Once again, my dad and mom were right. You see they told me the older you get the faster the years come and go. Well, the older I get the faster the years come and go. It’s hard to believe 2023 has come to an end and 2024 is in full swing.
At the beginning of a new year many individuals take this opportunity to make New Year resolutions with the hope of becoming a better person. The definition of a New Year’s resolution is: “a tradition in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change undesired traits or behaviors and strive to meet desired goals.” Easier said than done! The failure rate for New Year's resolutions is said to be an estimated 80% with most people losing their resolve and motivation just weeks later in mid-February, according to U.S. News and World Report from Jan. 7th, 2023. In fact, researchers suggest that only 9% of Americans that make resolutions complete them. Research goes on to show that 23% of people quit their resolution by the end of the first week, and 43% quit by the end of January.
There is one resolution we can make together for 2024 and together we can succeed. This resolution goes along with the greatest need we have…Period! I ask that you join me to pray for a sweeping revival to come to our hearts, our churches and our world. Many of us have been blessed to experience what happens when revival comes. Revival comes when God comes on the scene. Apart from God’s presence there is no real revival. Why do we need revival? Because we need HIM!
Revival is Essential: Revival is the restoration of God’s presence to His people. In Exodus 33, God threatened to remove His presence from His people. Understanding that there is no real life apart from God’s presence, Moses pleaded for God to return to His people.
Revival is also Experiential: In other words, when God is present, life is different. In Acts 3:19, Peter said, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Peter understood that the presence of God alone could refresh and renew the hearts of His people.
We need revival when:
- We drop our guard and let things back into our lives that we once rejected.
- We do not witness and we have become silent and hide our life in Christ.
- Our prayer closet has cobwebs and your Bible is dusty.
- We have a critical spirit and even criticize pastors and ignore his message.
- We excuse sin.
- Worship is stale and we don’t sense God’s Presence.
- We have a deep sense there is something more.
May we continue to pursue God. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts that we can draw close to our Lord and be like Him.
In 2024 we need a fresh focus.
- Focus on the Powerful Message of Holiness.
- Focus on the Presence of the Lord.
- Focus on the Promise that Jesus will build His Church.
- Focus on the Power of Evangelism.
- Focus on the Priority of worship.
- Focus on the Person of Christ.
The Kansas State Legislature invited Pastor Joe Wright of Wichita to deliver the invocation. And no sooner has their guest chaplain concluded his prayer and three legislators on the state legislature are on their feet at microphones protesting, "He can't talk like that about us!" Representative Delbert Gross called the invocation "gross," "derisive," "sanctimonious," and "overbearing." Representative David Haley called it "blasphemous" and "ignorant." Representative Sabrina Standifer echoed the indignation. What in the world had Pastor Joe said in Topeka which incited the righteous wrath of three legislators from Hays and Kansas City?
His prayer is one we might want to repeat:
Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness, and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good.' And that's exactly what we've done. We've lost our spiritual equilibrium. We've inverted our values.
We confess that we've ridiculed the absolute Truth of Your Word in the name of moral pluralism. We've worshiped other gods and called it 'multiculturalism.' We've endorsed perversion and called it 'alternative lifestyle.' We've exploited the poor and called it a 'lottery.' We've neglected the needy and called it 'self-preservation.' We've rewarded laziness and called it 'welfare.'
Father, in the name of 'choice,' we have killed our unborn, and then in the name of 'right to life,' we've killed abortionists. We've neglected to discipline our children and called it 'building esteem.' We have abused power and called it 'political savvy.' We have coveted our neighbour’s possessions and called it 'taxes.' We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it 'freedom of expression.' We've ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it 'enlightenment.'
Search us, O God, know our hearts today, try us and show us any wickedness in us. And then cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas and who have been ordained by You to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will.
I ask it in the name of Your Son the Living Savior, Jesus Christ.
We need revival! We need God! The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.