by Joyce Meyer
As a young man, I didn’t truly love the little children—I only appreciated them. But one day I made a choice to love them. Today my heart overflows with love for little children. I can say now that I genuinely love and enjoy children, and I love to bless them.
I enjoy life tremendously now, but when I was a young preacher I wasn’t nearly as joyful. I have twenty times the joy now that I did twenty years ago. I made up my mind that I could choose to be dreary or joyful, and I may as well choose joy. I have found more joy coming to me since I decided to give it away.
Part of the Love Revolution coming to the body of Christ is to help people see that pursuing love is the wrong way to go about it. We must help people, through our example, to realize that to have love, you don’t seek it, you give it.
True love doesn’t come from any person; it comes from God. Even my love for my wife, Marja, is pure because I found the source. We learned it is more blessed to give love than to receive it, and when a husband and wife actively give love to each other, they’ll have a great marriage.
When the body of Christ learns to actively give love to a lost and dying world, we will enlarge our circle of love and influence our society for the better, and we’ll improve our society.
Are you ready for the Revolution? Here are a few suggestions to walk out the love of Christ in your personal version of the Love Revolution:
1. Speak love. Come right out and say it.
Become a “love waterfall,” always pouring it on other people. Some people say, “I’m not wired that way.” If every believer said, “I love you” more, it would redefine the world’s relationships. Try it. If you tell people you love them, you’ll hear it back. When you say, in a heartfelt manner, the words “I love you” it empowers you in the love of Christ.
2. Put your love in writing.
I keep an “I love you” file for the nice letters I get. They mean a lot to me. A simple note of encouragement from you can mean a great deal to someone else. Writing down your love makes it permanent and lasting. It could even be a life preserver to someone if they are ever drowning in despair. Writing someone a message of the love of God encourages them, inspires you, and increases an awareness of God’s love.
3. Risk doing outrageously loving things.
When we go above and beyond what others may expect of us to express the love of Christ, the results of those loving actions are multiplied in the lives of others. Sometimes, it takes a little risk to do a little more—that’s part of the Love Revolution. Ask yourself, “Can I do a little more than I presently am in loving others?” Make your life memorable; revolutionaries always do outrageous things. Make an otherwise ordinary day extraordinary by letting your love be outrageous in its expression of the love of God.
4. Love takes a willingness to rejoice and weep.
Frequently showing love is about helping someone who’s in no mood to celebrate. Sharing grief with someone, or walking through the valley with them, lays deep foundations of love and trust. Jesus went to weddings and funerals. He knew what people needed in both circumstances. We must share the love of God in all circumstances so that we are comfortable showing love to the joyful and to the mourning.
5. Learn to love different people in different ways.
People receive and give love differently, so we must learn to love people in different ways. It is vital for each one of us to learn how to give and receive love with those close to us, and it is imperative that we learn how to give love to those in the world around us, especially those who may not receive love from anyone else. Study people and the Word of God, see how Jesus loved people and you will learn to show love to different people in different ways that makes everyone feel great and brings glory to God.
Want to Be a Revolutionary?
So, will you act like a revolutionary today? Will each and every day of your life from now on have evidence that you are part of the Love Revolution? What is it that you will be remembered for? Your wit? Your intelligence? In the end, it’s only love that matters. Love is what gives us eternal value. Everyone wants to be recognized as spiritual creatures made in the image of God, and love is the only way to do that.
Love as if your love is unlimited, and you’ll find that it is. You may not love someone when you first meet that person, but if you give the love you have, it will grow.
I challenge you to be the “lovingest” person you know, and I can tell you in advance that if you love at all times, your supply will never run dry.
So what do you say? Re-enlist in the army of God that He is raising up today and I’ll see you in the Love Revolution!
CHAPTER
15
Do We Need Revival or a Revolution?
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy
When something is revived, the old is brought to life again, renewed attention is brought to something. When society experiences renewed religious interest, it is called revival. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines revival as “an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings.” All of my adult life as a Christian, I have heard people talk about and pray for revival. But I am no longer sure that revival is what we need. I think we need something far more radical. I think we need a Revolution. Webster’s dictionary defines the word revolution as “a sudden, radical, or complete change.”
Somehow we are more comfortable with redressing the old than we are with radical change. But have past revivals transformed the church and the world? They have certainly been beneficial in their time, but what do we need right now in the church so we can be effective in the world? What is it going to take for us to be the light Christ has called us to be?
In his book The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus writes, “Let go of sanitized Christianity and get back to the powerful, raw and ancient faith that chooses revolution over compromise, peril over safety, and passion over lukewarm and watered-down religions.” Christ’s passion drove Him to the cross. Will ours at least drive us to sacrifice some of our old ways so the next generation might experience the transforming power of Revolutionary Love?
Jesus was a revolutionary, and He certainly was not an advocate of tradition. He came to bring change, and it upset the religious people of His day. God never changes, but He does change others. I have found that He loves creativity and new things and He keeps things fresh and on fire.
Some churches will not even consider changing something as simple as the style of their music. They will sing hymns and play only the organ as long as they exist. They ignore the fact that their congregations keep shrinking in size and are not affecting their community at all. They need to look around on Sunday morning and ask why everyone in the building is middle aged or older. Where are the young people? Where is the enthusiasm? Where is the life?
Several years ago, we began to experience a slight decline in the conferences we do around the nation and noticed that most everyone attending was middle aged or older. Our son, who was twenty-four years old at the time, started encouraging us to make some radical changes in music styles, lighting, decor, and our manner of dress. He said that his generation desperately needed to be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it was turned off by old-style religion that had a reputation for being legalistic and boring. For about a year, Dave and I were both very resistant. We said what most people say when they don’t want to change: “God doesn’t change.” We also felt that what we had done so far had worked well. Why change it? A lot of pride was involved, and it was difficult to let a twenty-four-year-old who had just come to work with us tell us what we should do. But as the year went by we began to listen to other younger people, and we realized we did not need to worship methods. Our message would not change, but the package it came in needed to change.
The world changes, people change, new generations think differently than previous ones, and we need to be concerned about how to reach them. I wanted to see young people at my confere
nces, but I was not willing to provide anything that would interest them. I wasn’t willing to meet them where they were. But little by little our hearts were opened to try new things, and we saw great results. Not only did we not lose the people we had, but new ones came, and many of them were young and enthusiastic. If we have the wisdom of the older generation and the enthusiastic creativity of the younger one, then we have the best of both worlds.
One day we held a business meeting with our leadership team at the office. Our son, who had been pressing for change, had an idea about something and I disagreed with him. He kept pressing his point so I asked everyone else what they thought and they all agreed with me. When I made the point that everyone in the room agreed with me, our son Dan said, “Of course they all agree with you, Mom—they are all your age.” At that point I began to realize that I had surrounded myself with people like me and by doing so I was blocking variety. We needed to have leaders of all ages, not just people who were all from the same generation.
On another occasion Dan wanted to use some colors in our monthly magazine that we had never used before. I did not like them so I said no. He was aggressive about using new colors, and I emphatically said, “I don’t like them, and we are not going to use them!” He said, “I did not realize you were called to minister to yourself. What if other people do like those colors?” At that point I had an eye-opening experience. I realized that I had dress codes at the office that were what I liked and we used colors in the magazine, on advertisements, and in the building that I liked. We had the music that I liked. I was ashamed when I realized how many of my decisions were all about what I liked and was comfortable with, not about what people needed.
Dave and I both began to realize that we were worshipping methods and that those methods meant absolutely nothing to God. It was His message He wanted to get out, and the package it came in could certainly be changed. So we started to change and have continued to be open to change ever since. We have changed our dress styles to a more contemporary style. We changed our worship bands to those that would draw in more young people. I decided to love the current generation enough to sing songs they could enjoy. We shortened the length of our services because our whole society today wants to do things quicker. I was accustomed to three-hour church services, but not everyone is, so we decided to meet people in the middle. We changed our lighting to be more aggressive. We even got a fog machine that they tell me creates atmosphere. I still think it only hinders people from being able to see clearly, but I can handle fog if it gets people to relate to me enough to listen to the gospel message. Remember that Paul said he became whatever he needed to be in order to win people to the gospel of Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor. 9:20–22). He did not worship methods and neither should we.
The Bible says that in the last days we will experience a church that is selfish and self-centered. People will be loose in morals and they will hold a form of religion but deny the power of the gospel (see 2 Tim. 3:1–5). We need to see God’s power in our churches. We need to see changed lives, healing, restoration, and redemption. We need to see the love of God flowing freely. We need to see a Revolution, and I am determined to be part of it!
I can honestly say that a lot of the changes we have made to our conferences are not ones that I particularly like. But I am learning more every day that love requires us to let go of our ways and find out what God’s ways are for the current season. A lot of our changes have definitely been a sacrifice for me personally, but I know in my heart they have all been the right thing to do. As foolish as it sounds, there was a time when I actually thought God would not bless someone if they were on the platform trying to lead the people while wearing denim. Then I seriously thought about what Moses was probably wearing when he went to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and I finally realized how foolish I was being. John the Baptist was a strange dresser, he had weird eating habits, and his address was the wilderness, but he led a revolution. He prepared the way for the Messiah. He was not a fan of organized religion and he called the most religious leaders of his day a brood of vipers. He was sickened by the self-righteous religious people of his day who went to the temple to pray but would not lift a finger to help anyone in need.
God looks on the heart, and we need to learn to do the same thing. He was not concerned about the way Moses or John looked. He was thrilled to find someone who was not afraid to lead a revolt against dead religion and lead people into intimacy with Him.
Love Sacrifices
The word sacrifice is not one that usually excites us because it means to give up something we might prefer to keep. In the original language of the New Testament (Greek) the word means “an act of offering, or that which is offered.” Love does not insist on its own way (see 1 Cor. 13:5). Love often requires us to sacrifice our way of doing something.
In the Old Testament “sacrifice” referred to animals sacrificed for sin, but in the New Testament it refers to Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross. The New Testament also urges believers to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom. 12:1).
The main reason we don’t see as much real love in the world as we should is because people don’t like to sacrifice. Our natural tendency is to keep, not to give sacrificially. We protect our comfort zone. We might give if it is easy or convenient, but when sacrifice is required, we draw back. How many of your ways are you desperately hanging onto without ever asking, “Does God have a different way for me to do this?” After all, the Bible says that His ways are higher than our ways (see Isa. 55:8).
Thankfully we can form new habits and actually live a sacrificial life and enjoy it. When we remember to do kindness to others and refuse to neglect being generous, the Bible says that God is pleased with such sacrifices (see Heb. 13:16). “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Love must give, and giving requires sacrifice!
We all have a way that we like to do things, and we usually think that our way is the right way. One of the huge problems with religion in general is that it often gets stuck in “old ways” that are no longer truly ministering to people, but it refuses to change. It refuses to sacrifice its ways.
A friend recently told me that she makes her teenage daughters go to church every Sunday but that they are always bored and cannot wait for the service to be over. She admitted that they get absolutely nothing out of being there. These girls probably love God but don’t relate to the methods being used by the church. They are from a new generation that does things a new way. Sadly, many children raised in Christian homes turn from any kind of religion when they become adults. They may have been discouraged by hypocrisy, turned off by legalistic rules, or been bored to tears. Church did not work for them. They wanted something genuine and powerful, something fun and adventurous, but they ended up with a long list of things they could not do.
Tommy Barnett, who co-founded the Los Angeles Dream Center, discovered that a lot of the young people in that area skateboard. When he heard that a famous skater was coming into the area to film a movie and that a $50,000 half-pipe had been erected for the movie, he asked boldly if the church could have it when the movie was finished. They gave it to him, it was moved to the Dream Center, and now on Saturdays anyone who has attended a service that week gets a ticket to skateboard if they want one. Pastor Barnett’s willingness to do something radical and new has brought thousands of teenagers to the Dream Center to skate. And many of those teenagers end up accepting Christ. He sacrificed old traditions that might not have allowed such a thing in order to reach skaters with love. He understood their desire and helped them fulfill it. We cannot expect young people—or any people, for that matter—to only want to read the Bible and pray. People need to laugh and have fun and adventure, and they should not have to go to the world to do it.
Pastor Barnett said when his two hundred voice white-robed choir sang “How Great Thou Art,” the teenagers went to sleep, so
when the teens asked if they could sing some of their music the next week, he gave them permission. As he listened the following week, he realized they had converted a rock ’n’ roll song into a spiritual song. At first he thought, Oh no. What have I done? But then as he listened he realized that God’s blessing was on the song. It is amazing what God will use that we would reject. God sees the heart behind it.
I believe we must learn that only the message of the gospel is sacred, not the methods we use to present it. If we don’t learn that, we are in danger of being irrelevant to the current generation and losing them. They desperately need to know the love of God, and we may have to sacrifice our ways to help make it happen.
When we made changes in our conferences, did we sacrifice what the present congregation wanted for the sake of those we wanted to see come? Were we being unfair to those who had been with us a long time? I don’t think we were because those who are more mature spiritually should be ready and willing to sacrifice to see others know the truth. When I explained to people why I was making changes, they all cheered. People want to do what is right; they just need understanding. Of course, there will always be people who resist change, and those people get left behind. They stay where they are, but God continues to move forward with or without them.
When we speak of the need for a Love Revolution, we are speaking of radical change in the way we do life. We should be asking God daily what we can do for Him, not just what He can do for us. Anyone participating in a Love Revolution will be required to make sacrifices for the sake of others, but those sacrifices will also bring a new joy. Our focus must change from ourselves to others. We need to think about what we can give, not what we can get. When Jesus traveled with His disciples, He taught them about life. I believe we need to hear messages from our pulpits about how to live daily life in a way that is pleasing to God, not just messages on doctrinal issues. We need to make sure the messages are relevant to all generations.
