God Wants to Come Down

Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence—as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, the mountains shook at Your presence.” ISAIAH 64:1-3

 

PONDER THIS

Revival is when God comes down. Look in verse one, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence.” That’s what revival is; it is a meeting with Almighty God. Most of us are seeking for God to do something. We want it for our church’s sake. We want it for our family’s sake. We want it for the nation’s sake. But we’re seeking God’s hand and not seeking God’s face. Our hearts need to yearn for God. We need to say, “O God, will You come down?”

Now I want to tell you God loves to come down. God the Son stepped out of Heaven and came down to this world of woe that He might save us. On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and baptized that infant Church with wonderful power. As we study the Word of God, we find out that Jesus is coming down again one day. I want to tell you that if you study the Bible, you’ll find out that God has come down many times in the Bible, and every time, we find revival. And in modern history, if you’ll study the record of the Church, you will find that from time to time, in place to place, God has come down. There is no question—He is ready to come down and move. Will you desire and pray for it?

Do you desire to see revival? Why or why not?

What would it look like to be committed to asking God for revival?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for revival in your in your heart and in your home.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Pray for Revival?

“‘Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.’ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!’” 1 KINGS 18:37-39

 

PONDER THIS

How much of your prayer life is consumed for the glory of God? Most of our prayers are “give me” prayers that have no concern whatsoever for the glory of God. But when Elijah prayed for God to reveal His glory, this fire consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the water, the dust. Do you want to be consumed by Almighty God? Would you like for God to come down on the sacrifice, which pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, and let that sacrifice be a sweet-smelling aroma to Him and to you? His glory is fire that consumes. His glory is the fire of revival.

Revival in this passage was a fire that consumed, a fire that convicted, and a fire that converted. Look in verse 39: Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!’” Those who were the fence straddlers, those who were ambivalent, fell on their faces to worship God. My heart yearns for that. This is not a work that can be done halfway—it is all consuming. This work will not keep you in your pride; it will open your eyes to your sin. This work will not keep you as you are; it will change your heart. We need God’s revival; it is something we should crave.

Do you desire God’s revival in your church and community? In what way?

What are some parts of revival that we don’t typically like? What are some challenges to revival?

PRACTICE THIS

Do a prayer walk in your neighborhood or community, asking for God’s revival.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Humility Must Come Before Revival

“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side.” EZEKIEL 47:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

If we want revival, we first need two things: humility and holiness.

We need to first humble ourselves before God. Many of us sit in church high-minded, unbent, unbroken, and somehow thinking we’re doing God a service or favor by being here. In our churches, we talk about our buildings, programs, music, preaching, teaching, and all of that, but it does no good without a brokenness before God. We need to have humility in our hearts.

We also need to embrace holiness. In Ezekiel, the river flows from under the threshold and past the altar (v. 1). The altar was the place where the blood was shed—the place for the sacrifice of sin, the place of cleansing. There can never be any true revival when God’s people have unconfessed, unrepented sin in their hearts and in their lives. There can never be true revival until we repent. Not everybody will be attracted by your life if you’re filled with the Spirit, but I will guarantee you that if you get on fire for Jesus Christ—if a humble, holy flow of living water runs through you and flows down into the depressed, dry, and deadly places of your own heart—others will see the work of God in you.

When was the last time you humbled yourself before God?

What are you struggling with that you need to bring before God in humility?

PRACTICE THIS

With a humble heart, bring before God the things with which you are struggling.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Thirsty for Revival?

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

JOHN 7:37-38

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus said, in effect, “Look, are you thirsty? Come to Me and drink, and out of you a river of power, grace, and joy will begin to flow.” Is a river of love and power flowing out of you? Everywhere you go, are you a blessing to those around you? If you are in Christ, the Lord is flowing through you. Does that characterize your life today?

If it does not yet, consider Jesus’ words again: “If anyone thirsts” was the preface to His statement about being filled. You have to be thirsty. That’s the problem. You say, “Well, Pastor, I know I’m empty.” But empty and thirsty are two different things. Do you have a burning, blistering thirst for God? Or are you so filled with the stagnant waters of self-love, carnality, entertainment, and materialism that you’re not thirsting for the living God?

You have all of God you want. If you don’t have more of God, it’s because you don’t want more of God. What did Jesus say? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). It’s not our job to persuade God to send revival but to permit Him to do so—to be thirsty.

What does it look like to be thirsty for God?

When have you felt a thirst for God? How did that play out in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for God to renew and grow your thirst for Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Believe in Revival?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’'" Judges 6:13

 

PONDER THIS

Some of us feel like Gideon—like the Lord has stopped working and there is no hope for the world. But there’s not one shred of Scripture that says we cannot have a mighty revival in the day and age in which we live. Most of us don’t believe that. You talk about revival, and all people do is give a sympathetic smile. They’re simply waiting for Jesus Christ to get here. I’m here to tell you there has never been a greater day, a greater age, to live and to preach the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. And God wants you, sir; you, madam. God wants you to be in the middle of it. God has a mighty plan for you. And we need to stop moaning, groaning, and complaining about living in the last days.

How difficult is it for you to believe God could move in a mighty way in your life, community, and country today?

How might you present these challenges to God in prayer?

PRACTICE THIS

Read Judges 6–8 to see the challenges Gideon faced. Compare these challenges with the challenges we face today. Consider how God might move today like He did in the time of Gideon.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Will We See Revival in Our Nation Again?

Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Psalm 85:6

What we need in America is a sweeping revival. They tell us that a nation’s decay occurs in nine cycles. 

1.  People go from bondage to spiritual faith. 

2.  From spiritual faith to courage. 

3.  From courage to liberty. 

4.  From liberty to abundance. 

5.  From abundance to selfishness. 

6.  From selfishness to complacency. 

7.  From complacency to apathy. 

8.  From apathy to dependence. 

9.  From dependence back again to bondage. 

 

This cycle is being revealed today in our nation’s current status. But I'm telling you, it’s time some of us took our place and prayed for God to send a mighty revival and for our nation to return to Him. It’s not too late with God! 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Ask God to Stir Our Hearts

BIBLE MEDITATION

“And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.’ And they marveled at Him.”

Mark 12:17

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

A reporter asked a pedestrian, “Can you tell me the two biggest problems in America?” The man said, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” The reporter replied, “You named them both.”

Ignorance and apathy! These are days when we cannot afford to be ignorant and certainly not apathetic.

Soon, Americans are going to make one of the weightiest decisions we can make. We’re going to elect someone to the highest office in our land. And how important it is for followers of Christ to seek the heart, the mind, and the will of God about this and all elected offices!

ACTION POINT

I’m going to tell you how to vote: Go into the booth, pull the curtain, and press the lever. That’s how to do it. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for. Stop looking around and wondering what everybody else is going to do. Draw a circle on the floor, get inside that circle, and say, “God, start a revival in this circle.” May God help us to be Christian citizens. Father, stir our hearts, I pray. And Lord, deliver us from both apathy and ignorance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Is revival even possible?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior” 1Timothy 2:1-3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

When I was a boy in Florida, we lived at the seaside. I love the water, and one of the things that always intrigued me as a boy was the changing of the tide. As we’d go out fishing, my brother and I would always be cognizant of the tides because we would come and go by the tides. The tides were important to us.

There are tides in nations too. America saw a tide of revival sweep in twice—in the First and Second Great Awakenings. But today we’ve seen a different tide. At this lowest point, when the tide is as low as it can get, may God grant that we see the tide begin to turn back the other way, back to decency in America.

ACTION POINT

We need to look up. Only God can help us. We need to confess up and turn from our wicked ways. We need to speak up. We need to stand up for what is right. Pray 1 Timothy 2:1-3 today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Need Revival

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” Psalm 85:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

What we need is a sweeping revival. Decline occurs in nine cycles. People go from:

Bondage to spiritual faith

Spiritual faith to courage

Courage to liberty

Liberty to abundance

Abundance to selfishness

Selfishness to complacency

Complacency to apathy

Apathy to dependence

Dependence back again to bondage

ACTION POINT

This cycle is being revealed today in our nation’s current status. But I'm telling you, it’s time some of us took our place and prayed for God to send a mighty revival. Pray for repentance across our nation. Pray for our nation to return to Him. It’s not too late with God!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers