November Ministry Update

There is no doubt that our country is in political and economic crisis.  Every day we are hearing about new bailout plans, poor earning reports, layoffs and a lowering stock market.  This country is also in a cultural crisis.  This recent election makes that clearer than every before.  The majority of Americans voted not on the real issues, morality or life, but on a vague slogan of change. 

America will see change in the coming days.  This change will undoubtedly be a further departure from the things of God.  As this happens, the people of God will either slumber longer or wake up. 

Since the election, I have spoken with many believers who are disheartened and discouraged at the direction we are going.  No one desires to go through hard times or even worse, persecution.  I have taken this as an opportunity to explain that persecution and difficulty are some of the needed catalyst for revival.  Now let me make one thing clear, I view revival as a waking up of the people of God not a service in which new people are saved.  The lost being saved is a result of the saints waking up and shining the light of Christ. 

This is a time to take heart and get focused in on the real mission that God would have for each of us.  Consider what happened in the first century.  The Church in Jerusalem grew to amazing numbers after Pentecost.  Unfortunately, they were staying in Jerusalem and not fulfilling the mandate God had given.  Only when persecution came were they disbursed into the world to become the agent of godly change.  This same pattern can be seen throughout Church history.  I believe this is the situation we see playing out before our very eyes.

I don’t see this as a time to be gloomy and discouraged, but a time to prepare.  As a ministry and as individuals we are getting prepared and positioning ourselves for revival.  I am convinced that when the saints’ wake up they will need mentors, teachers, counselors and most important spiritual fathers and mothers.  They will need to become new wine skins for a fresh work of God.

Have you ever thought about how new wine is made?  How about new wine skins?   As Jesus’ parable goes, new wine cannot be poured into old skins, it will burst them.  New wine requires new skins and they don’t just appear for the new wine to be poured into.  Someone has to make them.  The process required new leather and a person who knows how to prepare and stitch the leather into a skin.  I know that it is the Lord who does the work, but I also know that He has blessed us with the opportunity to participate in the process.

There are a few questions that I would like to leave you with this month.  First, are you in need of revival?  Second, are you prepared to be a spiritual father or mother to a saint that has just come out of their slumber or a new babe in Christ?  Third, are you prepared to teach mentor and counsel those who will be in need?

This is our time to prepare ourselves before the Lord for the coming days.  We must return to a solid base of deep intimacy with the Lord and with each other.  The time for traditions, lone rangers and divided hearts has past. 

Stand with us.  Prepare with us.  Pray for us as we do for you.

In Christ,

Dr. David M. Smuin

Faith Counseling and Training