Renewing our Lives

2 Chronicles 7:14

Oct 18, 2009

In my early years as a pastor I visited with a family who asked me why do we have revival services. Maybe you have wondered that yourself. Someone queried Billy Graham about the need for revival services and said, “After all, revivals don’t last.” Billy Graham answered, “Neither do baths, but we need them from time to time.”

It was 1904 when a young student attended a revival service in the land of my fore bearers in the country of Wales. Evan Roberts responded to the altar call and prayed, “Bend me, O Lord” in a complete and total surrender of his will to God’s will. Returning to his home church the pastor announced that Roberts would speak following the regular prayer meeting for any who would like to stay. Of that congregation 17 people, mostly teenagers and young adults stayed to hear Roberts’ passion for revival. His message had 4 points:

• Confess all known sin to God,
• Deal with and get rid of any “doubtful” areas of your life,
• Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly, and
• Confess Christ publicly.

Those 17 people, praying until 2am, sparked one of the greatest movements of God in all of history. By the end of the week, 60 people had given their lives to Christ. Over the next 18 months in that little country of Wales over 1 million people came to Jesus as Savior. Three years later, as a teenager my grandfather boarded the Lusitania, and left Wales for America. Some 6 years later my grandmother came to the New World to marry my grandfather. In that Welsh environment I grew up hearing of Evan Roberts and the great Welsh revival. Today I am a 3rd generation product of that great movement of God’s Spirit.

Let me share how that revival affected the people of Wales back in 1904 (106 years ago). A wave of bankruptcies took place. Why? Because all the taverns and liquor stores went out of business. Work at the coal mines came to an almost standstill. Why? Because the mules who pulled to coal carts were so accustomed to hearing the miners cursing that after the men were converted to Christ the mules no longer recognized the miners’ commands. The entire police force was dismissed for nearly 18 months due to lack of crime. In one court case that did happen the defendant confessed his crime. The judge led that man to Christ and the jury closed the trial by singing a hymn. Can you imagine something like that happening today? That is real change. That is transformation.

In time these revival fires jumped the Atlantic to the East Coast of America. The New York Times newspaper ran a column called “Today’s Converts” which listed by name those persons who came to Christ. Today in Wales very few people even attend worship and I don’t have to tell you what is going on here in America. Do you think Wales needs revival today? Do you think America needs revival today? Revivals like baths don’t last but we need them from time to time. Why? Because we are naturally prone away from the things of God. When you take the log out of the fire, that log will eventually lose its fire, but put that same log back into the fire and that log will once again catch fire.

Can a 1904-style revival happen again? Does it need to happen here in America? In New Jersey? In Sicklerville UMC? In your heart and life? The world is a much darker and more sinister place, and even greater evil has become very popular and normal among the masses.

But what about God has changed from 1904 til today? What part of the resurrection of Christ is different? Has the work of the Holy Spirit altered over the years?

What would it take for us to have this kind of revival? What would it take for you to have this kind of revival?

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God lays out some of the conditions for revival. What is revival? The word revival means, “to bring to life again.” The reality is that from time to time we need to get our spiritual batteries recharged. We need to rekindle the spiritual fires in our gut. Over time we cool down, we lose energy, and we find ourselves in spiritual neutral. Revival ignites the fires, re-energizes us, and restores our spiritual drive. Next Sunday begins our 4-day revival beginning Sunday morning and each night through Wednesday. Revival worship services are similar to Sunday morning worship…we will sing praise songs and hymns, we will pray, we will take an offering for the evangelist, and a message from God’s Word will be proclaimed. The difference is that the focus will be on our relationship with Jesus. It will be about Jesus and us.

But here’s the question: will it be revival or will it be nothing more than extra worship services and more nights out? God wants to revive us and we need to be revived. The question is this: do you want to be revived?

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 it is God Himself who says, “If my people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

God is looking for people to revive. That is His heart’s desire. Notice the very first word—‘If’ in 2 Chronicles 7:14. There are conditions to God’s blessings and it is those “ifs” we are going to look at today. God begins with His people. Revival doesn’t begin with pagans and unbelievers. Revival always begins with the body of Christ, those who claim the name of Jesus. And when we claim the name of Jesus it means that we stand out among the crowd. It means that we live and act and behave differently than everyone else because we have different values and priorities and a different worldview. As Christians we are the “called out ones” who are called to be a holy priesthood where every one of us is gifted for ministry, and where each of us is called to be a witness to God’s transforming grace.

This message from God is not directed to the unbeliever but to the believer who is called by God’s name. If you are a believer then this verse from the Bible is for you. If you are not a believer then you have my permission to “zone out.” If you are a believer and are not interested in revival, then I would double-check your ‘believer status’ in God’s Kingdom.

What are the conditions to revival, both for you and for our church? Here they are the conditions for revival: humble yourself, pray, seek God, and turn from sin and wicked ways.

I. The first condition for revival to happen is to “humble yourself.” The word humble means ‘to be in submission, to live in a state of surrender.’ This means to understand that you don’t have all the answers, that you aren’t ‘all that,’ and that you are not God’s gift to the world. It means to give control of your life over the Jesus. He is now is the driver’s seat of your life and He calls the shots. You do what He wants you to do, and you live how He wants you to live. When we humble ourselves to Jesus, we allow Him to bend us as He chooses. And when that happens we cannot remain the same.

II. The second condition and ‘if’ is to pray. “If my people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray….” Prayer is another way of saying, ‘talking to God.’ It is no more and no less than communicating with God. In prayer we intersect with God and connect with Him and He with us. In prayer He becomes a part of us and we become a part of Him. Prayer is the “plowing the fields of our hearts” so that we are prepared to receive all that God wants to give us. Revival is God bringing us to life again and prayer is a key factor to that reality.

III. The 3rd condition to revival is seeking God’s face. This means to deeply desire. One of the reasons we don’t see more of God’s presence and power is because we simply do not desire it very much. How many times have you heard an athlete on the losing side lament, “They wanted it more than we did.” Life is full of trade-offs and when it comes to revival there is a trade-off. Are we seeking and deeply desiring revival? In Jeremiah God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek Me with all your heart.” If you are casual about it, you won’t be revived. Evan Roberts prayed, “Bend me, Lord” and those 17 people stayed in that church until 2am seeking God’s revival.

IV. The 4th condition is this: “turn from their wicked ways.” Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Light always dispels the darkness, but we can turn off the light. Sin always turns off the light. Sinful attitudes and sinful actions always separate us from God. The operative word in this Scripture phrase is “turn.” The turning begins with a desire and attitude and ends with action. You won’t turn unless you see the need and want to turn. But attitude alone doesn’t get it done. You need to actually turn away from known sin—to quit doing that sin. Confession is acknowledging and owning up that we have sin in our hearts and we do sin. Repentance is the turning from that sin. When that happens then revival happens in your heart and life.

These are the conditions for revival—personal, as a church and as a nation. Hear it again: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways…” Renewal is not about meeting one or two of these conditions. It is about doing all of them.

And when we are serious about revival, meet God’s conditions for revival, then God’s promise will be given to us. “…Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God will hear us. He will forgive our sin. And He will bring healing to us as His people. Revival is God’s way of igniting the fires of our hearts and souls again, of reaffixing our focus on Jesus, and of reorienting our priorities to His Kingdom.

If you claim the name of Jesus and call yourself a Christian, you need revival!