DIVINE PREPARATION FOR REVIVAL

PREPARATION FOR REVIVAL

Looking at the 3rd chapter of Luke, a contemporary application of the prophecy fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist struck me. Verses 4-6 read,

“As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall become straight,

and the rough places shall become level ways,

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

This is what we desperately need in America and in other countries in these days. This needs to be a matter of serious prayer. We need to be listening to God and watching to see what He is doing. And there are preparations that we need God to make in us. We need God to prepare our hearts and our culture for His work in our lives and country. He may very well raise up prophets whose words would cut us to the heart. He might also have to do more radical things in the economy and in our lives to get our attention.

When I read this I think of a freeway built through the mountains. We have flown through mountain passes on the freeway without even considering what went into making the way for us. It took weeks and weeks for pioneers to make it over the mountains in wagons. Our modern automobiles would never get through.

We need God to smooth out the rough by ways of our thinking, to dynamite our cultural mountains, to straighten out crooked paths, to build up the prayer lives of His people for Him to bring revival to our nation.

Such cultural demolition and construction may not be revival itself, but the necessary preparation for all people to see the salvation offered by our God.

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PRAYING TOGETHER IN MARRIAGE

The Scripture I want to look at in this blog actually addresses only men. However, I believe ladies can read over our shoulders and get a firm grasp on some things that we need God to do in our marriages. My experience is that ladies are much better at doing that than men.

The verse is 1 Peter 3:7.

“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

The goal of Peter's admonition points to a great spiritual power afforded to husbands and wives. In Matthew 18:19 Jesus said,

“If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”

The depth of unity that can be developed between husbands and wives brings an Earth shaking power in prayer. Need I say that our enemy the devil will do anything he can to hinder our united prayer. Let's look prayerfully at what the Holy Spirit teaches in this verse that will enable us to overcome the barrage of the enemy.

DWELL WITH

Peter begins by telling men, “live with your wives.” There is a mindset related to this. We need to develope an attitude of unity with one another in marriage. It is God's will for the two of you to become one. Thinking together requires time together? We should desire for our unity to be as complete as that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bound together in ultimate love. This may be counter productive to say, because such unity is absolutely impossible for us. But I can say, Men, we are to live in union with our wives. We are to bind ourselves to them with the love of Christ.

UNDERSTANDING

Possibly the most crucial thing God tells us here is to live with our wives with understanding. If you think this is easy, you probably haven't tried. You will not think like your spouse. In the 1990s John Grey wrote, Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus. He made a clear point that men and women don't think alike. Although I believe the differences commonly pointed out by social scientists are too uniform and simplistic, we are different. You will not be able to understand your partner by reading a book. You will have to spend time with your wife to begin to understand her. You will have to spend time thinking about what she needs and wants. Most of all you will need to pray about it. If God does not show you how she is thinking, you will remain obtuse. And while this is a life-long endeavor, what God shows you should change your attitudes and behavior. If you are not considerate, you don't understand at all.

HONOR HER

We are to put our wives on a pedestal of the love of God. First, because they are the weaker vessels. I am aware that all women are not physically weaker than men. And there will always be ways in which the wife will actually be stronger than her husband. But there is something precious about her weakness. Treat her like fine china.

Then we are to honor our wives as spiritual equals, “heirs together of the grace of life.” Of course, this is how we begin. But in many, possibly most cases, the wife has matured beyond her husband spiritually. And in every case, God will give each of you strengths and gifts that He has not given the other so you can draw from one another.

The point of all this is that you can pray for one another and pray together. Each person in a marriage ought to have a list of things you consistently ask God to do in your partner. These should include some things you feel like you need from your spouse. They should include things you know your spouse needs, possibly from you. And you need to pray for the purposes God has revealed for the person with whom you are partnered.

And because our lives are so busy, we need to work at finding time to pray together. Every couple may do this differently. You may need to be patient with your partner in this. But make it a goal. You can even pray for God to help you find time and incentive to pray together. Who knows what God will do in answer?

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HOPE IN A WORLD OF EVIL

HOPE IN A WORLD OF EVIL

“We know that we are from God, 

and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

1 John 5:19

I don't think we should need the Bible to tell us that we live in an evil world. Can you explain Germany's Third Reich without reference to evil, both in those who planned it and those who did not oppose it? What other explanation can you give for Joseph Stalin putting millions of his own people to death? How many millions died in China's Cultural Revolution or the Killing Fields of Cambodia? How else do you explain mass shootings in schools and churches across America?

Although I suspect some of you reading this would deny it, every human heart is infected with evil. But God has given us hope, even in the face of evil.

Hope In The Law of God
Few people in these days would think of hope coming from the law of God. But it is a great source of hope for those who see it from the right perspective. The law was not given to save us from our sin. The law shows us God's standard of right and wrong. Those who see the law as a means of getting right with God will not find any hope in it. But when we come to the law of God with transformed hearts that hunger to do what pleases God, we find joy in God's laws. The law teaches us what righteousness is.

The Ten Commandments even show us the sin beneath our sins. Let me show you one facet of this. The first commandment is, “I am the Lord your God . . . You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 6:5 applies this.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and all your might.”

The final commandment is, “You shall not covet . . .” In Colossians 3:5 Paul identifies covetousness as idolatry. These two commands frame the 10 Commandments. Whichever command we break shows that we love other things more than we love God. Strengthening my devotion to God goes a long way toward freeing me from the grip of sin.

There is hope in the judgment of God. Relationships depend on righteousness. We could not have them without honesty, decency, and love. Without these things society disintegrates. The law teaches that God will yet judge evil that ruins our world. In the end God will make all wickedness and injustice right. Yale professor, Miroslav Volf grew up in Croatia. In his book, Exclusion And Embrace, he wrote that not retaliating against those who wrong us depends on our understanding that God will eventually judge evil.

“My thesis is that the practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance . . . Imagine speaking to people whose cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned, and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats slit…Should we not retaliate? Why not? I say–the only means of prohibiting violence by us is to insist that violence is only legitimate when it comes from God. . . If God were NOT angry at injustice and deception and did NOT make a final end of violence, that God would not be worthy of our worship.”

Hope In The Power of Prayer
We can pray for God to deliver us from the evil lurking in our hearts. I can pray for God to work in the lives of people around me. Our prayers are to be entwined with needs that God shows us in the lives of others.

We can pray for God's forgiveness where it is not being practiced. God hears our prayers to comfort the broken-hearted. Our hearts need to break with the needs of people in a world of evil. I have often been amazed by what God does when I and others pray.

Hope In The Promises of God
Even in evil times we can cling to the promises of God. The powerful affect of God's promises take hold of our lives as we hear and come to know them. Throughout the New Testament we are encouraged by the words, “We know.” Hope blossoms in our hearts as the Holy Spirit helps us understand what God has done for us. 1 John 5:20 continues from the verse I quoted at the beginning of this blog. It said we are from God even though the world is in the grip of the evil one.

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

If you are struggling with despair because of wickedness around you, you will only break free by focusing on the promises and blessings of God until you begin to worship and praise Him with all your heart.

Hope In Fellowship With God
Evil is always personal. It is crucial to see the words from the Lord's Prayer correctly translated,

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

1 John 5:20 is also personal. God Himself has come to give us understanding to know Him. Hope in a world of evil only comes through personal fellowship with God in Jesus Christ.

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THE HOPE OF CHRISTMAS

THE HOPE OF CHRISTMAS

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, 

who is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:11


Do remember the thrilling anticipation you experienced as a child as Christmas drew near? There is something very appropriate about that thrill. On Christmas we celebrate the hope of human history and of all mankind.

FINAL PREPARATIONS

Luke's Gospel has the fullest account of the birth of Christ. It begins with an angel appearing to aging Jewish priest named Zechariah. We read this from Luke 1:13-17

“The angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.’”

I have an inkling of how this wondrous news struck Zechariah and Elizabeth. My wife and I wanted children from the time we were married. But children didn't come. We went through the ordeals of gynecologists and urologists with no results. After six years, we had pretty much given up. We moved to a different state so my wife went to a new doctor who was thrilled to tell her she was pregnant. Our daughter was a wonderful answer to prayer.

But Elizabeth and Zechariah were far beyond seven years. They were well into old age before God proved that nothing was impossible for Him. It does not surprise me that Zechariah was skeptical even while standing before the angel. When he asked how he could know this was true, the angel answered.

“I am Gabriel. 

I stand in the presence of God, 

and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

The words “bring you good news” translate only one word in the original language of the New Testament. It is the word from which we get our word evangelize. The angel was sent to Zechariah with life changing news! His son would be the forerunner to prepare the way for the Lord.

A WONDERFUL PROMISE

Six months later God sent Gabriel to Mary, a young girl in a backwater town in Galilee. He told her she would give birth to a child who would be called the Son of the Most High. Mary asked how she could have a child, since she had not had relations with man. Gabriel answered.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

This is the climax of everything in The Old Testament. When she went to visit Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea, Mary's very soul magnified the Lord. God was keeping age old promises.

“He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring for ever.”

Isaiah 9:6 reads,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.”

It is important to see that the child was born on this Earth, but the eternal Son was given. John 1:1-5 speaks of Jesus when it declares,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

THE FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The final prophecy of Christ's birth in the Old Testament determined the place He would be born. Micah 5:2 says,

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.”

The best known announcement of the birth of Christ was to a band of anonymous shepherds near Bethlehem. You can probably imagine yourself with those shepherds trying to stay awake when the angel appeared.

“In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'”

Immediately the angel was joined by an entire angel army.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'”

The shepherds must have stood there in stunned silence before one of them said the obvious. “Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.” When they arrived, they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was actually lying in a manger. They went away telling everyone what they had seen as the angel had told them. And everyone who heard it marveled. Surely no one was as amazed as Mary. Luke 2:19 tells us.

“Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

We too can ponder these marvelous events.

When their days of purification according to the law were completed, they took the child to present Him to the Lord and make sacrifice. There was a man in the temple named Simeon. The Lord had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Christ. He met Mary and Joseph when they brought the child Jesus into the temple. He took the baby into his arms and praised God.

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,according to your word;for my eyes have seen your salvationthat you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,a light for revelation to the Gentiles,and for glory to your people Israel.”

Luke 2:29-32

LAST MINUTE COMPLICATIONS

Of course, God knew that the powers of this world would oppose the gospel and the kingdom of God. Mary would pay a terrible price. Simeon said to her,

“Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Mary would stand beneath the cross and endure something of the price her son paid to redeem our world. Everyone is not happy to see signs that God who created is intervening in our world. The good news reveals what is in the hearts of all who hear it to this day.

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PRAYING WITH A CLEAR MIND

I have said, I want to be clear headed enough that I am still able to pray for people around me, even when I am completely disabled physically. But many of you will identify with something that has been happening to me. I will be talking about something that interests me and won't remember the name of someone I have read and respected for years. Or I will step out into our garage, but won't remember why I am there. Last week someone asked me if that was caused by chemotherapy. I don't know. Whatever the cause, I have begun to work at preserving my mind.

Many people do things to this end. A friend recently told me he plays Sudoku. His wife works crossword puzzles. Other people play mind games found on luminosity.com. Last year my wife and I went to The Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Elko, Nevada. There I met an aging man whose name I can't remember. He said he started writing poetry because his doctor told him it would help maintain his ability to think and remember.

Over 30 years ago, David Snowden chose a small group of nuns as subjects for a study on aging and brain deterioration. Through the years, the study has grown to include nearly 700 sisters and monks across the United States. Many of these people continued to be sharp well past 100 years of age. Some had remained mentally sharp even though the brain pathology from autopsies showed that they had full blown Alzheimer's. The articles that I read about this give only one reason. All of these people had continued to be intellectually active. I would also point out what researchers did not mention. The nuns also prayed extended, formal, daily prayers.

I admit that all these things that I have mentioned must be helpful. But I doubt if any of them is foolproof. Still, I need to do something. And what I have begun is proving to be a blessing in my life. I am memorizing scripture. I have actually done this some since I was a teenager. And I always led churches in scripture memorization. But I am doing more now than ever before. And I am using a different system than I have used in the past.

This has to be incorporated into my daily devotional times. I read the same chapter of Scripture every day for a week. I memorize a portion of the chapter each day. (Longer chapters require a week and a half to memorize.) The next week I go on to the next.chapter. Every third week I memorize a chapter from the Old Testament. Although it does not take as long, it seems I have to re-memorize each segment every day. I review a chapter for two weeks. I know this is enough to put many of you off. But I need to tell you, God blesses me more as I review or re-memorize those verses than anything I can remember doing.

Slowing me down is crucial for thinking, understanding, and hearing the voice of God. As I do this God overwhelms me with peace and an assurance of His nearness. Again and again, God has shown me what He is saying to me as I go over these verses. And I am thrilled with joy, wonder and praise as I have never been before.

I fear a couple of terrible results from my writing about this. First, some of you will be impressed with me rather than, God and God's word. Next, some of you will be put off by the very idea of this. That will be sad. Many of you would be blessed far more than you know, if you were to try it or something like it. I would like some response from you to these ideas. And I pray some of my readers will try Scripture memory for your mind and for your soul.

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