PRAYING FOR REVIVAL
REVIVAL BEGINS WITH PRAYER
I WILL GIVE THEM A NEW HEART
Then you will call upon me
and come and pray to me,
and I will hear you.
You will seek me and find me,
when you seek me with all your heart. I
will be found by you, declares the Lord, . . .
Jeremiah 2-14a ESV
You may wonder why I would be writing this week about revival. I can give my answer truthfully and urgently. We ourselves, certainly including me, we who follow Jesus as Lord, desperately need revival in a world whose darkness threatens to overwhelm us. What is revival? Well, we repent of our selfishness and rebellion. We ask Emmanuel to restore our sanity in the midst of the chaos and the conflict which surrounds us. We need vision from our Loving God to inspire us. We need His holy inspiration to call us and direct us back to life as He would choose for us to live it. We need to give our complete affirmation to all that God does for us as He redeems and transforms us. We need His complete victory in and through us over the evil which darkens our world. We need His perfect, His self-sacrificing Agape Love. For those of us who have been redeemed, we now live as His reborn children. We must begin in humble, open-hearted, truthful prayer. No revival will ever break out until we are fervent, urgent, even desperate in our prayers. As Jeremiah records God’s invitation: “Call upon me and come and pray to me. Then, I will hear you. When you fully, truly seek me, you will find Me. When you seek me with your whole heart you; then I will be found by you.” This is a declaration from our God. When He declares it, it is so.
Why is prayer so necessary? God honors us as He not only invites, but commands us to pray—to open up ourselves, our whole hearts, our very souls, our seeking minds to Him in trust and faith and an eagerness to hear Him and obey Him. In prayer we recognize our complete dependence on Him. We literally place our souls in a kneeling position before His Throne. We confess He is great and we are small. We profess His holiness compared to our worldliness. We plead for Him to conform the earth to the perfection of Heaven. We open the door and ask for His empowering Presence to conform us to His perfection. He must accomplish REVIVAL or there will be no REVIVAL at all. REVIVAL always begins with prayer. So, as we look for REVIVAL we need to turn to heartfelt, deeply rooted prayer individually and collectively before our Loving God and Father. We can further explore seeking REVIVAL through the seven calls discussed below.
SEVEN CALLS TO REVIVAL
A CALL FOR REPENTANCE
Repent therefore, and turn back,
that your sins may be blotted out,
that times of refreshing may come
from the presence of the Lord,
and that he may send the Christ
appointed for you, Jesus.
Acts 3:19-20 ESV
We are called to repent before our Holy God. We are called to step away, turn around and leave our sinful ways. Then God will blot out our sins because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, shedding His blood in place of our own. Then Jesus invites us to share in His Eternal Victory because of His Resurrection. The Holy Spirit renews us in the presence of Jesus, God’s appointed and anointed Messiah.
A CALL FOR EMMANUEL
Draw near to God,
and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts,
you double-minded.
James 4:8 ESV
We are called to then draw near to God, for He welcomes and He awaits us—He gave us Jesus as our Emmanuel, His very Presence among us. In this process we are cleansed of our sins, and our hearts are purified, even as our hearts are refocused on Him and Him alone. We no longer focus on ourselves—for we have been created to be blessed as we continuously look upon and worship Him.
A CALL FOR VISION
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Psalm 80:3 ESV
We are called to a new and sanctified vision of our God. In restoring us God shines forth in His glory and as we praise Him we experience the complete joy of becoming His very own children. As we bask in His glory we are fully and eternally saved from the darkness of our self-centered past. His vision for a redeemed, resurrected, and reconstructed world in His image becomes our own.
A CALL FOR INSPIRATION
Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
Psalm 80:18 ESV
We are called to experience heavenly inspiration. The Holy Spirit then inspires, enlightens and guides us so that we do not turn away from Him. In this we have life, eternal and perfect even as we call upon His Holy Name in praise, in worship, in adoration, in trust and obedience.
A CALL FOR VICTORY
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and return to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
Revelation 22:27 ESV
We are called to God’s own victory as the entire earth remembers and returns to the Lord. This victory includes all of the families of Nations; Africa, America, Antartica, Asia, Australia, South America and Europe, The saints from every nation, people, tribe and tongue will gather around the Throne and worship God. Hallelujah!
A CALL FOR AFFIRMATION
Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:2 ESV
We are called to give affirmation to God’s Holiness, His Perfection, and His Salvation which is certain and true. As we do, He will enable our trust in Him and His Goodness, and will remove all of our fear, forever. We will declare with all the saints that He, the Lord God is our strength and song, that He has become our Salvation.
A CALL FOR LOVE
And he said to him,
“You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37-39 ESV
We are called to Love God, as we were created to do—with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, with all of our minds. Then we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, for truly, He makes them our eternal brothers and sisters, those who choose to honor and worship Him with us—all who give Him absolute sovereignty over all we say and do.
THAT IS: Crying For
Repentance—turning away from ourselves and sin to complete trust in Him, our God.
Emmanuel—looking to Jesus not only as Savior, but as our absolute Lord and King.
Vision—gazing upon the glory of God and recognizing with joy, His eternal glory.
Inspiration—finding in Him pure and enlivening energy eternally.
Victory—as all nations, peoples, tribes and tongues ultimately worship Him.
Affirmation—declaring before all of Heaven gathered around the throne our own testimony.
Love—for God with our very essence, our hearts, souls, minds, and our neighbors as ourselves.
