Is There a Revival Occurring?

I was channel surfing a few days ago when I came across the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News. Beck is the controversial conservative commentator who is also a practicing Mormon, and at this time he was speaking of George Whitfield, so it caught my ear. Whitfield was one of the great preachers from the early 18th century who along with men like Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley stirred America and Europe through their preaching and saw the first "great awakening" brought about by God. True revival swept our land and laid the foundation for our nation to be founded as one that recognized and acknowledged the true and living God. While I agreed with much of what Beck stated regarding our nation's founding, one thing stood out that I simply couldn't stomach: Beck stated that there is a revival occurring in our nation right now!

Oh, how I wish this was true. But unfortunately, when I survey the landscape of our nation, I see little of the ingredients that indicate true revival is occurring, or even remotely close to occurring. Beck is a political commentator and he seems to have made a common mistake. He's sensing political unrest among many who long for a return in adherence to our constitution, a movement which is gaining steam through political entities like the Tea Party, and mistakenly ascribing this as a movement of God. Friends, a movement of God does not begin in the political arena. A true movement of God begins among His people and then His people impact the world around them through a return to God and His ways. While political tides may be shifting, are God's people in the midst of revival?

True revival revolves around certain characteristics that are unmistakable when we see them. God's people are burdened to cry out to God in sincere prayer, they are convicted of their sin and earnestly repent of their sin returning in obedience to God's word and statutes. Is this what we are witnessing in the United States today? I pray that you see these signs in the church you attend, but across our nation we live in an age when most of Christ's church is far from these conditions which have accompanied every true revival in history.

God will never bring about a heaven sent, Holy Spirit revival to a rebellious, unrepentant people. While there seems to be a desire for change in our government and political culture among many, where is the desire to get right with God? Instead of concerning ourselves with our nations plight and drift into liberalism, where is the concern with our churches lurch into liberalism and straying from the word of God in favor of political correctness and pragmatism. Until we see our churches regain their passion for God and His ways, our nations problems will only multiply and expand.

Believe me, I do desire and pray for our nation to return to its roots. To see us as a people honor and acknowledge that all the blessings we've enjoyed as a nation are from God, not our own ingenuity and hard work. To see us be able to once again be called a Christian nation. But that cannot occur until we as Christians fall on our faces before God, cry out to Him in prayer, turn from our wicked ways and return to His ways. Unless this first happens in the body of Christ, His church, our nation is destined for a future judgment from God. A godless government can only be changed by the true and living God, and a people who have come back to Him.

This past weekend I was struck by a message I heard delivered by Billy Graham. One of the T.V. stations on our Dish TV package re-runs old Billy Graham crusades from years gone by. This particular message was delivered from Charlotte, NC in 1958. In it I heard Graham decrying the state of our nation, and it's drift into godlessness. He in fact addressed many of the issues we face today, and I often preach on myself. That was 52 years ago, and our nation is miles farther down the road away from God than it was in 1958. We live in an age when we need God to raise up another Billy Graham, Billy Sunday or D.L. Moody. We live in an age when we desperately need men like Whitfield, Edwards and Wesley to stir our nations heart. As entertaining and informative as Glenn Beck can be, His message is not God's message. God is not concerned with our government. God is concerned with our heart. As long as all of the noise in our nation is centered around politics, and not our sinful, desperate condition before God, no revival will be occurring anytime soon.