“But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that 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 period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” Acts 3:18–21.
This passage is usually quoted in reference to the restoration. The Lord Jesus will be retained in the heavens until the times of restoration; and when the times of restoration come, then we will know the Parousia, the presence of the Lord, and the restoration of many things will be taking place. However, as we look at this passage, we will not focus on restoration. Instead, we will concentrate on one phrase, “the times of refreshing.” The prelude to the refreshing is repentance. “Repent and return to the Lord that your sins may be wiped away, in order that.…” There are two things we are believing for, as Peter points out in this passage: the times of refreshing and the days of restoration. The Lord is retained in a measure in the heavens. His presence is synonymous with restoration, and it must also be synonymous with some of the greatest seasons of refreshing ever to come.
We are living in the days when Satan attempts to wear out the saints of the Most High, as he rages against the inhabitants of the earth because he knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12). He comes to create a spirit of heaviness and to make oppressive what God originally imposed upon creation when He made it subject to futility, but “in hope” (Romans 8:20). Satan is trying to bring futility without hope. His ultimate goal is a great despair sweeping away all hope from people.
The joy of living, even the reason for living, is gradually disappearing from people in the world. They do not seem to have the incentives anymore. Nothing seems to have meaning to them because Satan is trying to cripple the whole world with a spirit of hopelessness. Romans 8 says that creation was subjected to futility (or vanity) in hope—waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. But Satan is endeavoring to take away that hope so that the futility becomes an overwhelming hopelessness and despair upon the hearts of men and women. God has an answer for that: He brings the times of refreshing. He brings the seasons in which there will be a tremendous outpouring of the Spirit. We should anticipate it and believe for it.
Zechariah brought the promise to the people. He said, “Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain so that the Lord shall make lightning and send to everyone rain and grass in the field” (Zechariah 10:1). This is a beautiful promise because it means that you do not wait for the rain, but you pray for the rain, and the Lord makes lightning. Lightning is caused by electrical charges. Clouds are charged with electricity; and when that charge builds up enough, you see the flash of electrical discharge and hear the thunder, the noise that results. Would you like to have a spiritual storm? Keep building up the charge. Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, and soon there will be a lightning flash as the Lord begins to bring the rain upon you.
In these seasons of refreshing, we could be the instigators more than we realize. As we sense our place in it, we should actively go about overcoming the despair and the hopelessness, the discouragement and the assault that come against the people of the Lord. At this particular time, that assault is being stepped up. Satan is increasing his attack to discourage us and to apply pressure on us. We can counteract that by moving into the Spirit and loosing these times of refreshing, the times of renewal that must come from the presence of the Lord.
What is this renewal and refreshing to mean to us? Psalm 68:9 reads, “Thou dost send copious rain by which Thine inheritance was refreshed when it was weary.” That is what God is doing with these times of refreshing that come from His presence. As we read a few Scriptures, we will notice how often these passages lay upon us the initiative of this renewal.
That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Notice that: renewed in the spirit of your mind. Did you know your mind has a certain spirit to it? Sometimes that renewal can be imparted or communicated very easily. And put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:22–24. Paul commands you to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The Word never commands a thing if it is impossible to achieve. If the Lord tells you in the Word to do it, then it is available and you can do it. If He says to appropriate it, it means He has made it available for you to have.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes after being sick you tend to be discouraged and depressed? There is an interaction among the physical nature, the mind and the soul with its emotions, and the human spirit. In these days of depression, when Satan is trying to turn the divinely imposed futility into a hopelessness, you should understand yourself and the nature of your problems. Sometimes it is a physical problem that reaches you. Sometimes it is an emotional problem. Sometimes it is in the spirit of your mind. But you are told to renew the spirit of your mind.
We must recognize the interaction within our very natures—spirit, soul, and body—and learn to take the dominion in the realm of spirit, not in the realm of soul, nor in the physical realm. The physical realm is too great a battleground to become the source of our strength. Isaiah tells us that even the young men shall utterly fall and the youth shall faint, but it is they who wait upon the Lord who shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:30, 31). There is no physical strength great enough to help us through this battle. The strongest physique seems to succumb under the battle and the assault. We must learn that we cannot overcome through the physical realm nor through what we are physically by nature. The satanic assault can be so great that the strong will not have the strength to stand. It does not matter how strong we are physically, because the physical level is not the source of our victory; nor is the soul the source of our victory in the midst of all this depression.
Some people think the victory is found in the mind, in the power of positive thinking. What they really mean is a certain inspiration that they draw emotionally. They think the secret is to pursue the goal with real encouragement and talk one another into it. But any emotion born of the soul cannot be sustained. Sooner or later it will wear out, and that emotion will hit a low level. A person cannot sustain any emotion long enough to win the victory.
The victory does not come from the physical level, and it does not come from the soul level. The victory must come from the impartation and appropriation that your spirit receives: therefore, it is important to break through into real worship and find that renewing of the spirit of your mind that comes in the Lord Jesus Christ. The process of renewal has already begun, and I would like to see it finished quickly. I would like to reach into it with faith which touches God, because I know that my body and all the aspects and qualities of my soul will respond to what my spirit touches in God. The source of my renewal and the seasons of refreshing that come from the Lord will have to come because in my spirit I touch God. The soul and the physical body are not the sources of it.
Many have had a measure of revelation that God has given, but much of it was in the soul realm. The blessings stirred the emotions but were difficult to sustain. In a walk in the Spirit we are sustained on a much more even keel because we tend to bring people out of the soulish emotions and into a spiritual relationship with God. In the Spirit our stability is found. That is the secret to eliminating the ups and downs in our walk with the Lord and bringing us to the place of that constant refreshing and that constant source of renewal that is coming to our spirits in the Lord.
We shall come into such an excellence of spirit that nothing can prevail against us. It was said of Daniel that an excellent spirit was found in him (Daniel 5:12). The lions would not even chew him. Nothing could harm him because of his excellent spirit. When an excellent spirit is in us, it opens the door to immunities and protections in every other realm. The assaults that came against Daniel were never effective because with his excellent spirit he somehow appropriated a field of immunity that protected him physically. He was close to ninety years old when he was thrown into the lions’ den.
The Lord brings a renewal of spirit to you. You may feel defeated because you have sinned. Your sin may be in thought, in deed, or in inclination. David had done some real sinning in his life, and he prayed: Behold, Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part Thou wilt make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which Thou hast broken rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast (the margin reads “upright”) spirit within me. Psalm 51:6–10. In the midst of repenting, it is not enough to be forgiven of your sin. In the midst of a battle, it is not enough that you survive.
Your defeats do not originate in a moment of battle. Defeat often begins within your spirit long before it is manifested in other areas of your life. Victory often begins in your spirit long before it is manifested in the circumstances and other parts of your life. Once you have a victorious spirit, you need not worry about anything else. You can be stomped on, you can be beaten up, you can be persecuted; but when you have the victory in your spirit, the Lord brings a renewal to the whole man through a time of refreshing to your spirit from His presence.
Perhaps you are discouraged, unsure of the will of God for your life. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Are you discouraged? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is (Romans 12:2). Do you want to know what the will of God is? It is evident when you reach that higher plane in your spirit.
When people are discouraged, they should not make any major decisions. When they are discouraged, they are tempted to quit the ministry or the work God has called them to do. You will be sorry if you make your decisions while you are discouraged. When a man sells everything to move in to the ministry for which God has called him, that is fine. But when he wants to sell everything and move because he is so discouraged that he does not know what to do, that is the time he should not do anything.
When I was a boy, I enjoyed listening to an evangelist who had been a wrestler. Many times I heard him say, “When the enemy comes in and the battle is on, do not do anything. Do what I do. I take a chair and sit in the corner until the whole thing passes.” That made a deep impression on me, and I remembered it. My battles were not very intense then. They were a boy’s battles. But when the battles grew worse, I realized that the same principle held true. Do not make any decisions when you are discouraged. What should you do? Seek that renewing of your mind. Present your body as a living sacrifice. Begin to worship the Lord. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Have your mind renewed, and then you will know what the will of God is—the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1, 2). Then you can make your decisions.
Remember, the first step is not finding an answer to your problem; the first thing is to find the time of refreshing and renewal. Are you discouraged? Do you think you must have a course of action? First stand before the Lord until He renews your spirit. Do not worry about all those problems you need to have solved. Be renewed first! You may be discouraged; you may be sick. Be renewed first in your spirit. Seek to have your spirit renewed and refreshed. Almost everything that is wearing away at you, discouraging you in your circumstances, and holding you back will be eliminated by the victory of your spirit.