Praying for Revival
“1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet
upon Shigionoth. 2 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
3:1-2).
It would seem that the context requires this latter meaning for
“revive” – to preserve alive. Habakkuk
is praying that God would preserve a remnant of faithful Jews to
continue as the remnant of the nation of Israel for the nation’s future restoration,
thereby preserving national Israel as God’s chosen people. Habakkuk is clinging to the promises of God
in the Abrahamic Covenant, which extend into the Palestinian Covenant (the land
promises) and the Davidic Covenant (the Kingdom Promises of the reign of a
descendant of king David, i.e., Jesus the Christ).
We must remember that these promises
to national Israel are not transferred to some ambiguous entity call the Universal
or Catholic Church as Replacement Theology wrongly teaches. Neither do these promises extend to any other
nation on planet Earth, including the United States of America. These promises to Abraham are to the nation
of Israel and that nation alone! In John
4:22 Jesus said, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship:
for salvation is of the Jews.” Isaiah
spoke of this preservation of
national Israel through salvation by grace through faith in Isaiah chapter
forty-nine. The means of this
preservation of national Israel is clearly Messianic in nature. In other words, preservation would be through salvation by grace through faith in
the finished work of redemption in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
When anyone prays for revival, there
must be a commitment of that individual to live in such a way as to be a living
testimony to the truths of God’s Word.
There must also be a commitment by these individuals to live separated
from worldliness, paganism, and the licentious, pornographic lifestyles and
practices of idolatry. Then, there must be
an equal commitment to proclaim the message of redemption through faith in the
finished substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Simply said, praying for revival is a radical
commitment to God that involves being and doing what God says to be
and do! When God revives, He does
it through the faithful remnant He has already revived.
“1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and
hearken, ye people, from far {clearly a
universal proclamation intended to be heard by all nations}; The LORD hath
called me {refers to Jesus} from the
womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. 2
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he
hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; 3
And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel {as embodied in Jesus the Seed of Abraham; Galatians 3:16}, in whom
I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have
spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is
with the LORD, and my work with my God. 5 And now, saith the LORD
that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him {restoration
of Israel during the Tribulation time},
Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God shall be my strength. 6 And he said, It is a light thing
that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I
will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my
salvation unto the end of the earth {the extended promise of God in the Abrahamic
Covenant; “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,” Genesis 12:3}”
(Isaiah 49:1-6).
This latter part of the Abrahamic
Covenant extends to all nations of the Earth, including the United States of
America. For almost two centuries the
United States has enjoyed the blessings of being a Christian nation. The
foundations of this nation were carved out of rock with the sweat and courage
of a people willing to risk their lives for one simple thing that we usually
take for granted - the freedom to worship God the way they believed was right
without fear of persecution or death. Most fled Europe to escape the Roman Catholic death squads of the Inquisition and even
the religious persecution of other State Churches with the hope of having a
Free Church as opposed to a national Church (denomination). There were many struggles to establish these
rights even in the new colonies.
Most people are almost completely
ignorant of the role that early Baptists had in the struggle for separation of
Church and State, which essentially was intended to keep the new country from
adopting a State denomination and keeping the government from interfering in
the internal affairs of churches. As a
result of ignorance of those early struggles, Christians have allowed the
reinterpretation of separation of church
and state that meant the government should be neutral regarding the
establishment of religion. This did not
mean that the government should not have religious influence upon it regarding
policy and establishment of laws. Of
course such an interpretation of the First Amendment is ridiculous and
relatively new in the politics of our nation. Laws governing people are based on values
established through religious and moral principles. Although all religions were free to worship
as they saw fit, the United States of America has historically been anchored to
the inspired Christian Bible for its moral ethic and Rule of Law. This is an historical fact!
Habakkuk 3:2 is an appropriate Psalm
to be sung by faithful Christians in the last days prior to the second coming
of Jesus. Christianity as a whole is
almost completely compromised. Church is
almost unrecognizable in the context of for what it was ordained of God – “perfecting
the saints, for the work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). Repentance is seldom preached, holiness is
seldom mentioned, and practical sanctification is seldom sought by
believers. Few believers understand that
“fellowship” with God is essential to being used of God and “fellowship” with
God requires total surrender of the will to God’s will. Therefore, there are very few professing
Christians whoever experience the power of God’s grace flowing through their
lives in order to touch the world in an effective way for the cause of Christ.
These Laodicean
churches grow in size and wealth, but know nothing of genuine Christianity. There is little wonder, that in Revelations
3:20, Jesus stands outside of this type of church knocking to seek
admission. The real Jesus is not
welcome!
“14 And unto the angel
of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the
faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I
know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or
hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy
nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest
see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous {zeal to affect- the intent is a striong desire to change} therefore, and repent {change the way you think, and therefore the
way you feel and act}” (Revelations 3:14-19).
The opposite of “lukewarm” is “zealous.” Spiritual wealth and spiritual maturity are
commodities that are measured by how a person responds to the many temptations,
difficulties, and choices of life. The
world tries to ensnare Christians with varying nuances of false doctrine and various
levels of worldliness. However, Satan is
never content with any level of corruption.
He constantly seeks to draw believers with subtler nuances of false
doctrine and different levels of worldliness.
The sad thing is that almost any level of false doctrine or worldliness
corrupts the believer making him unusable to God. God spent forty years purging false doctrine
and worldliness out of Israel before they would have the kind of faith that
would follow Him to conquer the Promised Land.
Satan has used the same tactics in
churches as he used with king Balak in Numbers chapter twenty-two in getting
God to chastise the children of Israel. Knowing
God would not remove His blessing upon Israel while they remained faithful, Balak
was taught by Balaam, the unfaithful prophet, to simply tempt the children of
Israel with the sexual enticements of his pagan women until the men of Israel
were living in sin and God’s blessing was withdrawn. God has not changed. God has not diminished His value of right
doctrine or His values defining personal faith or personal holiness in any
way.
What we are seeing in our nation today
is the result of a national segregation policy towards Christians and their
influence in government. This is an
exhibition of extreme prejudice and segregation. This nation’s Judeo/Christian heritage has
been attacked at its very roots. Every
year another generation of young people graduate from government schools having
been indoctrinated into the neo-neutralism
of Secular Humanism and Naturalism. Christian
beliefs are almost completely irradiated from national discussion of values and
ethics. Under this censorship, if people
must have Christian values and beliefs, they must keep them to themselves.
Discussion and the free exchange of
religious ideas and beliefs is now taboo
and politically incorrect. Religious beliefs have been relegated to the
basements and backrooms, but certainly not welcome as part of public debate on matters
of policy and law. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous
do (Psalm 11:3)?”
The question of David in Psalm 11:3 is
answered by Habakkuk chapter three. What should Christians do knowing the
religious foundations of our nation have been destroyed, that God’s blessings
are being withdrawn, and His judgment is eminent? The answer is simple. The righteous (those truly saved) should live
righteously and be light in the midst of darkness!
Habakkuk chapter three is a Psalm
intended to be sung by the faithful remnant of Jews during the coming captivity
of the pending Chaldean curse. The word Shigionoth
(shig-gaw-yo-naw’) is understood by some to mean a wandering song that details the errors of Israel that brought them
to the predicament of God’s chastisement. As we face the pending judgment of God upon
this nation and the present withdrawal of His blessing, as Christians we need
to be a constant reminder of why we are where we are and a continuing testimony
of faith to a world quickly losing hope. This is what the righteous do when the
foundations of biblical truth are undermined and their stability
destroyed.
A Shagionoth
psalm intricately weaves together the elements of the fear of God and faith in
God. To know the holiness of God and the
sinfulness of man is to live in awe of God accompanied with worshipful
rejoicing for the grace of His mercy to us.
True believers understand they live over
their heads in the grace and mercy of God.
We must honestly learn to fear God for what is going to happen to this
world. Fearing God in this way demands
that we must be willing to make some extreme sacrifices to bring people to
saving faith in Jesus Christ. If we are
not willing to make these extreme sacrifices, we cannot honestly say we believe
the Word of God and fear the Lord.
A Shigionoth (shig-gaw-yo-naw')
Psalm is both a song of prayer (faith) and a song of lamentation. A lamentation is a remembrance of what
brought a people to their present dilemma resulting in deep sorrow and remorse.
A lamentation
is a spirit of broken repentance before God while understanding why He must
deal so harshly with people who call themselves His children, but live as if He
does not exist. There can never be
genuine revival without genuine lamentation.
The prophet Jeremiah exemplifies the spirit of what defines genuine
lamentation.
“1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was
full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great
among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she
become tributary! 2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are
on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all
her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. 3
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great
servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her
persecutors overtook her between the straits. 4 The ways of Zion do
mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her
priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. 5
Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted
her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into
captivity before the enemy. 6 And from the daughter of Zion all her
beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no
pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. 7 Jerusalem
remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant
things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of
the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock
at her sabbaths. 8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she
is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her
nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. 9 Her filthiness is
in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down
wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy
hath magnified himself. 10 The adversary hath spread out his
hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen
entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not
enter into thy congregation. 11 All her people sigh, they seek
bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see,
O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile” (Lamentations 1:1-11).
Each of the five chapters, or five lamentations, of the book of
Lamentations is a call to remember, or remind Israel of her failures and why
she was in Babylonian captivity. The
point of each of the five Lamentations is that we cannot expect God to revive
and restore without genuine repentance and remorse for our failures.
Throughout the
lamentation of Habakkuk chapter three there is the continual permeation of both
praise and confidence in God. In other words,
the psalmist excepts God’s chastisement upon the nation as a necessity communicating
his intent to trust in God through whatever happens. Habakkuk makes no accusations against God’s
judgments. Habakkuk knows that Israel
deserved the chastisement she received from the hands of the Lord. The faithful remnant of all ages must be
consciously aware of God’s prophetic promises regarding His pending judgment in
the pending future unfolding events of history.
However,
Jeremiah 13:12-17 reveals that although God MUST do as He said He would do in
chastising Israel for her willful disobedience and spiritual fornications of
idolatry and it practices, God weeps over having to do so.
“12 Therefore thou shalt speak unto
them this word; Thus saith the LORD God
of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine {the wine bottles represent the leaders of Israel. The intent here is symbolism of the drunken
responses of chaos and disorder as God withdraws His protection and instruction
from the leadership of Israel. Filling with wine is the opposite of the
filling of the Spirit in Scripture; Ephesians 5:18}: and they shall say
unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with
wine? 13 Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD {God now
explains what He means}, Behold,
I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon
David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14 And I will dash them one against
another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not
pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them. 15 Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for
the LORD hath spoken. 16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before
he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and,
while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it
gross darkness. 17 But if ye
will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your
pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S
flock is carried away captive” (Jeremiah 13:12-17).
The
purpose of the lamentation psalm of Habakkuk chapter three is that it was to be
incorporated into the regular part of the Temple worship as a continuing
reminder to the faithful remnant (only the faithful remnant continued to
frequent and participate in Temple worship).
The emphasis of Habakkuk chapter
three is the redemptive power of God. When
a believer thinks redemptively, his mind escapes the temporal existence and
transcends this present world with all its trials and difficulties. This psalm leads the believer outside of this
world into eternity in his thinking.
When
the faithful remnant learns to think redemptively, they learn to praise God for
their salvation and for the relationship they have with Him. Therefore, the psalm becomes a psalm of praise
even while facing pending calamity in their pending captivity. Habakkuk chapter three is the present
conditions of a society written on the backdrop of their past (cause and
effect).
Habakkuk
3:1 tells us this is a musical prayer of faith and trust. When the foundations of a society seem
to be crumbling and falling away at your feet, people need faith in something
or Someone beyond themselves. This is
the purpose of God’s chastisement. He
wants people to look to Him, to know that
He is the source of the judgment, and return to following His commands.
Therefore,
true Christians (God’s faithful remnant)
should learn to praise God as He removes the destroyed foundations that have
been undermined and corrupted by a corrupted society. Picking up the pieces of broken lives is an
opportunity that never would have existed in a society pre-occupied with
chasing an elusive dream of happiness in Materialism and Hedonism. Both of these false ways are foolish pursuits
of some ambiguity known as happiness through pleasure.
The
character of this song of prayer is more than a petition to God. This psalm includes many elements of prayer
such as praise, thanksgiving, remembrance, repentance, and adoration. Great prayers warriors are those who have
learned to frequently make statements of faith reminding themselves of what God
has done in the past. They learn to
increase their faith by basing their hopes on the history of God’s past
dealings with His children and the world.
We live in a world much like Habakkuk’s
in similar circumstances and with questions similar to those of Habakkuk. Why does God allow some societal practices to
go unjudged? How can God tolerate the
continuing murder of millions of innocent babies each year? How can God allow a society to continue that
endorses and promotes perversions like homosexuality? How can God allow the blasphemy and heresy
continually being preached by apostates?
Why doesn’t God revive His Church?
There is one essential truth necessary
to establishing a national and world view and is the answer to all of these
questions: God will always purge before He blesses. The
primary attitude of prayer essential to the purging of sin from a society is the
humbling of the believing faithful remnant before God (Habakkuk 3:2).
This
is the humble recognition that a society deserves what it is about to receive
at the hands of God and accepts what is about to happen knowing the remnant is
part of that society. In this attitude
of prayer, there is no petition to God that He reverse His judgment, but rather
there is a recognition that God is absolutely just, and that the judgment is
deserved and necessary before revival can take place.
In Leviticus 26:1-39, God clearly reiterates the
conditions of the “blessing and the curse” in the Mosaic Covenant with the nation
of Israel. We must understand that the
Mosaic Covenant was made only with the nation of Israel, not with any other
nation in the world.
In Leviticus 26:40-46, God give three requisites before God would
return blessing to the nation of Israel and restore it. From other prophecies of God, especially the
book of Revelation, we know that what Leviticus
26:40-46 describes will not happen until close to the end of the seven-year
Tribulation and the second coming of Jesus.
“40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with
their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked
contrary unto me; 41 And that I also have walked contrary
unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled,
and they then accept of the punishment
of their iniquity: 42 Then will I remember my covenant
with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham
will I remember; and I will remember the land. 43 The land also
shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate
without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul
abhorred my statutes. 44 And yet for all that, when they be in the
land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to
destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the
LORD their God. 45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant
of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight
of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. 46
These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made
between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses”
(Leviticus 26:40-46).
1. They must repent, which is
always the first pre-requisite to forgiveness
2. They must humble themselves by
recognizing they are getting what they deserve
3. They must accept whatever
punishment God determines necessary
Although
these three essentials to revival are applied in this text to the nation of
Israel, they are universal principles for revival and restoration. These three things are essential attitudes of
prayer in that they take our eyes off of the problem, and from ourselves, putting
our focus upon the justice of God necessary to set things in order. When this takes place, we return our minds to
the realm of spiritual truth, holiness, and righteousness of God. Our feet should follow thereafter!
Without
this repentant humbling of ourselves before God, we continue to see sociological
problems only in relation to ourselves and, in so doing, we tend to put
ourselves on a pedestal of rightness with God separating ourselves from
responsibility for the existing conditions of our society. The reality is this society is in the
condition it is in because Christians have failed to fulfill the Great
Commission. Our world is not in the
condition it is in because Christians have failed in their responsibilities as
citizens of this nation, but because they have failed in their responsibilities
as citizens of Heaven and servants of the living God.
Abortion is not the issue in the fall
of our society. Neither are pornography,
homosexuality, divorce, or any one of a hundred other things upon which people put
blame. These are all just symptoms of a
deeper corruption of men’s minds and hearts. The fall of our society is due to the fact we
are a nation that has forgotten God. There is no greater falsehood than faith in
man’s ability to reform himself or earn his own salvation!
“11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow
without water? 12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and
not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. 13 So are
the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: 14
Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web. 15
He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast,
but it shall not endure” (Job 8:11-15).
If
we want to return this nation to a place of blessing, there is only one way to
do that. We must begin to teach people
to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Regardless
of what happens to our society, our responsibility remains the same. We must bring people to salvation and disciple
them to be followers of Jesus Christ. If
we are not doing that, we are part of the problem and not part of the solution.
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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