September 25, 2022 is a day that members of Vaiden Baptist Church have been awaiting for so long. This is the day that our revival services begin. We have long prayed for this day and for the Lord to do a mighty work among His people.

Sitting here this morning, the rain is pouring down outside. As I was praying and listening, I asked, “Lord, baptize this revival in Your Holy Spirit.” I pray that this rain in these early morning hours would symbolically prepare the hearts of His people. That it might wash away the filth and the fear that this old world tries to cover us in and replace it with a fresh focus of our faith in the Lord Jesus. To remind us that it is He who will provide for our needs; heal our diseases; bring the lost to repentance; and restore our souls. I ask that the Lord draw people unto Himself, and that He soften the hearts of the lost and also the hearts of His people.

In the Old Testament, we see the Children of Israel turn from the Lord again and again. Yet when calamity came, they would call upon Him to save them, and He would. So it is with us, we get so entangled with the cares of this world, that until calamity strikes, we forge ahead with our own plans asking the Lord to bless them without having asked Him to guide us in the first place.

Revival should be a time when we go before the Lord and after stripping away our pride, we humbly ask Him to restore us, to renew in us a fresh spirit, and to create in us a clean heart. It is only then that He can truly use us as vessels to reach the lost. Just as farmers must prepare the soil, plant their seed, weed their fields, and water their crops before harvest – so the Lord’s people must prepare our hearts before Him.

There is a battle raging all around us. Some of its effects we can see, but most of it is in the spiritual realms where we cannot see. We have an enemy, and he does his best to keep lost souls lost. Make no mistake: he hates each one of us because we are made in the image of God, and he hates God. He will do anything and everything to kill us body and soul. He goes after our children and sends agents of chaos and confusion to teach them the ways of the world and to keep their hearts far from the Lord. And he does his best to create distrust, fear, and discord among the brethren. He works to keep us busy with those things, rather than preparing ourselves and spreading the gospel. If we are preoccupied with ourselves, then the lost are not being ministered to by us and called to repentance and our children are vulnerable to his attacks and his dark way. He is no match for our Savior though, and he knows it. The enemy knows that his time is limited and that the Lord Jesus is victorious against him and death and hell.

Our God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to this earth to save us. Born of a virgin, fulfilling every messianic prophecy, Jesus Christ lived on this earth as a man, but was fully God. He was tempted in all ways just as we are yet remained sinless. He had compassion on mankind. He healed the sick. He saved the lost. He fed the hungry. He taught us to pray. He modeled obedience to His Father, even humbling Himself to death on a cross. Though He had not sinned, our sins were laid upon Him, and He was beaten, tortured, and killed for our sakes. At any moment, He could have called upon angels for His rescue, yet with some of His last breaths He asked His Father to “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He was buried and three days later He rose again conquering death and hell for those that would trust in Him. We are more than conquerors through Him. We can come boldly before the throne of Grace and lay our petitions before Him. We can know that when we keep our eyes on Him and our focus on our faith in Him, and we pray believing, He hears us and will answer us. What a mighty God we serve! Nothing is impossible to him who believes.

So today I ask you to pray. Humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God. Confess your sin to Him and ask that it be covered by the very blood of Jesus. If you are saved, ask that He use you in a mighty way to bring glory and honor to Himself. Ask Him to truly revive His church and to bring all of us together in love and Christian service. Ask Him to save the lost, to heal the sick, to cleanse our nation, to save the unborn, to restore families and relationships, to bring wayward children home, to slay addictions, to lead families, to feed the needy, and to clothe the naked. Most of all, ask Him to raise up a generation that would resist the devil and bring Him the honor and glory that He so deserves. Ask Him to heal our land.

Revival is possible in our country. We know this because nothing is too hard for Him. He has authority over all of creation.  We have not, because we ask not.

Pray believing.