Tag Archives: spiritual awakening

Greg Laurie – An Invasion from Heaven

greglaurie

Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? —Psalm 85:6

What does the word “revival” mean? We can gain a better understanding of this word by looking at its close relative, “revive.” To revive something means to bring it back to life again. We could just as easily use the word “restoration” in its place. To restore something is to return it to its original state.

Revival is kind of a church word. By that I mean, the secular culture doesn’t need revival; they need evangelism. Here’s the interesting thing: evangelism doesn’t necessarily produce revival, but revival always produces evangelism. Whenever there has been a spiritual awakening, there has been an evangelistic thrust that has come as a result. When God’s people are awakened, when they are restored, when they are revived, then they go out and start doing what they should have been doing all along, which is proclaiming the gospel.

One author wrote that revival is “an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit, producing extraordinary results.” Another said, “Revival is a community saturated with God.” And A. W. Tozer defined revival as “that which changes the moral climate of a community.” When we pray for a revival, we are praying for a restoration.

In Psalm 85 we find this prayer for revival: “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (verse 6).

A revival is an invasion from heaven. It is when God is at work and we can’t explain it. That is what I want to see again—a time in which Christians are saying, “We don’t know how this started or entirely what is going on. All we know is that people are packing out our churches. People are coming to Christ. People are praying.”

We need revival, and the world needs the gospel. Let’s pray that God will revive us.

 

 

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – In the World to Come

 

“And Jesus replied, ‘Let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything – home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or property – for love of Me and to tell others the Good News, who won’t be given back, a hundred times over, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land – with persecutions! All these will be his here on earth, and in the world to come he shall have eternal life'” (Mark 10:29,30).

What a wonderful promise. God will return to you and me a hundred times over what we invest for Him and His kingdom.

I believe that millions of Christians like ourselves are awakening to the fact that we must be about our Father’s business. As I observe God’s working in the lives of people around the world through many movements, I am persuaded that the greatest spiritual awakening since Pentecost has already begun.

Jesus said, “Go…and make disciples in all nations.” In order to make disciples, we must be disciples ourselves. Like begets like. We produce after our own kind.

The man who is committed to Christ, who understands how to walk in the fullness of the Spirit, is going to influence others and help to produce the same kind of Christians. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

For some, such a call to discipleship may sound too hard. However, in these verses Jesus tells us that we must be willing to give up everything. That this promise has been fulfilled in the lives of all who seek first Christ and His kingdom has been attested to times without number – not always in material things, of course, but in rewards far more meaningful and enriching.

Bible Reading: Luke 9:23-26

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Realizing that God has promised manifold gifts, persecutions, eternal life in exchange for faithfulness and commitment to Him, I vow to make that surrender real and meaningful in my life every day.