When the concept of praying for a spiritual revival came to me from a fellow believer, I’ll admit my first thoughts were “That’s for other people to pray about”, “Revivals are a thing of the past”, and “The world is too broken for that now”. These were all lies placed in my mind by the enemy who does not want us praying like this.
Several people within my organization have been praying for a spiritual revival at the company in the regions where we lead. Most, if not all of the areas on our list are spiritually dead (or so it seems). We’ve been praying for a while and thanks to God, more people continue to pray with us. Two months ago I posted on this site about the prayer for revival, requesting our readers to pray as well. Thank you to those who have joined!
We pray for “just one” conversion in each region to “start the fire”. Guess what? It is happening. At least three people from one of our plants have given their life to Jesus Christ in the last month!
Today’s reading: 1 Kings 5, 2 Chron 2, 2 Thes 3
Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. (2 Thessalonians 3:1)
The verse above captivated me. Paul knew and believed in the power of prayer. How seriously do we take it? God freely gives, listens, and responds. He wants us to pray, and yet too often we fail. I can tell you all of the earthly things that I want and think about on an ongoing basis, but can I honestly tell you that I pray earnestly for heavenly things day in, day out, without ceasing?
Paul prayed for the message of Jesus Christ to spread rapidly. We should pray this as well. Nothing in this world is going to get better until we are shaken to repentance, to moral cleansing, to love and live as Jesus did. There have been revivals in the past and God willing, they will happen again. Pray over it, have faith that the same God who initiated past revivals is ready and waiting for us to pray, earnestly, on our knees, humbly to him. I believe he can and will answer this type of prayer.
- Create a prayer list on your phone since most of us have smartphones that are with us 24×7. Built-in functions such as reminders can be set up on a recurring basis. Why not create a reminder to review your prayer list?
- Most people use electronic calendars. I would be lost without mine. Would I miss a meeting with the person I report to at work? Never! Then why would I miss a meeting with the God of the universe, the one who created me, the one who loves me beyond recognition, the one who has never nor will he ever let me down?
Our big God wants us to pray big prayers. He can handle it! Don’t wait, the time is now.