![[GospelWeb.net Globe]](../graphics/GW90logo.gif)
|
|
When I lived in Oklahoma my pastor preached a series of messages on revival. He said the same thing in every sermon that he preached “Revival has to start with the church”. What is the church? It is not a building; the church consists of people who come together to praise God and to worship Him. We need each other and we need to be encouraging one another. If we are ever to have real revival, it has to start in the heart of every Christian. Every one of us needs to be revived because we grow weary, discouraged and sometimes bitter. Instead of praying for someone else to be revived, we need to ask God to search our own hearts and show us where we are failing Him and ask Him to change us so we will be effective servants for Him.
Why is it that we have no problems with telling people what is wrong with them and how they need to improve, but we can’t see our own faults? It is because we choose not to dwell on our own mistakes. It is far easier to tell people they need to change than concentrate on changing ourselves. We need to ask God to perform open heart surgery on us. It is only by allowing Him to cleanse our hearts of unforgiveness, bitterness and criticism that we will have a real revival in our churches, in our homes and in our land.
How is your heart today? Is it on fire for God? Do you have the same excitement that you had the day you were saved, or have you allowed satan and the world to extinguish the fire? Cry out to Jesus and ask Him to revive your heart today! Allow Him to enlarge your heart with more unconditional love and compassion for others.