Is There a Need for Revival?

DAY 1: Read Psalm 85:1-7

Psalm 85:1-7 (KJV)

¹ LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

² Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

³ Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

⁴ Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

⁵ Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?

⁶ Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?

⁷ Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

Sometimes you might hear the term “revival” mentioned at church and then just brush it off thinking that it probably applies to someone else, but not to you. After all, you’re a pretty good Christian, right? You have the talk and the walk. You know the verses and the hymns. You participate in both the praise and the worship. If someone ever challenges you to take a step of revival, you mentally reply with something like this, “What? Me need revival? Not!” Well, that might be true, but for most Christians, revival is a necessary step that’s periodically needed to help them grow more like Christ.

Because you live in a world that is primarily non-Christian and you are surrounded by a post-Christian church movement that focuses on the creation more than the Creator, you can hardly help but be influenced by things that take your focus away from Christ. Revival helps return your focus to Christ and revive (bring back to life) the joy of your salvation and your unfeigned love for Christ. To deny a need for revival without first carefully examining your life is evidence that you probably need personal revival.

We all need personal revival. It’s a necessary part of the church’s revival. The need for personal revival is described in Psalm 85, verses 1 through 7. In these verses, we find that we will recognize our need for revival when we:

1. Understand God’s judgment;
2. Desire God’s favor; and
3. Call upon God seeking our personal need for revival.

This week, spend some time in Scripture answering the question, “In what way(s) do I need revival?”

DAY 3: Read Isaiah 57:13-21, focusing especially on verse 15. Why is it that you can go to God for personal revival, understanding His holiness and His majesty? How do humility and gratitude help you receive revival?

Isaiah 57:13-21 (KJV)
¹³  When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
¹⁴  And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.
¹⁵  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
¹⁶  For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
¹⁷  For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
¹⁸  I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
¹⁹  I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.
²⁰  But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
²¹  There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

DAY 4: Re-examine Isaiah 57:13-21 (above). Describe how you can prepare for personal revival through faith, repentance and humility.

DAY 5: Read Habakkuk 3:1-19. Describe why prayer is such an important part of the revival process for the church. What did Habakkuk ask God to revive? What did Habakkuk recognize at the end of his prayer.

Habakkuk 3:1-19 (KJV)
¹  A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
²  O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
³  God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
⁴  And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
⁵  Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
⁶  He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
⁷  I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
⁸  Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
⁹  Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
¹⁰  The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
¹¹  The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
¹²  Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
¹³  Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
¹⁴  Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
¹⁵  Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
¹⁶  When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
¹⁷  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
¹⁸  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹  The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

DAY 6: Read Isaiah 57:15 and Habakkuk 3:2. Identify how each of these three needs for revival are mentioned in these verses (revival of spirit, heart, and work). Why are these areas of revival important to you?

Isaiah 57:15 (KJV)
¹⁵  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Habakkuk 3:2 (KJV)
²  O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

DAY 7: Read 2 Chronicles 7:14. What are some of the results of revival mentioned in this verse? How are these results experienced by the church? If you experience personal revival, what changes might you see in your own life?

2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)
¹⁴  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.