We Need Revival More than the Presidency

What a week!

Elections, COVID19, and social unrest have filled our eyes and ears for months. The election is over now except for the counting (I hope). Regardless of the outcome, the prayer of every believer ought to be that the election is free and fair. It’s out of our hands and it’s time to move on. There are more important issues for us to face than an election, and those issues are in our own pews, schools, and homes.

We need revival.

Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindness;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

 For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight—

That You may be found just when You speak,

And blameless when You judge. (Psalm 51:1-3)

 

I know that the word “revival” scares people today. We do not need revivalism. We do not need a neat little formula that produces a predictable result. We need to truly repent of sin and turn to God. We need a Haggai 1 type response to truth.

There is little doubt that professing Christianity, including biblical fundamentalist Christianity is lumbering along under the weight of its own sin and self-destruction. Worldliness and the resulting immorality runs rampant. Pornography is ubiquitous and has enslaved multiple generations of Christian boys and men (and girls too) and keeps many from following God into ministry. Parents, if your teenage child has a smartphone, there is a high probability that they have or are viewing pornography on a regular basis (as in close to 90% or so). That is a more serious problem than who might be elected President. Destruction is on the doorstep and it’s not the democrats.

Getting technical about what revival should look like is a mistake. Analyzing what God has done in the past is not a good determiner for what we need God to do in the present. Doing that can produce the temptation to look at revival as some sort of mystical experience. Repeating the past becomes the goal rather than following God. The two are not exactly the same thing. The Spirit must do His work. Only He can deliver from the scourge of sins that are enslaving our church members and children.

Repentance is the only way to address sin issues.

For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight—

That You may be found just when You speak,

And blameless when You judge. 

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,

And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. (Palm 51:3-6)

 

Repentance is not renewed self-discipline. It is not trying to do better. Repentance is not vowing before God to turn over a new leaf. It’s almost the opposite. It is recognizing the hopelessness of walking in obedience without walking in fellowship. It is confessing sin before God and in brokenness allowing Him to restore sinners to full fellowship with Him. It is the process described by David in Psalm 51.

True revival is painful.

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17)

When the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and scratches out the carnality that I have been harboring in my soul, it hurts. It’s often extremely humbling. When David confessed his sin, he wrote a Psalm about it and delivered it to the Chief musician to be set to music so all the people could sing about the humbling sinful choices of their King and his repentance. The false face of spirituality was ripped off.  In the end, there is joy and peace, but the process to get there is not pleasant.

The true spirituality we desire flows from a vibrant walk with God.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners shall be converted to You.

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

The God of my salvation,

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. (Psalm 51:11-15)

Maintaining orthodoxy is not enough. Checking off “holy living” boxes is not enough. God’s people need to know what it is to fellowship with God daily, to enjoy His presence, to know His joy, and experience freedom from the domination of sin that can only come through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. The Galatians 5 fruit of the Spirit (including self-control) flows from walking in the Spirit.

Can we stop obsessing on the election now and take a serious, honest, Holy Spirit led, look at our own spiritual condition?

It’s time.