I’ve been praying for Revival off and on for more than 20
years, as far as I can remember. But sometimes, I’ve experienced a work of God
that is very exciting, and I really don’t realize that it has the elements of
revival, until I’ve stepped back from the experience and reviewed the moments
with a colleague or friend. I suppose I need to ask, what is revival? There is
much written about the phenomenon, and there are many reports of revival
breaking out in previous centuries on the east coast, reports of meetings where
many are healed and delivered in Africa, places in the Middle East have
reported enthusiastic experiences by Christians living on the edge, or in
persecution or being miraculously saved
from despair and humiliation. Not everything that is happening gets recorded.
In John 20:30 it says that Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his
disciples, which are not recorded in this book. So I can safely assume that
revival is experiencing something done by Jesus (God, Holy Spirit), and we
don’t always hear about it.
Saturday my pastor was asked to talk with a man, 61 years
old, who was very sick and during that meeting the man prayed a prayer of
salvation, asking God to forgive him of any transgressions and invited Jesus to
come and reside with him, in his heart.
Monday, the man left this life and was swept up into the arms of Jesus. Revival?
Awesome timing!
The next evening, I stopped in and caught the tail end of
our evening bible study and we spoke about this timely confession of faith
before this man died, and a parishioner in our bible study, with tears in his
eyes spoke about something that was recorded in a magazine about what a heavy
metal musician said, expressing his viewpoints on dying. It wasn’t very hopeful
or full of faith. This parishioner was overwhelmed with compassion for this
musician whose music he really loved. He just couldn’t believe this musician
spoke so callously about death, even his own death, which occurred in the
unforeseen future. And I said, in
Revelation 1:18 it says, “….I was dead, and see I am alive forever and ever;
and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” That says to me that the keys give
Christ access into Hell (Hades) and if Christ Himself overcame death on the
cross, He can go to Hell and save us. Now, this may not line up with theology,
but I can’t imagine God ignoring my bible study companion’s heart of compassion
filled with love for this musician! Just the thought of this possibility is
rather reviving to my heart!!
Today, I’m working on a new project to bring hope into our
neighborhood, and I’m feeling rather excited, believing God to do a work of
revival in our neck of the woods today!
