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Restoring the Roar of God’s Spirit Within
Why God Calls Us to 'Restore the Roar' of His Spirit
Within
Pat and Karen Schatzline
God is
eager to awaken you once again to go deep in Him.
"Deep
calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all Your waves and Your billows
passed over me. Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
and in the night His song will be with me, a prayer to the God of my life" (Psalm
42:7-8).
I
believe that if we ignore the "deep calls to deep" moments, we
will soon believe the shallow end of the pool is deep.
If you
want to go deep, take off the floaties and dive in where you cannot stand up on
your own. I must warn you, though, that when you try to go deep in God, someone
will always try to throw you a rope called settling.
You
cannot settle in the depth of God.
I have
learned that the longer you are away from the place of encounter with God, the
more satisfied you become with being normal according to the world's standards.
In
fact, it is much like what happened to the prophet Elijah when he ran into the
cave in fear for his life.
God
said to him, "Why are you here, Elijah?" (1
Kings 19:9b).
Remember,
Jezebel had threatened Elijah after he had killed the prophets of Baal, telling
him through one of her servants, "So let the gods do to me and more
also, if I do not make your life as one of them by tomorrow about this
time" (1 Kings 19:2b).
Elijah
ran for his life and was now hiding in a cave. God was not really asking him, "What
are you doing here?"
Rather,
He was reminding him of his mission.
Leonard
Ravenhill once said, "A man who is intimate with God is never
intimidated by man."
We must
no longer be intimidated by man or accusations or threats.
Early
one morning in a hotel room in Pennsylvania, I was awakened by the voice of the
Lord.
He said
to me, "Pat, where did your roar go? Where is the roar of my
lions?"
Startled,
I sat up in bed. And immediately began to pray.
The
whisper of God had shaken me to the core, bringing to mind one of my favorite
verses in the Bible, Matthew 10:27 (NIV): "What I tell you in the dark,
speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the
roofs."
God
will often whisper a message to you that eventually becomes a public
proclamation. This was one of those times.
The
Lord went on to say to me, "My people are perishing for lack of
knowledge. They have lost their will to fight. Fear, exhaustion and culture
have taken their roar away. They must awaken and realize they must be voices of
truth that carry freedom in their hearts and fire in their spirits. Restore the
roar! Tell My lions to roar once again!"
I must
admit I was perplexed and confused, and I began to weep before the Lord.
In
fact, I stood in my hotel room that day, praying and crying out for over an
hour with the realization that I too had become quiet.
One of
my heroes, Salvation Army general William Booth, said, "We must take
the message of 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (MSG) and make it our marching orders:
"Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you've
got, be resolute and love without stopping’"
Karen
and I had just spent a year in fear. The battle had been intense.
Just as
a parent awakens a child from sleep to get ready for school or a teacher raps a
ruler on your desk to end a daydream, God was saying, "Wake up, Pat!
Your mission is not over. Put your armor on once again and enter the
fight."
I had
been wandering a bit aimlessly since our battle, and God was calling me back to
the field.
Many
who are reading this right now wear nothing but the helmet of salvation.
The
Bible tells us that God has a whole suit of armor for us (see
Ephesians 6:19-18.)
He
provides all we need for any battle we face. We just have to equip ourselves.
With
God's word ringing in my heart, I immediately began to search the Scriptures
concerning lions.
Proverbs
28:1 (NLT) says, "The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but
the godly are as bold as lions."
Did you
hear that? We are called to be bold as lions! You and I are called to roar!
Regardless
of how exhausted and weary we become we must seek the Lord once again.
We must
once again take our rightful place of authority.
And
when we do, God will provide what we need for the battle. "The lions may
grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing" (Psalm
34:10, NIV).
I
believe the Lord is saying the restoration of the roar is when His Spirit
arises once again from the depths of our bellies, where the roar has been caged
under lock and key by low expectations, wounded spirits and lack of hunger.
He
desires to awaken our prophetic voices once more.
Just
look at Amos 3:8: "The lion has roared — who will not fear? The
Sovereign Lord has spoken — who can but prophesy?"
Prayer
Power for the Week
This
week, see your fear as a ploy of the enemy and allow your faith to overcome it
as you increase your trust in God and in His Word.
Continue
to pray for our nation, its allies and our leaders.
Remember
those who serve us as first responders, be they in the military, law
enforcement, border security, fire and rescue or medical personnel.
Continue
to pray for our president and those working with him to lead our country into
peace, prosperity and security.
Pray
for those who have suffered losses through crime and domestic terrorism.
Pray
that the Lord would pour out His Spirit on the land and bring revival that
spreads worldwide.
Read: 2
Chronicles 7:14, Amos 3:8, 1 John 4:18.
Adapted from Restore
the Roar by Pat and Karen Schatzline, copyright 2019, published by
Charisma House. Having lived through a year of battles and great fear, the
authors have compiled a handbook that will help you find peace in the storm, be
courageous in battle, defeat the lies of the enemy and increase your faith in
God. To order your copy, click on this link.
For
more on the Schaztlines' message of restoring your roar, listen to the podcast
included here.
Patrick
and Karen Schatzline
founded Remnant Ministries International (RMI) in 1997 after serving as youth
pastors at three incredible churches. Pat and Karen launched RMI in order to
fulfill the great commission. Since the launch of RMI in 1997, Pat and Karen
have become two of America’s leading church speakers, revivalists, youth
communicators, and university and conference speakers.
With a schedule that stays full year-round, Pat & Karen have established a reputation for bringing purpose through the power of Christ, and a longing to grow deeper in the presence of God. They minister in churches, schools, universities, stadiums, outreaches, retreats, camps, leadership conferences, men’s & women’s conferences, and marriage retreats. They both travel globally seeing salvations, miracles, and signs & wonders. They have ministered at some of the largest youth conferences in the world. They travel often to Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Venezuela, and Canada fulfilling the great commission.
With a schedule that stays full year-round, Pat & Karen have established a reputation for bringing purpose through the power of Christ, and a longing to grow deeper in the presence of God. They minister in churches, schools, universities, stadiums, outreaches, retreats, camps, leadership conferences, men’s & women’s conferences, and marriage retreats. They both travel globally seeing salvations, miracles, and signs & wonders. They have ministered at some of the largest youth conferences in the world. They travel often to Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Venezuela, and Canada fulfilling the great commission.
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