Revival: March 19, 2010

March 19. TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY MARCH 19, 2010.

REVIVAL

DEFINITION:

A reawaking or reviving interest in and care for religion; a meeting to promote a religious awakening; restoration to life; the act or effect of reviving.

SCRIPTURE:

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” Revelation 2:4.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

When we think of a revival we think of several times in our lives when we experienced what we consider to be “revival.” To us revival is a time when people experience a reawakening as to their relationship with God and Jesus. We do not think that a revival can be accomplished by mans own effort but takes place when God through His Holy Spirit works in the heart of believers and emotionally moves them to have a reawaking of their faith.

In Habakkuk 3:1-19 we have the prayer of Habakkuk, a prophet of God, praying for revival some six centuries before Christ was born because he saw that wickedness prevailed and it was his desire to see God’s people return to God and righteousness. He wanted revival. As in his days we experience the same concerns today. God’s people, whether it is a church, a mission, a school, a family or an individual, sometimes leave their “first love” as did the church at Ephesus. (Revelation 2:4)

Difficulties arise, time passes, emphasis change, key people move away and almost unnoticed the life and zeal for the Lord vanishes. When God is forgotten, wickedness prevails. This happened in Habakkuk’s day and we can learn from the elements in his prayer as to how he cried out to God for revival. In this third chapter of Habakkuk he gives us the following guidelines for God to bring revival in our lives today:

• We must first take God’s Word seriously. Do we really believe what God commands us to do and are we willing to do it?
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• There must be a direct request for revival to God. His words were “O Lord revive Your work in the midst of the years.”
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• We need to appeal to God for mercy according to His will and not asking for what we think we deserve.
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• We need to acknowledge the great power of God over all His creation and acknowledge that God can do what is necessary to revive our “first Love’ for Him.
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• An acknowledgement that God punishes sinful man and nations and we deserve that punishment because we were born sinners.
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• We need to affirm that God is our strength, that He is the source of our daily walk, and that He is the source of all of our blessings, that He is in control of our future and that we praise Him for His saving grace.
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When we were in college we witnessed a unique revival among the students. It began with an ordinary regular chapel which developed into a memorial service in remembrance of former students that attended Wheaton College and went to witness to the Auca Indians in Peru. The result was that they were all killed on January 8, 1956 and were martyrs because they were endeavoring to reach this tribe of Waorani Indians that had never seen a white man nor heard of Jesus or the gospel.

The chapel time continued for hours with student after student getting up to confess their sins, to pray for their needs and to pray for those that needed Jesus. This continued into the night and into the next day. This was true revival because it was not scheduled by man but happened because it was God’s perfect timing to move in the lives of students to give them a revived desire to seek God’s will in their lives in order to serve Him.

In this world we live in today we need a world-wide revival like we experienced over 50 years ago at our college. We leave with you today one verse that is found in II Chronicles 7:14. “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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

All of us as Christians can become lax in our commitment to our Lord and need to have a revival in our own life. To experience a revival in your life you must come to the Lord in prayer and humbly confess to Him your sins. You must not just repent of your sins but you must quit your sinful ways and recommit yourself to be obedient to what God wants you to do.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Joshua 1:9.

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

PRAYER:

Give me this day a reawakening of my faith in You that I may serve You to the best of my ability. Help me to be the testimony You want of me so that my life will be an example and encourage others to have a new and fresh desire to serve You.