I asked permission to reprint this powerful devotional today by Pastor Dean Burris. It really struck me when I read it earlier today, and I wanted to share it with you. Oh how I yearn for revival in me and you. My message this week is one of questioning where our hearts lie; are we pursuing the faith we claim; are we seeking revival?
A Cry for Revival – Day 2
Yesterday, the last words of the poem we read were, “My children, it is time!” Time for what?? It is time for a fresh, powerful, life-altering visitation from the Holy Spirit in our lives and church! It is time that our passion for Jesus Christ be ignited and that our lives burn brightly for His glory. It is time for revival!
Well, what is revival? To revive means to bring something back to life, to re-animate, or re-invigorate. Revival is a season when the Holy Spirit moves powerfully among lifeless, powerless and sleeping believers awakening them to spiritual vigor. It produces a deep conviction over sin and spiritual slothfulness and ignites the fires of devotion, prayer and evangelism. Believers are dramatically revived and the lost are dramatically and powerfully brought into the Kingdom. Revival is the “sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit, converting the hardened sinner and reclaiming the backslidden and dormant believer . . . Behold, God showers his rain from heaven, and it (the hardened, backslidden heart) is suddenly softened. One sermon may prick to the heart. One drop of a Saviour’s blood, distilled on it by the Spirit, in the preaching of the Word, melts it like wax. The drunkard is made sober, the adulterer chaste, Zaccheus merciful, and raging Paul as tame as a lamb.” That is revival and that is exactly what we need!
In 1802 Rev. Jesse Edson wrote from Halifax, Vermont, about a revival being poured out there: “The Holy Spirit seemed to come down like a rushing, mighty wind, to melt the souls of God’s children, to cause sinners to tremble, stubborn wills to bow, and hard hearts to relent. Numbers flocked to Christ as a cloud, and as doves to their windows.”
One of the great revivals in scripture is found in 1 Samuel 7: 2And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord (they mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them).
3Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. And verse 10 shows God’s response, “But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day.”
We need to hear today the mighty, thunderous voice of God in our lives! We need revival! Begin asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to YOU your need for revival. Ask Him to make you completely dissatisfied with a spiritually mundane life. Plead for more! Do you long for more of Christ at work in you? Do you mourn for more of God? Ask today for revival . . . in you.
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