Getting Ready For a Visit
Revival • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsetting Ready for a Visit This message calls the church to prepare their hearts for revival as though welcoming a holy guest. Drawing from Matthew 5:6, Psalm 42, and Psalm 63, Bishop R.A. Nichols reminds us that true revival requires three steps: rekindling our hunger for God, cultivating a heart of obedience, and being refreshed and renewed by the Holy Spirit. Just as we prepare our homes for an honored visitor, we must prepare our lives for a divine visitation that can change us forever.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Did you know that according to studies, the average American spends nearly six hours a week preparing their home for company—cleaning, cooking, and making sure everything looks just right? We understand what it means to get ready for an earthly visitor. If a friend, family member, or important guest is coming, we make preparations.
But here’s the question for us today: How much more should we prepare when the One coming to visit is the Lord Himself? Jesus promised in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Revival is not about a series of meetings on a calendar—it’s about preparing our hearts for a divine visitation.
Just like a thirsty deer pants for streams of water (Psalm 42), and like David longed for God in a dry and weary land (Psalm 63), we are called to hunger and thirst for His presence. The revival we’re entering is an opportunity for us to say, “Lord, we are ready for You to come and meet with us.”
These passages paint a vivid picture of what it means to long for God. Jesus said those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. The psalmist compared his desire for God to a thirsty deer searching for water, and David confessed that his soul longed for God like a man wandering in a desert.
If revival is truly a “visit from God,” then the very first step in preparing ourselves is to stir up that hunger again. Because the truth is, we can’t afford to come into revival week satisfied with everything else in life, but empty of desire for Him. That leads us to the first step in preparation: asking the Lord to give us a hunger for Him.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.
1. Start asking the Lord to give you a hunger for Him.
1. Start asking the Lord to give you a hunger for Him.
u 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
The Scripture that is above is from one of the seven churches of Revelation.
The Lord says that what he has against them is they left their first love.
It is easy to let life get in the way.
We can move from busy to back sliding. Let me be as clear as I can I am not saying missing a few services or going on vacation , or a busy season. You can ask any of the people that I mentor— I will differentiate between a busy season and a stepping a way from the call of God.
Let me also be clear, I would say that I will walked away from maintaining my relationship with God. When that happens I have to move my heart back to God.
Sing, “Change my heart Oh God,
Chorus
Change my heart oh God
Make it ever true
Change my heart oh God
May I be like You
Verse
You are the potter
I am the clay
Mold me and make me
This is what I pray
When we begin to hunger for God again, it naturally awakens something deeper in us. Hunger isn’t just about emotion—it leads to action. Just like physical hunger drives you to the table, spiritual hunger should drive us to obedience.
The Lord told Israel that He would circumcise their hearts so they could love Him with all their being. Isaiah declared that if we are willing and obedient, we will eat the good of the land. In other words, a hungry heart is proven by an obedient life. That brings us to the next step of preparation: cultivating a heart that says yes to God.”
2. A heart towards obedience.
2. A heart towards obedience.
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;
how many of us know the will of God and not walk in it.
We want to do the will of God— We don’t want to sacrifice the flesh—
this is where faith comes in. we have to have faith that the will of God for us is better than the will of us for us. might we be uncomfortable for a season? Yes! I trust that what is in the other side.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
we should ask the Lord to to open our heart to obedience.
“Obedience, however, is not something we carry out in our own strength. If we try, we will burn out, wear down, and eventually drift away. That’s why revival is not only about repentance and obedience—it’s also about renewal.
Paul reminds us that even though our outer man is perishing, our inner man is being renewed day by day. Titus says the Holy Spirit washes, regenerates, and renews us. We cannot be ready for a fresh move of God without being refreshed and renewed by His Spirit. That’s the third step in getting ready for a visit from the Lord.”
3. Be refreshed and renewed in your life.
3. Be refreshed and renewed in your life.
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
let the Holy Spirit refrsh and renew you.
your life is not a joke.
These preachers are praying now to speak into your life. they are asking the Holy Spirit to lead them through the word of God and speak directly into your life.
Conclusion:
Church, when we talk about getting ready for a visit, we’re not just preparing for another week of services—we are preparing for a holy encounter with the living God. And if we truly believe that He is coming to meet us in revival, then we must prepare with intentionality.
First, we must ask the Lord to give us a hunger for Him. Revival begins with a thirsty heart—a heart that cries out, “God, I need more of You than I have right now.” Without hunger, there will be no filling.
Second, we must cultivate a heart towards obedience. Hunger leads to surrender. It is not enough to know His will; we must walk in His will. And when we obey, we open the door for God’s blessing and favor to flow in our lives.
Finally, we must allow ourselves to be refreshed and renewed by the Holy Spirit. Revival is not about trying harder in our own strength—it is about being renewed day by day, regenerated by His Spirit, and restored to our first love.
So as we step into this revival, let’s prepare our hearts with hunger, align our lives with obedience, and open ourselves to the renewing power of the Spirit. Then we will be ready—not just for a week of services—but for a divine visitation that changes us forever.
