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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