A Time for Revival

Have you been hearing about revival recently like I have? This past February, Asbury College in Kentucky experienced a revival – one that started with a chapel service where the pastor preached on Romans 12.

“I hope you guys forget me but anything from the Holy Spirit and God’s Word would find fertile ground in your hearts and produce fruit,” he said. “Romans 12. That’s the star, okay? God’s Word and Jesus and the Holy Spirit moving in our midst, that’s what we’re hoping for.”

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

— Romans 12:1-2

After the service, students stayed in the chapel to pray – and they kept praying.

More students came and went, and some even stayed overnight so as to not miss what was happening. This continued for two weeks, with more than 50,000 people coming to the college to worship, pray, and praise the Lord. People said the feeling they experienced in that room was unlike any other. A sense of peace and the Holy Spirit on the move. 

Here’s a bit more about Christian revival, according to GotQuestions.org:

Revival refers to a spiritual reawakening from a state of dormancy or stagnation in the life of a believer. It encompasses the resurfacing of a love for God, an appreciation of God’s holiness, a passion for His Word and His church, a convicting awareness of personal and corporate sin, a spirit of humility, and a desire for repentance and growth in righteousness. Revival invigorates and sometimes deepens a believer’s faith, opening his or her eyes to the truth in a fresh, new way. It generally involves the connotation of a fresh start with a clean slate, marking a new beginning of a life lived in obedience to God. Revival breaks the charm and power of the world, which blinds the eyes of men, and generates both the will and power to live in the world but not of the world.

This whole definition is helpful. I have prayed for revival in my city, country, and world, but I haven’t fully grasped the meaning of that word. I certainly didn’t think about needing a revival in my own heart before any broader re-awakening can happen. Reading stories about what happened at Asbury College and listening to my old pastor passionately speak on revival has really made me think.

God’s revealed to me how much time I spend asking Him for things when praying and how little time I spend simply talking with Him.  I am quick to go through a list of prayers in my mind, things I need from God. I’ll praise Him for who He is, but then I’ll always move right on to the checklist of what I want Him to do for me. 

I’m not saying this is bad per say. Jesus wants us to come to Him with our whole hearts. He wants to know our requests. In fact, Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Many of us have learned how to pray using the P.R.A.Y. method – praise, repent, ask, and yield. 

The problem for me is that I rarely yield. 

I spend so much time asking and so little time listening. I am usually focusing on myself, my needs, my desires, and my fears, but I forget to tune into the desires of the Father. 

 I long for revival in this world, and that revival starts with me.

The revival needs to happen in my own heart first.  

After my daughter was born, I pressed pause on this blog. I had to step away for some time because I didn’t know how to continue writing while taking care of two little kids. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to keep posting content even when I was physically and emotionally drained from my full-time job as a mom. 

Around the same time, my husband and I also quit most social media. I still check Facebook marketplace and use Pinterest from time to time, but freeing myself from Instagram has been a super healthy decision. These two choices – pressing pause on the blog and stepping away from social media – have allowed God to work in my heart in deeper ways. 

He’s revealed so much sin and areas for growth in my life. I’ve realized I actually had to stop writing because my blog had become more about me than about Christ. I want my words to share truth and encourage others. I want to be the salt and light that I’m called to be. While I do think I was doing those things (or truly trying to), I also know that I was mentally caught up in a burning desire for more views, more likes, more clicks, more comments, etc. 

I’ve been more focused on living for this world than living for Christ. By God’s grace, this is something I’m continually working through. I have to keep confessing and turning back to Him. He keeps gently showing me that I have all I need for a godly life in Christ alone (2 Peter 1:3). Like the lyrics of Cody Carnes’ song “Nothing Else,” Lord, I just want you. I pray that is the song of my heart.

I want God to keep humbling me and reminding me this world is not my home. I want Him to revive my own heart more and more, and then I pray that would spread like wildfire all around me.

A Prayer From My Journal (That You Can Pray, Too):

Oh, Lord, I confess to you my anger. My irritability. My desire for control and approval, my jealousy, my pride, and my lack of contentment. You have given me everything I need for life and godliness! You redeemed me. You are the living water that satisfies in a way nothing else can. Thank you, God.

Create in me a clean heart, Lord. I need to die to be reborn. Destroy the sinful parts of me. You must increase, and I must decrease (John 3:30). Make it so!

Continue to reveal areas of sin and temptation in my life. Forgive me. Redeem me. Lead me along the right paths to walk in Your Way. 

I pray you revive my marriage and my parenting. Revive my work. Revive my friendships and family relationships. My church and community. Our schools and government and media. 

Lord Jesus, revive my soul.

In Your mighty name, I pray. Amen.

From the Archives: Take Heart, Daughter

Today I’m sharing a post from May 2018, before I got married or had kids. I was living and working in Nashville, Tennessee, and God was growing me more in Him day by day. This story from Matthew 9 is still one of my favorites, and I believe Jesus shows us here the kind of healing and hope He still offers His people thousands of years later. I pray this content blesses you today!

I've been in a Bible study led by Kristi McClelland for the past 7 weeks on Jesus and women, in the first century and now. My mind has been blown more times than I can count. Reading the Bible in the context in which it was written is life-changing. One lesson—and one passage—has really resonated with me in particular. And when my pastor Robby Gallaty preached on the same message this Sunday, I knew I had to share with y'all.

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wing.”

— Malachi 4:2

I've read and heard this verse many times, but I never knew the true meaning until about a month ago. I always pictured this as God offering protection and shelter under His wings like momma bird to its baby. It's a beautiful picture, but it's not the full picture.

Malachi is the final book of the Old Testament. This is one of the last things God says to the prophets before the 400-year intertestamental period.

400 years before Jesus comes on the scene, and God says "the sun of righteousness"—the Messiah—will have healing in its wing. 

To understand what this means, we have to look to the original Hebrew translation. When Jesus spoke, He made sure He could be understood by everyone. Understanding the culture helps us understand the meaning. Well, rabbis in the first century (and many today) wore a prayer shawl called a "tallit." The shawl has tassels on its ends. The corner and end of the tallit is known as "kanaph." Guess what "kanaph" is translated as? That's right: wing.

Jesus, a rabbi, wore a tallit, which had a kanaph. And God told His people 400 years before He sent His son to earth that the Messiah would have healing in its wing. But God doesn't leave the story there.

The first chapter of the New Testament (right after Malachi) is Matthew. Look at Matthew 9. A woman who has been suffering from bleeding for 12 years, isolated and cast out, approaches Jesus as He walks through town. She reaches out to His WING and is immediately healed.

“And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well.”

This woman knew her Bible. She loved the Lord, and she reached out to Jesus. When I learned the truth of this story, I cried. I cried because it's not just a Biblical story -- it's a story that still happens today. This is my story. God healed me from anxiety, an eating disorder, depression, guilt, shame. Because He is my helper, I rejoice in the shadow of His wing. (Psalm 63:7)

He saved me like He saved the bleeding woman, and He offers that grace and mercy to every single one of you. 

Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well. 

A Prayer of Remembrance

God brought me out of slavery. He healed me from the inside out. He restored my life. He gave me manna in the wilderness, water from the rock.

Even though I still struggle, I know I am redeemed. Lord, help me to not forget you.

Deuteronomy chapter eight was hitting me hard today. Let’s read the full passage together:

“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God."

Oh Lord, I confess I am quick to forget you.

So quick to forget the slavery you brought me out of, and to even wish things were as they used to be. Just the Israelites, who wished they were back in Egypt where they ate good food – forgetting that’s where they were slaves! I look at the manna you have given me, God – food to eat, an apartment to live in, a loving husband and a stable job for him, two beautiful children – and I long for other provisions. Why can’t I have better food, a better home, more alone time, more money, the ability to travel, etcetera, etcetera?

I turn to other gods in worship. I want my own comfort, my control, my security. Yet, Yahweh alone is worthy of my worship. He gives me my daily bread, every day. His mercies are new every morning.

How quickly I forget.

If I had all the desires of my heart, all my sinful desires for a more comfortable life, a more robust bank account, a perfectly mapped-out five-year plan, how much easier would it be for me to abandon God altogether?

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Help me to remember, God, that you are all I need. That, in fact, I deserve nothing. I am a sinner, and I deserve death. But God, you gave Your Son’s life for me. You made a way in the wilderness, streams in the desert. You started something new!

When I hold my baby, hold a bag of groceries, and hold my toddler’s hand as we walk up the stairs to our apartment, Lord, give me a heart of gratitude.

Thank you for my squirmy baby.

Thank you for my rambunctious toddler.

Thank you for this bag of food to eat.

Thank you for strong arms to carry these things.

Thank you for strong legs to walk up and down stairs.

Thank you for a roof over my head, heat to keep us warm, and beds to sleep comfortably each night.

Thank you for saving me and giving me a seat at the table You’ve prepared for me.

Change my heart, God. Remove my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh.

Help me praise you in all circumstances.

In Jesus’ name, I pray.

Amen.

Pressing Pause

I’ve been pretty silent here and on social media since my daughter was born. The transition to two children has been simultaneously beautiful and wild, and 2021 was one of the best and hardest years I’ve experienced so far. Insomnia, postpartum depression and anxiety, and Covid brought hardship, while some other things that I’m not ready to talk about publicly yet led to deep restoration within our family.

This week, I finished reading Jodi Picoult’s latest novel, about a Manhattanite stuck on a tropical island as the Covid pandemic hits New York City and the world. The main character shares a realization halfway through the book that resonated with me during this season:

Here, I can’t lose myself in errands and work assignments; I can’t disappear in a crowd. I am forced to walk instead of run, and as a result I’ve seen things I would have sped past before—the fuss of a crab trading up for a new shell, the miracle of a sunrise, the garish burst of a cactus flower.

Busy is just a euphemism for being so focused on what you don’t have that you never notice what you do.

It’s a defense mechanism. Because if you stop hustling—if you pause—you start wondering why you ever thought you wanted all those things.

As a former New Yorker who traded deadlines for diapers, I so feel this! It’s not that I’m not busy anymore but that I’ve stopped hustling. My productivity looks different. (I’ve talked about this before.) And since giving birth to my daughter, I’ve finally allowed myself to pause.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been striving. I’ve been working to answer the question, “Am I enough?” Having a lot on my plate and pushing myself to be “the best” is the easy way out for me. But focusing on the present and finding contentment in Christ alone? That’s a lot harder. That’s when I start to gaze at myself and wonder if I measure up.

Perhaps you can relate to the thoughts below, some of which are my own and others are what I’ve heard from friends:

• If I'm not freelance writing and continuing my professional career, am I enough?

• If I’m not blogging and sharing God’s Word publicly, am I enough?

• If I’m not exercising regularly, am I enough?

• If I’m still single and so desire to get married, am I enough?

• If I’m struggling with infertility, am I enough?

• If I’m living paycheck to paycheck, am I enough?

• If I keep getting passed up for that promotion, am I enough?

• If my relationships are on the rocks, am I enough?

• If I don’t have enough saved for my kids’ college and my retirement, am I enough?

• If I don’t know what God thinks about me, am I enough?

Friend, you are enough.

In Jesus, you are enough. Christianity is the only religion in the world that says you don’t have to do it all, you don’t have to check off all the boxes, because God already has. He is the perfect one, not you. He created you, purposefully and intentionally. You are precious in His sight. And He guarantees (yes, guarantees!) your salvation through your faith and His grace. Not through anything you’ve done or anything you feel.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the bodya and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

I’m so thankful for God’s grace and for the reminder that I am enough, even when I don’t feel like it. That I can come to Him with all my burdens and worries and find rest (Matthew 11:28-30).

My prayer this year is to live more like Jesus. In the words of Kristi McLelland, I want to stare at God and only glance at myself. “He must increase, and I must decrease.” (John 3:30) Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Father.