theamenministry

Revival begins with God and with His people.  Only God can save a lost sinner and only God can revive the hearts of His people and revive His Church.  To use an analogy from 1 Kings 18, we can repair the altar, we can arrange the wood, and we can lay the sacrifice, but only God can send the fire.  Revival is not something we work up, it is prayed down.  You will never see a true revival apart from earnest, desperate prayer and apart from confession and repentance of sin.  What God’s people need to realize, however, is that it does not begin with Hollywood, or Washington, or Wall Street, or Madison Avenue, but with the Church.  The Lord makes it clear in 2 Chronicles 7:14; a verse that we love to quote when speaking of revival.  When GOD’S people humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from THEIR wicked ways, then He will hear from Heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.

Let me share with you two more definitions of revival:

*”Revival is a sovereign act of God in which He pours forth His Holy Spirit upon His people in a special way, whereby Christians are quickened, backsliders are restored, churches are set on fire spiritually, sinners are remarkably converted, and society is reformed.”- R.B. Jones (And I would add, “God is greatly glorified.”)

*”Revival is a work of God among Christians, bringing them to conviction, repentance, confession, restitution, reconciliation, separation from the world, and submission to the lordship of Christ.”-Vance Havner

We have many people praying for revival, but are we humbling ourselves?  Are we truly seeking His face and turning from OUR wicked ways?  You see, in revival, God’s people lay aside their pride and are more concerned with what God thinks than about what others think.  I want to ask you to do something, read 2 Chronicles 7:14;  1 Kings 18; James 5:16-18 and ask the Holy Spirit to help you  connect the dots.

When is the last time you were in a worship service and someone gave a testimony of restitution, reconciliation, separation from the world, and surrender to the Lordship of Christ?  When was the last time you were in a worship service and the Holy Spirit unmistakably fell on God’s people, backsliders were restored, the church was set on fire spiritually, someone was remarkably converted, and the work that God was doing in your church even brought reform to your town?  Are we in need of revival?

The greatest time of revival I have ever experienced in a church began with the confession of sin by one of the members.  When this man humbled himself and cried out to God, it was like a dam burst.  Nothing weird happened.  There were no displays of hyper-emotionalism, but Heaven invaded our church and lives were changed forever.  Once you experience God in such a way, business as usual will never satisfy you again.  I am not discounting the value of counseling, rehab, or other means that have helped people, but it is more than cliche’ to say that God can do more in one moment than anything of man can do in a lifetime.

It is past time that we as God’s people humbled ourselves, earnestly, fervently, desperately prayed, sought His face and turned from our wicked ways.  If we meet His conditions, God has promised to hear from Heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.  Revival and the healing of our land begins in your heart and mine.

In Christ’s service

Allen