“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” —Revelation 2:4

If you want to experience revival in your life, then hang out with a brand-new believer. It is the best thing you can do for your own spiritual health. A brand-new believer is fired up and has questions that will have you digging back into the Scriptures again. You stabilize that new Christian, and he or she reenergizes you. Everyone benefits.

On the other hand, if you hang around with jaded Christians, with those who have even become cynical, then you need some new friends. Sometimes people worry about new believers not changing quickly enough, but I am more concerned with older believers who have stopped changing altogether. They are settled in their ways. Maybe they have traded in old vices like immorality, drinking, drugs, or profanity and replaced them with new ones like pride, backbiting, gossip, or bitterness.

I find it interesting that 80 to 90 percent of the Christians who personally share their faith have been believers for two years or less. In other words, most people who come to Christ through personal evangelism have done so because someone young in the faith shared the gospel with them.

I think this is because new believers are still discovering what God has done for them. They are still excited about it. As we get older in the faith and have walked with the Lord for a time, we start taking these things for granted sometimes. That means we need revival. We need to be brought back to that place where we once were, where we realize how important it is to share with others what Jesus has done for us.

If we have no desire to share our faith, then we need personal revival. Revived people are evangelistic people because their evangelism is a result of a Christ-filled life.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.” —Jonah 2:7

God told Jonah to go and preach to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah boarded a boat and went in the opposite direction. When a violent storm hit, the sailors began to cry out to their gods. But Jonah told them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me” (Jonah 1:12).

You know the rest of the story. They followed Jonah’s advice, and the Lord brought a “great fish” to swallow Jonah. I have to say that Jonah was stubborn. He spent three days and three nights inside that fish’s stomach . . . wrapped in seaweed . . . fish smacking him in the face . . . humidity like you wouldn’t believe. Yet he refused to budge.

Eventually Jonah came to his senses. He prayed. There in the belly of that fish, he had a personal revival. Jonah was ready to do what God had called him to do. He was revived and recommissioned by God.

First God sent revival to Jonah, then Jonah brought revival to Nineveh. That is because nothing can happen through us until it first happens to us. It has to start with us.

If you want to raise your children in the way of the Lord, then make sure you are walking in the way of the Lord. They will listen to your bedtime stories and mini sermons, but they will be watching your life to see if you live that out. Some things are caught, and other things are taught.

If you want to tell people you work with about Jesus Christ, then make sure you are a model of what it is to follow Christ.

Revival starts with you and me.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” —Jonah 1:1–2

You might say that Jonah was the original chicken of the sea. When God told him to go to Nineveh and preach, his response essentially was, “No way! These people are wicked. I don’t want to go.”

It’s true the Ninevites were very cruel people. They were known for their savagery. In fact, when they would conquer a nation, they often would torture their prisoners before executing them and were known to burn boys and girls alive. They tortured others by tearing the skin from their bodies and leaving them to die in the scorching sun. Rather than hide this depravity, they celebrated it and proclaimed it. They even built monuments to their own cruelty.

Another reason for Jonah’s reluctance was that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the enemy of Israel. Jonah, being a patriotic Israelite, thought this through and deduced that if he didn’t go and preach to the Ninevites, God would judge them—and that would be one less enemy Israel would have to deal with.

But with a little extra persuasion, Jonah finally went and preached to the Ninevites—and it resulted in the largest spiritual awakening in all the Bible.

Unbeknownst to the people of Nineveh, their days were numbered. Assyria was the reigning superpower on the planet at this time, having ruled for 200 years. It required three days to circle metropolitan Nineveh, which had a population of about one million. That was a very large city for ancient times. But it would not be all that long until Babylon would come and overtake her. God was giving Nineveh one last chance.

If God could use someone like Jonah to bring about a revival in Nineveh, then certainly He could use someone like you or me to bring about a revival in our nation.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Then we will not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name. —Psalm 80:18

America needs an awakening, but the church needs a revival. We often use the words revival and awakening interchangeably, but there is a distinction. An awakening is when a nation comes alive spiritually, sees its need for God, and turns to Him. A revival is when God’s people come back to life again.

Revival simply means to bring back to life, to restore. To be revived is to wake up from a state of sleep. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, “A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. . . . You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping.” In other words, if you think you are a great person with no problems, then you are really more asleep than you realize.

Revival is coming back. It is waking up. Revival is getting back to the Christian life as it was meant to be lived. Revival is being in the bloom of first love for a lifetime, walking closely with the Lord. You can’t always have those initial emotions you had as a new believer any more than you can have the same butterflies in your stomach you had when you first met your husband or wife to be. That is unrealistic. But your love can grow deeper. Your love can grow stronger.

That is how we ought to be as followers of Jesus. We need the faith of the Christians of the first century, the faith that turned the world upside down. Revival is nothing more or less than a new obedience to God. Then it is, to quote Nietzsche, a “long obedience in the same direction.”

Only God can send an awakening to America. But revival can happen right here, right now.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. —Isaiah 45:22

In John 3, Jesus lays out the “ABCs” of the gospel to Nicodemus:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (verses 14–15). Jesus is sending Nicodemus back to familiar territory: the Torah, Numbers 21.

The Israelites were complaining that God had abandoned them. They accused Moses and God of failing them, and bringing them to die in the wilderness. They were sick of what God had given them. So the Lord sent venomous snakes to bite them.

I once aspired to be a herpetologist (someone who studies reptiles), so I wondered, “What kind of snake was this?” I have been bitten by many snakes—king snakes, gopher snakes, red racers, pythons, boas—but never a poisonous snake.

These snakes in Numbers 21 could have been cobras. They are native to that region, and the bite of a cobra is deadly for sure. But there is another possibility. It also could have been a saw-scale viper, which is indigenous to that region. Saw-scale vipers are on the “Top 10” list of the most deadly snakes. They are only two feet long but have a huge striking range and are very aggressive. They put so much effort into a strike, they actually leave the ground. Once bitten, you only have hours to live.

The Israelites knew they were in trouble and called out to Moses. Moses was instructed by God to erect a pole with a bronze serpent on it. Whoever then looked at that serpent on a pole was healed of their venomous bite. God did everything He could do. It was up to the Israelites to look at that pole. They could have known of the pole’s existence yet never have looked.

In the same way, Satan has bitten us and the bite is potentially fatal if not treated. There is very little time. God provided the antidote through the atonement of Jesus on the cross. On the day Jesus hung on the cross, we read that some looked and believed. Others looked and turned away.

You can “look and live” or you can “look and leave.” In Isaiah 45:21–22, God says, “There is no God apart from me . . . Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other” (NIV).

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” —Psalm 91:1–2

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he quoted the Scriptures—but he left something out. He said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone’ ” (Matthew 4:6).

He quoted Psalm 91, which says, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (verses 11–12). Notice Satan left out the words “to keep you in all your ways.” Why? If you look at it contextually, these verses are effectively saying that when you’re in the will of God, you don’t have to be afraid. You can trust the Lord.

Satan was essentially saying, “Just jump off, and the angels will catch you.”

But Jesus put it into context, saying, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’ ” (Matthew 4:7).

You don’t have to get up every morning and say, “I might die today.” Yes, you might—but not if God doesn’t want you to. The Lord knows the date of your birth and the date of your death. You can be confident in Him. I believe that Christians are indestructible until God is done with them.

That doesn’t mean we go out and drink strychnine or play with venomous snakes. But it does mean that if it is not a Christian’s time, then he or she isn’t going anywhere. There is a difference between trusting the Lord and testing the Lord by taking unnecessary risks.

We don’t have to live in fear, because our times are in His hands.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 6:23

It has been said that opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats on the door every day. It happens to the best of us.

Don’t feel bad about that. Just because you are tempted doesn’t mean there is something wrong on your part. There is no sin in being tempted, because it is not the bait that constitutes temptation; it is the bite.

We play a key role in our own temptation. The Devil needs our cooperation for us to give in. Where there is no desire on our part, there is no temptation. As James 1:14–15 tells us, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

In these verses we effectively have the five steps of temptation. First, there is the temptation itself: “each one is tempted.” This is when an evil thought comes knocking on the door of your imagination. But instead of rejecting it outright, you invite it in and begin to entertain it. You think, What if I did this . . . just for fun?

You’re in trouble already, because now you’ve reached the second step. You have been enticed. Your will is weakening, and the temptation is getting stronger. You’re thinking, processing, and considering. There is still a way out, but it’s getting harder to resist. And now the hook is set.

That brings us to the third and fourth steps of temptation. Desire has conceived, and it gives birth to sin. The evil thought has been acted upon. The process is in full swing, which leads to the final step of temptation, where the effects of sin kick in: “sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. —Lamentations 3:25

Have you ever lost something and searched endlessly for it? I lost my iPhone the other day. I looked everywhere for it but couldn’t find it. So I used a feature called Find My iPhone. As it turned out, the phone was eight feet from where I was sitting. I had dropped it in the cushion of a chair. When I mentioned this to my son Jonathan, he said, “I’ve done even worse. I used it, and my phone was in my shirt pocket.”

When you lose something, you search for it until you find it. God searches, too, although He doesn’t lose things like we do. He knows where everything is and where everyone is. Yet He is searching for people who want to grow spiritually. He is looking for fertile, receptive soil where He can plant the seed of His Word, soil in which His Word can take root in our hearts.

God won’t force His truth into our lives; He wants us to desire it. He doesn’t force-feed us. As 1 Peter 2:2 tells us, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”

Healthy people are hungry people. If you are in good spiritual health, you will be hungry for the Word of God. A spiritual appetite is a good sign of a mature Christian. God is looking for soil like that. He is looking for people who want to hear His Word.

We are the ones who decide what kind of soil our hearts will be. We decide whether we will move forward spiritually or whether we will go backward spiritually. It is really up to us. God wants us to grow, but we must want to grow as well. There is God’s part, and there is our part.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”—Matthew 11:2–3

How would you feel if someone you loved and trusted began to question you? You might feel offended. What do they know, after all?

When John sent word to Jesus from prison and asked, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” (Matthew 11: 3), Jesus didn’t rebuke him. He didn’t say, “How dare John doubt Me? My own cousin! He should have known better” or “John? Come on, give Me a break! You know he’s a little strange, right? The animal skins . . . and who eats locusts? That’s My cousin! Maybe it was something in his diet.”

It was a good opportunity to throw someone under the bus. But Jesus didn’t do that. Instead, he brought John back to Scripture: “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor” (verses 4–5). Then He said, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me” (verse 6).

Here is what Jesus was saying: “Listen, you just let John know this: Even if you don’t understand My method, even if you don’t grasp My ways or My timing, I am asking you to trust Me. When you are unable to see why I am doing what I am doing, or why I am not doing what you think I ought to be doing, hang in there. Follow Me. Don’t be offended because of this.”

Our Lord understood this was an attack of the enemy. He understood what loneliness and solitude could do.

God never rebukes anyone who comes to Him with sincere questions or honest doubts.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. —Colossians 3:17

Years ago I had the privilege to be with Billy Graham at a crusade he was doing in Portland, Oregon. It was an amazing crusade, with an almost revival-like atmosphere in that very liberal city.

I remember one night in particular, when God seemed to really bless Billy’s message, with many people coming to Christ. We left the stadium together in a car, with Billy’s longtime friend T. W. Wilson driving, while I rode shotgun. Billy and his son Franklin were in the back seat.

As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I leaned over the back seat and said, “That was a great message tonight, Billy.”

Billy looked at me with those steely blue eyes and said, “It’s just gospel.”

I turned back around, feeling a little awkward. I was just trying to be friendly. I remember thinking to myself, That didn’t go very well. I will say something else. Turning back around again I said, “Billy, I love the point when you said Christ will re-sensitize your conscience. That was a great point.”

Again, Billy looked at me and said, “Well, He can.”

I didn’t turn around again on the ride back to the hotel! What I learned that night was that you couldn’t pin a compliment on Billy Graham. It was like water off a duck’s back, and he really didn’t want to hear it. His attitude was, “I just did my job. I’m a delivery boy, and I gave the message. Now the results are in the hands of God.”

As God’s spokespeople, we don’t take the credit and we don’t take the blame. We just deliver the goods.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.—2 Chronicles 7:14

We want God to heal our land, and we want our nation to change. But as we look at the problems in our country, we want to point at someone else a lot of times. We say the problems are due to Washington, DC, or Hollywood or the White House. But God says the source of the problems is His house, the church.

God lays out His prescription in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Notice God says, “If My people who are called by My name . . .” He doesn’t say a thing about secular culture. He talks to His own people. That is you. That is me. “If My people . . .”

I think one of the problems in our nation today is there are a lot of people running around who think they are Christians, but they really are not. In fact the Bible says, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Or, as the J. B. Phillips New Testament puts it, “You should be looking at yourselves to make sure that you are really Christ’s.”

Then there are those who are living a double life. They put on a good performance at church. They say all the right things. But they are living a life that is completely contradictory to what the Bible says about how a Christian ought to live.

A spiritual awakening starts with God’s people. It starts with you and me.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

I have heard all about you, LORD. I am filled with awe by your amazing works. In this time of our deep need, help us again as you did in years gone by. And in your anger, remember your mercy.—Habakkuk 3:2

I came to Christ in 1970 during the Jesus Movement, which gave me a front-row seat to the Fourth Great Awakening in the United States—the most recent in our nation. Looking back, I remember five things that were part of a typical church service during that time.

First, there was a sense of expectancy in the service. No one was ever late for church because you couldn’t find a seat if you were. You came expecting God to work. You came with a sense of openness, anticipating what the Lord was going to do.

Second, the Word of God was always taught. That gave stability to us. In fact, I still have my Bible from those days. I marked it up—so much so that some of the pages are coming out of it.

Third, people participated in the worship. We effectively saw what we simply know as worship now. In the late 1960s, there were no electric guitars, for the most part, on church stages. There were no drum kits. It was completely different culturally. Things we take for granted now didn’t exist back then. But people engaged in worship. They participated in it.

Fourth, believers brought nonbelievers to church, evangelistic invitations were extended, and people were coming to Christ. Every week there was the sense that God wants people to be saved.

Fifth, there was a belief in and a constant teaching of the imminent return of Christ. We believed that Jesus was coming back again.

The kids of the Jesus Movement are now grandparents. But just as in the 1960s, and specifically 1968, we have riots in the streets. We have racial unrest. We have a drug epidemic. There’s a sense of hopelessness in the air. We need another Jesus Movement. We need another spiritual awakening.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

The Evening of Your Life Is Determined by the Morning of It

I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.—Deuteronomy 30:19

I committed my life to Christ at age 17. Did I miss anything? I suppose I did.

I missed a lot of parties, a lot of experiences that other kids my age had. Now, over 40 years have gone by and I look at what their choices and experiences have done to them. Some are in their fourth or fifth marriages. Some are still addicted, still living an empty life. When I think about those things I ask myself, Did I really miss anything?

For me, life has gotten better. Not easier or less complicated, or less pressured or more trouble-free. But definitely better, sweeter, richer, deeper, more satisfying. Every day, every month, every year of walking with Jesus gets better and better.

You might say, “Greg, that’s a nice, pleasant message to preach at a retirement center, but what’s it got to do with me?” The truth is, it’s a message that’s even more important for younger people. Why? Because you determine the end of your life by the beginning of it, the evening of your life by the morning of it. You decide today where you’re going to be 20 years from now, by what choices you make and what roads you take.

God says, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:19—20 NKJV).

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.—Ephesians 6:17

What is the primary weapon we should use to resist temptation? Answer: the Word of God. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He responded again and again, “It is written . . .” He was showing us how to use God’s Word when attacks come.

Writing about the armor of God, the apostle Paul said, “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Among the things he listed in Ephesians 6, there is only one offensive weapon: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

God has given us His Word as the primary weapon to defend ourselves. There is power in His Word. Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.” Interestingly, this is addressed to a young man. If you are young, how do you live a pure life? By listening to what the Word of God says.

A few verses later the psalmist says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (verse 11). This means memorizing the Bible.

You might be thinking, I can’t. I’m not good at memorizing things.

Just think about all the things you have memorized without even knowing it. You have song lyrics memorized. You remember trivia about sports figures. You have all kinds of things in the memory banks of your mind because they interest you and you fill your mind with them.

Open up some space for the Word of God. I have verses today floating around in my brain that I memorized at the age of seventeen, verses that have stayed with me all these years.

We need to know the Word of God.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”—Proverbs 27:6

So what should we do if someone falls into sin?

“Brothers, if a man is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual condemn them and then make sure you tell as many people as you can what they have done” (Galatians 6:1).

Of course, that’s not what the verse says, but by the way some people act you would think it is.

Galatians 6:1 really says that if someone is overtaken in a fault, “you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (NKJV).

The objective is to restore, not destroy!

As that verse says, “Considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” First, we should consider ourselves! Why? Because it could be you someday that needs restoration, for we all have the potential to fall and fall big.

The most loving thing you can do for a fellow Christian is to tell them the truth, not pacify them out of fear of rejection. Proverbs 27:6 tells us “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses” (NIV).

A true friend will stab you “in the front,” not in the back.

Has a Christian friend ever helped to “restore you in the spirit of meekness”? Have you ever helped to restore another?

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.—2 Corinthians 10:4–5

I’ve been known to fill up the storage space on my hard drive. I take lots of pictures, and I keep them all on my computer. I’ve been advised to put them on a separate hard drive, but I prefer to keep them on my computer. A lot of them, if not most of them, are of my family, and I enjoy looking at them. But just the other day I was trying to save a document, and my hard drive was full.

Wouldn’t it be great if, when the devil comes knocking at the door of our minds with an illicit thought, a message pops up that reads, This hard drive is full with the Word of God. There’s no room for your stuff. Don’t even bother? Far too often we have a lot of storage available, and we’re willing to entertain those thoughts.

Temptation, in most cases, comes through the doorway of our minds. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

When our guard is down and those flaming arrows of ungodly thoughts come our way, we are to “[cast] down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Paul also said, “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

Let’s think about things that will build us up—not things that will tear us down.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie