Revival: Fresh Water in a Dry Land

In this Revival UPGRADE, Dawn reminds us that revival is highly personal before it ever passes to others.

Yesterday (6/20/23), I chatted with a good friend about revival. It's a topic I've always loved. But it's more than just "a topic."

God is everywhere-present; but when biblical revival comes, God's people sense His manifest, holy presence in greater, deeper ways.

I so long for that, but I don't pray for it enough. I don't cry out for it, desperate for God to move among us. It's not even a matter of getting weary in well-doing. To be honest, for me, it's the problem of not wanting it enough—not being willing to pay the price of earnest, fervent prayer for revival.

The church as a whole needs revival, not more "revival meetings"—though God may choose some godly servants to help bring revival.

I'm convinced our nation needs to see God's holiness and power in His people once again. It's already seen enough of hypocrisy and lukewarmness.

We are like dry land, parched in wickedness.

Revival is fresh water—Living Water—coursing through us and enlivening everything again.

When revival comes to our heart, the change in us will be a powerful witness to a watching world.

I remember the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (John 4:10). The non-believer needs this living water, and the Samaritan woman had only to "ask Him" for it. (She did, and the inhabitants of her village noticed the difference! She had a changed heart.)

Likewise, the Christian needs to ask for a revived heart. More than ask. Cry out for it!

Why? One reason is our witness. As one old saint said, "The world waits for a daily demonstration of the Christ who lives in you."

But also, the Christian desperately needs the freshness of revival because "Christian living" can grow old and stale. Sins can pile up. Selfishness can creep in. Self-sufficiency (independence from God) can take over.

I once heard something like this:

Let's stop looking around at the world and others and saying, "Oh my."

Let's allow God's Spirit to search us until we cry in repentance, "OH, ME!"

In other words . . .

• We can't wait for our brothers and sisters to bow in humility. Revival is personal—we need to hoist our own white flag in surrender to God.
• We can't wait for others to clean up their act; we need to allow God's Spirit to sweep our own heart clean.
• We can't wait for our church to cry out for revival; we need to cry out for it ourselves.

Del Fehsenfeld, Jr., the founder of Life Action Ministries—who first whet my appetite for revival in the church—said it this way:

"Revival, no matter how great or small in its ultimate scope, always begins with individual believers whose hearts are desperate for God, and who are willing to pay the price to meet Him."

It indeed involves surrender. As Bill McLeod—a pastor whose church experienced revival in the great Canadian Revival in 1971—said, "When I ask the Lord to fill me with His Holy Spirit I am, of course, relinquishing all rights to the control of my life for that day." I would add, "and every day."

Revival is a blessing, not the sad, negative experience some make it out to be. God loves us and He is good. He longs to draw us to Himself.

The only sad, negative thing about true revival is coming face to face with the ugliness of our sin.

What joy comes when fresh water is poured over a parched soul, trickling down to the depths of sin and washing it away.

God longs to do that in us. He will do that (Isaiah 44:3). Jesus came for that (John 4:14).

There's nothing like a Christian's joy when Christ reigns within. We have the river of life within us. Unlike anything the world offers, Jesus satisfies our thirst with Himself; and as we believe in Him, "rivers of living water will flow from within" (John 7:38)

It's not about DOING more for God to make us love us more or to bring Him pleasure. It's not about activity.

It's about simply BEING with Him and allowing Him to do His work.

The psalmist says, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). God is God and we are not. We cannot imagine what He might do when we seek our Father God for revival.

• Set aside all distractions.
• Bring your restless soul to the throne of God in prayer—cease striving.
• Offer Him your flag of surrender. Come in humility, desiring only His will.
• Confess all known sin—agree with Him that you have sinned (1 John 1:9).
  
• Cry out for revival. Begin (and keep on) crying out in prayer until it comes.
• Proclaim how wondrous God is, and the marvelous salvation He designed.
  

The psalmist continues (46:10), "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." That will be completely true someday; but we can still exalt Him—praise Him, worship Him, obey Him, live sold out lives for Him—today.

And we can best do that with a revived heart.

Here's the kicker:

It's not enough to read about revival or listen to messages about it. It's not enough to acknowledge we need it. It's not enough to preach and teach and write about it. No. We need to CRY OUT for it.

It's not just another activity to add to an already busy life. It's part of our "be-ing" with God.

And yet we are content to let others take on the challenge.

Revivalist Leonard Ravenhill said, "The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it!"

Sad, but true. For the church and for individuals.

So what are we going to do about it? I don't know about you, but the Holy Spirit is telling me there is nothing more important for me to do today but to begin crying out for revival in my own life.

Are you crying out for revival? Yes? Praise God! No? Will you begin today?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth at Revive Our Hearts, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Graphic adapted. Original is a photo on Soundscapes' television music channels.

7 Times We Most Need to Cry Out to God

In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, Dawn Wilson urges us to CRY OUT to the Lord. But why?

"We think we don't need God... until we DO!" Dawn says. "Oh, we may not say we don't need Him, but we certainly act like it."

Is that true of you? Come on, be honest.

Dawn continues . . .

I remember how people flocked to their houses of worship shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Suddenly, afraid and confused, so many Americans realized they needed answers and protection "from above." All over the nation, God's children cried out to the Lord.

And God answered from heaven as His people came clean with Him and sought Him. "When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears" (Psalm 34:17). There seemed to be a fresh sweep from heaven as hearts were more sensitive to His Word.

But then after a while, life got back to "normal," didn't it?

We forgot how much we need God. And so many stopped crying out to Him for protection, for help, for anything more than a simple "give us this day our daily bread."

As I'm preparing my heart for the OneCry! simulcast, part of the True Woman 2016 National Women's Conference, I'm considering this whole issue of "crying out." There are many scriptures to direct my thoughts.

How would you answer this question: When do we most need to cry out to the Lord?

Here's what I believe:

1. We need to cry out when we realize we've wandered.

I sense this need when I sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"—"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love".

We wandering sheep so need our Shepherd. The Good Shepherd, Jesus, sacrificed his life for us (John 10:11) and rescued us from spiritual death. But we are so prone to wander away from His loving care.

We wander away into darkness, wickedness, habits and addictions that injure us—body and soul.

We need to run back to the Shepherd's care and cry out to Him: "Bind my wandering heart to Thee."

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8).

2. We need to cry out when we're frustrated by our sin.

Have you ever resolved to live for Jesus, and then found yourself in some pit you created by sinful choices?

The battle is real. We struggle against not only our own flesh—the war within (Romans 7:14-25), but also against spiritual forces of evil that come against us (Ephesians 6:11-13).

We need to cry out to the Lord when we struggle and say with Paul: "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate" (Romans 7:15). Our deliverance is in Christ (Romans 7:24-25).

3. We need to cry out when we understand we are helpless.

Jesus said, "...apart from me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5b).

We are helpless, even when we think we are strong or invincible.

Because we are helpless, we cry out when we are in trouble (Psalm 34:6) and our heart is faint (Psalm 61:2). Jesus understand our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15), and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26-27).

4. We need to cry out when we're distressed over life's circumstances.

No matter our situation, no matter our struggle, the Lord desires to be our Refuge.

In Psalm 18, David dealt with his distress in the midst of his enemies by running to the place of protection and rest in God, his rock and fortress.

"In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help," he said (v. 6a). David knew God would be a "shield for all those who take refuge in Him" (v. 30b).

We cry out to God because "...who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?" (v. 31)

Like David, we will discover God can relieve us in our distress, but we must cry out for Him to be gracious and hear our prayer for help (Psalm 4:1).

5. We need to cry out when we need clear answers.

As I write this, so many have told me how they are struggling with how to vote in the coming elections. It's as if we've forgotten God is in control; we've pushed Him to the sidelines and not taken His thoughts into account. This is a huge mistake.

We can spread out ALL our concerns to the Lord, asking Him to give direction. We need His wisdom for family concerns, financial concerns, spiritual concerns, concerns for our nation, etc.

We must not trust our "own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5-6). We must seek and trust the Lord.

"If any of you lacks wisdom," James wrote, "let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5).

6. We need to cry out when we sense it's "all about me."

Did you notice all the "I" words? This morning the Lord is speaking to me about this.

So many of my prayers are about me, myself and I. And that's sad.

We are not ONLY to cry out before the throne for ourselves (Hebrews 4:16).

We are also urged in scripture to cry out for "all people, for kings and all who are in high positions" (1 Timothy 2:1-2), for God's servants who seek to spread the gospel (Matthew 9:38; Colossians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 3:1), for fellow Christ-followers (Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 1:9; James 5:16), and even our persecuters—those who attack and oppose us (Matthew 5:44).

How often do I cry out on behalf of others... relatives, friends, churches, neighbors, the poor and needy, prisoners and those in all sorts of "bondage," the Persecuted Church, our corrupt and increasingly godless nation?

God, have mercy.

7. We need to cry out because it can lead us to glorify God.

There is a sense that God desires His people to cry out, and then stand back and watch Him work. And then we have the blessing of praise—the privilege of honoring Him.

God spoke to His people in Psalm 50:15: "...call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

Oh that we would honor God and rejoice in Him. In fact, my biggest heart cry is for revival: "Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?" (Psalm 85:6)

There are no doubt many other reasons we need to cry out to God, but these are a good place to start: in humility, understanding our great need, and desiring to please and honor Him.

Which of these thoughts encourages you to "cry out" to the Lord today?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator of three blogs: Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), andUpgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for Revive Our Heartsand a writer at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in Southern California and have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.