Monday, January 5, 2015

Fasting Day 1 Revival


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, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their lands

So my honestly first thought after reading this verse was, what does that have to do with revival? It’s not talking about anything that I automatically associate with revival, no massive move of God, forgiveness of sins yeah but no powerful awaking of My people type deal, nothing overly spiritual in any way, and what does healing of their lands even mean? My second thought was how about I just ignore the verse and talk about what revival means on my terms because the two are not connecting for me right now and I don’t want to try and make this all work out today… so I looked it up, figured let’s start off “my” discussion on revival with a nice solid definition and work out from there, and what do you know, light bulb moment, and I humbly admit my first impressions are not always correct and I now understand the connection.   

Revival is defined as
Restoration to life, consciousness, vigor, strength, etc.

The key that I am pulling out of this definition is restoration, and of course that is exactly what this verse from 2 chronicles is talking about. If My people will humble themselves, pray seek and turn… then I will forgive and heal. The point, the connection is in the turning of us back to God, once we do He restores, He forgives sins and heals lands, when we turn to Him He revives, restores the life that once was.

So my question now that I understand the connection is what does revival mean slash look like in regards to my life, what does it look like in the church, what am I really supposed to be praying about, fasting for today in regards to revival? What does restoration to life mean when we are talking about the church, and my thought is that it probably looks something like the call in the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation, the church as a whole in the world does a lot right but also has much that needs improving on, revival to the church means repentance, anointing, zealousness, life, truth, perseverance and love, when we are talking about a restoration to life and consciousness then believing for revival in the church means believing something along the lines of the church being restored to what was once the best version of itself.

And then there is me and what does revival, restoration to life and consciousness mean in my personal life? It could mean healing, it could mean joy, it could mean peace, it could mean provision, it could mean any number of different things but when it comes right down to it, I think it’s much the same as what it means for the church it means believing that my relationship with God will be restored to what it once was, be restored to the best version of itself. Revival is about turning back to God, we have all been called to seek Him, to humble ourselves knowing that His forgiveness brings restoration and healing to our lives, brings what once was dead in the world to what is alive in Christ, brings revival.

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