Acts 2:42 – And they continued steadfast in the Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.

THEME OF THE DAY: OUR ONLY HOPE – DO WE BELIEVE IT? I need not go into great detail describing the moral condition of our country and spiritual condition in the Lord’s church. The rapid moral decline goes beyond words to describe. Rampant immorality, celebration of lifestyles God calls abominations, corruption at all levels of civil authorities, and the destruction of the core foundation for a healthy society, the family, is unfolding right before our eyes. And God’s church is languishing in worldliness and indifference. So what is the solution? We may hear things like; the cry for more government intervention; the hope of a new administration; the push for political activism; and proclamations for additional education. I am not a political scientist or sociologist, but none of those are going to turn our country and churches around. There is one hope; for God to visit us with sweeping winds of spiritual revival or as Isaiah puts it, “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your Presence as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil to make Your Name known to Your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at Your Presence! When You did awesome things that we did not look for, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence” (Isaiah 64:1-3).

Now here is where the nugget gets a little upfront, close, and personal. And maybe uncomfortable. Do we believe our only hope is for God to come down and visit us with His Presence and power in revival? Every sensitive Christian reading this will answer, “Absolutely, Jim. I firmly believe God is our only hope.” Okay. Let me ask, “How is that conviction of belief manifested in our lives?” Remember, the reality of our Christian life and walk with Christ is not in our profession but our practice. We don’t give evidence of being in the faith because of what we say but how we live. So how does that apply in our profession that the only hope for us is revival? Prayer. Active, consistent, pleading prayer and not just in the privacy of our homes but as churches. Please don’t read this as a call to legalism to be in attendance at prayer meetings or if your church doesn’t have them, form one with other believers. I am not a legalist but hopefully a Biblical realist. Do a study of what God’s people did in the Old Testament when the nation of Israel was in trouble, drifted away from God, and was knee deep in sin. They gathered for prayer; public prayer together. Do a study of what God’s people practiced regularly in the New Testament. They gathered for prayer; public prayer together. Do a study of what God’s people did throughout church history when the church was lukewarm, the moral state of a nation was a mess, and Christians were worldly. They gathered for prayer; public prayer together. Brian Edwards, in his excellent book Revival: A People Saturated with God, writes extensively on the history of revivals. He stated, “You cannot read far into the story of a revival without discovering that not only is prayer part of the inevitable result of an outpouring of the Spirit, but, from a human standpoint, it is also the single most significant cause.” And ponder this statement of Jonathan Edwards, a preacher/pastor who experienced extensive revivals and was a chief catalyst for the 1st Great Awakening, “When God is about to do a great work, He pours out a spirit of supplication (prayer)”.

Do some self-examination. Are we actively praying for God to intervene in our country? Are we following His prescribed way to see such intervention which is prayer with other believers? If a God-sent revival is our only hope, and it is, and it all depended on you and me in our praying with one another and other believers, would the revival come? Obviously revival is a sovereign work of God, but He chooses to work through the prayers of His people. Do we believe it? If so, we will be practicing it with one another. And if we are not in such practice with other believers, we should ask ourselves, “Why not?” We simply cannot deceive ourselves to believe God is our only hope if we are not together seeking Him as our only hope and that through prayer. After all, it is God’s desire, even command, for His people.

PRAYER: “Lord, please give me a burden to pray with Your people for Your movement in our churches and land.”

QUOTE: “If Christians don’t commit to prayer in the church, there will be no revival or recovery of our culture”