Jesus told these disciples to wait because there was about

fifty more days until Pentecost. That's not the case anymore.

Now that the Holy Spirit has already been poured out, you can just believe and receive.

I've seen thousands and thousands of people pray for and receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, and have a life-changing experience with God right away simply by believing and receiving. You don't have to wait and "tarry."

"WE'VE GOT IT"

Most people would agree with what I'm sharing about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but when it comes to revival, they just shift gears saying, "Oh, but we have to beg and plead, wail and travail. We must get a million people praying and fasting together so God will send revival and pour out His

Spirit." No, you just have to believe. You just have to receive.

And as you get revived, you'll have an opportunity to influence and share that revival with the people around you. As you, your friends, your family, and your workplace get revived, they go out and share too, and it spreads.

The reason we aren't seeing a greater revival isn't because we don't have millions of people praying and asking God to pour out His Spirit. It's simply that we have very few people who are flowing in revival—believing God's Word, taking their authority, and making the power of God manifest.

Duncan Campbell, an outstanding Scottish preacher in the early to mid-twentieth century, preached the Scottish Hebrides Revival. This was a powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit that was received over a hundred years ago. I actually heard him speak when he was older. He told how there were two little Scottish women who prayed for over twenty years; then there was a Scottish pastor and his seven elders who also prayed nearly a year, all asking the Lord to pour out His Spirit.

Finally, one day the power of God hit, and they experienced all of these glorious things. He said this happened because of all that begging and pleading with God for over twenty years.

Several years after hearing that, I heard the testimony of a man who as a young man had showed up at that final prayer meeting right before the power hit. He said that these other men had prayed every Saturday night for almost a year. They were begging God for an outpouring of His Spirit. This young man walked in, prayed until two in the morning, and declared,

"Either God's Word is true, or it isn't. We've got it. I'm going home."

The revival actually came when they quit begging and started believing. Once they started believing God's Word that revival was theirs, everything changed and the power was loosed.

We've been given power and authority by the Lord. We must step out in faith and use what God has given us, or revival won't manifest.

SILENCE

Imagine that you've given me your Bible. It's a gift, and it's in my possession right now. What would you do if I turned to you and asked, "May I please borrow your Bible? I'd like to look up a scripture. I really need to hear from God, and I believe He's speaking to me. Would you please give me your Bible?" I could beg. I could plead. I could even try to condemn you, saying, "If you were really a Christian, you'd share your Bible with me." What would you do? You've already given it to me.

How do you respond to someone who is asking you to give them something they've already got? How do you answer somebody who is begging you to do something you've already done for them? If I was the one being asked those questions, I'm not sure how I'd respond. Probably, I'd just look at them dumbfounded. I wouldn't say anything.

If someone is asking for something they already have, how does a person respond to that? Probably in silence. Sounds a lot like the way God has responded to all of our begging and pleading for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The truth is, God poured out His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and He's never withdrawn Him since. (Acts 2:38-39.) The Lord has never become so ticked off that He just said, "Alright, Holy Spirit. Come on back. No more revival. No more manifestations." God didn't cause the church to go through the Dark Ages. He didn't will that there be a period of time where truth would be so bound up that very few would ever see it. God didn't just all of a sudden—"sovereignly"—

reach down and touch Martin Luther. He didn't just decide to

pour out His Spirit upon the reformers to do something "new"

because, after all, God was tired of a thousand years worth of deadness in the earth. No, the problem wasn't God's giving—it was our believing and receiving.

WAVES?

Martin Luther had a real heart for God. He wasn't satisfied with the religious teaching and traditionally accepted doctrine of his day. As a pilgrim to the holy city, praying his rosary and

climbing up the steps of the holy building, he realized that visiting that place and doing those things didn't make any difference. As he stood there, fed up with it all, the Holy Spirit brought scripture back to his remembrance.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we

conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

ROMANS 3:27,28