DIRTY CUPS

(Post by: Michelle Hobbs)

“If you were asked this moment if you were filled with the Holy Spirit, how many of you would dare to answer, yes?” (Hession, 1950).  Ponder that question, honestly, if you will as you read on.

I have been reading a reprint of an old book about revival, The Calvary Road by Roy Hession. It’s a small book; some might even call it a pamphlet or a booklet. It is a gem regardless of what you call it, and it is jam packed full of excellent teaching on revival.

I think it is safe to say that most of us think of revival as a special meeting at a church or a camp. One where an evangelist comes and gives a fiery message, then packs up and moves on to the next town, taking revival with him. Attendees may have a great week of worship, but it rarely lasts beyond that.

This book has reminded me that revival is most often not a corporate experience, but the brokenness of one individual soul who finally recognizes his or her need to truly die to self. That simple act, my friend, is the beginning of revival! A beginning to a revival that can last a lifetime.

Revival allows you to answer the question posed above, “Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?”, with an emphatic and completely honest, “YES!” at any moment.

However, if you are like me, and we are really honest with ourselves, our answer has to be, “no” or “not completely.”

The great news is, all we have to do to be completely filled with the Holy Spirit is present our empty, broken self to Jesus. He will fill us and keep filling us as long as we have died to our old self.

Our problem is, most of us think that dying to our self will make us miserable. We will have to give up so many things, we think. However, the truth is that refusing to die to self is what is making us miserable.

Our old, dead self makes us a dirty cup; one that Jesus cannot fill.

If you think of your heart as a cup that you hold out to Jesus longing for Him to fill with Living Water, it may give you a clearer picture of revival. Only one thing can keep Jesus from filling your cup, and that is sin.

Yes, I am talking about the “big sins” we generally think of like murder, theft, adultery…, but I am also talking about those sins that we all have and like to overlook, such as gossip, pride, little white lies, an argumentative spirit. Our love of our self in its thousand forms: self-pity in trials, self-seeking in decisions, self-sourcing in work and charity, and self-indulgence in our spare time, self-defense in hurt are all sins that make us unclean.

“But all of them were put into that other cup, which the Lord Jesus shrank from momentarily in Gethsemane, but which He drank to the dregs at Calvary – the cup of our sin (Hession, 1950).”

Matthew 26:39 says, “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.””

If we allow Jesus to show us the dirt inside our cups, the cups that may look clean on the outside, but are actually filthy on the inside (Matt. 23:25), He will cleanse them with His precious blood if we are willing to die to them. We will experience cleansing and deliverance if we immediately put the sins He shows us under His blood.

David, in Psalm 23, says, “My cup runneth over.” This picture helps us understand the possibility of the never ending, overflowing nature of the Lord’s presence, provision, protection, and power. It is possible for us to experience this on a daily basis.

This is revival! You and I full to overflowing with Jesus. As He cleanses our cups, so He fills them to overflowing!

SO, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= What is keeping you from giving your “yes”?

= What are you going to do differently?