PRAYING FOR REVIVAL
A revival is a sovereign act of God when he visits his people in a divine way. It is characterized by people humbly seeking the lord, forgiving and stepping beyond their comfort zones so as to be used by God as agents of change in their generation. When revival fires start to fall, preaching becomes fearless, the presence of the Holy Spirit becomes powerful, bring strong convictions of sin, mass repentance and healing.
History reveals that true revival leaps beyond the walls of the church to transform the society. During the Welsh revival for example, for a time, crime disappeared. There were no rapes, no robberies, no murders, no burglaries, no embezzlements, and so the judges had no cases to try. It is reported that the District Consuls held emergency meetings to discuss what to do with the police, now that they were unemployed.
We need God to visit us again in our day. We need God to reverse the moral decadence in our society and our generation. Crime, abortion, divorce, suicide, drug addiction, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, lust, pornography, fornication, sodomy and adultery are rampant in our generation. The church is asleep. It is majorly characterized by wealth and greed. We have forsaken the first love (Rev 2:4-5). The love of many has waxed cold. The church is neither cold nor hot. Jesus said “I am about to spit you out of my mouth” Rev 3:16. Why? Because we are tasteless and repugnant.
Many think that all is well. Many have been consumed by greed and desire for titles and recognition. “You say , ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing’. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” Rev 3:15-17.
We surely need God to visit us once again. We would wish to see God honoured in our nation, not being put in the same category with other gods. Only a visitation of the lord will transform our land. We need healing. We need God to visit idols exalted in our nation and crush them. We need God to destroy corruption, tribalism, nepotism, racism, impunity and injustice in our land.
Only God can bring a change and transformation upon our young generation, which the devil wants to destroy completely. We need God to visit our institutions and transform them by his power. We need healing in our land today, and only God can do it. God told Solomon
“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chr 7:14
The answer is not going to come from politicians, or academicians, or cleverly crafted constitution. We can’t turn to our courts. We already know how corrupt they are. Many of their decision already are leading the nation away from the traditional biblical values, bringing curses upon us. Or shall we turn to education? We know that Germany and Japan are the most literate nations in the world, but they were the ones largely responsible for world war 2. Our education system has taken God out of our text books. It teaches evolution and denies the biblical view of creation. There is also moral relativism which is destroying our youth. We can’t either turn to the government which becoming increasingly corrupt. We hear of scandals after scandals. Our business and professional people will be of no help. A hand shake, a promise or a pledge means very little anymore. They are depicted as greedy who are out to rip us off. The media on its part has adopted sensationalism, instead of solid, responsible reporting. It is a tool for the affluent and the politician. The church is also part of the problem. It is also becoming as competitive as the political world. Ministers have been caught in sexual sins, divorce courts, and flamboyant attires, not to mention great mansions and sleek cars at the expense of the congregation do these people really love you or your wallets?
The answer is with “my people”, that is, the believers. If we shall call upon the name of the lord, he will move his hand and use the people who are in charge of given institutions to effect the changes we need. We have an option to sit down and watch as things move from bad to worse, or encourage ourselves and seek the lord.
We need to seek the lord in humility, we need to repent of sins we have committed, sins of omissions and commission. We need to be grieved by sin. We need to deeply repent on behalf of our people. We should be ready to turn from the evils we have been committing. It is only after doing so that we can move the eyes of the lord to us, and make God’s ears be attentive to our cry. He who made the hearing ear will hear, he who has made the seeing eye will see (Ps 94:9). We need times of refreshing to come upon us. We should seek God to quench the desire for sin in our generation. You need to seek the lord to do this, and remember, ask the lord to begin with you! This will be done only through prayer and fasting, be among the number God is going to use. Remember, God will still raise others to cry to him if you fail to take up the challenge, but woe unto you for refusing God’s assignment.
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