Revival: Dedication to Holiness

Psalm 119:25-32

Last week I began to write about personal revival from Psalm 119:25-32. Many Christians would love to see a true revival in our nation and world. I would too. But revival begins with the individual. Personal spiritual revival must precede any corporate revival. As we saw in Psalm 119:25, the real prayer we need to pray is, “Revive me!” 

What does revival according to God’s Word look like? Four things are included in a personal spiritual revival. The first is Declaration of Sin and Our Need for God, (Psalm 119:25-26). The second is Devotion to God’s Word (119:26-27). The third is Dependence on God in Prayer.

Today we see the fourth indication of personal revival:

4. Dedication to Holiness: Obeying God’s Truth (119:30-32)

Lasting revival is not marked by numbers or emotions or feelings in the moment of a special church meeting, but by changed lives that now pursue obedience to Scripture and are dedicated to holiness, being set apart, sanctified by grace, different.

Verse 30 says “I have chosen the way of truth;” - way is a key word in this part of Psalm 119. It stands for the path and pattern of life: “my ways” (v. 26), “the way of Your precepts” (v. 27), “the way of lying” (v. 29), “the way of truth” (v. 30), “the way of Your commandments” (v. 32).

If we are going to choose to live the way of truth, we need to daily put God’s truth before us: “Your judgments I have laid before me,” (v. 30b). We must read God’s word. And not only read it; v. 31 goes beyond reading to clinging to Scripture, “I cling to Your testimonies.”

What a change from the beginning of this passage when he said his “soul clings to the dust,” (v. 25). The presence and power of God has revived him and now instead of clinging to the dust of this world he is clinging to the Divine Word of God. The Bible is his story and he’s sticking to it.

Verse 32 moves from walking in God’s ways to running in them. The psalmist began this prayer being down and out, now he’s up and running. He is determined to run the course … “I shall run” … His determination, however, is dependent on God’s strength: “For You shall enlarge my heart. “

The movement of personal revival in Psalm 119:25-32 is from death to life:

v. 25 laying in the dust, praying for life by the Word

v. 28 he prays, “raise me up by the Word”

v. 30 I have chosen the way of the Word – now he’s walking

v. 32 Now he’s running the way of God’s Word, with a full heart pumping with life

When my heart is set free from the cramping constraint of sin, trouble, and anxiety, then I am set free to run the course of God’s commandments. “The feet will follow the heart.” The key to personal revival is the person of Jesus Christ. It is His Holy Spirit enlarging our heart.

“Revival is ultimately Christ Himself, seen, felt, heard, living, active, moving in and through His body on earth.” - Stephen Olford

Have I allowed God to graciously enlarge my heart?

Revival: Dependence on God in Prayer

Psalm 119:25-32

“An awakening is ready to burst on the dismal scene when Christians have a deep, profound Spirit of prayer for an awakening.” - Lewis Drummond.

Last week I began to write about personal revival from Psalm 119:25-32. Many Christians would love to see a true revival in our nation and world. I would too. But revival begins with the individual. Personal spiritual revival must precede any corporate revival. As we saw in Psalm 119:25, the real prayer we need to pray is, “Revive me!” 

What does revival according to God’s Word look like? Four things are included in a personal spiritual revival. The first was Declaration of Sin and Our Need for God, (Psalm 119:25-26). The second was Devotion to God’s Word (119:26-27).

Today we see the third indication of personal revival:

3. Dependence on God in Prayer (119:28-29)

“My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word.”

Temptations to despair and spiritual depression are not often talked about in Christian circles, but they have been the struggles of some great Christians in church history, and even the author of this great psalm. What is the cure? Stop listening to the despair in our hearts and start listening instead to the truth of God’s word. It’s when we go to God in prayer that we find strength.

The one antidote for a weak and collapsing soul is hope in a strengthening God, which is what the 2nd half of verse 28 models. Jesus said “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” This is the type of comforting strength the writer of Psalm 119 wanted and received.

When we are powerless, when our heart is melted, God’s power will strengthen all who humbly call out to Him. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. We can endure all things through Christ who strengthens us. Christians may get discouraged and even depressed and downcast at times, but we do not despair completely if God is within us.

Prayer along with God’s word is the key. I don’t just pray “strengthen me” and leave God’s Word closed – this verse prays “strengthen me according to Your Word.” It’s a prayer with open an Bible that God blesses. We take God’s precious promises and enduring truths to Him in prayer.

Jonathan Edwards was greatly used by God in the greatest revival in North America, the Great Awakening in the 1700s. He experienced revival firsthand and saw as clear as anyone the connection with revival and prayer. He wrote: “When God has something very great for His church, it is His will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayers of His people.”

“Remove from me the way of lying, And grant me Your law graciously.” (Psalm 119:29).

True prayer, real conversation and communion with God, makes the revived want to be free from all that is false. He prays for God to remove the way of lying or the “false way”. He wants to be free from anything false, whether false statements or even false motives, false religion, a false heart himself (hypocrisy), false notions of his own spiritual condition before God, false assessments of himself or others, false teaching –any falsification, delusion, deception, manipulation of the truth.

Have you prayed that kind of prayer lately?

(In the next post I will discuss the third indicator of personal revival: Dedication to Holiness).

Revival: Devotion to God’s Word

Psalm 119:25-32

“Revival awakens in our hearts an increased awareness of the presence of God, a new love for God, a new hatred for sin, and a hunger for His Word.” - Del Fehsenfeld Jr.

Last week I began to write about personal revival from Psalm 119:25-32. Many Christians would love to see a true revival in our nation and world. I would too. But revival begins with the individual. Personal spiritual revival must precede any corporate revival. As we saw in Psalm 119:25, the real prayer we need to pray is, “Revive me!” 

What does revival according to God’s Word look like? Four things are included in a personal spiritual revival. The first was Declaration of Sin and Our Need for God, (Psalm 119:25-26).

Today we see the second indication of personal revival:

2. Devotion to God’s Word (119:26-27)

Verse 26 ended with “Teach me your statutes” and verse 27 continues the same request in different words, “Make me understand the way of your precepts.”

The psalmist knew there were still lessons to learn in the school of life and he did not want to miss them. Too often we ask, “God, how can I get out of this trouble?” when we should be asking, “God, what do You want to teach me in this? What do you want me to get out of this experience?”

The psalmist wanted truth, truth that is set in stone and will never change. Oh, would that we wanted that today! … there is no way to exaggerate the vital importance of God’s teaching for our spiritual health. In a day when churches are built on empty entertainment, shallow sermonettes, and tainted tradition, we desparately need the reviving power of God’s truth.

I believe that one thing that can cure the anemic church of the 21^st century is God’s absolute Truth. Oh that we would pray as the psalmist does: “teach me Your statutes!”

A devotion to understanding God’s word will strengthen our devotion God. A high view of God and a high view of God’s word go hand in hand. My purpose in studying the Bible is not just so I can have a ton of knowledge or so I can show-off what I have learned. I am not advocating anything even close to biblolatry. I study the Bible to know God; to meet Him in His word; to meditate on His wonders; to love Him with all my heart.

God’s word is really all about Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me,” (John 5:39). So a devotion to God’s word is not just devotion to a text, it is devotion to Jesus Christ whom the text reveals.

So I must ask myself:

Am I increasingly devoted to knowing and loving God through His word?

(In the next post I will discuss the third indicator of personal revival: Dependence on God in Prayer).

Catch the Wind of Heaven: Confess Your Ways

Psalm 119:25-32

“We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from Heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.” - G. Campbell Morgan.

Yesterday I began to write about revival. Many Christians would love to see a true revival in our nation and world. I would too. But as I wrote in my last post, revival begins with the individual. Personal spiritual revival must precede any corporate revival. As we saw in Psalm 119:25, the real prayer we need to pray is, “Revive me!”  

“Revival, no matter how great or small in its ultimate scope, always begins with individual believers whose hearts are desperate for God, and who are willing to pay the price to meet Him”. - Del Fehsenfeld Jr.

What does revival according to God’s Word look like? How do we set our sails to catch the wind of Heaven? I believe Psalm 119:25-32 answers that question. Four things are included in a personal spiritual revival. The first is:

1. Declaration of Sin and Our Need for God. (119:25-26)

“My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
 I have declared my ways, and You answered me; Teach me Your statutes.”

When a nation is in moral recession as ours appears to be, the tendency of many Christians is to bemoan the evils of our society. You can find plenty of Christians who spend a lot of time pointing out how wicked the world is. I don’t think this is especially helpful for revival. Real revival begins when we are more concerned with the evil in our own hearts, when we see our great need. The psalmist was concern with his own deadened spiritual state and the problem of his own sinful ways.

 “I have declared my ways,” (Ps. 119:26). This is open confession before an all-knowing God. Telling God “all our ways” includes our sinful ways. When I confess my sin I do not do it make God know my sin; He already knows it. I confess to make me know my sin. Declaring my ways shows that I am aware of my sad spiritual state. Confession is one way to set our sails to catch the wind of heaven.

But I think declaring our ways may mean more than just confessing our sin. It is also the unloading of all our heart; in all our ways acknowledging Him. 1 Peter 5 says to “cast all your cares upon Jesus because He cares for you.” All of our cares and concerns, all of our ways, should be declared to the Lord. He cares about every area of your life.

I don’t know exactly what the difficulties were in the life of this writer and I don’t know what difficulties today you face in your life. But I know this: if I am living in sin, or refusing to declare my ways to God, my misery will increase until I confess that sin; call it what it is; and come to Christ for forgiveness. This is where personal revival starts, instead of cleaving to this world and clinging to sin—confess it, renounce anything you hold onto more than Christ, and come humbly for mercy, saying “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to your cross I cling.”

God’s promise is that He will answer when we declare our ways. That’s what we need, an answer from God—and Jesus Christ is that answer. “Revival is ultimately Christ Himself, seen, felt, heard, living, active, moving in and through His body on earth,” - Stephen Olford.

How honest are you with yourself and God about your ways?

(In my next post I will share the second indicator of personal revival: Devotion to God’s Word).

From Down and Out to Up and Running!

Psalm 119:25-32

All of us are painfully aware of the economic downturn in our country. Major banking institutions have failed. Millions of people are without jobs. Families are hurting. The government seems powerless to change it. The recession is fast turning into a depression.

But I believe that the bigger problem in our world today is not financial, but spiritual. Many in our world, and maybe even some of us, are suffering from a spiritual recession; maybe even a spiritual depression. But there is good news today– not from the world, but from the Word of God, where true encouragement is found for personal revival for your soul when you are in a spiritual recession.

Psalm 119 has places where its writer soars high in praise to God and love for the law of the Lord. But its writer also experienced the depths and heartaches we experience, and verse 25 begins with one of those down times. In eight verses the psalmist goes from “down and out in the dust” (v 25) to “up and running” (v 32). It is a prayer for revival, renewal, and restrengthening.

What a prayer for revival looks like:

The prayer: Downcast in the Dust, Revive me. (119:25). “My soul clings to the dust;” Dust was the language of humiliation or defeat in Bible times. Even in our day, we say “another one bites the dust” to refer to defeat. The psalmist certainly seems to feel defeated, emotionally and physically drained, as he says in v. 28, “My soul melts from heaviness.” Nothing is lower than dust. In the Bible, when people would intentionally put dust and ashes on themselves, it was a sign of devastation, mourning or repentance.

In biblical language, dust was also often associated with death, lack of life. Maybe the psalmist feels like he is on the brink of death. Or he may be talking about the spiritual deadness he feels, his diminished spiritual life. In the same way Adam was formed from the dust and was dependent on God’s breath of life—we are equally dependent spiritually. Apart from God’s reviving word we have no hope for spiritual vitality.

Many Christians are calling for prayer for revival for our nation. And certainly we should pray for our nation and our leaders, but let’s start where the psalmist started. Let’s pray for our own souls. “Revive me” is more than just “preserve my life” (NIV). It is “give me life” (ESV), or “quicken me” (KJV). He is as helpless to give himself life as Adam was, his total being is lying prostrate in the dust, but he cries to God for life.

The Bible is clear that revival is something man can pray for but it it’s equally clear that man cannot produce, predict or plan revival – it is a sovereign work of God’s grace. Man trying to plan a revival is kind of like man trying to plan an earthquake. We can’t control it, predict or manipulate it. God does it. That’s why we must pray for it.

A revival isn’t having a big tent meeting, filling a stadium of people for some crusade, having Christian entertainers perform, or having emotional music and long altar calls. Those things may be fine and my have their place, but revival is not the right word for that.

He prays, “Revive me according to Your Word” …

Spiritual revival is the re-awakening of God’s people joyfully to spiritual things, as well as the awakening of many for the first time to God’s saving grace in the process, after a time of spiritual dryness, dullness, deadness, even discipline. And it comes through prayer and God’s word.

Do you need revival?

What would revival look like in your life?
(In the next few posts we will gain more insight to a REVIVAL PRAYER from this Psalm).