A date with judgment

As part of my daily devotional time I am reading through the Bible this year. I usually read through the NT each year and the entire Bible every 3-4 years. As I am reading through the Minor Prophets I am again reminded of how their comments about Israel sound like they are being said against the United States. Like ancient Israel, we as a nation have largely turned our backs against God, found new gods to worship, and engage in sin that the Bible clearly condemns. We are on a collision course with God's judgment unless a true spiritual renewal occurs in this land.

That renewal will not come out of Washington DC. As important as it is to elect godly men and women to political office, I always reminded my congregation that God does not fly on Air Force One. Nor will revival come from Wall Street or from the media. If this nation is to experience true spiritual renewal it will have to come from our churches, and before renewal can occur in our churches it must first occur within the church leaders.

I believe it was Dwight L. Moody who once knelt on a floor, drew a circle around himself, and prayed, "Lord, send revival and let it begin with me." That was part of my prayer this morning. As leaders of churches we must first seek spiritual renewal in our own lives before we can expect it to occur in our churches, and unless it occurs in our churches it will certainly not occur in our nation.

Many bivocational ministers serve in smaller churches who do not believe they can really make much of an impact on all the needs that exist in our world, but every church, regardless of their size, can pray and seek God. Every church can seek a spiritual renewal that can sweep through their congregation and begin to flow out into their communities. Such renewal will impact those communities in ways that we may not imagine. Do not despair, my bivo friend, but seek God and His righteousness for your life and for the life of your congregation. Seek holiness and pray for renewal, and then let your life be a testimony to a world that desperately needs God.