The Key to Revival in Your Life

 

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

 

II. FIRST: HUMBLE YOURSELF

 

Example of King Manasseh:

 

2 Chronicles 33:12, 13  “ In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.”

 

Daniel 10:12  “Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.”

 

Isaiah 57:15  “This is what the high and lofty One says, he who lives forever and whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place. But also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.”

 

I Peter 5:5b-7  “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand”.

 

 What does that word "oppose" mean?

 

King Nebuchadnezzar’s prayer:

 

Daniel 4:37  “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

 

III. SECOND: PRAY AND SEEK HIS FACE

 

All revivals share a passionate commitment to praying for God to return. Revival delays because prayer decays. Revival doesn’t come through organization; it begins with earnest agonizing and repentance.

 

Ephesians 6:18  “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

 

IV. THIRD: TURN FROM YOUR EVIL WAYS

 

We arrogantly assume we can turn our backs on God and that it will not affect our communication with him.

 

Malachi 3:7   “Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.”

 

Hebrews 12:1-2   “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

Hebrews 9:13-14  “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences (here it is again) from dead works, so that we may serve the living God.”

 

I Timothy 2:8  “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer.”

 

 James 5:16  “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

 

Isaiah 55:6-7  “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God for he will freely pardon.”