True Revival Begins With Me

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I grew up hearing stories of great revivals like the Reformation and the Great Awakening.

My parents were saved during the Jesus People Movement, and the church I grew up in experienced an authentic revival for nearly two years in the early days of the Charismatic Movement, during which hundreds of people were saved and their lives dramatically changed forever.

What is revival?

For some, revival means a series of meetings during which a traveling evangelist comes and delivers special messages.

For others it’s experiencing manifestations or seeing supernatural occurancess.

But when you look at history, you see that what marked what was turned a revival or awakening was the overwhelming realization of sin.

History records how people would gather and wail and weep over their sin.

Drunk men would be returning home from the bar, and would see the lights on in a church and for no reason stop, enter the church, and suddenly become completely aware of their sin and repent on the spot.

In some cities, law enforcement were forced to seek other employment and jails were closed because there was no crime.

Humble repentance and complete turning from sin were the hallmarks of a true and authentic revival.

And it always begins in one location: the church.

And it always starts with individuals.

As we open the book of Isaiah, we read about how the nation of Judah has fallen into deep sin and completely rejected God.

The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider.
Isaiah 1:3

They didn’t even know or recognize God as their Master.

The chapter goes on to describe them as a nation heavily weighed down with iniquity, swelling with those who do evil, and whose children are corrupted – the ones in society who should have been innocent.

God described them as being sick and diseased from the head to the foot.

From the leadership to those on the lowest rung. There wasn’t an element of society that wasn’t sick, diseased, and corrupted.

Total depravity.

I don’t think there is a nation on earth, today, that doesn’t fit this description.

From out-of-control crime rate, to abortion; from the celebration of LGBTQ+ to the normalization of drug use, prostitution, and even adolescent sexuality.

And where is the influence of the gospel?

When the so many of those who fill auditoriums on Sunday do not believe that the Bible is God’s inerrant word or that it shapes our worldview… (source)

When the so many of those who claim to be Christian don’t read their Bibles regularly… (source)

How can the gospel influence our countries?

And while there is a remarkable lack of a biblical worldview among those who claim to be Christian, simultaneously there is a remarkable trend toward to embracing the practices of pagan religions: such as Eastern Meditation and Yoga, enneagrams, and centering prayer.

This is exactly where we find Judah, in the book of Isaiah.

Religious in practice, filled with iniquity, and pagan in lifestyle.

And here is God’s response to them:

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.”
Isaiah 1:13

He goes on to say them that none of their sacrifices please Him.

In fact, He tells them to stop bringing their sacrifices altogether; and that their incense is abhorrent and abominable to Him.

Those are strong words!

It would be like God saying today that He hates our sermons, our worship is abhorrent to Him, and that He would rather we completely stop church altogether, because none of it brings Him pleasure.

He goes on to say: “They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” In other words, “They are bothersome and I’m tired of them!”

Wow.

But God didn’t stop there. He went on to tell them what He wanted from them instead.

There are seven things God told them to do, instead of just carrying on with their religious practices.

Wash yourselves – “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” John 15:3
Walk away from evil
Stop doing those things that displease God
Learn what is good (This is why we must read God’s Word)
Seek justice
Rebuke those who oppress others
Defend the fatherless
Defend the widow

But lest you think that God is trading one checklist for another, what He is really wanting from them is behavior that reflects a worldview based on His Word.

He hated their sacrifices because their lifestyle, their behavior, and their worldview, were shaped by the pagans God had defended them against.

They had erected altars and worshipped at the temples of idols; thinking they could appease God by bringing the sacrifices He’d commanded.

And it is much the same today.

So much of the Church is influenced by the same sin God saved us from.

We entertain ourselves with immoral and perverse films, music, and TV shows, we engage in Eastern religious practices, and have allowed humanism and New Age doctrine to shape our worldview.

And despite the fact that many who call themselves Christians do not believe in the biblical view of sexual purity and orientation, or even that the Bible is God’s inerrant Word, they seek to appease Him by their religious practices.

Going to church, raising their hands in worship, taking sermon notes, and attending small groups.

And God is saying, “I am not pleased by that. In fact, it bothers me and I hate it. Because I’m not looking for appeasement, I want your heart!”

If we want true revival in our church and in our country, we have to take the first step toward humble repentance.

We must be willing to allow God to search every crevice of our lives for any and every little thing that does not align with His Word.

We must be willing to “put away the evil of [our] doings from before [His] eyes”, we must “cease to do evil and learn to to good.”

We must be willing to accept that His Word is 100% inherent, which means it has 0% errors.

That every single word of it is for us today and that our entire lives must be built on it.

He goes on to promise the most amazing thing:

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;”
Isaiah 1:18-19

In other words, though your sins have soaked and utterly permeated your life like a dye, my blood can completely clean you.

There is a word that we use for this: Justification.

Justification literally means just as if we’ve never sinned.

God takes our life, our sin-soaked, sin-permeated life and cleans us to such a degree that when He looks at us, He sees no sin.

We are perfect before Him.

We are justified. We are acquitted. Our record is 100% clean!

This is what it takes for revival. Individual people of God who are truly willing to be 100% people of God and 0% people of the world.

Christians who are literally followers of Christ, and rejecters of the world.

Who are willing to utterly humble themselves to the dust in repentance, sorrow over sin, and cry out for His cleansing and purity.

And I truly believe, that if we do this, it will catch on like a wildfire and spread throughout our churches until we see God come again and heal our lands.

A Little More About Good Morning Girls and My Groups

Good Morning Girls is an online Bible study for women. Began by Courtney Joseph in her church, she took the Bible study to the Internet in 2009 and invited ladies all over America to join her in keeping each other accountable to their daily time with the Lord.

Little did she know that this Bible study would extend beyond the borders of America to literally every region of the world!!

In 2014 I joined Courtney, together with my dear friends Misty, Mandy and Bridget, in helping to lead Good Morning Girls. It has been an amazing journey as we’ve watched Good Morning Girls not only grow beyond what we could have dreamed or imagine, but we’ve had the amazing honor to see women’s lives changed by daily digging into God’s Word!

Good Morning Girls is a simple study – we simply read the Bible.

We believe that there is power in the Word of God and the Word of God alone can defeat the enemy. So we read one chapter a day 5 days a week. And we will continue this method until we’ve read through the entire Bible!!

All the materials are free and are available at Women Living Well!

In the summer of 2012 I opened the very first Good Morning Girls group in Croatia.

12 women, all members of my church.

I had no idea where it would lead. But by the following summer it exploded to cover the countries of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.

You can read the story here