In a vision I watched the Lord start vacuuming the dirt in a carpet.  He then got down on His hands and knees and began to search for dirt, deep between at the base of the fibers.

The Holy Spirit has revealed that a deep cleansing is coming to the Body of Christ, His house.  He is going deep to expose the sin (dirt) and He will remove it.  The Lord has spoken to me saying, “None are as guilty as My Church.”  Current leaders of the Church, you have been warned!  Only one of the grave sins we are guilty of is the habitual sin of refusing to allow the Holy Spirit in power is grave rebellion.  If you do not choose to allow the Holy Spirit to flow like a mighty rushing River, then you will surely perish.  I speak by the Spirit of the Lord.

It is impossible for the Church or its individual members to steward the outpouring of the Holy Spirit without repenting of deeply embedded sin.  The scripture proclaims that in order for righteousness to flow through His people, there must be righteousness in His people –

Malachi 3:2–6 (NASB95)

²“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. ³“He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. ⁴“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. ⁵“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts. ⁶“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Only after a deep cleansing of His people, only after the Lord, “…draws near to *[us] for judgment,” will we be fully prepared for a revival that requires offerings in righteousness.  Only after He purifies us like a smelter and a purifier of silver will we be able to receive Him and stand in His presence.

The Church has been praying for a spiritual awakening, but as I have said years ago, it will be a rude awakening beginning with judgment.  Judgment has already started and it will only intensify because our theology has been corrupted with the doctrines of demons, the wisdom of man and the teachers of false light.

We must understand that we stand before the Lord as guilty as the Church of Laodicea.  We believe we are rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing.  The truth of our spiritual condition is that we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Rev 3:17).  Jesus stated emphatically that the kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit (Matt 5:3) and who are poor (Luke 6:20); disciples of Christ know, not at the academic/purely cognitive level, but it has been revealed to their hearts what their desperate and impoverished condition is before Him.

The Lord revealed to me years ago that He would bring reluctant Christians into His fire.  He said, “They don’t want to come to Me.  It is too hot.  They will not come on their own accord, so I am pulling them in.”  I then watched as people began to enter the flame, screaming in agony because of the fire.  It was clear they were in anguish.  They were pulled into and through fire.  When they went through the flames they came out glowing with the presence of God emanating from within.¹

This is the price of the revival we have been praying for.  Salvation was purchased through the blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross and is free to all; revival that is coming will cost us everything.  We must take up His cross and follow Him.  Jesus taught the following –

Matthew 16:25 (NASB95)

²⁵“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

The Lord is calling all of us to a new level of consecration and holiness.  He will not relate to us at the level we are at now.  We must choose to move higher in the Spirit and be done with the flesh that so easily entangles (Heb 12:1 NASB95).  His desire is to promote us to move at the level of authority and power required for the days we are in and those that will soon be upon us.  However, we must count the cost.  To have more of His presence, we must give Him permission to do a deep work in us.

We have been crying out in prayers and songs asking the Lord to, “let it rain…open the floodgates of Heaven and let it rain,”² not realizing that we have a responsibility before the Lord to be His floodgates.  In Psalm 24 it says, “Lift up your heads , O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!” (Ps 24:7 NASB95)  The Lord wants to pour out His Holy Spirit more than we want Him to, but we must decide to allow His Spirit to flow through us and surrender yet again to His will going forward.  We cannot move in the authority, power and glory He has destined us for without giving Him a blank check to do whatever He wants to do in AND through us.

Mark Biteler

^* Added for emphasis

¹ Mark Biteler, “A Mighty Revival Coming to Hampton Roads & Regent University – The Lord said, ‘What I have revealed I will do at Regent, I will do in America.”’, (Joshua Revival Project, 2012), pg. 8.

² Michael W. Smith. Let it Rain. Worship (2001).