"Revival" pt. 4

"If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or I sent pestilence among My people; If My People, who are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now My Eyes shall be open, and My Ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this House, that My Name may be there forever: and My Eyes and My Heart shall be there perpetually.

2 Chr 7:13-16

"Healing in the land"

As I have been sharing about revival in the previous posts, today, lets talk about the fruit, or results of revival. Previously I shared , first, our need for revival, secondly, the focus of revival, and third, the purpose of revival. In these passages, we see that sin, causes our fellowship with the Lord to be hindered, even broken , when we turn away from the conditions of covenant relationship with Him. As stated before, nothing can separate us from His Love, but covenant relationship is conditional. We see here that He uses various ways and means, to get the attention of His People.

Should He allow drought, famine, disease, natural disasters, civil upheaval to get the attention of His People, throughout time, it always seems to do so. For awhile. God spoke to Ezekiel, and called Israel, "impudent children and stiffhearted"(Eze 2:4). Time and again, turning from God. It is the same in this present age. But because of His Great Love, He never abandons us. He always has a remnant, that He calls, and anoints, and works through, to bring His People back to Him. To refocus us, to dwell in us, to empower us for the Work of the Ministry of reconciliation. The only provision is Faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

In our world today, even though we have seen advancement in the civil, medical, financial, and technological fields, the heart of man, remains in the same sinful state since the fall of man. All we need to do is to look around us, and see the social,and political unrest, the fear and hatred in the world, and worse , the indifference, until it directly affects us. The sin nature of man is bearing it's fruit, in our world today.

We sometimes can't see the sin nature for what it is, because we accept it, as how God made us...not true. Because of the fall of man in the garden, sin was integrated into our human nature, as a dominant force, because God gave us free will, freedom to choose and make our own choices. Adam and Eve chose wrong, and set the sin nature, into mankind. Since then, man's heart has always been bent towards sin and self, rather than obedience to God, and His Word. The Prophet Jeremiah said, blessed is the man, who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord, and cursed is the man who trusts in man, and whose heart leaves God. He goes on to say,the heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked , "who can know it?"(Jer 17: 5-10)

There's an old proverbial saying, "can't see the forest for the trees". It expresses one overlooking the big picture for focusing only on the minor details. The sin nature is handled the same way. We focus on the product of sin, and label it everything but sin,such as, poor choices, cultural and environment influence, sickness and disease. We don't see the problem because of the symptoms. The sin nature that produces the various symptoms. The heart is deceitful, "Who can know it?"

This current state, hasn't happened suddenly,or over a period of years, or over decades, but over generations. In 2 Kings, it tells us time and again, the different kings doing evil in the sight of the Lord, and how some successive kings did more evil than their forefathers. The level of evil, today is growing worse, with each passing generation. We, the Church, have been called to be the "salt of the earth, and the Light of the world", to preach the Gospel, to this lost, and dying world, blinded to sin, by wicked and deceitful hearts, "Who can know it?". The Lord does. By and large, We have been negligent in our commission.

We the Church, for the most part, have been complacent, sitting idly by, as the world around us is becoming more Godless. We serve a powerful God. We are not without hope, which means this world, is not without hope, if we turn back to the Lord. If we humble ourselves, pray, turn from our wicked ways, and seek His Face, we have the promise of a healed land. He will work in us, lead us, and through us once again, to be the Light of the world. to reconcile a lost and dying world to Himself. The Message of the Cross of Christ is the only answer, and we are to be the messengers.

My intention here isn't to criticize, and condemn the Church, but to challenge, all of us, to understand the Heart of God and His Love for this world, and have that same Heart for the lost souls of this present age. The world needs to see The Revived Church. They are the white harvest fields waiting to be brought in to the Kingdom of Light, the fruit of revival. It's time to take a stand, and make a difference, by doing our part in His Plan, wherever He leads us. Be the Light and salt, in our business places, schools, communities, and churches. Let them see our Light, and good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. As we do, we will see the fruit of revival, we will see "healing in the land.