Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 04/24/2022
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Revival!
“Draw near to God and He
will draw near to you.” Jas 4:8
Last week we touched
glancingly on the subject of revival,
only to say that it was similar to resurrection but dissipates.
Today, in many churches
around the world a cry is going up to God for revival. It would seem like
wisdom to carefully consider what it is that we are asking for.
Note the old adage: “Be careful what you pray for, you might
get it.”
The word “revival” or
“reviving” is mihya, and only appears eight times and only in the OT; particularly Ezr. 9:8&9.
Another form of revive
is “haya” (2421) appears 262 times, and is translated:
live, alive, save, quicken, recover.
The Ezra passage is
rather intense, dealing with the problem of leaders – particularly priests and
Levites – taking foreign wives during the captivity. The injunction was to “put
them away” since this transgressed the law.
Our present day
experience with revival is a bit different.
Some churches hold “spring revivals” marked by more frequent meetings, special
speakers, and prayer.
Some churches, and/or denominations hold revival meetings.
In these meetings a special speaker may be invited;
an evangelist most likely.
They may (hopefully) be marked with
an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by signs
and wonders, healings, prophecy, and tongues, like at Pentecost.
In some churches revival “breaks out” very unexpectedly, and may be the result of years of
simply and faithfully performing
service unto God.
We have come to think of
revival as an outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit upon a people, or people group,
as in Acts 2:1-4.
Some revivals that we are familiar with are:
Brownsville, Fl. revival; Fathers Day, June 1995 –
2000
The Welsh revival 1910
Azusa St. Los Angeles, CA; 1906 shortly following a
great
earthquake measuring 8.3, which called some
to invoke Rom. 8:19-21
Fulton St. revival, centered at the North Dutch Reformed
Church, on Fulton St. NYC; 1857-59
1st Great Awakening 1730s and 40s; a
time when the idea
of secular rationalism was being emphasized and
passion for religion had grown stale; age of Enlightenment.
2nd Great Awakening. 1790 to 1840;
individual salvation and
free will over predestination.
In the Catholic Church the ideal of revival would be
expressed in the formation of new “orders” like the Benedictines, that sought
to separate themselves to a higher calling of holiness.
Though we tend to fixate
upon miracles, signs and wonders, as in Acts, the Ezra passage emphasizes a
deep and uncomfortable call to repentance,
Heb. 12:1,2...”Lay
aside” “look unto Jesus” Also Jas.
4:8b-10
At Fulton St., Pastor
Jeremiah Lanphier printed the following in a daily flier: “How Often Should I Pray”
“As often as the language of prayer is in my
heart; as often as I see my need of help; as often as I feel the power of
temptation; as often as I am made sensible of any spiritual declension, of
felling aggression of a worldly, earthly spirit. In prayer we leave the
business of time for that of eternity, and
intercourse with man for intercourse with God.”
Revival often follows
spiritual decline, hardships such as war or financial collapse, rise of
secularism, and folly in the church.
Note: You can’t revive something that’s not dead
first!
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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