| A Special Edition Article for the National Day of Prayer by Pastor Shane Idleman
*Here is a link to a message by the same title given at Westside Christian Fellowship. God moved powerfully in this special service. To view click here
I’m sure we can all agree that evil surrounds us in America. Daily we are bombarded by reports of heinous crimes and lawlessness being committed throughout our land. How can Christians not only remain peaceful and hopeful during these turbulent times but also dare to anticipate revival—perhaps a Third Great Awakening? I believe we can. But we must be willing to wait on God and seek Him like never before because “He acts for the one who waits for Him” (Isaiah 64:4).
This type of waiting expects something to happen and waits patiently for it. When we wait and pray, anger doesn’t influence us, impatience doesn’t drive us, impulse doesn’t derail us, and fear doesn’t stop us. The disciples prayed in the upper room until heaven opened and the Spirit came down. The filling of the Holy Spirit forever changed them. They were hungry for more of God. Can you say the same?
If we are to expect God to heal the crippled church and our dying nation, we must pray like Isaiah, “Oh God, rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). And like the woman in the parable of the unjust judge, we must keep asking (Luke 18:1–8). Prayer must be brought back into our churches, real prayer that searches the soul and penetrates the heart.
Never, Never, Never Let Go
Many years ago, a very old man who experienced a revival when he was younger was asked why the revival ended. His eyes were filled with holy fire when he cried, “When you lay hold of God, never, never, never, never let go!” Let his burden be a warning as well as a reminder to never let go.
When you were first born again, you had this fire, didn’t you? And then life happened. Prayer and reading the Word gradually became an afterthought. Yet nationwide revival begins with personal revival—believers one by one begin to seek God again, and before long, there are family revivals and then churchwide revivals and then community revivals. Yes, it can happen, but the seeds must be planted by individual members of the body. In other words, it begins with you.
Are we welcoming this type of downpour in our churches and positioning ourselves for a downpour of God’s Spirit, or are we extinguishing it because of pride, sin, doubt, unbelief, and prayerlessness? It’s time to break up our fallow ground and seek the Lord while He still may be found (Hosea 10:12). We provide the sacrifice; He provides the fire.
Do You Want to be Made Well?
People love their sin and play the victim—which seems to be so prevalent in our educated, modern society—and they don’t want to change. Just like many today, the Laodiceans in Revelation 3 thought they were in the center of God’s will. They were a large church, wealthy and involved in the community, but Jesus said they were, instead, “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”... read more |
