psalm2004.com

History reveals that churches failing to experience periodic revival lose their influence and fade into oblivion.  Only a church that experiences periodic restoration can continue vibrant and effective.

After Solomon had offered his great prayer in the temple, God appeared to him in the night assuring him that his prayer had been heard.  “I have heard your prayer.” (11Chronicles 7:12)

God then made him a conditional promise.  He told Solomon that when His people grew spiritually careless and judgement came that there remained the possibility of forgiveness and renewal.

So God promised, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

God was saying in essence – “If you will, I will – if you won’t, I can’t.”  If they would do four things then God promised that He would hear from heaven, He would forgive their sin and He would heal their land.

This interests me.  We need to hear from heaven.  We need to be forgiven for our sins and our nation of Canada is in urgent need of healing.

First, God requires humility.  Humility is the acknowledgement of our spiritual bankruptcy.  We need God.  We have banned Him from our schools, our courts, and our government.  We boasted that we could do life without Him.  But we are barren and destitute and we need to humble ourselves and acknowledge that we cannot live without Him.  The Bible promises that if we “humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, that He will lift us up.” (James 4:10).

Second, we are called to pray.  To a large degree the Canadian church is prayerless.  This is a contradiction to the heart of Jesus who proclaimed that His house should be “a house of prayer.” (Matthew 21:13)

Every revival that has ever come was borne on the wings of prayer.  Prayer opens heaven.  When Elijah prayed heaven was opened.  When Solomon prayed fire fell from heaven.  When the early church prayed, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit fell on the one hundred and twenty.

There are many prayers in the Bible for revival.  David cried out, “Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm 51:12), and “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You.” (Psalm 85:6)  The prophet prayed, “O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years.” (Habakkuk 3:2) 

Third, we are instructed to seek God’s face.  To seek God’s face is to seek His favour.  When God’s people walked in holiness He turned His face toward them.  When they sinned He turned His face away from them.  The prophet Isaiah commented, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you.” (Isaiah 59:2)

We are called to seek His face.  Everyone is seeking something.  We need to seek after God.  The Psalmist wrote: “One thing I have desired of the LORD; that will I seek” (Psalm 27:4).  He cried out, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek you.” (Psalm 63:1)  And in Psalm 119:10 he declared, “with my whole heart I have sought you.”

Finally, we are required to repent for our sins.  There has been a serious decline in the standards of holiness.  What was considered unacceptable behaviour a generation ago has become acceptable.  Many Christians no longer take the commands of Scripture seriously.  The prevailing attitude seems to be to set our own standards. We have become more and more like the world and often there is little difference between the conduct of the Christian and the non-Christian.  This ought not be so.  It’s imperative that we listen to the call of the Holy Spirit and turn from our wicked ways.

Now it’s up to us!  God says, “if you will, I will.”  I pray that before it is too late that we will whole heartedly respond to His call and that we will experience revival in our time.

(This was written by Pastor Fenn for a Calgary senior citizens’ newsletter.)