Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. As I was a boy growing
up in a local Baptist church, when the term revival was mentioned,
it was generally used to describe a week-long meeting that occurred
in the fall or spring. The church generally looked forward
to these meetings with great anticipation, as the evangelist
who was chosen to preach was usually selected for his ability
to stimulate a crowd and the music was just a little more
lively than one would expect in a regular Sunday meeting.
One could look forward to laughing at the visiting preacher's jokes
and to seeing the altar full at the conclusion of the meeting
with folks rededicating their lives to the Lord and others
seeking to escape the fire and brimstone they were warned about
during the preaching. To sum it all up, it was a time
of great excitement. The amazing thing was that when
the meeting was over and the excitement wore off, one could
expect that things would soon return to normal and those that
had recently rededicated their lives would cool in their order.
Every now and then, some of the folks that got saved to escape
hellfire would even come to church for a few Sundays before losing
interest as the fire cooled. Revival is still a big business.
Numerous full-time evangelists crisscross the country with a
full schedule of meetings designed to touch the emotions of the
hearers. A man's ability to perform in this setting is judged on
the basis of the number of people he can get down to the front
after a meeting. True revival has nothing to do
with meetings, preachers, or the amount of excitement that
can be generated. True revival depends on the sovereign
mercy of God being poured out on His people. The beginning
of true revival is usually not easily recognized because the
work of God in his people is often very subtle. Just like
the small cloud that Elijah sent his servant to look for, the
beginnings of true revival are not easy to see. The Lord begins
to stir his people up to clearly see how cold and indifferent
they have grown to his overtures of love. He causes them to become
dissatisfied with their current state of heart. Then he moves
upon them to begin praying for deliverance from this listless
state, as Habakkuk of old, who prayed, O Lord, revive thy work
in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known,
in wrath remember mercy. They are made aware of their
own inability to procure his presence or to produce a sweet
savor unto the Lord. The psalmist said, Wilt thou
not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show
us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. The Lord has
commanded His people to worship Him, but sometimes their worship
grows cold, and the only remedy is a reviving work of His Spirit
upon them. It is the genuine desire of the
true sons of God to live in the presence of their Redeemer and
enjoy His company, and when something interrupts that fellowship, they
will desire to have it back. David is an example of that when
he prayed, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right
spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence,
and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the
joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free spirit. David
desired a restoration back to the place where he once was.
The man who has never known the joy of walking in the Lord's
presence cannot begin to desire its restoration, nor recognize
its absence. As the old preacher said, you
can't revive something that ain't ever been revived in the first
place. So revival is the work of God in stirring up his people
to seek that which he has already given them a desire for. You
can't give a man a desire to seek the Lord, nor can you cause
a man who has never enjoyed the Lord's fellowship to desire a
restoration to it. Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the ancient days,
in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut
Rahab and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried
the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths
of the sea away for the ransom to pass over? Therefore the redeemed
of the Lord shall return and come with singing and design,
and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain
gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
But I am the Lord thy God that divided the sea, whose way is
roared. The Lord of hosts is his name, and I have put my words
in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand,
that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the
earth, and say undesigned, thou art my people. Do you long for
the presence and power of God? No amount of fleshly fervor can
bring it to pass. The Lord alone must supply the
light and heat. Christ is all. For a free CD
containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send an email to
forthepoor at windstream.net.