CHECK POINT

A Leadership and Intercessory Letter written to those who desire Integrity in the Inward Parts  (Psalm 51:6)

"The Wow Factor" or "A Flash in the Pan"

Written by Esther Dummer

Thirty-Third Edition: April 10, 2007

  

As I prepared to write the message here, the Holy Spirit spoke these two things into my spirit and spoke a message to me.  I know our flesh would desire some magnificent, heavenly “fire works,” as if it was an event for our pleasure – the “wow factor” when the grand finale takes place and everyone sucks in their breath in awe and then claps a praise offering for what God did. 

While God has released some “signs” that made people say, “Wow,” the move of God cannot be sustained by people who live from one spiritual high to another, always seeking to be validated by God’s power. 

The Wow Factor - the degree to which the first impression of something makes a person say “Wow!”

I don’t think there is a person in revival that hasn’t dreamed of having “flames of fire sit on the roof of the church” and seeing the town’s fire trucks rushing up only to find out it was supernatural fire. And then, of course, the entire city that came to watch the fire would know that “God is in our house,” and naturally would then fill the place seeking God.  Now, that would be a “wow factor!”  If it was only that easy!

While God is great at making first impressions, some of them do not make you say, “Wow!” 

Many encounters with God make you say, “Woe is me!”

I have left worship gatherings where God manifested to such a degree that it left everyone undone on their faces before Him.  Even in times when God has moved in a great way to bless us, we may discover as soon as hours later that God appeared to have withdrawn back into His place of Glory, leaving us bewildered and alone.  The hard facts are - this move of God has been a walk such as Abraham took – not really knowing where our next step would land us. 

Our carnal nature wants it all right now and few are willing to really pay the price for what God wants to ultimately do.  Yes, there have been some great and powerful moments as we have encountered the Living God by His Holy Spirit in our midst, but we still haven’t seen what our hearts desire. 

·        Why haven’t our houses of prayer shaken yet? 

·        Why haven’t we seen tongues of fire on our heads and our churches on fire for the Glory of God? 

·        Why haven’t we seen the fresh outpouring of Pentecostal Fire that we all so greatly desire? 

Maybe it is because we still desire the “wow factor…” - not comprehending that what we are asking for has a greater cost than what we have been willing to pay.  Have we truly laid it all down for the joy that is laid before us?  Have we truly sold out the old life to embrace the God life, fully? 

Perhaps God, in His mercy, has spared us such an encounter.

Why?

Perhaps because God wants a people who know how to sustain a move of God that is meant to impact more than them…more than a “flash in the pan.” 

Flash In the Pan - Something which disappoints by failing to deliver anything of value, despite a showy beginning.  A brief, intense effort that produces no really significant result.

·        This metaphoric term alludes to the 17th-century flintlock musket, which could be fired only when the flash of the priming powder in the lock pan ignited the charge in the bore. When it failed to ignite, there was only a flash in the pan and the gun did not shoot.

I think back to the earlier days of revival and remember with sorrow at those who settled for “a flash in the pan,” – a ministry that misfired, a prophetic movement that misfired, a church that misfired, a person that misfired in a hurried moment to achieve instant success, which back fired in their face.

In pondering the move of God, I am aware that we all know that…

Jesus is the ultimate example of ministry – the purest form that we all desire to emulate.

We see the results of His life all through the Word of God and even have an understanding that He paid the ultimate price to fulfill the Call of God on His life, yet many could not follow what He did or where He was going – then and now. John 6:66

The biggest enemy to Jesus’ ministry was the offer Satan made Him in His “Wilderness Temptation” and it too is our greatest enemy to revival…a “flash in the pan ministry” that offers us a quick trip to the top!

Satan tried to derail Him from His purpose by offering to “catapult Him to the top in ministry.” Matt. 4:8-9

It was not easy for Jesus to do exactly what His Father sent Him to do.  There was always resistance and rejection awaiting Him at every turn, even from His own followers.  He seemed to pick a path that left people scratching their heads – either in awe or disgust.  Even His disciples were left wondering why he was going that way, doing it that way... Nothing Jesus did made any sense to the normal thinking person. 

Jesus’ “first impressions” were not great…and

His “closing statement” of “It is finished,” left a lot to be desired, leaving everyone who followed Him reeling in disbelief at the seeming end of their journey into faith in Jesus.

Think of the consequences – If Judas’ betrayal of the plan would have caused Jesus to give up, or if Peter’s attempt to keep Jesus from the cross would have caused Jesus to walk another way, or if Satan’s offer for “fast ministry” would have worked…If any of the plans of men, religion and devils had worked to sway Jesus from His course, He would have been as a “Flash in the Pan,” misfiring, as it were, impacting only His immediate area;

a kind of move that would have quickly died down.

The outflow of this would have devastated God’s purposes as the whole world would have been overlooked, left in their sin, with no way to reconcile to God the Father – and all for what? - For immediate results.

We can only shudder to think about how this would have dealt the world a death blow as God’s plan of salvation slowly sunk into the quagmire of man’s plans, allurements, alternate paths of thought... 

Because Jesus was willing to follow His Father’s will to the smallest detail and because He held to His Father’s Plan of the Ages, His life and death touched the whole world down through the ages.

John 3:16

Jesus was a man who always seemed to be at odds with the church world...but, Jesus stayed focused on the cross, not veering to the right or left to heed anyone who failed to understand His mandate.  He knew what God had called Him to. 

There was no “wow factor” to His ministry… but His was also no “Flash in the Pan.”

The Life and ministry of Jesus left its mark everywhere He went, down through the centuries, touching people of all nations, generation after generation. 

God help us all to understand that what God is doing now through each of us, through His Church, has eternal ramifications.  I don’t want the move of God to be a “flash in the pan,” but a sustained movement that will make an eternal difference.

Revival was never meant to start with a bang and end with a fizzle.

We too must pay the hard price, accept the journey in time and distance we must travel, be prepared to be misunderstood and resisted, and to not settle for a “flash in the pan” ministry that appears to have it all together, only to misfire, leaving everyone around confused as to what happened when it ended badly.

Remember the definition of “flash in the pan?” “Something which disappoints by failing to deliver anything of value, despite a showy beginning (the wow factor), a brief, intense effort that produces no really significant result.”

If we don’t get it right, what is to become of our harvest field?

God Bless those who Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled. Matt 5:6

For the Love of the Harvest

Esther Dummer

God Bless the Faithful Watchman on the Wall of the Church!

This newsletter is dedicated and written as an instruction and encouragement to a powerful and focused group of people who have devoted their life to a life of prayer for the Church.  It is written to incite them to move forward with decisiveness and purity.  It is written to stabilize and align the errant things that are occurring in intercessory and church circles.  It is written to break new ground in understanding our own hearts.

I would also like to take this time to say thank you to those who have subscribed, those who have forwarded these messages or photo copied and passed them on to others. Also, thank you to those who have written encouraging words to me.  They are greatly appreciated. 

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