Every time I come before the people of the Lord, there is such an urgency to give them a message from the Lord. To give them something involves the principles necessary for the citizens of the Kingdom to possess and enter into—so that God’s blessings will be upon them.
Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away. In order that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And that He may send Jesus the Christ, appointed for you whom heaven must receive until the periods (times) of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His Holy prophets from ancient time. Acts 3:19–21.
In days past, people would stand in worship and praise God, getting a little blessing now and then. The periods in which God would meet them were farther apart.
Now as we come into the presence of the Lord, it is indicative that these times of refreshing will come from His presence.
The Greek word for presence is Parousia—coming from His presence. This Parousia is emanating upon us now; this is the time the Scriptures speak about. These periods, seasons, and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord.
Only those who stand in the presence of the Lord are partakers of these periods of restoration. Weigh this carefully. Right now, how many people in Christianity do you know have faith, believe the Bible, and have something of an experience with the Lord? In visiting other churches now and then, five years later you will find there is very little change in their programs or in anything else. Why? Because they are not positioned by repentance to stand in the presence of the Lord. When you think about the last twenty years in this Walk, you realize how many times God has met us, how many major revelations in the Word have come, and how many things have been wrought with fantastic changes that have taken place in people’s lives. Consider anyone who has been in this Walk for five years—what they were and what they are now—very rarely will you find one in whom the progress has not been just phenomenal.
I used to wonder about the strange quality people have. When a season of refreshing and a period of restoration comes, some walk right into what God is doing when He brings forth restoration in the Word, and others do not seem to get it at all. Even within the same church, God will bring a moving and many people will get nothing, yet a few people will move right into it. What is the quality in their heart that determines that they move into receiving the next blessing of the Lord? Anyone who continually stands in the presence of the Lord to worship Him is always a partaker of the next period of restoration.
The partaker is told to repent. Repent, return that your sins be wiped away, in order that the periods of restoration may come from the presence of the Lord. Restoration and seasons of refreshing will come to you if you are repentant in your heart—a perpetual state of repentance is very important. This is most important now because Satan will use every occasion to cause people to stumble. A continual state of repenting before the Lord is a way of life for us, but the repenter is also the one who gets the refreshings from the Lord. He is the one who receives the next phase or stage of restoration that comes.
By the grace of God, if we keep ourselves in this state of repentance that God has laid upon the church for years, where we continually lie down and repent before God, seeking his face we will be right in on everything that God starts. Everything that He begins to restore: the wonderful things in His Word; His divine order; the gifts; the ministry; the signs; the wonders; the principles of the Kingdom (marvelous things—whatever comes) the people who stand in the place of repentance will be the ones who receive it.