PERSONAL REVIVAL

The last several years have been among the richest of my life in terms of spiritual renewal, or perhaps you can call it personal revival. Yes, the same period has been challenging healthwise, but the Lord has been very near and the times of communion have been powerful and enriching.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the promises in Isaiah 58:10-11. As we “pour ourselves out” in caring for the needy and afflicted, God responds by pouring out His promises on us. About two and a half years ago Carol and I began to work with CareCenter Ministries, a wonderful organization here in Dallas. CCM is one of the finest “urban” ministries I have seen in over 40 years of being around all kinds of good inner-city ministries. We work with them several days a week teaching, writing, consulting and helping in any way we can. We have chosen to “pour ourselves out” to the hungry and afflicted of Southeast Dallas through CareCenter and God has blessed us richly. As we have “poured out,” He has “poured in.”

The website for CareCenter Ministries is www.carecenterministries.org. If the Lord speaks to you about praying for or supporting CCM, then do so with confidence. This ministry is as complete and righteously run as any I have ever seen — a quality ministry! They really love the area they serve and they are reaching deep into the community with all types of outreaches. The fruit God is bringing forth is quite incredible. This is good soil, so sow generously!

I am committed to living in personal revival, and the primary key to doing so is hunger: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied [filled]” (Matthew 5:6, ESV). If there is no hunger, no desire for more of God, for more prayer, for more of the Word, then there will be no revival.

Here are three things I have learned over the years that keep me constantly moving in the direction of “more of Him, more of the Spirit.”

     1.  Filling my heart and mind with the Word.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8, ESV).

I would strongly recommend that you be in the Word every day. Find a translation you are comfortable with and have a Bible-reading plan of some kind. Just get the Word into you! Fill your heart and mind with the Word of God. Personally, I am committed to starting every day by spending time in the Word and in prayer.

     2.   Clear the way through repentance. 

      This is a word that is not always well received by Jesus followers.   Some bristle when repentance is spoken of. Their attitude is, “I repented once and that’s enough!” The truth about life as a believer is that along the way we pick up junk (habits, thoughts, sins, trash) that is wrong. It is carnal and sinful and it gets attached to our lives. Unless it is dealt with, it will inhibit the flowing of the Spirit of God. God doesn’t leave us because we’ve become fans of trashy reality TV, but the freedom of His moving and flowing in our lives can be curtailed by the junk that we have accumulated. Very honestly, God and His Spirit will not play second fiddle to some of the junk we take into our lives; in theological terms, this is idolatry and that is a serious no-no! So we must clear the path to personal revival and we do that by repenting and confessing. Two verses of Scripture to help on this are:

·      1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV). John was writing to followers of Jesus about their need to stay clean before the Lord.

·      Proverbs 1:23 – “If you turn [repent] at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you” (ESV). This is wisdom speaking and who is wisdom but God? This is a promise of God for every believer. Simply put, God is saying, “When you repent and turn from your mistakes and wickedness, the way is clear and I can pour out of My Spirit and open up to you the truths of My Word.”

In reading about the genesis of virtually every revival outpouring in history you will find God’s people repenting, confessing sin as the Spirit begins to move. The moment they begin to repent, the outpouring intensifies and grows.

     3.   Pray for revival and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you.

I am dismayed at the lack of interest in prayer in the contemporary church. It is disheartening to see how much attention is paid to public image and crowds and how little attention is given to prayer and study of the Word. There are few prayer meetings, few calls for fasting, but we do love our rock ’n’ roll music and our sixty-minute worship services.

We need to ask God for revival. We should not expect to receive unless we ask.

“You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2, ESV).

Don’t be shy about asking the Holy Spirit to lead you into personal revival. He is the Spirit of God living in you and as we have been given the right to speak to God, we also have every right to speak to the Holy Spirit. In doing so, we honor Him and release Him to be our guide.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8, ESV). 

Ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock and knock until the door is opened!