Jesus, Will You Guide Us

God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth.  Psalms 67:1-4 NASB

God’s mission is to reveal Himself to the nations that all nations might respond in faith to the salvation offered in Christ Jesus. There is a gift that is received when we live according to God’s ways. But it is meant to be a platform from which we testify to the goodness and opportunity available to all to know God’s face in relationship through Christ. We have been blessed to be a blessing. 

Are we living that message?

As I was writing my notes for today's post, the Lord reminded me of a fire fed word. Revival. Holy Spirit put the word REVIVAL upon my heart at the beginning of 2016. It's one of my favourite words and fits alongside PERSEVERANCE quite well. 

Isaiah 57:15 NET For this is what the high and exalted one says, the one who rules forever, whose name is holy: “I dwell in an exalted and holy place, but also with the discouraged and humiliated, in order to cheer up the humiliated and to encourage the discouraged. 

There are so many REVIVALS taking place in each and every one of us at any given time. 

Our own Personal REVIVAL

His Church's REVIVAL in its growth

God's REVIVAL in our communities 

Jesus' REVIVAL in our nation

I've been researching some of the historical revivals. Which I encourage you to take a moment and read a bit on, I basically started online and simply googled "Christian revivals". The once recorded throughout history are really interesting and inspiring, for example, the Evangelical Revival of the mid to late 1700's was known for its teaching on holiness and was given the nickname the 'Holiness Revival'. It was marked fundamentally by those who were convicted of their sin, surrendered to Christ, and therefore lived with purity of heart and life. How amazing is that?!? Thank you Jesus!

Emerging from that time was an understanding of 'social holiness' in the teachings of those who understood that salvation was not only about heaven but also about loving God and loving people God’s people on earth. The revivals of the past are a sombre inspiring reminder of a never ending purpose God has placed upon us. 

Both then and now holiness is needed to be outworked in the community as a necessary part of church life. As an absolute necessity for our part in leading others to jesus. 

Pray for salvation.  

There is nothing like remembering that our pursuit of being Christ-like is not just about ourselves, but for others too.