DO YOU WANT REVIVAL?

"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned"
(Matthew 12:36, 37).

I am desperate for revival? Are you? I guess we should first ask, what is revival? It is turning back to the original, the beginning! It’s reviving the first things.

In Scripture the “law of the first mention” is very important. When God says something the first time in the Scriptures, we must take note. He lays the foundation for that truth. He may enlarge upon it throughout the Scriptures but the first mention is the foundation. It must never be discounted.

When we get away from the first mention, we must be revived to come back! Back to God’s plan. Back to the very first commandments He gave us. Back to His heart. Back to His first words. Back to our first love. We need to forever be coming back to our first love, don’t we? God’s first commandment is to love Him with our whole hearts and whole souls and whole minds and all our strength (Mark 12:30).

With all the distractions in our lives it’s so easy to get away from our first love for Jesus. There’s nothing more important than being in love with Jesus (Revelation 2:4, 5). This is the hub from which everything else in our life flows out. When we are in love with Jesus, we will love our husbands and children and everyone around us. 

We must also come back to the very first words God spoke to the man and woman He created. Genesis 1:28 says: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth.” God has never rescinded these words. They stand forever. If we discard them because we think we know better, we disobey God’s powerful and living Word. We certainly need a revival in the church to come back to these words, don’t we?

We must come back to marriage oneness. God’s eternal plan for marriage is that we are to be one. God’s first description of marriage is in Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”  We are not two people living in the same house but living our separate lives. We are joined in flesh, spirit, and vision to work together to build a strong marriage and family.

We must come back to God’s heart for children. Malachi 4:4-6 says: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

This is one of the greatest revivals needed in the church today. Most of the church has no understanding of God’s plan for children. They limit the number of children in their family as much as the secular world. They have as little regard for the blessing of children as the world does.

This Scripture not only speaks about fathers turning their hearts to their one or two children but turning their hearts back to the same attitude God has about children. To open their hearts to embrace children. To be fathers who are not afraid to trust God for the children He wants to give them. We need to come back to believe in the God of the Bible. Many believe in a false God. They believe in a god who is only able to provide for one or two children. Any more would be too much for their god. This is not the God of the Bible.

Do we really want revival? True revival will turn us back to God’s original ways. We love to see revivals of worship and the moving of God’s Spirit. This is wonderful but may it lead to coming back to God’s heart and all His commandments.

PRAYER

“Dear Father in Heaven, how I long for revival. I long to see your church turn back to you in prayer and repentance. I long to see Your people reveling in worship and prayer rather than being intoxicated with the entertainments of this world. I long to see Your people come back to Your plan—embracing children and building strong marriages. Please come with a mighty move of Your Holy Spirit drawing us back to You. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I want to walk every day with revival fire in my soul.

NANCY CAMPBELL

www.aboverubies.org

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