Jesus Revolution is simply the BREAKING FORTH or the EXPLOSION of Jesus in our hearts.
When this happens, the following things automatically follow:
- increase in spiritual energy (called motivation/drive)
- increase in passion for Jesus
- increase in power for service
- capturing of Divine Love
- revelation of His Grace/Mercy
- opening of Understanding
All these happen in such a way that we are able to affect everything around us with Jesus (Acts 17:6), and they were clearly visible in lives of the early church after they received the touch of Jesus Revolution.
Without the Jesus Revolution, our Christian lives remain ORDINARY, MEDIOCRE and mostly PURPOSELESS. This was shown in the lives of the disciples before the Jesus Revolution started. There were so many examples of this in the lives of the early disciples pre-Jesus Revolution, but I will give only five instances.
i) Powerlessness of the Disciples in Matt 17:14-21
14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15. Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20. And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Jesus, on coming down with Peter, James and John from the transfiguration experience met a man, whose son was lunatic and he begged Jesus to have mercy upon his son and heal him. He related to Jesus, a sad story. A story that would frustrate every leader. He said, while Jesus was on the mountain, he had brought his son to the disciples of Jesus, but “they COULD not cure him” (Matt 17:16). They could not affect anything and anybody for Jesus.
These were the same disciples that had been with Jesus for close to three years. The same disciples that Jesus had empowered to go out in twos in Luke 10: He gave them “power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease” (Matt 10:1). They came back with the report of a highly successful ministry and rejoiced before the Lord, for demons were subject unto them (Luke 10:17). Jesus, however enjoined them to rejoice in the fact that their names were written down in Heaven (Luke 10:20). What happened to them that made them fail woefully on this occasion? They had failed to press further from the former experience into deeper dimensions of Jesus and allowed unbelief to creep back into their hearts. They had had a brief encounter with excellence, but they quickly reverted back to mediocrity and ordinariness. Can you picture the frustration of Jesus? He said “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me” (Matt 17:17).
This seems to be the story of the lives of most Christians in this generation. And the frustration of Jesus over their ordinariness and mediocrity is unprecedented. From this outburst of frustration from Jesus, let us highlight the problems of the disciples of Jesus. They were faithless and unbelieving. It is possible for disciples to find themselves in this condition if they continue to mark time in the only dimension of the knowledge of Jesus they have, instead of pressing further into newer and higher dimensions within His limitless dimensions. At that point, faith reverts back to unbelief. Jesus also called them “Perverse”, meaning “upside down.” Upside down Christianity is one in which our priorities are wrong. When we leave the important things and begin to pursue the unimportant things, perverseness sets in and faith reverts back to unbelief.
Remember, these were the same disciples that were fighting over who is first and who is last in the kingdom; whose parents beseeched Jesus to allow their two children sit on either side of Jesus in the coming Kingdom (Matt 20:20-28; Luke 9:46-48). Because of these, they did not develop spiritually and therefore needed to be constantly supervised, unable to use their initiatives. They also needed to be carried.
Please, note that these same disciples “turned the world upside down” once the Jesus Revolution started. SURELY ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST FOR US!!