Apostle: If You Want Revival, You Must Enter the River of the Spirit!
As the body of Christ, the church is entering one of the most beautiful times of its history—the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the earth has ever seen, in preparation for Christ’s return. It is important for us to recognize the trends and patterns that will lead us to grow and to flow correctly with this great spiritual revival. The Holy Spirit is the expression of God on the earth, and without Him we cannot know what operations the Lord is initiating or where He is leading us. If we want to experience the movements of God, we need to hear what the Spirit is saying in the now. (See, for example, Rev. 2:7.) We must be aware of how the Holy Spirit flows today, both in the church and throughout the rest of the earth.
The recorded vision of the prophet Ezekiel includes this passage:
“Again he measured a thousand and brought me through the water. The water reached the knees. Again he measured a thousand and brought me through the water. The water reached the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand. And it was a river that I could not pass over, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be passed over” (Ezek. 47:4-5).
The Holy Spirit is like the water in a river that eventually covers us as we enter deeper and deeper into it, until the only way across is to swim. That is how our relationship with Him should be; we must be completely submerged in His power, presence and manifestation, until we can swim in the river of His presence and follow each new wave and movement that He brings to the earth. But we must understand the river, the waves and the flow of the Holy Spirit.
“Then he showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. 22:1). The river of the Spirit carries activity from the throne of God to the earth and flows back to it. Those who are spiritually near the throne of God and know what the Spirit is saying today can understand the activity of the river. If we do not know the throne or the river that flows from it, the movements of the Holy Spirit will not make sense to us. The work of the Spirit of God will go over our heads because it does not fit in with our personal agendas.
Every revival is out of our control because it comes from the Spirit.
Pastors and other leaders, if you believe it is hard for people to receive the river of the Holy Spirit through the assignment God has given to you, you need to radically change your way of thinking. Revival is coming to various cities of the United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the rest of the world. There are prophetic streams, rivers of holiness, deliverance, prosperity, healings, miracles and creative miracles flowing from the throne of God, and the Spirit is waiting for you to open the door and allow His river to flow through your territory. Whenever I go to another church to minister, I make sure that the pastors have received the spirit of revival, because if they have not, it will be impossible for the movement of the Spirit to continue there. Remember that every pastor is the door of their church; they are the person who either allows or stops that which comes from God. For this reason, revival must begin in the life of the pastor; otherwise, they will close the door on the flow of the Holy Spirit.
You cannot carry a revival you do not participate in. That is why you need to jump into the river of the Spirit!
Sometimes people try to clone revivals that have occurred in other times or places, but they lack the true movement of the Spirit. It is possible to copy the forms of God, the way things have been done before, but the movement of the Spirit of God can never be cloned because the Holy Spirit has something different for each time, country, region and believer. We need to discern the movements that the Lord has for our life and area and then become part of them in order to carry them in our spirit to share with others. The movements of the Spirit can only be felt or discerned when we participate in them.
For the Spirit’s river to manifest, the logos and the rhema must work together. The logos is the written Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that establishes the doctrine of our faith, but what is written remains inert until it is revealed to us through a rhema word. A rhema is a spoken word of God for today, for a specific situation; it is the logos revealed in the now. The logos is the basis upon which the river of the Holy Spirit is established, and the rhema is what carries the movements of the Spirit. Every movement of the Spirit begins with a rhema based on the logos.
There is no excuse for us not to allow the Spirit to move in our lives and ministries. Do you want to participate in the next revival on earth? Enter the river of the Spirit that is flowing in the now! {eoa}
Edited excerpt from Divine Encounter with the Holy Spirit, © 2017 by Guillermo Maldonado, published by Whitaker House. Used with permission.
Active in ministry for over 20 years, Apostle Guillermo Maldonado is the founder of King Jesus International Ministry—one of the fastest-growing multicultural churches in the United States—which has been recognized for its visible manifestations of God´s supernatural power. He is a spiritual father to more than 350 churches in 50 countries, which form the Supernatural Global Network. He is also the founder of the University of the Supernatural Ministry (USM). Apostle Maldonado has a doctorate in Christian counseling and a master’s degree in practical theology. He resides in Miami, Florida, with his wife and partner in ministry, Ana, and their two sons, Bryan and Ronald. Visit whitakerhouse.com/product/divine-encounter-with-the-holy-spirit.
