Day 11 -Wednesday- August 16, 2023-- Prayer Focus - REVIVAL
Psalm 85:1-7 (NIV)
You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. 2 You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.[b]3 You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. 4 Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us.5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations? 6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?7 Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Revival - This is a request from the people of God for Revival.
This is a song sung by the sons of Korah after their Babylonian Captivity.
They get back to Jerusalem, into a city, once glorious now in ruins.
In response to the state of their land - they ask for revival.
1. The request was in response to ruins.
What was once glorious is now ruins - ruins led them to prayer. God can you do this again?
Whatever ruins we are looking at is a platform for God to step in.
Problems don’t push me away from God, they pull me closer.
2. The request included remembrance.
Showed, restored, forgave, covered, set aside and turned. All of these are past tense. Because God did it before, will you do it again?
2 Cor. 1:10 (NIV)10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
He remembers what God has done. His remembrance is in his request.
He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He’s done it before, He can do it again.
When you remember what He’s done, it gives you hindsight and can also give you foresight. Don’t just revive us, but revive us again?
3. The request was to be a vessel.
Revive us. It was not to revive the enemy or the land, but revive us - the people of God. It was personal. God do it to me. Do it within us!
That’s what 21 Days is all about. Revive us? Do your work within me. God if you need a starting place, start it within me.
Secret to Revival - an evangelist and revivalist named Gypsy Smith shared the “secret” of revival. He said, “You go home, you find a room, you close the door behind you. You kneel on the ground. Grab a piece of chalk and draw a circle around your life. You earnestly and fervently ask God to bring revival to the limits of that circle.”
Revival first and foremost starts in me.
Revive my heart, my life, my spirit, my family. You need not look any further. Revive us again.
