Psalm 80:19 - Starting a Revival.
Psalm 80:19 (NKJV) Restore us, O LORD God of
hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be
saved!
Psalm 80:19 (NLT) Turn us again to yourself,
O LORD God of Heavens Armies. Make your
face shine down upon us. Only then will we be
saved.
COMMENTARY PEARLS
Refreshed and Restored
We often hear the word revival in the
church, but we might wonder what revival is exactly.
I think we overly mystify this word and
dont necessarily understand its actual meaning.
Revival is another word for refreshment,
restoration, or simply returning something to its
original condition.
For instance, when someone buys an old
car from the junkyard, does bodywork on it,
repaints it, adds new tires and wheels, and puts in a
new engine, that is a restoration. When you see
it rolling down the road, you cant believe
its the same car.
Or if you have a plant thats
withering, but it comes back to life again after
youve watered it, that is a restoration as well.
The psalmist prayed, Wont you
revive us again, so your people can rejoice in
you? (Psalm 85:6 NLT). And Psalm 80:19 says,
Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of
Heavens Armies. Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved (NLT).
Revival is refreshment. Revival is
restoration. For the believer, revival is getting back to
that first bloom of a love relationship with
Jesus Christ. Sometimes when weve been walking
with the Lord for a while, the passion begins to
fade. The zeal begins to erode, and we dont
have the same excitement in walking with the Lord
as we had before.
We want longevity as we walk with Christ,
but we dont want to sacrifice our passion.
Revival takes place when Gods people
come back to life again because they are
refreshed. They have been refilled and restored to
their original condition.
And what is the original condition?
Its the same condition as the church of the
first century, the church of the book of Acts.
Its the church that turned their world upside
down. [Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com]
A Supernatural Invasion of God
We cant create a revival. We cant
organize a revival. But we can agonize in prayer for
a revival. A revival is a supernatural
invasion of God. It is something that God does for us
and not something we do for Him.
One person defined revival as a community
saturated with God. Richard Owen Roberts, who wrote a
great book called Revival, described it as an
extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing
extraordinary results.
A. W. Tozer defined revival as that which
changes the moral climate of the community.
Revival is nothing more or less than a
new beginning of obedience to God.
And really, nonbelievers dont need
revival; they need salvation. The church needs
revival. Revival is for believers only, but
evangelism is for nonbelievers.
Charles Spurgeon said, To be revived
is a blessing which can only be enjoyed by
those who have some degree of life. Those who have
no spiritual life are not, and cannot be, in
the strictest sense of the term, subjects of a
revival. A true revival is to be looked for in the
Church of God.
I dont think most Americans have heard
an authentic, biblical gospel presentation. In
fact, I think we have a lot of almost
Christians in our nation today. They know a little
about the gospel, but they dont understand it
fully. They havent responded to it or embraced
it.
For example, when the apostle Paul
presented the gospel to Herod Agrippa, the ruler said,
You almost persuade me to become a Christian
(Acts 26:28 NKJV).
One of the greatest revivals in human
history started with one man, Jonah. Initially he
ran from God, but ultimately he came to his
senses. God has called us, like Jonah, to go and
preach the gospel. The question is, are we doing
it? [Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com]
CLOSING THOUGHT
Pray For Revival!
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
https://abible.com/links/
