Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Of all the church services I've attended in my life, there are two that stand out most in my mind. One was a service in Nairobi, in a church made of sticks and cardboard. You know, the stuff we use as kindling in the fireplace. The church was made of kindling. The other was in Stalworth Rehabilitation Hospital here in Nashville, with a group of sick, broken, bandaged people.

In both services, the presence of God was so thick, it felt like electricity in the air. It was so sweet, I didn't want to leave. At Stalworth, one of the patients walked out completely healed from severe stroke the following day. It was that powerful.

These two services were quite different for obvious reasons, yet there was one common denominator. It wasn't the bricks, stone and mortar at Stalworth and it wasn't the humble building made of sticks and cardboard in Kenya. It wasn't the music and it wasn't the spoken words. It was need.

The Kenyans recognized their need for God's presence and the patients at Stalworth did the same. They recognized that they didn't need food or shelter, they didn't need healing, they didn't need money; they needed God. This need was driven by physical circumstances, yet it was so strong that God must have heard the outcry and gave us a little taste of His mighty presence and what our lives could actually be like here on earth.

The sweet, yet powerful presence of God, flowing in us, flowing out of us, flowing around us. That is what we need.

If we can only recognize that fact and create an outcry for His presence before our circumstances lead us to that point, we can stand firm and tall through anything that comes our way. NEED is the kindling for the fire of our revival.

Lord God, I need you.