A friend of mine wrote me recently and compared our spiritual lives to gardening. Our spirits need care and nourishment -- the care and feeding you get when you go to church and hear the Word proclaimed, and also the care and nurture of our own spiritual practices each day and week.
The problem is we often neglect to care for our spiritual life. Just as a garden needs weeding and fertilizer, so do our spiritual lives. Too often we become lazy in our faith. The result is lost passion and commitment, while the weeds of self and sin thrive. Too often, we get little out of church. God seems far away, and spiritual life becomes stagnant- overlooked in the midst of all the other activities we squeeze into our lives.
II Chronicles 7:14 tells us, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” According to this verse, the way out of our struggle is moving towards God through personal revival. What exactly is revival? As one pastor put it, revival is: “coming to life again. It’s when we go from indifference to making a difference. It’s when we move from being comfortably numb to being passionately committed. It’s when we move from an appetite for the world and self to an appetite for God.”
May we increase our passion for God, because if we have that passion revived, everything else in our spiritual life will automatically fall into place. Spiritual disciplines of scripture reading, memorization and prayer move from being something we need to do and become times of joy when we don’t want to stop.
It can take some effort to develop good spiritual habits. But it can be done! Characteristics that take place when revival comes are: a deepened spiritual hunger, intense fervent prayer that is enjoyable not required, repentance, reckless abandonment and surrender to God, a fresh fullness of the Holy Spirit, spontaneous evangelism and soul winning, restored relationships, a spirit of thanksgiving and joy, increased hunger for God’s Word, and a desire to put God/church before entertainment.
Just like any living thing, without proper care our spirits wilt. If you and I are smart, we will not neglect our faith. Daily, we will fall on our knees, confess our sin and seek God. Then, He showers down upon us fresh Holy Spirit power. Power that changes lives, restores relationships, brings healing, breaks strongholds, and enables us to live as God intends…passionate and purposeful. May God immerse us in His power so that we may be matches for His holy fire.
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