Revival doesn’t simply start in the church…it starts in each of our hearts. The preacher can preach God’s Word until he’s blue in the face…but there’s no revival unless we yield ourselves and truly want a change.
Monday night was the first night of our fall revival. Pastor Rick Dawson, our guest speaker from Arkansas, preached an outstanding message to challenge us to separate ourselves from the world and say, “I want to be in the presence of God.”
You see, we can’t have both. Many Christians aren’t closer to God because they want too much to be close to the things of the world.
But how do we start to change?
My own Pastor (Jimmy McCullough) stated just this last Sunday that the way to get more of an appetite for things of God is to spend more time doing things of God (reading our Bible much more, praying, attending to church, etc.)
Here’s where the real trouble is lurking…
The trouble truly lies in our lack of commitment to do the things of God. Yes, we commit to applying our makeup in the morning before we face the outside world; we commit to fixing meals so that we can gratify our appetites; we commit to taking our kids to do fun activities so we can be great “mommies” in their eyes; we commit to cleaning our houses (sometimes 😉 ); we commit to paying the bills so that we can have running water and electricity.
We make many commitments but we often fail to make the most important one… commitment to spend more time doing the things of God.
A couple of weeks ago we studied the book of Ezra in our homeschool Bible lessons. Ezra did the most important thing…he made a commitment to God’s Word.
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. – Ezra 7:10
God’s Word is mighty and brings about change. We just need more of it than what we’re getting.
Upon Ezra’s return to his homeland in Jerusalem, he is quite disheartened by their disobedience and the way they were living in sin. With the authority to administer God’s law, he faces the challenge to see a change in the people by beginning to pray for God to work in the lives of the people.
Here’s what made a difference…
For seven days long, public readers read God’s Word six hours each day. The people responded in weeping and conviction from their sin. There was a great change — a revival!! 🙂
Why can even “teens” get excited about the things of God each year?
Pastor Rick Dawson said that he has preached at Christian summer camps numerous times over the years….and every single year teens get excited about the things of God…there’s a change in them. Why? Because they were separated from the influences of the world for one whole week and heard lots of lots of preaching from the Word of God.
Why we really don’t see changes in ourselves…
The fact is, when we don’t separate ourselves from the influence of the world there is little chance for revival in our hearts… TV, the internet, Facebook, Instagram, etc. all busy our minds and take away our time from reading God’s Word and doing things of God.
There’s no quiet time to commune with Him. I admit that I love to connect with my friends on social media, but the sad thing is that we often connect ourselves to our phones to the extreme…until all time for God is snuffed out.
Do you “really” want to be closer to God?
We can ALL have a change in our lives and have more appetite for the things of God IF we will make a commitment to separate ourselves more from the influence of the world and read God’s Word more.
The dirty truth is that many really do not want to be closer to God because they like the things of the world too much. They’d rather enjoy the pleasure of their sin.
Want to know if what you’re doing is right or wrong?
Dig into God’s Word more. The Holy Spirit does a fantastic job of convicting our hearts and showing us what things we need to change in our lives.
I challenge you to take a week and pour your heart into the Word of God and take time to be quiet from outside influences… come back and let me know how God worked in your life…because I KNOW He will! 🙂
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. – Proverbs 16:3
God bless your week ahead,
