I want you to lay this beside the way that you love yourself. And I said, ooh. And he said, love is kind. And I was like, no, I'm not that kind to myself. Love is patient.
I'm not that patient with myself. I overwork, I under-rest. You know, blah, blah, blah. It doesn't keep a record of wrongdoings. I said, ooh.
I have kept a record of my wrongdoing. And it's like sometimes we can't love other people because we haven't learned to love ourselves, that our heart is full of self rejection, self hatred, bitterness and unforgiveness towards our own self. And so sometimes we just have to do the hard work. to get to a place where we're like, God, I forgive me. And then to look at ourself with different eyes.
Through the lands of love. Which is I love you in the midst of your flaws, failures, and inadequacies. I love you, and I choose you anyway. And I think sometimes that, like, we have to learn how to love us first. because we'll love people the way that we love ourselves.
And most of the time, we hate the thing in other people that we hate about our own selves. Oh, that's good. Judge the thing in other people that we hate in ourselves. And you know, I actually had a revelation this week after we had spoke. Um, about the brethren, persecution coming from the brethren.
I asked the Lord about that for about three days. I'm like, Lord, why is that? Like, why do other Christians get so bent out of whack? When there's a move of God and a move of the spirit, and people are getting saved, healed, delivered, their families are being saved. Like, why do they always call that witchcraft voodoo or a cult?
Like, why are they doing that? And then the Holy Spirit pressed something on my heart. That if they believe that it's real, then they will have to change. Oh, then they're culpable. Then they're all of a sudden.
It's, yeah, they've got, yeah, they've got, yeah, they, they're, they're responsible. They're responsible for their own actions. And, uh, but, you know, and it's like I know people talk about earning their salvation.
Well, you're not earning your salvation or this or that or whatever. But a lot of times, when the Lord does something big, it does come from a place of praying for hours each day. I remember during the before the Azusa Street revival, the guy who was half blind in one eye, I can't think of his name, African-American guy, William Seymour, him, he prayed for 10 days straight in a house. I don't even think he ate. Might have drank some water, I don't know, but he prayed for 10 days straight in a house, and then the Lord moved.
I've heard of people who have fasted for so many days. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, and it's like, and then what happened right after that? The devil came to tempt him, and he's like, No. You know, but it's like we, I heard, I heard about a boxer who was a really good boxer recently. And they asked, and they said, wow, they said, you're so, you've got such big muscles, you're in such good shape.
They said, you must really, you know, you just must have a lot of motivation. And this is what he said, Christy. He said, No, he said, I don't have motivation. He said, I have discipline. Come on.
Yes. Yes, an American. Yeah. And so, you know, when I think about the discipline, yeah, it is discipline. And there's times where, you know, it's like, oh, I don't feel like praying.
And we start praying or whatever. Oh, I don't feel like reading the Bible and he start reading the Bible. But it's like then there's other times where you get into that habit. They say, they psychologists say, they say that there's, it takes three weeks or 21 days to form a habit. And the funny thing that I've seen, Christy, and I'm sure you've seen this as well, it's like I first start saying, okay, I'm going to pray for 30 minutes in the morning.
I'm going to spend 30 minutes in the morning with the Lord. And at first, it's something that I have to do, but then eventually it's like something that I get hungry to do and I want to do it. And you guys have been getting together at five o'clock in the morning. And instead of not liking it, you're saying the Lord is moving. You're excited about it.
Yeah. Uh Yes, and that is a stretch for me. But the Lord called us a couple of months ago to um to offer up a fast at 5 a.m. in the morning and meet and Um Intercede, like join together in unity and pray for the deliverance of our city using worship flags. I've never been a flagger.
Really? And I've never been a dancer, so that was a stretch for me.
So yes, we meet every fourth day. Um at a park out in Prospect Hill. We meet every at 5 a.m. every fourth day, and we meet for an hour, and we sure do. And you would think that those four days would come by quick, but every time we meet, it seems like the four days is further away.
We get very excited about those 4:30 a.m. get up mornings.
Well, I don't know about you, but God is moving. He is definitely moving. He's definitely moving and it's his delight. And you know. Nobody gets pregnant holding hands.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I know exactly what you're saying. You know, and a lot of time We think we have to work for God, but we've missed it a little bit. It's not work.
You don't have to work to be with somebody when you're in love with them. When you're in love with somebody, you can't wait to be with them. And the difference is sometimes we just have to get real about where we're at and be like, Lord, I don't really love you like that. Can you help me? Like help me love you.
and i was praying that this actually i was praying that this week. Like I was like, Lord, help me love you. I want to bring you pleasure. Like help me. Bring you pleasure that my life would bring you joy and pleasure, like, help me love you.
Yes. And sometimes we just We just can't in our own ability. But God will help us because he says we can't even love him until we allow him to love us first.
So sometimes we miss the piece where we just let God love us. It's easy to fall in love when somebody loves you so well. It is. And it's like, you know, a lot of times it does take that discipline, but it's like once you get in the groove and once you start spending the time with the Lord and once you start worshiping and all that stuff, it becomes a pleasure. It's enjoyable.
I mean, people are looking for happiness in all the wrong places. And Jesus is the only way to find it. He's the only way. He said there was a merchant who sold everything that he had so that he could buy a pearl, and he ended up buying it. But we've got to go, but I want to, before we go, Christy, if people want to check this out or whatever, is there a site on Facebook that tells about this stuff?
Or how would they find out more about the porch gathering or Wednesday nights?
So, the porch gathering, there is a Facebook post. We don't, it's not very active. We only post. When we're just kind of reminders. But you can connect with us.
My name is Christy Real, like a fish and reel, R-E-E-L. You can connect with us on Facebook. um or through the porch gathering. you can connect with us there. We meet for Wednesday nights.
Actually, we're meeting tonight at the Country Church Venue in Prospect Hill.
So we meet every Wednesday for discipleship, and it's really a beautiful time in the Lord. Yeah, 2:30 Ridgeville Road in Prospect Hill. If you're in the area, feel free to join us and pray. But we've run out of time, but Christy, real, Christ is real, keeping it real. Thanks for coming on today.
And maybe if you have a few minutes later on, we'll see you on the show today, Truth Talk Live.
So, God bless you, Christy. All right, for my YouTube channel. If not for God with mighty's wick Just like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell. Yeah. So you'll be alerted when we have our next video.
