Reasons We Are Not Revived Is. 57:15 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Revival is important to nations, cities, churches and individuals. Not many people alive today have ever witnessed anything akin to a revival of the Spirit of God. You may have witnessed a big production of men and you may have witnessed a very emotional feeling at a special service or event. But genuine revival has become a thing of the past for most people and for most churches and certainly for cities and nations. What are some of the reasons we are not revived?
Attitude – Is 57:15 shows us that the Lord revives the humble and the contrite ones. We are too proud and we are too stubborn. We are more interested in trying to squeeze God into our plans than we are to humble ourselves and accept his plans for us.
Abundance – Lk 12:15; Rev 3:17 – we love our stuff. Men are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. We have some and we want more. God has become for us the great benefactor of our personal desires. And forget fasting, we would rather be obese.
Activities – we have too much going on in our lives to ever slow down enough for the Spirit to do anything with us. We are always on the go. The Lord said, “Be still and know that I am God,” Ps 46:10.
Associations – there is little separation in Christianity today. We have not come out from among those in the world. Worldliness prevails. We like our associations with our friends more then we love God. And so God can’t revive us when we love the praise of men more than the praise of God, Jn 12:43.
Amusements – we love our recreation, television, internet, sports, hobbies, travel, and so forth. I believe in keeping a balance but we are way over to one side with our amusements which keep us from meditating upon the Lord. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord…” Ps 19:14.
Apathy – we just don’t care. We are to hunger and thirst after righteousness. We are to cry out to God, “Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray,” Ps 5:2. We would rather just coast and wait on God to return to get us. We’ve given up on trying to get better.
Conclusion: It doesn’t have to be this way. You can change your attitude and humble yourself. You can let go of the abundance and of the desire to have more and turn your desires to have more of God. You can curtail you activities now. You can break off those unspiritual associations. You can stop the amusements and start thinking about God. And you can pray and ask God to awaken you out of this apathetic sleep and then let the revival begin with you!!