If My People...

2024

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

Seems clear enough, doesn’t it?

Except there are some problems here. Firstly, the fact that this was written thousands of years ago to Israel is a problem and ammunition for those who don’t believe in revival. (As for the ongoing Middle-East problem, peace process or not - as I’ve said before - a blessing on both their houses.)

Some say, “In context, this Bible passage is talking about Jewish people. That is the context and that is what is being referred to here.”

Except we know that in this case, this verse is not only talking to Jewish people. It is talking to gentile nations too. We know this because there are historical revivals all throughout the world. Presumably the conditions had been met. Had they?

It tends to be agreed that a revival comes through prayer. But this verse suggests that it may be down to other things as well as simple, humble, honest prayer. Basically, this verse says that before there can be a revival, Christians need to repent. Not other people, but Christians. And we are to seek God. Three specific conditions.

But there is a problem even with that. No matter the level of need (which is great), even Christians cannot repent without some kind of intervention from God. The spirit of repentance is a gift from God. It is revealed in our actions. So here are the problems - not only can we not repent without some kind of individual revival but we are also disinclined to change our ways. I get that. Besides which, ‘repentance’ can take time - it can be the journey of a lifetime. Some of us are never so right as when we say ‘Sorry’. Welcome to the ‘good news’.

 

And, of course, for there to be revival, we all need to repent, believer and not-yet-believer. Say there is some sin I should repent of. Then I’m not inclined to change my ways, am I? Why should I? I may know it is wrong, and that’s a start, but I have no power to change without some help from God. So, I’m stuck in a vicious circle. Without a personal revival, I literally cannot change my ways, and if I do not change my ways, I will get no revival of any kind. Oh, what a wretched man I am and blah de blah de blah…

At such points there is only one thing to do - call on the name of the Lord. Literally ask Jesus for help through prayer. To ask him to help me to want to change my ways from the latest sin I’m indulging in. “Lord, please make me willing to change.” And I guess say sorry, as God is often rooting for an apology.

It is very difficult to change others and not much easier to change ourselves. I can go around all day calling for repentance from all and sundry, but they are likely to say: “Sure, you first though.”

We wake up each morning with our same set of prejudices and temptations.

Hopefully God understands this. And, repentance is the journey of a lifetime. Part of the endless fun of being a believer.

However, in the context of revival, this is a huge problem because according to this verse, providing it applies to Christians as well as Jewish people (and I cannot say if it extends further), we have to collectively repent to get a full-blown revival.

I’m not going to go further into the definition of repentance. All I will say is that I believe that actions speak louder than words, but words are a start and are still significant. Some cliches are cliches because they are true. If we feel we have nothing to repent of, we are probably in a very precarious position with God. But I think a ‘sorry’ in prayer is hugely significant and valid even when our actions don’t marry up with our words. Saying sorry is an action, but it may be the only thing we can really do if we want to ‘get right with God’ as the preachers like to say.

Historically then, did believers always collectively repent before a revival came? Seemingly not, but it is still agreed that Christians were praying for a revival for a long time.

Most significantly, the country was often in a very bad place, morally and spiritually before any past revival. There are reports of things getting so bad with violence and crime and all kinds of wild behaviour. There is currently a revival in drug use. That’s a problem. It’s dark and it’s not good and people die over it all, one way or the other. I’m not talking about cannabis so much as the hard drugs, LSD, heroin, cocaine etc. We ‘should’ tackle the big sins in our lives. I had to stop taking drugs and keep not taking them before God sent someone into my life to give me the true gospel (which, in a nutshell is still found in John 3:16).

 

But even if you have fallen out of the whole story of history, the metanarrative of the world, you are still in the story. Even if you think that you are not relevant to the destiny of the country and you are in a place of little influence, a wasteland, or desert where it feels as if you have been rejected and isolated or are invisible, you are still, probably, relevant. Outsiders often get used by God.

So, without overcomplicating the instruction and conditions for revival it seems that this is what we need to do. Pray. Repent. Seek God. But as I say, it’s catch 22, we cannot do any of this without God’s help and we cannot seem to receive God’s help until we start to do those things. And anyway, isn’t this all ‘works-based attempts to go to Heaven and avoid hell’? Prayer is a work. I’m sorry, but it is. If you are going to pray, then don’t make the mistake I made which was to think I needed to pray all the time and every night through the night. That belief ended up with me in a mental hospital, getting injected with a drug which made it impossible to pray. And I learned, one way or the other, to be more balanced. We need to pray persistently, like the persistent widow in the parable, not literally continually. I’m probably one of the few Christians who will tell you not to pray continually. I don’t think it’s healthy and sometimes we need to put legs under our prayers. I practice what I preach in this when I say I do not pray that much these days. And when my brother died, I not only considered leaving the faith, being so angry with God, but I gave up prayer for over a year and blogged about it too. Prayer can be a treadmill. I’m not saying never to pray, just to keep it balanced. God is in Heaven and I am stuck on earth so I’m going to keep my words few, thank you very much.

 

There’s probably some other thing you might have noticed from the verse at the top of this blog entry. It seems to suggest that the responsibility, the blame even, for there being no revival is not the fault of God at all. It seems to say it’s our fault. All of the decadence, the Bohemian inclinations of us all, which we complain about, are our fault. Because of the excesses of the Christian community and the sheer evil of some of the bad apples. Great! Now we can’t even blame the devil (who, I can assure you, does not want a genuine revival and also happens to be the author of all our pain, one way or the other). But we are talking about a gift here, something that we are asking for. Grace. Is the responsibility for receiving a gift ours? Do we fail to receive it because we don’t ask for it enough? Who’s to blame if a gift doesn’t get given? If I see a homeless person and don’t give them something they need, then is the homeless person to blame? Because that’s the inference of this verse. I don’t think we are to blame. Let us blame the devil and his demons. The snake made us do it. Or blame God for allowing the devil and demons to oppress us so intensely. At least that is human.

What’s the solution then? How do we get a revival? How did people do it in the past? All the evidence says that Christians were ‘in talks’ with God over the issue no matter how evil society was around them at the time.

But I ask you this. Do you think that any of the many people (myself included) who write about revival or who are armchair revivalists (which are desperately needed), actually know how to get a full-blown revival? No. Not a single one of us does. We have a theory that more of us should pray and that we all need to repent and seek God. And that’s just theory. Not a single revivalist knows beyond this how to bring about a revival. Not one. Not the most famous writer or preacher on the subject. Do you know how I know this? Because there is no revival as I write this in 2024 (* or so it seemed). If we knew how to start one then we would have done so already, providing we cared. The only difference with me is that I admit I don’t know and give a slight damn.

All I know is that it is in the gift of God and I presume we have to ask for it. Again. And again. And again.

And how does this paint God? The need is so great, it is literally life and death. And still God will not give this ‘gift’? In the parable of the persistent widow Jesus temporarily aligns himself with an unjust judge concerning answered prayer. Honestly, it’s like getting blood out of a pebble - and if you even say something like that you will simply feel guilty or someone will give you a stern look. Can this generous and merciful, loving God really not give this desire of ours? Doesn’t he desire it too? Well, I’m sure he is more generous than the way I’ve often painted him, but I have an excuse. I’m a sinner.

We’re fighting for freedom. Freedom is intrinsically linked to revival. While there is a declension, true freedom is significantly diminished. So, if we ever get to see a revival, let’s make sure we don’t add to the, often arbitrary, laws, rules, constraints and cancellations of this present time. Some laws which we may break are not sins. (I cannot currently expand on this for legal reasons.)

 

In the meanwhile, let’s try not to get cancelled in a very real and immediate way. I mean, die. This is still, in a way, a survival situation, and if you don’t survive, I may haunt you.

Look, I’m doing it again! Making something so interesting, so tedious.