I don't talk a great deal about
revival. That's not because I'm not concerned
for it. In my very soul, I long for God
freshly to move in my heart, in yours, in this assembly, and
in his church in general. I don't talk much about it simply
because I am convinced that the thing God uses to bring revival
to his church is not talking about revival but talking about
his son. I have a very good friend that
spends a great deal of time in his ministry talking about revivals
in the past. On one occasion I said to him,
don't you think you'd be better to quit talking about what God
used to do and talk about what he's doing? There's a tendency, a terrible
tendency among religious people, and among preachers especially,
to dwell in the past and to neglect things presently. But I'm certain
that if God's pleased to work in the hearts of many women,
he will do it not by stirring stories about past revivals,
but rather by the declaration of his free grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Another reason I don't dwell
much on revivals of the past is simply because I am convinced
that those things that are commonly considered by men to be evidences
of revival, are rather evidences of a satanic delusion, but not
a revival. Too often when men write about
revival, and they talk about revival, and they point to revivals
of the past, they point to experiences of emotionalism, sighings and
weeping and trembling. They point to visions and men
suddenly becoming Sabbath keepers. They even point to folks just
kind of neglecting ordinary duties of life and idly sitting by and
just thinking on the Lord. But those things certainly are
not evidences of revival. The scriptures nowhere indicate
that emotionalism legality, and idleness are the result of the
moving of God's Spirit. But tonight I want to talk to
you about revival. I pray God will help me. The
title of my message is A Prayer for Revival, and my text is Isaiah
63 verse 17 through Isaiah 64 and verse 12. Now you be turning there, and
while you're turning, I'll just wait for you to turn, then I'll
say what I want to say, because I want you to hear it. Turn to
Isaiah 63, and just hold your Bibles open there. Now when I talk about revival,
this is what I'm talking about. I'm talking about God manifesting
himself. Manifesting himself to his church
and people in such a way that he shows us his power, his goodness,
and his favor in Christ, by delivering us from our enemies, our sins,
the clutches of the world, and Satan, for the glory of his name. That's what I'm talking about
when I talk about revival. I'm talking about God manifesting
himself to us, clearly making himself known. showing us his
power, his goodness, and his favor in Christ, delivering us
from our enemies for the glory of his name. Now this is what
Isaiah prayed for in the passage we're going to look at tonight.
When we talk about revival, generally, generally we're talking about
something that takes place on a massive scale. That's a mistake.
Sometimes revival comes to an individual believer. Sometimes
it comes to individual believers. I would dare say frequently through
a day. Often through his life. Sometimes
special periods of revival. Let me give you one example.
You can read it later. In Acts chapter 18, the Apostle Paul
had been preaching at Calvary. The Jews despised his word and
he was kind of downcast. And the Lord God came to him.
And he said, Paul, no man shall sit on thee to hurt thee. I have
much people in this city." And you read the remaining part of
the chapter, Paul stayed in Corinth for three years and preached
the gospel of his grace. He was revived by God's fresh
visitation to him, restoring to him a sense of God's presence,
a sense of God's approval, a sense of God's commission. Sometimes
revival comes to a private family, as it did in Acts chapter when
Cornelius and his household heard those things spoken by the Word
of God, and God poured out His Spirit upon them. Sometimes revival
comes to one, two, or a few local churches in a given area. After
the apostles met in conference at Jerusalem in Acts chapter
15, when the apostles went back to Antioch and rehearsed to them
the things that were spoken, the Spirit of God was poured
out on God came down making himself known again to those believers
at Antioch through the ministry of the Word. Sometimes revival
comes to the whole Church of God in a given age. I think that
we have a tendency to forget God's moving in individuals,
in families, and in local churches. Because we look for God to move
greatly, as He did in Acts chapter 2, when He poured out His Spirit
upon the church, and the gospel of God's grace began to go into
all the world. As He poured out His Spirit again
in the days of the Great Reformation, when God began again to shake
the very foundations of this earth and break the arms of papacy,
so that He caused the light of the gospel to be sent out into
all the world again. And then in the Great Awakening,
We've seen how that God moved, not just in this country, but
around the world, where the gospel of his grace was preached, his
church and his kingdom began again to flourish, and darkness
was dispelled. And we look for God to do those
things, and thus begin to despise, or at least neglect, the fact
that God often sends revival to an individual, to a family,
to a local assembly. Let's not despise the day of
small things. and recognize the hand of God
when he moves, and seek from God personal revival, revival
in his church here, revival in our households, revival in the
kingdom of God at large. Now I know this, the Lord God
promises to grant revival, to grant his manifest presence and
power to his people, if we earnestly seek his face. praying toward
his holy temple. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles
chapter 7. Hold your hands here in Isaiah,
and turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 7. And I want you to read what
is written here concerning the temple of God. I remember when President Reagan
was running for office, on one occasion I heard him giving a
speech, and he referred to 2 Chronicles chapter 7 in verse 14. He read
this passage of scripture, and he was talking about a return
of American morals and virtues by the nation turning to God,
and he seemed to have no understanding whatsoever, I'm sure he didn't,
of what 2 Chronicles 7.14 is talking about. Let me explain
it to you. If my people, my people, that's your name, my people,
people chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, called
by his Spirit, my people, which are called by my name, people
who wear my name, we profess to be his, we belong to God,
shall humble themselves and pray." That's the very beginning of prayer. First our hearts must be humble
before God. You'll never seek him till you
know you need him. You'll never call on him till you're humble
to know that you must have If they'll humble themselves and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land." Now this is what he says, if we earnestly
seek him, with our eyes of faith, and hold fixed upon the mercy
seat, fixed upon His holy temple, not an earthly temple, that altar
which is Christ Jesus the Lord, fixed upon the sacrifice of Christ's
blood, sacrifice of His righteousness offered to God on our behalf.
If we seek Him, He promises that He will hear from heaven, forgive
our sin, and heal our land. That's what He promises. That's
what He promises. And He's as good as His promise.
That means, Bobby Estes, if you're earnestly seeking, He'll come
to you. That's what it means. That means,
Don Fortner, if you earnestly seek Him, if you recognize your
utter, desperate need of Him, and call on His name, believing
on the Son of God, seeking His glory, trusting His righteousness,
He'll forgive your sins. he'll visit you and he'll make
himself known to you. That means Grace Church, Danville,
Kentucky. If you earnestly call on him,
earnestly seek his face, believe him, he'll forgive you and he'll
visit you and he'll send his healing power to you. What healing
power? That power by which he heals
us of our inward corruptions, heals us of the bondage that
we have in this world, in our sin, that time of terrible giftedness
and famine in our souls, he'll come and correct it. He'll make
everything right. Now tonight, I want to show you
in this passage here in Isaiah, an inspired example of how we
ought to seek revival. So you hold your Bibles open
here in Isaiah 63 and pray that God the Holy Spirit will speak
by your pastor to your heart. Without question, this was a
prayer uttered by God's prophet Isaiah as he spoke as the representative
of the nation of Israel. He was praying for God to grant
deliverance to the children of Israel who had been carried into
captivity and bondage. was desolate. God had so afflicted
them because of their unbelief and their sin. The Holy Spirit,
who had led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness and
into the land of promise, had turned now in providence and
fought against them because of their sin. And Isaiah, remembering
what God had done, has hope that God may again intervene for his
people and show his favor. Now, thus he gives us a picture
and an example of how we ought to seek God's reviving grace. If you read the context, beginning
back up in chapter 3, verse 11, it is as though the prophet were
saying, where is the God that brought us up out of Egypt? Where
is he that put his Holy Spirit in our midst, that brought us
into the land of Canaan, and drove out our enemies before
us, and caused us to dwell safely, to make his glorious and great
name known? Isaiah's prayer here reminds
me of Cowper's lines in that hymn, Oh, For a Closer Walk with
God. We only have a portion of the
hymn in our hymn book. We may sing it in a little bit.
But Cowper said, Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where
is the soul refreshing give of Jesus in his word. Return, O
holy dove, return, sweet messenger of rest, I hate the sins that
made thee born, and drove thee from my breast. Now God teaches, teaches to speak
your face. First in chapter verses 17, 18,
and 19, we see an acknowledgment of genuine faith. When God seems to hide his face,
when God seems to shut the heavens against us, when it appears that
God's hand in providence is turned against us rather than for us,
I said appears. At such times, let us ever look
to him in faith. Here in Isaiah 63, The Lord God
is called upon. And Isaiah is here speaking for
the children of Israel with just an acknowledgement that he's
God. We believe you, we trust you.
And notice throughout this prayer that Isaiah constantly refers
himself to God's sovereignty and the guilt of his people.
He speaks constantly of God's gracious redemption and the utter
helplessness of his people. First he says, O Lord, why hast
thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart
from thy fear? Now with that statement, with
that pitiful cry, the prophet acknowledges two things. He says,
God, we've erred from your ways. We've departed and hardened our
hearts from your fear. We've done it. We sinned against
you, and the guilt is ours. But all the while, he acknowledges
God's sovereignty. He confesses the guilt of the
people, and does nothing to erase the guilt of the people, but
he says, Lord, we recognize you're still in charge of things. You
still control everything, even the emotions and the feelings
of our hearts, even our sin and depravity. We recognize, God,
if you would, you could take this away. Lord, why? Why? Why have you hardened our hearts
from your fear? And then in verse 17, he says,
return for thy servant's sake the tribe of thine inheritance,
or the tribes of thine inheritance. This is a prayer for God's gracious
intervention. Isaiah is saying, Lord God, build
up your kingdom. Save your people, gather your
outcast ones, gather the chosen whom you have scattered, and
build them up. Return now for your servants' sake, that is,
for the church's sake, for your kingdom's sake. Return the tribes
of your inheritance. Reestablish us in the land of
promise. Those children of Israel, remember, were but a picture
and type of the church of God. And their troubles and their
difficulties were but a typing picture of our spiritual troubles
and difficulties. And when Isaiah speaks like this,
he's giving us an indication of how we ought to pray. That
we ought to continually pray, Thy kingdom come. God, build
up Your kingdom. God, do what's best for Your
church and Your kingdom and the glory of Your name. And then
he says in verses 18 and 19, Lord take pity on us. The people
of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while. That is,
we possess what you promised us just a little while. If you
go back and read Old Testament history, you'll notice that the
children of Israel actually possessed the land of Canaan just a very
brief period of time. They actually took possession
of God's promised inheritance to them for just a very brief
period of time. Because they continually wavered
before him. And you and I actually possess
experimentally God's promised blessings of grace. It seems
such a brief period of time. How quickly we forget, how quickly
we simply fail to appropriate to ourselves and walk in faith
in the goodness of our God. We possessed it just a little
time. He says, our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary. That is, your worship has been
trodden down by men. We are thine. Thou never barest
rule over them. They were not called by thy name. Now this is the essence of what
he's saying. He says, Lord, we're your people. We're your people. And this is what I say. I say
it now. I say it publicly here. I say
it privately to God. I continually cry out to God,
we're yours. We're your people. I don't have
any questions. We're your people. You redeemed
us. You called us. You've given us
life and grace and faith in Christ. We're your people. You redeemed
us by your son. You called us by your spirit.
You saved us by your grace. We are peculiarly and distinctly
your people. But we are in utter desolation. Here we are, surrounded by men and women, religious men
and women, who have absolutely no knowledge of God. to have
absolutely no regard for the word of God, the glory of God,
the gospel of his grace. And I don't say that in harsh
anger and judgment against him. I'm simply declaring the truth.
The religious world in which we live is utterly void of the
knowledge of God. Utterly, utterly ignorant of
the things of God. And yet, the whole religious
world seems to have influence everywhere. and appears to prosper
everywhere, and the gospel of God's grace goes begging for
a hearing. We're yours. We're distinctly and peculiarly
yours, but God, we're in utter desolation. Our enemies and your
enemies, those who oppose the gospel, have trodden down your
sanctuary. That is, they have trodden down
your worship, your altar, the sacrifice of your dear son, and
your people. They have despised those things
that are most precious in the sight of God Almighty. Oh, what
a way to lay hold of God's arm. What a way to plead with God
to intervene. We are peculiarly and distinct
of your people. We hold to you, we cling to you,
and Lord God, we're desolate. And your worship, your name,
your honor, your darling serve is trampled under the feet of
men with us in the streets. Then in chapter 64, in verses
1, 2, and 3, Isaiah pours out his heart in earnest prayer to
God, a prayer for God's manifest presence, his power, his goodness,
and his glory. Oh, that thou wouldest ring the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down,
that the mountains may flow at thy presence, as when the melting
fire burneth, and the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy
name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble
at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things
which we looked not for, thou camest down. The mountains flowed
down at thy presence." Now this is an earnest I might say desperate desire
that God would come down. As he came down upon Egypt and brought Israel across
the Red Sea. Oh God come down. As he came
down upon Mount Sinai and the mountain trembled at his presence. As he calls the inhabitants of
the land of Canaan to tremble as that little band of Israelites
went up to take possession of it. Oh God, come down. Come down. Now this is how I
pray to God continually. This is how I urge you to pray
as you prepare to come here. I prepared a message tonight.
I'm working on a message for Tuesday night. I'm already making
preparations for next Sunday morning, Sunday night. Making
preparations for Friday and Saturday when I go up there to push those
college kids. God'll come down. Oh, God'll
come down. If God'll come down, if he will
rid the heavens and come in our midst, if God will make himself
known you'll know God's hand. If God will make himself known,
then what's spoken, what's said, what's done will be profitable
to our souls. But if we're content, now listen
to me, if we're content to meet here
and go through religious exercises and never enjoy the visitation
of our God and Savior. If we're content to meet and
never know the work of God in our midst, if we're content to
meet together and continue to rehearse our doctrines and sing
our songs and go through our maintaining of the ordinances
and the outward forms of worship, we're content to do that. God
will leave us to do that right by ourselves. He'll do it. If you're content to come here
and listen to me talk and never hear God speak, all you'll ever
hear is me talk. You understand that? If I'm content
to come and talk to you and you be impressed with my manner of
speech or the way I do things or the way I preach, if that's
what I'm content with, that's exactly what I'll have. Oh, but
if we will cry out to God, come down. God, come down. Visit us. Visit us. We need you. We've got to have you. If you'll
come down, Lord, the mountains will fall down at your presence.
Every obstacle will be removed and your word will go forth with
power and your kingdom prosper. Now notice, Isaiah pleads with
God what he had formerly done. as
an indication of what he was always ready to do for his people.
He said, Lord, you came down in Egypt. You came down in the
wilderness. You came down at the Red Sea. You came down in the land of
Canaan. God, you have come down. Oh, God, do what you've done
in the past. Do for us what it's in your nature to do. Be merciful
to us. Let God arise and his enemies
will be stopped. Now look at verses four and five.
Here's an expression of adoration. Adoration for and all of God's
gracious purposes toward his people. For since the beginning
of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee. what thou hast prepared
for him that waiteth for thee. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth
and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou art wrought, for
we have sinned, and those as continuance, and we shall be
healed." First, in verse 4, the prophet is overwhelmed at the
thought of God's with what God has prepared for His people.
Don't ever cease to be overwhelmed at what God's laid up for you.
Don't ever cease to be overwhelmed at God's goodness to His people.
Turn back to Psalm 31, verse 19. This is not just talking about
what God has prepared for us in the future. This is talking
about what God's prepared for us right now. Psalm 31, verse
19. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trusted thee before the sons of men. Oh, what good things you've laid
up for us to be seen right now before the sons of men. Look
at verse 20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret
of thy presence. from the pride of man, thou shalt
keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues."
He says, God'll keep us. He'll keep us in the midst of
trouble. He'll keep us in this world.
He'll keep us from our enemies. In a pavilion of His grace, He'll
keep us. Blessed be the Lord, for He has
shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city. And then He's
prepared for us heavenly glory. which I have not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man." And then Isaiah
acknowledges that though God meets the righteous and receives
them graciously, we have no claim upon Him. He says in verse 5,
"...thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness those
that remember thy way." God'll meet you. All you've got to do
is be perfect. All you have to do is be righteous,
God will meet you. But we have no claim upon Him.
He says, Behold, thou art God. For we have sinned. Not only
have we sinned, in those, that is, in our sins, is continuance. God, we can't come to you on
the footing of our works. We can't come to you because
we're better than others. We can't come to you and ask
God that you visit us because of anything in us. We're fully
aware we have sinned and we continually sin. Sins mingle with everything
we do. But notice this. Even in the
acknowledgement of God's holiness and the people's sins, their
constant sins, Isaiah's hope is not diminished. His eye of
faith and hope was cast not upon himself, nor upon the people,
but upon God's grace, God's Son, and God's salvation. Look at
verse 5 again. The last thing I would expect
to see at the end of verse 5 is what I see there. Isn't it? The last thing I'd expect to
see. Isaiah says, you meet him that rejoiceth, you meet him
that worketh righteousness, you meet those that remember thee
in thy ways. But you're wrought with us, for
we sin, and our sin is in continuance. And then look at the last words,
and we shall be saved. Oh, how far and far above our
ways are his ways. We shall be saved, for we are
your people. You chose us! You redeemed us! You called us! We shall be saved!"
And Isaiah acknowledges there God's immutable grace and goodness. Let us do the same. Then, fourthly,
here is a complete confession of sin. A confession of sin that
vindicates God's providential judgments. You see, when we come and confess
our sin to God, Believers, humbly, honestly, from their
hearts, acknowledge, God what you've done is just right. David said in Psalm 51, I've
sinned against you. And when you judge, you judge
righteously. Speak to us again. If God should
never, ever visit us again, If God should never make himself
known in this place again, he's done exactly what's right. For
we don't deserve the least of his favors. Don't ever, ever
imagine that somehow we merit something from God. We don't.
Now look at this confession of sin. Isaiah says in verse 6, but we're all as an unclean egg. Now, you won't have to use your
imagination much to know what he's talking about. Do you remember
in the Old Testament, throughout the days of the ceremonial law,
anyone who touched a dead carcass, anyone who was methyls, anyone
who had been afflicted with a disease, when a woman went through her
monthly period, anything that was considered unclean, that
person, that thing, must be cleansed and purified before it can come
into the house of God and worship. And what Isaiah is saying is,
God, we're not fit in ourselves to approach you. We're not fit to call on your
name. We're not fit to come into your
house. We're not fit to worship you.
We're not fit to come to you or to have you come to us. We're
as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses all our righteousnesses. Not our sins, not our transgressions,
not our breaking of the law, not our despising your commandment,
not our adulteries and fornications, not our drunkenness and theft
and lying, our righteousnesses. All our efforts at worshipping
you, all our efforts at doing right, are filthy rags. If you have overly sensitive
ears, forgive me, I want you to clearly understand. He's saying,
God, our best works are like a rotting minstrel's cloth. our best deeds. And we do all faith as a leaf,
we're nothing. Our iniquities, our iniquities,
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away from here.
And there's none that calleth upon thy name. I was talking chatting the other
day about prayer. I made a statement about something.
I said, sometimes you just can't pray. The fellow sat beside me
and said, well, you pray, but God doesn't answer. I said, no,
sometimes you just can't pray. You just can't pray. Souls so
dead, we go through the motions. But call on God. There is none that stirreth up
himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from
us and consumed us." And here's the reason, because of our iniquities. Then in verse 8, I see a genuine
humility. and submission of heart. Blessed
are they who understand and acknowledge this truth, contained in this
verse of Scripture and taught throughout the entire Word of
God. But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, we are the clay, and Thou our
potter. We are all the work of thy hand. Come on now. We're nothing but
said. And God Almighty is absolutely
sovereign over us. God Almighty is the potter. We're
clay in his hands. What does that mean? That means
he can and he will do with us Exactly what he is pleased to
do with us, and it's right for him to do so. That's exactly
what it means. He's the potter, we're the clay.
If he casts us off, he's lost nothing, and we fully deserve
it. If he makes something of us, vessels of mercy, a full
preparament of glory, all to him be the praise. He's the potter,
we're the clay. Whatever God does with us is
right. And then Isaiah makes this statement,
and what a profound statement it is. Here's a man who acknowledges
his sin, the sins of his people. He acknowledges our A total,
total corruption, a total depravity, a total continuance in sin. He acknowledges that we don't
even have within us that which calls on God's name or causes
us to stir up ourselves to take hold of God. But he said, we
are the work of your hand. We're yours. We're yours. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus into good works. In our utter sinfulness, we acknowledge,
we acknowledge, Lord God, that we are what we are, by the grace
of our God. Now, hear our prayer, hear our
prayer. Read verses 9 and 10, and read
this prayer for forgiveness and deliverance. Be not wroth, very sore, O Lord,
neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech thee,
that if God please look down and recognize and acknowledge
we are all thy people, we're your people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem
is a desolation. Now, this prayer is based on
three things. He calls on God to forgive because
of blood atonement. You see, God cannot and will
not forgive sin but by the blood of his Son. He calls upon God
to visit us and acknowledge we are thy people. His prayer for
forgiveness, then, is based upon divine election. And his prayer
arises from desperate need. Desperate need. Oh God, we need you. We don't
just need you, we must have you. Thy wholeness it is. I'm not
being too free with the scripture when I say, God, your churches.
Your churches. I travel literally around the
world. I visit churches everywhere.
the best of them. I mean the best of them. God,
your churches are a wilderness. Look at it. A wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem, your kingdom, is desolate
in this world. God, this does. Deliver us from our sin. This
bondage this death, this desolation, this emptiness. And then in verses
11 and 12, the prophet makes a plea that always carries weight
with God. You, uh, kids learn early how to carry
weight with mom and dad. You find out You find out the
best way to get from them what you want. And when you really
want something, that's the way you go about getting it. You
find out what carries weight with them. Now let me show you
a place that always carries weight with God. Look at verses 11 and
12. Our holy and beautiful house,
your church, where our fathers praised thee, your worship is
burned up with fire. All our pleasant things, your
gospel, your honor, your name, all are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for
these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy Wilt thou afflict us? Very sure. God, will you not intervene for
your house, your church, for your truth, your honor? Will
you not now bring the heavens and come down? Yes, sir, he will. God will yet
intervene. In wrath, he will yet remember
mercy. He will again rend the heavens
and come down. He will yet again revive us.
Let me look at one more text with you. Turn to 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 18. And it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet
came near and said, this is how he prayed. This is my prayer. This is my
prayer. I have absolute confidence it
shall be done. I don't know how the Lord will
do it, but I know that the Lord God will do this. Lord God of
Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel, God of
the covenant. That's what it says. God of the
covenant. Our covenant keeping God. Let it be known this day
that thou art God in Israel, that I am thy servant, and that
I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord,
hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God,
and that thou hast turned their heart back again. And when he finished praying,
then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the
water that was in the trench. Somehow I know that the Lord
God will make it known that he is God that we are his people and his
servants. Somehow I know he will. God will
yet again send fire from heaven to show his approval and acceptance
of us, to enliven our souls and to consume our enemies. What shall we do? Having prepared this message Honestly, I've been there. I
did the study four weeks ago. For some reason, I brought it
tonight, I hope, by the leadership of God's Spirit. But what are
we to do when all is said and done? I think this is the best counsel
I can give. I think it's the best counsel
I can give. Let us never be satisfied in
ourselves with indifference. mediocrity and half-heartedness. Let us never be satisfied with
indifference, mediocrity and half-heartedness. But rather
stir up our souls to take hold of God and call on his name. Now may God be pleased to visit
us in mercy and in grace.