Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved.
God has been leading me into the subject of my next book for some time, but it has taken me quite awhile to begin to get His message clear in my mind. However, over the past few months He has begun to crystallize not only the message but the dire warning He has for America and the challenge facing His bride. This morning I want to share just a few of the thoughts with which He has been challenging me… and in turn challenging you.
In his book, The Spiritual Awakeners, Keith Hardman identified what he referred to as God’s five phases of working. And while we might not all agree with him, he certainly set the tenor for the discussion of spiritual revival.
- Revival is usually preceded by a time of spiritual depression, apathy, and gross sin;
- A small group of God’s people becomes conscious of its sins and backslidden condition, repents, and longs for a new outpouring of God’s grace;
- Leaders arise with prophetic insights into the causes and remedies for the current problems and a new revelation of God’s holiness stimulates a striving after that holiness by God’s people;
- The awakening occurs, which may both renew the church and evangelize those outside; and
- The awakening may be God’s preparation to strengthen His people for future challenges or trials.
If we are honest, it becomes fairly evident that America has gone through the first three phases. There is little doubt that America is in a time of spiritual depression that is the result of the whole world-view shifting to one of relativism; the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute (Webster). With this world-view it’s no wonder that the church in general has lapsed into depression, apathy, and even gross sin. It’s not surprising that historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote: The acceleration of change compels us to perceive life as motion, not as order; the universe not complete, but as unfinished.
Why hasn’t the church experienced true revival?
Just consider where the world looks today to find the answers to its most pressing questions… modern science. If we look at the recent history of the church in America, up until the 20th century, when it was weak and apathetic there was a group that fell on their knees in repentance and prayed for God to send revival. But today the answers are being sought in science and in technology and not in personal repentance.
America’s slide into moral decay is evident on every front that continue to present a growing threat to the bride of Christ… abortion, drug abuse, crime, divorce, pornography, greed, homosexuality, violence, materialism… and the list goes on. Yet the good news is that there are members of the bride of Christ all across America that are being moved by the Holy Spirit to fall on their knees in prayer and intercede for revival. There is also a growing number who are refusing to minimize the sin in today’s culture (and in the church). They are refusing to seek the apparent “safety” of public approval; they refuse to “go along to get along.” They are seeking to move in prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit to kindle a spiritual awakening and revival of the church.
And that is the key! The heart of revival is nothing less than the unmistakable presence of God. And that is only going to happen if the bride grows strong in her faith, trust, and dependence on her bridegroom. And in the days, weeks, and months ahead that is going to take incredible commitment as persecution of true Christians (the bride) in America will continue to increase.
And what brought about these thoughts the other morning was Psalm 80, when Israel found itself in the midst of Hardman’s five phases. And in the psalmist’s cry to God we have a clear picture laid out for America and the church. The difference is that God’s judgment had fallen Israel. America is not there yet but all the warning signs are clear. Time is growing short for God’s judgment and the bride can no longer sit inactively on the sideline. She must look long and hard on the inside before she can fulfill her role at this moment in history… His Story! She has to first be restored; her relationship with her bridegroom needs to be fully restored. And the only way that is going to happen is when she falls on her knees in repentance…
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved.