Revival: Museums or Churches?
Today I took Andy and Jason with me to go through the Billy Graham Center Museum at Wheaton College. I’ve been to the museum twice before, but it is inspirational in a different way each time. Today was distinctly different because of God’s activity in my life over the past thirteen months. In December of 2008, I believe God re-communicated to me His promise of revival through Judges chapter 6. I say re-communicated because I believe God birthed this church with a promise of revival through Exodus 3:11–12, 33:18, 34:6 and 34:10. Today, I went to the museum and experienced the history of the first and second great awakenings through the promise of a future revival.
The theme of the museum is two-fold: the history of evangelism in America and the life and ministry of Billy Graham, but it is impossible to miss the role that true revival has played in the history of evangelism. Revival occurs when the Holy Spirit revives the hearts of believers to live righteous lives. When the church is revived then the world is awakened. Revival is not evangelism, but rather, evangelism is the result of revival. The problem with America today isn’t the world acting like the world. No, the problem with America is the church acting like the world. We must expect sinners to sin; but we must also expect the saved to live for the Savior. My greatest fear today is that most Christians only believe in the revivals of the past without considering the need for revival in the present. We must not allow our only context of revival to be museums.
As I walked through the museum today, I kept asking myself the following questions:
What was different about George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards?
What was different about Charles Finney?
What was different about Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday?
What was different about Billy Graham?
How can I become one of these men?
How can I be trustworthy of God’s presence and power?
How can I strengthen my walk, improve my skills and increase my faith?
I don’t have all the answers to those questions yet, but I know it begins with greater faith and focus. I must truly believe that revival is needed and that revival is possible. I must believe that God’s Spirit can overcome the flesh, the world and the devil. I must believe that we haven’t become too advanced for the simple and straightforward teachings and preachings of God’s Word.
Not only must I increase my faith, but I must increase my focus. I must focus my time to read the Word of God to know the God of the Word. I must focus my time to renew my mind with the Word of God. I must focus my mind to such a degree that my confidence grows in the Lord and my prayer life reflects that confidence. I must focus on God’s promises of revival and live with holy discontent until He brings revival. I want to find a way to intentionally live in the tension of these quotes by Billy Graham:
“As long as there is one man who should be free, as long as slums and ghettos exist, as long as any person goes to bed hungry at night, as long as the color of a man’s skin is his prison, there must be a divine discontent. We Christians have no right to be content until the principles of Christ are applied to all men.”
“If I had my life to live over again, I would spend less time speaking and being interviewed and more time with my family. And I haven’t spent enough time in the study, though now I study an average of about six hours a day.”
Dear God, give us the courage to sow the seeds of revival and to reap the harvest of a great awakening. Amen!
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