September 19th, 2023
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
When Revival Comes
When a modern-day church announces that a revival meeting is coming, many folks think, “Oh! Those don’t work anymore! That’s an old-fashioned outdated idea.” Many will think, “I’ve got other things to do that week. I just don’t have time for such a gathering.”
The problem is that many of us have reduced our idea of revival to just a series of meetings and nothing more. They know that attending would be nice, but nothing is going to happen, really, so I’ll just ignore it. But true revival is much more than that; true revival has been taking place for thousands of years. Look at the following example…
A Revival meeting was being held in a certain church but unfortunately like so many Revivals nothing seemed to be happening. The attendance was good, the singing was good, and the preaching was good, but God just didn’t seem to be moving. One night, one of the Deacons stood up and said, “Pastor, I don’t believe there is going to be Revival as long as Brother Jones and I don’t speak to each other.” This man humbled himself before the Pastor and the rest of the congregation and walked over to Bro. Jones and apologized to him and asked for forgiveness. The two men shook hands and buried the hatchet, and God began to move in a powerful way, restoring relationships all over the building.
I served a church where almost the exact thing occurred. In that church revival began after the meeting. But it did come.
True revival comes when God’s Spirit moves in the hearts of his people to bring repentance and transformation in their hearts. Great preaching and powerful worship services are important, but they make no difference unless God’s people open their hearts to God to fill them with obedient hearts. True change is revival!
God has always been in the business of revival. But he never brings it until his people truly desire it. To desire revival is to realize that a movement of God is needed in me before it can spread to others. To desire revival is to know that God needs to change me, that I need him to restore my passion for him and for following him. Revival comes when we set aside the idols that have interfered with my obedience to him. Such idols include money, earthly treasures, personal popularity, self-centeredness, pleasure, and many other worldly desires. If we don’t surrender those idols to Jesus Christ, we can’t follow him will all our hearts. True revival comes when we can truly mean the words to the song, I Surrender All. Prayer is absolutely a requirement for the coming of revival. That is why we have a 24-hour prayer chain scheduled for September 30 – October 1. Have you signed up for it? We must pray for our meetings, our speaker, our worship and overall, our hearts.
This Sunday’s service is designed to prepare our hearts for Revival. I will bring a message titled Time for CPR based on Psalm 85:1-13. I look forward to sharing this message with you and to what God is about to do in our midst! Plan to come, bring a friend and pray for Revival.
Looking for Revival,
Jon
When Revival Comes
When a modern-day church announces that a revival meeting is coming, many folks think, “Oh! Those don’t work anymore! That’s an old-fashioned outdated idea.” Many will think, “I’ve got other things to do that week. I just don’t have time for such a gathering.”
The problem is that many of us have reduced our idea of revival to just a series of meetings and nothing more. They know that attending would be nice, but nothing is going to happen, really, so I’ll just ignore it. But true revival is much more than that; true revival has been taking place for thousands of years. Look at the following example…
A Revival meeting was being held in a certain church but unfortunately like so many Revivals nothing seemed to be happening. The attendance was good, the singing was good, and the preaching was good, but God just didn’t seem to be moving. One night, one of the Deacons stood up and said, “Pastor, I don’t believe there is going to be Revival as long as Brother Jones and I don’t speak to each other.” This man humbled himself before the Pastor and the rest of the congregation and walked over to Bro. Jones and apologized to him and asked for forgiveness. The two men shook hands and buried the hatchet, and God began to move in a powerful way, restoring relationships all over the building.
I served a church where almost the exact thing occurred. In that church revival began after the meeting. But it did come.
True revival comes when God’s Spirit moves in the hearts of his people to bring repentance and transformation in their hearts. Great preaching and powerful worship services are important, but they make no difference unless God’s people open their hearts to God to fill them with obedient hearts. True change is revival!
God has always been in the business of revival. But he never brings it until his people truly desire it. To desire revival is to realize that a movement of God is needed in me before it can spread to others. To desire revival is to know that God needs to change me, that I need him to restore my passion for him and for following him. Revival comes when we set aside the idols that have interfered with my obedience to him. Such idols include money, earthly treasures, personal popularity, self-centeredness, pleasure, and many other worldly desires. If we don’t surrender those idols to Jesus Christ, we can’t follow him will all our hearts. True revival comes when we can truly mean the words to the song, I Surrender All. Prayer is absolutely a requirement for the coming of revival. That is why we have a 24-hour prayer chain scheduled for September 30 – October 1. Have you signed up for it? We must pray for our meetings, our speaker, our worship and overall, our hearts.
This Sunday’s service is designed to prepare our hearts for Revival. I will bring a message titled Time for CPR based on Psalm 85:1-13. I look forward to sharing this message with you and to what God is about to do in our midst! Plan to come, bring a friend and pray for Revival.
Looking for Revival,
Jon
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