DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT: REVIVE US NOW! #1

Revival cannot be organized, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again. -- G. Campbell Morgan.
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O LORD, I have heard your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. -- Hab 3:2 (NKJ)

Revive Us Now
In our last series of “Forceful People” I was spiritually stirred and provoked by reading some of the stories from the Welsh Revival. It was with this in mind and with the sorrowful state of the Church in some countries including my own, Australia, that I felt led by the Holy Spirit to do a series on revival, praying that whoever reads it may be stirred and provoked as I was.

Over the past couple of months, everything seems to be going crazy, there was a breakdown of law and order on Palm Island when a man died in police custody and there was a riot by some indigenous people that even the police were afraid to go there. In Sydney, there was a massive riot and people were injured and arrested. In Brisbane close to where I live, there was rioting in the City Centre, once again injuries and arrests.

On top of all this there was the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney on Saturday night, where the streets were lined by nearly half a million spectators, watching Prime Minister John Howard and President George Bush being mocked for their stance against same sex marriages. We need a Godly revival to change our societies!

My prayer is the same as Habakkuk… “….revive your work in the midst of the years!...” Oh! Lord, we need a touch from heaven so badly, in our Church, in our communities, in our Cities and in our Countries

What is Revival?
Well it’s not evangelism, even though many souls may be saved as a result of it. Its not emotionalism, although there may be emotional manifestations connected to it.

A good definition of Revival is... a renewal of spiritual life in an individual or among a group of people. The Hebrew word from Strong’s is…chayah (khaw-yaw'); meaning to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive: -- keep (leave, make) alive, certainly, give (promise) life, (let, suffer to) live, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, (X God) save (alive, life, lives), X surely, be whole.

A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness, making God's love triumph in the heart. -- Andrew Murray.

Loving Father, revive you people in our time, start with me Lord! I ask you by the power of the Holy Spirit, to create a hunger and a thirst in me for a revival in my Church, in my community, in my City and in my Country! In Jesus wonderful Name! Amen!