From the Pastor’s Heart OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
There was a little gospel chorus that I used to hear a lot as I grew up. The lyrics say: I want a revival in my soul (deep in my soul), I want a revival in my soul, I must apply to the blood of Jesus, To get a revival in my soul.
The people who used to sing that chorus were often ridiculed, but as I grew up and thought about them, those words took on new meaning. In my present reflection, I say we need a new revival, but not only in each person’s soul but also in the soul of the nation. I have never written on the need for revival as a national issue, but the more I watch and listen to the protesters in the different cities of America and the ongoing calls for justice, the more I am convinced that we need a spiritual revival nationally and individually.
The revival is urgent because violence and godlessness of every sort are rising across the land, here in American and across the globe. Many nations are on the path to destruction. We do not need prophets to make us aware of this. Anyone with a little wisdom can see that “things are falling apart.”
Law enforcement agents, attorney generals, state governments, the United States Congress, the president, and his cabinet cannot fix this effectively or rescue us. No matter how many laws and policies are put in place, if there is no fixture in our hearts, we will never correct the injustices seen throughout the land.
I mean that any good that we can expect at this time has to come from a return of the Spirit to our souls and the land. America has been known as the land of revivals. But it is more than obvious that the soil on which the great revivals came have been swept away, and what we are left with is a hardiness of condition that is not permitting the Spirit to rise. The argument today is that many persons who once were fervent church attendees are now leaving their churches and are taking up more secular forms of spirituality.
If any spirituality at all, it is the “Civil Religion.” It is noticeable that many churchy persons and institutions have adopted the ideological system that is defending the Bible and guns together. Some are against abortion but promoting guns. Others are against immigrants but are promoting law and order. I am just pointing to the contradictions and confusion to clarify that we need a great revival to clarify our thinking and behavior.
When revival comes, we will know what pure love, kindness, compassion, and moral principles will lead us to appreciate what justice is. Our challenge is that we are too dependent on our human frame to understand how to evaluate and resolve our situation.
How shall we get the needed revival, some of you might be asking, especially if you have never seen one? I suggest the following seven things.
1. Pray for a revival – There has never been a spiritual revival where people have not spent much time agonizing before God.
2. Pray, as one, or two or three – Jesus said, “When you pray enter into your closet, there in secret talk to your heavenly Father and he will reward you openly.” In another place and context, Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered touching anything concerning my name, there am I in the midst to bless and to do you good.”
3. Pray for the Spiritual outpouring – This is what the apostles of Pentecost did. They stayed long in the upper room and prayed.
4. Confess your faults to one another – This, also, is what the apostles did to one another. They “confessed their faults to one another and prayed for one another.”
5. The apostles also understood that a predicate to revival is forgiveness. So much hatred has been perpetrated against one another personally and nationally that we do not only need a truth and reconciliation committee, nationally but personally and in our families.
6. Praying in faith, believing that God will bring about a revival. Maybe you have heard that “God is more ready to give the Holy Spirit to us than we are ready to receive.” In which case I encourage pray, pray, pray, and get ready to receive, for, despite the drought, God can allow the seeds of revival to grow.
7. Study the word of God for direction. Here is the fertile place to find the truest truth, the greatest wisdom and the best direction.
Yes, revival will come if we demonstrate that we desire it and avail ourselves to receive it.
