Two
The Ultimate Revival
PSALM 50:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
What is revival? A shower after a long day? Does it mean to go on vacation and relax? Resting on Friday night and sleeping in late? Maybe, but those are temporary feelings of renewal. Why do we need revival? We are hanging in there, so there is no need to change anything—right? And what does God have to do with it? Does He play a role in our personal revivals?
Revival only comes from God. There is no getting around that. You can believe you are made whole and revived through other sources, but you are lying to yourself. Recognizing your need for God, along with confessing you might have stepped off of course, is the first step, and by prayer and confession you will see your focus shifting from worldly thoughts to God’s way of thinking—you will see through His eyes. We die daily, with the world pulling us down and tugging at our faith, but prayer revives and refreshes us, as God pours His Spirit and Light into our hearts. This is how He makes us whole and new again—only God’s fullness and love gives us revival.
Without practicing prayer regularly, we lose grip of God’s love and strength. Through prayer we give God our weaknesses and He equips us with His supernatural, unstoppable strength. He feeds us His living water and truth. You will notice, not that you should or want to, a depletion in your strength, energy, inner light, and sense of purpose when you quit praying. And God does that on purpose. Not too hurt us, or cause us any pain, but He wants to remind us that He should be the central point in our lives, including our thoughts throughout the day. He wants you to understand He is the only answer. Yes, it might seem hard at first to keep your mind on God all day everyday, because distractions will arise and it is a practice that needs to be exercised, but when you start believing Him more and walking further into your spiritual journey, you will find there is no other way but to thank and glorify Him every second of your life. Your goal is life should be not only just to love and serve God, but to reach a point where you realize you cannot live or breathe a second without God.
Never think you are bothering God or asking too much of Him. He created us to need Him, and it only hurts if you don’t ask for His help. God died for you so you could spend the rest of eternity serving and being with Him. Not just for a little here and there, but for eternity.
That might seem like a stretch right now, but once you begin your spiritual revival and new journey with God through prayer alone, along with meditating on His word, promises, and keeping your devotion to Him increasing, you will never want to look back on your old life.
The key to prayer is faith, and the key to faith is prayer. You must accept the importance of both faith and prayer, as they so closely intertwine and are vital for our spiritual—and general—wellbeing.
We are lost without God, but with Him we can accomplish everything. There is nothing that can stop us with God’s power in our heart because every obstacle and enemy flees with fear with the knowledge that we have God’s unbeatable power in our hands. Revival means thinking like a champion of God. It means having a new perspective on how you live. It means you understand you need Jesus at every second. It means you take up your cross daily, pray, and are humble in your walk with God.
You must confess your sins to Him, acknowledging that you are weak and powerless without Him. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If you truly confess to God and tell Him you want to change from your sinful ways, He will always forgive you.
Continue striving to build your wall of faith and develop a good relationship with Jesus. Concentrate on your prayers and what they include. Meditate on God’s Word and practice hearing His voice. Focus on hearing answers through His whispers. He is talking to you all the time, and is closer than you could imagine. Try to feel more comfortable with talking to God about all of your problems, and build your confidence in Him to bring you answers. Confess your sins each night, asking God to cleanse you from the impurities and shame of your mistakes. Try thanking God for your problems, even if it seems awkward. Remember He is using all of them to make you stronger, and to bring you closer to Him. Without our issues, we wouldn’t grow as close to God as He intended for us to.
Above all else is giving yourself to Jesus and being cleansed in His blood. His blood is the only way to be restored from sin.
If you don’t honor your Creator, how do you expect any change or revival to take place within you? Revival literally means “life again,” and trust me, if you don’t accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there will be no change in your life. I don’t say that bluntly to insult or criticize, but those seeking to take the next step in their spiritual journey will understand this vital action.
All He cares is about you joining Him and accepting Him. It’s not too late. Start now! You will see life so much clearer once you confess your sins and ask God to enter the depths of your heart and cleanse you with His precious blood.
You are a Christian. That’s good. You know God well, and pray often. Great! You pray everyday—even better! Your goal in life is to serve Him and help others. You are doing everything right! Then why do we need to have more of God? Aren’t we doing a pretty good job already? Even as Christians we are still victim to something that separates us from God: sin.
What is sin exactly? We as humans are not perfect, meaning we make mistakes and disobey the principles God has set out for us to follow and abide. While we may strive for perfection, we will always be plagued by sin. Sin comes in many different forms—we can sin by falling into temptations, lying, stealing, or participating in anything that goes against God’s teachings. Everyday, we sin. There is no escaping that. We must accept ourselves as sinners and as imperfect beings, and humbling confess our sins to God. We sin without realizing it, sometimes, which is why it is vital to stay in continual communication with God. Sin clogs our thinking, blurs our ability to hear God, and brings false shame. It makes us think God has not forgiven us, and makes it difficult for us to forgive ourselves.
The main thing to realize about sin is that it not only distracts us, separates us from God, and makes us feel abandoned, but should make us more aware of our need for God and the cleansing and purity—only He can provide—that we so desperately need. The only way to wash away the guilt and dirt of sin is telling God about it, and asking His hand of mercy. Just like skipping daily prayer, when we skip confessing our sins and asking God’s forgiveness, the filth of sin begins to control our lives and fill our hearts, rather than the Light of The Holy Spirit. Soon after, you fall into a downward spiral, convincing yourself God has left you and doesn’t care for anymore because of the things you have done.
But it is the complete opposite. When we sin, we feel distant from God. However, on His end, He is rushing to us and holding us by the hand, drawing us back into His presence. That’s how much He cares about you. He won’t let any sin or any mistake get in the way of His love for you. He wants you more than you could ever imagine, and the enemy tries to attack us with guilt resulting from our sins, and make us feel hopeless, and as if we ruined our chances with God.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:16-20. God tells us if we don’t believe Jesus rose from the dead, our faith is worthless and we still live under the weight of sin. Believing in Jesus’ death is one thing, but don’t disregard the resurrection—Jesus saves those who truly believe He conquered death and darkness, and that He took the bondage of sin with Him on the Cross.
The good news is Jesus still sits on the throne of Heaven, and all it takes is one prayer asking for forgiveness to feel a transformation occurring inside of you. That is God revealing Himself once more to you through the Holy Spirit coming into your heart, pouring His light upon your soul, and making you feel and become brand new, as you instantly leave behind old life habits and ways of living, and turn to Jesus and follow His new path for you life. The main point of all of this is for you to understand is we are all sinners in need of salvation—which can only be brought by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In addition, I’m telling you today God does not care about how many mistakes or sins you’ve committed—your time for revival is now and God knows that, so join hands with Him today and accept your victory over your new life in Him! Amen!
Revival calls for leaving our own ways and submitting to God’s plans for us. However, that calls for some work on our part, and for us to truly feel God working on our lives, we have to pray. By praying, we shift our own limited understanding and vision over to God, and are transformed by His peace, grace, forgiveness, and Heavenly touch, as He supernaturally lifts the burdens off of our shoulders and gives us wisdom to understand everything will be okay. But prayer doesn’t just mean saying “God, I’m praying and just please do all of this work so I don’t have to.”
Prayer should be sincere, from our hearts. When we pray, we must be in silence and turn our ears on to hear the stillness of God’s voice. Now, what does that mean exactly? The stillness of God’s voice is the priceless time when we are in prayer and we just feel Jesus coming into the room and filling our hearts with His Spirit of grace, and as we pray, God talks back to us through our hearts, giving us feelings of hope and prosperity.
Only prayer can make you feel like that. There is no medication, no funny television show, or conversation with your best friend that can cheer you up the way God does. Imagine it is like the world’s problems pile upon us throughout the day, but when we pray and confess our issues to God, He lifts the burdens off of us and places a sealed envelope of Heavenly lightness and airiness on our shoulders instead.
The longer we go without prayer, the more burdens pile up, and the more pressure we feel. The hard thing is, when the world’s problems stack on us more and more, we tend to feel so overwhelmed and hopeless that we think God can’t help us at that point, and remembering to pray becomes much more difficult. That’s why constant prayer is vital not only to our revivals but in our everyday lives.
Whether or not you are just trying to make it through the day, make a living with a job that doesn’t pay that much, or feeling pressure from always trying to be perfect, prayer will lift all of the worry and dirt of the world off of us.
Our everyday problems pale in comparison to the pressure on God’s shoulders—yet He is perfect and no competition for any obstacle. Can you imagine the pressure put on Jesus at His crucifixion? He could have—with a snap of His fingers—called upon God Almighty and easily avoided the gruesome and horrific pain from the nails piercing His skin on the cross. The very reason He avoided that temptation was love. His love for you! He died for each and every one of us—no matter what race, skin color, gender, sexuality, age, or size, Jesus died for all of our sins because we are loved and precious children of the most high God in Heaven, and He loved you so much He sent His only begotten Son—conceived by The Holy Spirit—to come to Earth in the flesh of man and not only be more relatable for us but die for us. The least we could do is live for Him. That’s all He asks of us. Thank Him for reviving you pray something like this:
Father,
Thank You for this revival occurring within me. Thank You for making me understand You more and see myself through Your eyes. Close the distance between us and hold my hand every step of this new life I’ve been given. Help me fathom how deep your love is for me and understand the power Your precious blood carries. Take me and do with my life what You want. Thank You, Jesus! Amen.
Faith Reminder
You are not the way you used to be. You may not realize it, but just realizing you need revival is enough for God to begin working in your heart. He is already breaking old habits, reviving you, making you anew, and giving you the answers to your prayers sooner than you could imagine. You may not feel too much different, but understand God is working on your behalf and from this point on proclaim you are new, your old self is dead, and because of the Cross, God is molding you into who you were called to be.