Skip to main content

How To Pray for Revival: Part II by Ray Ortlund

By Anonymous
Over the last several weeks we’ve been sharing a list of ways to reach out to our neighbors with the love and hope of Jesus. As we grow in the passion and skill making disciples for the glory of Christ in the Elk River area, I ask you to join me in praying that Jesus will graciously send revival to our area and even beyond. In this hope, last week I shared Part I of a helpful article by Ray Ortlund on how to pray for revival. This week as you read Part II, I pray God will inspire you to add this kind of praying to your daily prayer routine. 

“When Jonathan Edwards described the awakening in his church, he had to use words like ‘surprising,’ ‘extraordinary’ and ‘astonishing.’ The Bible says of the early church that ‘awe came upon every soul’ (Acts 2:43). We can’t program that into our worship: 10:45 am – Awe comes upon every soul. Since revival is of God, we should pray for it. But how? The Bible teaches us how to pray; Isaiah 63:15-64:12 is a biblical prayer for revival…

“LAMENTING OUR OWN SINFULNESS: ‘In our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?’ (64:5). Isaiah is not blaming God for our sins, but he is saying God can hand us over to the power of our sins. It’s easy to think, ‘We’ll never change. Nothing will ever change.’ After all, it’s not as though we fell just yesterday. We have long histories running contrary to God. Let’s admit it to him. Let’s admit how helpless we are. Let’s hurl ourselves at Christ, the mighty friend of sinners.

“LONGING FOR THE TOUCH OF GOD: ‘We are the clay, and you are our potter’ (64:8). If we are the clay and God is the potter – if God is sovereign over us – why pray? Because we are the clay and he is the potter! We lie in his power. He can touch us again and reshape us in new ways. Nothing in us limits God. 

“FINAL APPEAL: ‘Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?’ (64:12). Oh, that God would visit us with unrestrained power! Nothing in us can hold him back. Only God controls God. We therefore cry out to him, to vindicate the holy name of Jesus Christ in our time.

“Will you join me in praying for revival, as the Bible instructs us to?”
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Worship Songs, October 15, 2017

By
We post these worship songs leading up to the worship service so that parents may listen to them in the house or in the car within the days leading up to the worship service. Our hope is that children will hear the songs prior to and it will prepare them to participate in worship on Sunday mornings. My Redeemers Love Hope Has Come I Will Glory In My Redeemer Blessed Be Your Name Here In Your Presence Your Glory Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) -- Sermon Text: John 11:1-16 That the next generation will set their hope in God and not forget the works of God (Psalm 78:7).
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

By
  One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF.  However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive.   I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church.  In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority.  Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

By
“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit.  Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vendi...
Post a Comment
Read more