“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2).
TEXT — Habakkuk 3:1,2
Message
On 8th February 2023, the attention of the world was drawn to Asbury University, Kentucky, where a chapel service snowballed into a non-stop prayer and worship session that continued for over a week. By 14th February, the worshippers had grown beyond 3,000. Some interpreted the event as a revival comparable to the Second Great Awakening of the 1800s, the Pentecostal Azusa Street Revival of 1906, and the Evangelical Movement of the early 1970s. Others argued that the Asbury events focused on emotions, devoid of genuine repentance and revival of the glory of God.
Habakkuk prayed for revival in our text. He asked God to remember mercy and turn His people back again. Revival means to bring back to life, restore or recover old fervency. Revival is required when the Church becomes lukewarm, worldly and prayerless; when the members increasingly walk by sight and not by faith, and, when idolatry creeps into the assembly of God’s people. The condition of the Church today compels a plea for revival.
Revival is the work of God and not that of a committee of the church. It must be prayed down as evident in the prayer of Habakkuk. The story of how Billy Graham caught the fire of revival should inspire us to pray. He was one of the theology students who went on an excursion to the house of John Wesley in England, in 1940. The students saw where Wesley habitually knelt down to pray beside his bed. They saw the two patches his bended knees had created on the carpet. Billy Graham later sneaked back into Wesley’s room, planted his knees on the same patched carpet, pleading ‘God do it again, Lord, with me.’ He became a world-renowned evangelist and revivalist.
We should commence praying today for a lasting revival in our own time.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
Is powerful.
Glory be to God. I use this devotional app every day. Thank you for what you’re doing.