Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Revival is that sovereign work of God in which He visits His own people, restoring and releasing them into the fullness of His blessing. — Robert Coleman
Over the years I’ve often gotten emails asking “Do you think revival will ever come to the United States?, When do you think it will come?” While re-reading Charles Finney’s lectures on revival recently, I was reminded that a key aspect of world revival is revival within ourselves. Revival must begin within each of us…..and it’s not just a one-time event but an ongoing process of desiring to be closer to Him. Once, a lady asked Billy Sunday “Why do you keep having revival meetings?” And he quickly retorted, “Why do you always take a bath?”
Revival is an ongoing transformation of our hearts to be constantly moved by the Spirit of God. We need to be daily breaking up our fallow ground, those places in our hearts which we’ve allowed to grow hard. How? We have to first ask the Lord to reveal those hard places, pray that He would forgive us and ask Him to heal all our rough edges that we might be soft before Him and sensitive to His leading. Only then will we be changed and be in a place where we can contribute to revival around us.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The Sabbath is a weekly experiential reminder of the FREEDOM we experience from bondage to sin. In the above passage, Moses explicitly connects the celebration of Shabbat with deliverance from slavery. Isaiah 61:1 beautifully expresses Yeshua’s saving work bringing good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and opening the prison to those who are bound, a wonderful message of deliverance and freedom.
The apostle Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians contains clear and powerful exhortations concerning the will of God for believers. These exhortations express the specific will of God in relationships with others, with ourselves, and with the Lord. Packed into these short verses are patterns of life and behavior which receive His blessing in all these relationships.
In this day and age, I’m convinced that it’s more imperative than ever to learn to rest! The famed preacher, C.S. Spurgeon, once wrote, “Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength… It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.”
When I was growing up, we used to have fire drills in school at least once a year. The fire alarm went off, causing you to shake from the sudden loud bell momentarily, but it was only seconds before you knew.... it was only a drill; you really didn't expect a fire. Nevertheless, everyone present was expected to rush out the door (in an orderly fashion) to the parking lot. It was a nice break from class, that yearly fire drill.
Our true value was expressed at the cross of Messiah, where God valued us according to the redemptive work of His only Son. In the light of our identity in Christ our value is inestimable. We are worthy in Him. Much of our spiritual battle, however, is about maintaining and expressing our true identity and worth, day by day.
Recently, Israel announced it was expanding the Pool of Siloam, which they estimated was about an acre and a half in size. The Pool of Siloam is where Jesus sent the blind man to wash [John 9:6-7] and where he regained his sight. Some scholars believe this was where the first 3,000 souls were baptized upon hearing the gospel in Acts 2. [Acts 2:41]
As we enter a New Year, remember the one constant true for everyone, rich or poor, male or female: each of us is given 8,760 hours in a Gregorian calendar year. That is, 1,440 minutes a day, or 525,600 minutes a year. Sounds like a lot, yet have you noticed how time flies these days?