When Revival Comes
One of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences in life is a revival among the people of God. I hope we have all had at least one revival experience. We need to pray for them and long for them all of the time. Yes, we have life in Christ, but from time to time we need that life to be reignited to full flame. That is what the word revive means. We need to come to life again and even more fully than before. Sadly, we experience fewer revivals in the church today. I am not referring to a series of meetings. I am talking about true revival. The people of Nehemiah and Ezra's time in Jerusalem had a very meaningful time of revival after the wall was completed. We read about it in Nehemiah 8-10. The people demanded to have the Book of the Law read to them by their leaders, and they listened from daybreak until noon, six hours a day. Then, they spent six hours in confession of their sins and worship of the Lord their God. (Nehemiah 9:3) I believe we will find these three elements any time there is real revival.
The Word of God is our food. If we are serious about seeking God, we will hunger and thirst for the Bible. We will not be able to get enough of reading it and hearing it. We will literally desire to spend hours alone or with others as we study the Word of God and fill our hearts with it. This will bring about the realization of sin, because the Spirit will illuminate the Word to us personally. We will privately and publicly confess sins, no matter how long it takes. We will be willing to go to the altar and cry out to God in confession and repentance to be cleansed of those sins the Spirit shows us. Then, in our cleansed state our hearts will desire to worship the Lord who is so faithful to us. We will sing loudly and for long periods of time, because our hearts are overwhelmed with praise and honor for the Lord. This is the revival our churches need today. I beg you to cry out to the Lord with me daily for this type of revival to break out in our hearts and in our churches.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Nehemiah 11-13 and Esther 1.
The Word of God is our food. If we are serious about seeking God, we will hunger and thirst for the Bible. We will not be able to get enough of reading it and hearing it. We will literally desire to spend hours alone or with others as we study the Word of God and fill our hearts with it. This will bring about the realization of sin, because the Spirit will illuminate the Word to us personally. We will privately and publicly confess sins, no matter how long it takes. We will be willing to go to the altar and cry out to God in confession and repentance to be cleansed of those sins the Spirit shows us. Then, in our cleansed state our hearts will desire to worship the Lord who is so faithful to us. We will sing loudly and for long periods of time, because our hearts are overwhelmed with praise and honor for the Lord. This is the revival our churches need today. I beg you to cry out to the Lord with me daily for this type of revival to break out in our hearts and in our churches.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Nehemiah 11-13 and Esther 1.