No More "Maybe Next Year"

At what point do you quit saying “maybe next year”? At what point do you simply step out in prayer and in faith and beg God to move? At what point do you quit making excuses and make the decision to move?

Even as an early teen God had placed revival on my heart. Throughout high school, college, and my early and mid twenties God has continually placed revival in the forefront of my mind. Not the kind of revival a church holds on a Saturday evening but the kind of revival that leaves it’s mark in history! The kind of revival where communities and nations are forever different…forever closer to Jesus. The kind of revival where hundreds, thousands, and millions come to know and to follow Jesus for the rest of their lives. The kind of revival where whole families are changed forever!

To be honest, I believe that now is the time to pray…to pray as we never have before. To beg God to move. To cry out to the God of the universe to begin moving as has never been seen in times past. It’s time to pray that God’s people really begin to follow him and passionately seek him! It’s time to beg God to convict those who are simply giving lip service and for them to submit their lives totally and completely to him.

Imagine how different the world would be if all of those who call on God to be their Savior would submit their lives to him as Lord!

Imagine how different the world would be if those who self identify as Christians truly reflected the light of the God they say they serve!

Imagine how different the world would be if each of us…if each one of us begged God for revival in our community, nation, and world.

These thoughts are forever with me. And I can’t help but wonder, if we as Christians gave our lives to genuinely seeking Jesus, to begging God to bring revival to our world, and to excellently, lovingly, and passionately sharing Jesus with those around us…would He bring revival? Would he change our world? Would God use us to move as he never has before? Would we see masses of people genuinely deny themselves and follow Jesus? Would hunger disappear? Would extreme poverty be forever erased from the world? Would war cease to exist? Would the sex slave trade be eradicated? Would people truly love their neighbors?

Just imagine it..whole communities giving their lives to Jesus. Missionaries going out to all corners of the earth to give their lives for the sake of those who’ve never heard of the Savior. People working hard to translate the Bible into every language in the world so that no one was without God’s word.

Something in me won’t quit thinking about this. Something in me is convinced that this is God’s desire for the world now…that we simply must humble ourselves and pray and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways and then he will hear from heaven and will forgive our sin and will heal our land. Something in me feels that it’s time to call the world to revival.

Ten years ago now, God laid it on my heart to share Jesus and worship him at the state capitol of every state in the nation on the same day…to encourage and challenge those who follow Jesus to come together as one body of believers to genuinely worship him and welcome those who don’t follow him to do so. For years I’ve considered this and thought about it. For years I’ve thought about inviting people to their respective state capitols to pray and ask God what he would have us do…and every year I think to myself…maybe next year.

This year I’ve decided that it’s got to be different. This year there won’t be any “maybe next year.”

As I look around at our community, nation, and world I’ve realized that there simply won’t be a next year for too many people! The world needs to know of and have the chance to genuinely follow Jesus and I can no longer sit and do so little. I can no longer stand by and watch as so many churches neglect their responsibility to those who don’t know Christ. I believe in revival and a God who desires so passionately to love his people that he gave his one and only Son to provide a way for an eternal relationship with all who would choose to follow him.

So lets begin to pray. Let’s begin to gather and beg our God to move and to change our world.

We can pray in our churches and in our homes but I would love to see us gather at our state capitols to ask God to move in our nation. So September 10th let’s gather as one church at our respective capitol buildings and plead with God to move and to bring revival! No political agenda…no statements…just genuine, passionate prayer.

It’s time for those of us who follow Jesus to beg him to move in our world! It’s time for us to seek his face and plead for revival! No more next year…no more waiting…there are people all over the world who are running out of time and, for their sake, we can not longer wait!

Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry?
Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die?
Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand?
Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned?

- Leonard Ravenhill