What does the word “revival” mean? When you hear that word, what images come to your mind? Do you think of the Billy Graham crusades with thousands of people flooding to the front to receive Christ? Do you see what was dead coming back to life? Do you have absolutely no idea what it means? Where is it that your mind goes when the word “revival” hits your ears?
This is what I think of when the word “revival” hits mine:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
If we would just…
#1 – Humble ourselves.
Could we, for just a moment, take a good, hard, long look in the mirror and answer this question: “Am I prideful? Do I seek self and consider self more often than considering others and their needs? Do I desire a platform for myself? Do I count every like on Instagram and Facebook more than the minutes that I spend in God’s Word?” Humility. To consider others as better than yourself. Do we strive more for this than we strive for ourselves? If we would just humble ourselves.
#2 – Pray.
There has been a tragic neglect of this spiritual discipline in the church, and it’s one that begs being addressed. Why do we shy away from prayer? Why do we not prioritize time for it? Why is there no longer any margin in our lives to spend “as long as it takes” at His feet in His presence until the mountain standing in our way is moved? Why? Because we have stopped prioritizing communion with God. Because we’ve become more concerned with how our words sound to others than we care about how they sound to God. If we would just pray.
#3 – Seek God’s face.
Is God and His Word the ultimate authority in your life, informing you of your plans and decisions, or is it reversed? Are you in charge of your plans, decisions, and time and only consult Him in times of great and desperate need? Do you seek His face with such a mentality that if He doesn’t speak, you will not move? Do we even ask God what His thoughts are on our plans and decisions, our women’s retreats and gatherings, our careers and family life? Do we only ask Him to bless what we’ve already determined will be our course? Or is He simply the after thought when things suddenly go awry? If we would just seek His face.
#4 – Turn from our wicked ways.
Godlessness is more evident in our culture, society, and sadly even in our churches and religious institutions today than ever before in history. Because we’ve chosen to align ourselves with the standards that humanity has set as opposed to the standard of holiness that God calls us to, our reality today is a godless world filled with wickedness. Because we’ve minimized God’s holiness in efforts to maximize His grace, we’ve forgotten that He is equally both and simply cannot be one without the other. Because God unites all aspects of His character in His Word, who are we to separate them? And He calls us to HIS standard of living, not man’s. If we would just turn from our wicked ways.
REVIVAL would be unleashed!
#1 – God would hear from heaven.
Our prayers would be heard by our holy God, and the gap that our sin has created would be bridged!
#2 – God would forgive our sins.
1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess, He is faithful to forgive. The problem is that we have stopped confessing. We have refused to call sin what it is and to see it just as seriously as God does. But if we did! If we confess, forgiveness would flow. Forgiveness would cover. Forgiveness would be the river we find ourselves immersed in!
#3 – God would heal our land.
I’m pretty confident in saying that most if not all of us would declare that our world is broken. Our world is sin-sick. Our world is lost. But, sweet revival could come, it could flow, it could swell in our land. Healing could invade hearts, lives, homes, churches, communities, cities, nations, tribes, and tongues! God’s heart is revival. Is it ours?
God, reveal yourself. Jesus, come. Holy Spirt, convict. Bring revival. We want it! We’re desperate for it. And it starts in me, Jesus. It’s starts with us, the body of Christ.
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