Monday, August 17, 2009

revival cancelled


A friend of mine recently saw a sign outside a local church that read "Revival Cancelled" and it began to stir my thoughts. Revival cancelled... really? Is that a status report for the good old US of A? Revival cancelled... can you do that? Revival cancelled... what if it really is? What would life be like if God removed His hand from our existence? What would that be like? First of all it would bring utter chaos but beyond that how would it feel? If we all woke up tomorrow and the hope that so many of us rely on was over night simply removed or cancelled... what would we do?

I have read many reports or studies that keep a pulse on the church in America and from I have read maybe in some places revival has been cancelled. Reports show that there are churches closing the doors for good in almost every city, town and neighborhood across our country. For numerous reasons they are just calling it quits. Maybe some of them need to close. They haven't seen a convert in over a decade. They haven't baptized anyone in recent history. They are more of a drain on the community than there are anything else. Maybe they should close down. Maybe revival has been cancelled. However, be not dismayed... there are some great, vibrant, healthy churches out there as well. I know first hand revival has not been cancelled. I see each week people from all walks of life being revived, brought back to life, new life!

But I ask myself this question... what if as of this moment on God never answered another prayer of mine. What would I do? I would hope and like to think that I would continue living my life and playing on His team but I can only imagine how discouraging that would be. If He never answered another prayer, I would still have my lifetime of personal miracles and do-overs to thank Him for. I would guess that I could take one day at a time and thank Him each of those days for just one answered prayer and never run out of days. I would like to think if He stopped responding to my petitions it wouldn't make a difference and I would carry on. But how many of my prayers are prayed out of sincere love for Him and mankind and how many are prayed because I need something? How many prayers are prayed because I am just flat out desperate for Him to move on my behalf? If He never answers another prayer... I still have a huge pile of things to be thankful for.

Revival cancelled? Not at my house... what about yours?

Saying revival cancelled is like saying Freedom Revoked... you don't have the authority.

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