Revival Starts Here

What is Revival

We fervently pray for revival. What does revival look like to you? What does it look like on a personal level? What does it look like in your church? What does it look like in our Communities?

I’ve been asking these questions in light of today’s scripture all week. So I looked into what sparked the great awakening in our country around the 1730s. This was around the age of enlightenment and there was a hard shift in society towards secularism. People were leaving churches in droves, causing many churches to be empty.

God raised up ministers like Jonathan Edwards, and George Whitefield to proclaim the gospel in a way that it would be received by the people of their time. While their styles were different and reached different people their message remained the same. We are all sinners, in need of God’s saving grace, we can receive it by entering into a personal relationship with Christ. The collective church returned to their first love. What sparked the great awakening? What will spark the next great awakening here today? If we the people of God return to our first love.

If we humble ourselves and pray, if we seek God’s face, and turn from the ways the enemy has pulled us from our first love, Then God will hear from heaven forgive our sins and heal our land. Revival starts here!

If My People Will

God visists Solomon in response to his prayer.

God is Judge, plagues are punishment from God for sins his people have committed. The people of God must humble themselves, kneel before God and plead for mercy. Normally when someone pleads before a judge they are pleading their case based on some good thing they have done. In this case the people of God plead for mercy despite not deserving it. This is where grace comes in.

*If MY PEOPLE, called by MY NAME

-We the Kingdom people of God are called by His name. As the people of God we pray Thy will be done. Often countries and even us as individuals want God to conform to their will instead of us conforming to His will.

*What does it mean to humble yourself? To place yourself in the position of a servant, willing to serve however the master calls you to serve. We see this in Christ when he washes his disciples feet. We see this in Christ when he prays in the garden before going to the cross “Father not my will but yours be done!”

*To pray for the sake of simplifying things is talking with God. I say with because to talk to someone only gets your point across but to say with indicates a two way conversation. Not only do we need to talk to God but we need to allow space for him to talk to us. Today’s passage is God’s response to Solomon’s prayer from 2 Chronicles chapter 6.

-To pray is to humble ourselves and admit God we need you! My will is not working we need your will to be done. Prayer is where we begin to seek God’s face.

*What does it mean to seek God’s face? It means to pursue his presence in your life. We begin to do this in prayer, God appeared to Solomon after he prayed. Why do we seek his face? To know God better and that his face would shine or smile upon us. It is through Solomon seeking God’s face that, the will of God, what God wants, is revealed.

*To turn from our wicked ways means to repent. It means to turn away from the wrong way, to turn from following our will and turn around toward God’s will. And as humble servants of the Lord our master doing the will of the Lord. To repent goes beyond just feeling sorry and asking forgiveness. It means to change what your are doing. In the case of God’s people Israel who had a habit of seeking the face of other god’s and looking for their face to smile upon them. It meant turning from these other gods and turning to the one true God who created all things. What is your Idol? What do you need to turn from in order to turn towards God? Our will vs God’s will. Are you praying for God’s will to be done or are you praying that God would conform to your will? The answer to that question reveals to us what we need to turn from.

*We are the people of God called by His name. If we humble ourselves, pray and seek His and turn from our wicked ways, then God will hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. Leicester is a community that needs healing, our homes, our churches need healing. Imagine the change in all these things if the people of God responded to his call for repentance.

Call to Repentance

Brothers and sisters we want and pray for revival. Do we want it on our terms or Gods? I don’t believe God is slow in sending it but I do believe we his people are slow to recognize the places where repentance needs to happen so revival can begin in us today.

Ephesians 6:12 NRSV

12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places have been busy in the church in America for a long time distracting us from the basic proclamation of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It has pulled the church in America away from its first love and towards politics. It has pulled the church towards being more easily recognized by what or who we stand against than who we stand for.

The great awakening happened because people in the collective church of God were willing to humble themselves and pray and return to the basics of our faith. We are all sinners deeply in need of God’s grace and mercy. It is through Christ that we receive God’s grace and live a life that loves God with all of who we are, while at the same time love our neighbors. This is our first love.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NRSV

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

CALL TO REPENTANT PRAYER