“For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the LORD’s declaration—
”plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11

When John Wesley was traveling around and preaching the gospel, he came to one village, where he asked if he could preach in the service on Sunday. The minister of the church refused because he, along with many others of the day, believed Wesley to be a heretic. So Wesley went to the cemetery, and stood on one of the tombstones, and preached to the crowd that gathered to hear him - the largest congregation the town had ever seen.

He did this night after night, preaching also at several of the surrounding villages. Many people were saved, and lives were changed. Some of their angry neighbors seized an entire wagon-load of these new heretics and took them before a magistrate. When the magistrate asked what they had done, there was a deep silence, because no one had thought about that. Finally, someone said, “They pretended to be better than other people,” while another said, “They prayed from morning to night.” One man said, “They have converted my wife. Till she went among them she had such a tongue, and now she is quiet as a lamb!”

When the magistrate heard this, he proclaimed, “Take them back! Take them back, and let them convert the entire town!”

Why are we afraid of what God would do if He got hold of our lives? Why can we not see the goodness of the changes a spiritual awakening would bring to our families? Is it because we suspect the goodness of God? Have we confused Jesus with someone else? Jesus told us in John 10:10, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness (NLT). God’s plan is a good plan and we can trust Him because He loves us more than we love ourselves.

Today’s Scripture Reading: 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21

Today’s Prayer Guidance: Father, help me not to fear Your work in my life. Grant me the courage to embrace the changes You will bring to my life as good things. Enable me to see all the good revival can mean to me.

Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your untilled ground.
It is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain. Hosea 10:12

When God sends revival He starts with a few people. When He sent revival to Nineveh He started with Jonah. In other revivals throughout church history there would be a group of people who were burdened for revival and would meet together to pray. God starts in a small inner circle and works His way out. The inner circle will always be people God has raised up and whom God has burdened for revival.

Prayer

Dr. A. T. Pierson once said, 'There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.' Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famed C.H. Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked, "Gentlemen, let me show you around. Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?" They were not particularly interested, for it was a hot day in July. But they didn't want to offend the stranger, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway, a door was quietly opened, and their guide whispered, "This is our heating plant." Surprised, the students saw 700 people bowed in prayer, seeking a blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the auditorium above. Softly closing the door, the gentleman then introduced himself. It was none other than Charles Spurgeon.

Humility

Humility is the willingness to be corrected. It is removing the walls we have built for self-defense. We stop being defensive and start being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, to correction from the Bible, and to advice of mature Christians who wish to help us grow.

A Soft Heart

The Bible tells us to break up the unplowed ground. When hardness enters our lives, we become closed to God. His grace, like rain, will roll off of us instead of sinking in. The problem is not with God, but with us; we are too hardened to receive what He has for us.

Today’s Scripture Reading: 1st Peter 5:5-10

Today’s Prayer Guidance: O God give me a soft heart toward You. Give me a humble spirit toward fellow-believers. And give me a heart to spend time with You in prayer.

Revival is when God awakens believers to their lukewarmness and sin, and powerfully calls them to repentance. In revival God presses upon His people the seriousness of sin and the urgency of repentance. Believers begin to think deeply about God and their relationship to Him. God has revealed Himself—His holiness, His sovereignty, His power. God’s people are driven to confess their sins and refocus their affections. Their indifference is shaken and they begin to have emotions about spiritual matters proportionate to those eternal realities. God reinvigorates His church in revival. There is new life and power in the church. Christians serve the Lord with great effectiveness and a fresh joy.

While revival always begins in the household of God, it will powerfully impact those who are lost. As God restores His church to its proper level of holiness and power, the Lord’s people gain a concern for their lost family members and neighbors. Christians begin to pray earnest prayers for the conversion of the lost and God moves in powerful ways to bring people to Christ. In the 1857-58 Prayer Revival crews onboard ships are recorded as falling under mighty conviction of sin as their ship entered the harbor at New York City.

Revival impacts a community in positive ways. In the Welsh Revival, they had to take the work horses out of the mines and retrain them because the workers had stopped using the profanity they had used in the past to command them. One police station formed a singing group and sang at churches because so much of their time was freed up. Judges were given white gloves, the custom when there were no cases to be heard.
True revival cannot be scheduled. It cannot be worked up or promoted into existence. Churches have “revival services” because they wish to make themselves available to this dynamic work of God. We can pray that God will send revival, but it’s a brave prayer. If God is pleased to send revival, it will mean conviction of sin, the work of repentance, and moving outside our comfort zone.

Today’s Scripture Reading: Acts 2



Today’s Prayer Guidance: Lord, Plant in your peoples heart a desire for true revival. Give us a glimpse of You that will bring the rest of our lives into focus. Awaken desires for holiness within us. Give us the courage to seek You with our whole heart.