Purify My Heart: Preparing For Revival by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Greatest Tool for the Coming Revival

There is an exact program in the realm of the spirit that will culminate to the greatest Revival returning Christ. Every believer has a major prophetic role to play in that Revival. But the critical question must be asked: what does it actually take to host, sustain, and deliver the move of God that is coming?

The revivals that failed also had anointing. There is no mention of the absence of anointing in the revivals that failed. Many revivals brought economic empowerment and drew people from several nations — and yet the revivals still failed. The Bible and history are full of gifted, eloquent, intelligent men and women who cheaply aborted the moves of God in their generation.

The greatest tool for the Revival that is coming will not be anointing. It will not be financial prosperity. It will not be skill and talent. It will not even be influence.

The greatest tool, the greatest prerequisite, and the greatest enhancer of the Revival that is coming is a life that reflects the character of Christ — in thoughts, in words, and in lifestyle.

This is a realm beyond being prayerful. Beyond knowing scriptures. Beyond being anointed. The days that are coming will need more than being an anointed person. The devil has fooled many into believing that the zenith of spiritual pursuit is to become anointed. But there are superior parameters for measuring power and strength in the spirit beyond anointing.

Anna the prophetess carried immense spiritual weight — there is no mention of her healing the sick. And of all the prophets before John, Jesus said John was the greatest — yet show where John raised the dead, or the miracles he did. And yet John was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb.

Philippians 3:12-15

Paul himself — the deep revelator of scripture, writer of two-thirds of the New Testament — said: Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect, but I follow after. He said this to the very people he was mentoring. He was still a student, just privileged to be in a higher class in the spirit.

When it has to do with matters of death to the flesh, matters of character, and Christlike manifestations — there are no champions.

The State of Man: Understanding the Intrinsic Limitation

Psalm 51:1-13

This is the psalm of David. When Prophet Nathan came to him over Bathsheba, David prayed: Have mercy upon me O God... Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

What David was declaring is not merely autobiography — it is a theological description of every human being. When a father and mother conceive a child, what happens there is not just biology. The DNA of sin follows that baby as it grows. The child comes already carrying the possibilities for every kind of sin.

The things that destroy are not launched from the outside — they are activated from within.

Sin and the flesh do not come from outside. They are within, but they need an external activation system. And they can wait patiently for many decades. A person can be deceived to think that because something has not manifested, it is not in them.

The Bible tells us not to wait until the things that can activate what is locked up within us arrive — because they may come at a time when a reputation is at stake. At a time when thirty or fifty years of ministry are on the line. At a time where a person has two more years to finish with dignity.

1 John 1:8-10

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us... If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

These two scriptures describe, without ambiguity, the tendency of every man — regardless of the effort made in personal strength to remedy the situation.

There are many people today who look like drunkards externally but carry more purity of heart than several who appear put together. By their own strength they have managed to restrain certain things — but there are tendencies hiding within. Anger, jealousy, lust, mammon — they were always there. What is needed is not the pretense that they do not exist, but the strategy God has provided to tame the flesh with understanding.

Taming the flesh in the strength of the flesh is a total waste of time. It is like trying to push a wall — you are the one who will be tired.

The flesh is a subject that has been approached from two flawed standpoints:

• Avoidance — refusing to talk about it because of the embarrassing situations wrapped around it. Whereas people are dying and they need help and need it fast.
• Unscriptural exposure — only unraveling the depth of darkness shrouded in the flesh without providing a scriptural pathway that leads to victory. People end up feeling condemned with no strategy.

The correct approach is like medicine: when a virus is identified, you do not run from it. You isolate it, study its operation, and with that knowledge, develop an antidote. Running away from the reality of the flesh will not cure it.

The Standard of God for Intimacy and Friendship

Psalm 24:3-4

Jeremiah 17:9-10

Not everyone can become the friend of God. Not everyone can access that realm of depth and intimacy — except they fulfill the conditions. Regardless of the century, the standards of God for friendship and intimacy will never change.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He that has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

Ephesians 4:17-32

Paul sets out a comprehensive list of what must fall off from a believer's life — not selective. This is the mistake made in the body: lining up all the attributes of the flesh, finding the ones personally applicable, and exempting those in discussion. The weightier matters — pride, bribery, corruption — get brushed past while other things get hammered.

When training people to be men and women who die to the flesh, there must be a holistic capture of everything that needs to fall off — until people become people of spiritual stature.

Everything that corrupts the heart must be dealt with without sparing, no matter how small. Jealousy — deal with it. Lust — deal with it. Pride — deal with it. Anger — deal with it. Not by personal strength, but by submitting oneself before the presence of the One who deals with it.

Why Revivals Die: The Humanity of Men

One reason why revivals die — and the greatest one — is the humanity of men. Not lack of prayer. Not lack of fasting. Not lack of Bible study. Not lack of going to church.

The fact that the carriers and those who work in partnership with the Holy Spirit to sponsor revival are men means revival is man-dependent. When a person presses to know God, the next project in the spiritual adventure is to know oneself.

History and the Bible are full of great people — some who crashed, some who did not finish their project, some who were voices and motivations to their generation and then, towards the end, something eroded a testimony of many decades.

95% of the people who have fallen in history and in the Bible were far more upright and sincere than many people in this generation — and yet they did not stand. That means something must be understood. There is a lot of blind, arrogant confidence in the body of Christ — yet people carrying that same baton with integrity have not finished strong. It is a challenge to understand what it takes to stand until the end.

When you understand yourself in light of the limitation upon all men, it will put pressure on you to need God as a matter of life and death. The need for God will be artificial until it is derived from this revelation of how incapacitated man is out of the assistance of God.

There are many promotions and open doors that are closed today not by the devil but as an expression of God's mercy — to preserve people because they have been weighed in the spirit and lack the stamina to survive what would come with certain levels of increase. In all things give thanks, because what God is doing is not always visible.

Psalm 51:10 — The Prayer That Creates a Clean Heart

Psalm 51:10-13

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of salvation and uphold me with the free spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners shall be converted.

The possibility of having a clean heart created depends on encounter and intimacy with God. David was saying: do not rob me of the privilege of having access to your presence. Moses prayed the same prayer — Do not let Your presence go away from us. Moses, the meekest man. David, a man after God's heart. Both were presence-dependent.

The clean heart is not created by effort — it is created by encounter. Cast me not away from your presence is the method by which the clean heart will be created.

The Call to Brokenness

James 4:8

Hebrews 4:16

Psalm 51:17

Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

A broken and a contrite heart, O Lord, You will not despise.

The first call is to draw near to God — not to draw near to fame, not to spiritual activities as performance, but to take the relationship with God seriously. It is not only a source of value and relevance. It is the system of preservation.

The posture of champions for the coming Revival will be this: while people are applauding, while names and titles are being conferred, the true revivalist is by the altar crying for mercy. Searching the heart. Saying, Search my heart, O God, and try my thoughts. If You find any wicked way in me, lead me to the way everlasting.

The greatest Unbecoming of this Revival will be a manifestation of pride. Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. 1 Corinthians 10:12

There is a deception of stratifying the flesh — ranking certain sins as weightier matters simply because they carry heavier sociological embarrassment, while others like pride, jealousy, and bribery are quietly exempted. Everything that corrupts the heart must be examined and surrendered.

Three Levels of Authority — and What Really Matters

God gives men three levels of authority in the kingdom:

1. Authority over things — money, resources. This is the most elementary spiritual level.
2. Authority over nations — not subjugation, but carrying a grace that influences territories and people groups.
3. Authority over His program — the highest level. God can trust a person not just with things or nations, but with the next move of the spirit itself. Before God acts, He comes not to inform such a person but to consult with them. Shall I hide this from Abraham? Abraham was not just a servant — he was a friend.

The prevailing measure of success in this generation is financial prosperity and crowd in ministry. But the weight of a physical house, physical cash, and a physical car counts very little in the realm of the spirit. The parable of the five talents shows the progression: first, faithful with talents; then, authority over kingdoms and nations; and ultimately, trust over His program.

The value of anything a person possesses is determined by how it participates in supporting the program of God and the agenda of the spirit. The only value anything has in the spirit is not its size but its consecration.

Impact is made one life at a time. The idea of wanting to change the world has deceived many into not changing themselves. If God prospered someone and a child went to school because of it — if God lifted someone and another person got a job because of it — if someone had an encounter with Jesus and helped raise three other apostles — that is the testimony and the pride of the believer.

The Formation of the Character of Christ

The greatest tool for the coming Revival — the formation of the character of Christ — is not a theory. It is practically demonstrated in offices, in homes, in ministry, and in society:

• Being in a context where everyone is compromising for financial gain, and making the decision to stand — even while being called a fool for it
• Hosting a Revival and the power of God while standing alone, while sacrificing potential prosperity, while being misunderstood
• Maintaining a broken posture before God regardless of the honor men give

Samson was anointed. Abraham was the friend of God. Moses saw God face to face — and yet uncontrolled anger disqualified him from entering the promised land. He was not angry for himself — he was angry for a stiff-necked people after decades of faithful leadership. The activation of what was within him came at the highest cost.

The Apostle Paul was clear: I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded — carry a mentality that never allows arrival, that always knows there are deeper and higher realms in the spirit.

Practical Assignments and the Way Forward

• Dedicate time alone with God — at least two hours in a dedicated day, away from distraction. Shut down what needs to be shut down. Come before the Maker and say: Lord, what am I doing wrong? Where am I missing it?
• Practice periodic retreats — never be too busy for times of spiritual withdrawal. Even if it means temporarily stepping back from ministry engagements to go and hide with God.
• Bring an honest inventory — write every area of life where Christlikeness has not yet taken full hold. Not to condemn, but to submit those areas before the refiner's fire.
• Change the response to wounded believers — stop celebrating people's failures. Stop laughing at fallen soldiers within the body. Pray. Intercede. Go to those who have fallen and say: We are standing with you. There is hope for you. You can start again.
• Guard the language of mercy — the language of a believer in this end time is a language of mercy. Lord, grant us grace. It is by your mercy that we stand. It is by your mercy that we do what we are doing.

A broken and a contrite heart — God will not despise. The greatest weapon is not a new anointing. It is getting before God again and saying: Search my heart. What else can destroy me in the next five or ten years? Do not wait until I get there. Show me now, that I may weep before you at the altar.

This is not the language of condemnation — it is the language of genuine Revival posture. The revivals that are coming will find their most effective carriers not in those with the loudest voices or the largest platforms, but in those who have paid the price to be purified.

Lord Jesus, create in me a clean heart. Give me a new beginning. I declare that You are my Lord, my Savior, and my King. I declare that the power of sin, Satan, hell, and the grave is broken over my life from this day forward. I declare that I am a child of God. In Jesus' name, amen.

Altar Call

Your sins are forgiven. By the authority of Scripture and by the power that raised Christ from the dead, the power of sin, Satan, hell, and the grave is broken over your life. You are a bonafide recipient of the life of God. You go from glory to glory and grace to grace. In Jesus' name.