Praying For Revival

It's quite obvious to most Christian folk that we need revival in our land. I really don't have to go into great detail because the signs are everywhere. If you have lived at least 30 years you can see from where we have fallen.

Yes, we need revival in America. But revival won't come to America unless it first comes to the church. Let me be clear about the church. I'm not talking about church buildings and the organized part of what we call local churches. When I say the church, I am referring to what the Bible calls the body of Christ. One person, truly born again is part of the church I'm talking about...whether they belong to a certain organized church that meets regularly in a building or not.

Revival is bringing life to the dead. For the unbeliever it is being reborn (born again) by the Spirit of God. It is God breathing life into the spirit of a person. That spirit which was dead to God is made alive to God through trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior!

For the believer, revival is a renewal of the spirit of a born again person that has grown cold. It is a genuine re-infilling of the Holy Spirit. It is when God's Spirit fans the embers of a born again spirit causing it to burst into raging flames again! Revival for the believer brings a new boldness and confidence in God. Revival brings change in the heart and life of any believer. Oh how the church needs revival and renewal! When the church changes, the land changes.

Revival won't happen in our country unless it first happens in the church. But can you see the need for renewal in the church? Are you satisfied with the way things are? Are you comfortable with the status quo in the church, turning off those who would be hungry for God? Do you genuinely see the need for change? If so, will you do anything about it?

How does revival come? How does it start? Contrary to what many have taught over the years, revival is not simply a sovereign move of God. Revival and renewal will come when the church positions itself correctly with the sovereign God. When the church is in the right position, God will move in miraculous ways through His church. You are a good example. As you position yourself correctly with God, He uses you in awesome ways! As long as the church is out of position, the world is cut off from God's move, and wickedness prevails. Let me ask you again. Do you see the need for revival in our land?

 

To truly pray for revival is to truly present yourself to God. "Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom. 12: 1- 2)

 

You must understand. To pray for revival means YOU must be willing to be revived. You must be willing to change. It begins as you present yourself to God as a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable to Him. Are there things in your life that you know are not pleasing and acceptable to God? You must be willing to sacrifice those things as you present yourself to Him. This is not only prayer for revival...it is also repentance. Repentance is our willingness to change in order to facilitate God's move. A commitment to pray for revival must also requires from you and me the commitment to change.

 

I truly believe revival is coming to America and the rest of the world in these last days. This is not just something I'm hoping and believing for. I'm changing my ways so as to position myself before God to be an instrument of revival. I wonder if you are willing to do this too? If so, present yourself to Him as a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable to Him. In the process you will have to give up things you know you need to release. Do it! Allow Him to reveal things to you that perhaps you were not aware of until now. But then...expect God to move in and through you. And remember, it's not just about God moving through you. It's about revival coming to His church and to the nations.