Christians are often so quick to pray for revival. In many ways begging God to move in a mighty way and draw people to Himself in their local church, city, country, or simply throughout the entire world. But far too often believers will pray for revival for others and neglect their need for personal revival.
While it is not something often spoken about in the church, personal revival is a part of every Christian’s life. More often than not our personal revival will be lumped in with the greater revival that takes place around us, but that does not have to be the case. We can and should pray for revival in our personal lives at any time. Whether the rest of the church body is experiencing a time of revival at the same time or not.
The sad truth is that as we walk through this life as Christians the fires in some areas of our faith start to die down. No longer will we pray like we did when we first came to Christ, worship like we did right after we escaped our struggle, spend as much time in scripture because we have read and heard it so many times, and so on. Many of us at one time or another resemble the church spoken of in the book of Revelation that forgot its first love.
Revelation 2:2–5 (ESV)
2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Believers will often hold on to the same faith they first had and live purposeful lives for God. But will allow themselves to grow cold in certain areas. The truth is this happens to all of us at some point on our walk with God. However, this is not an excuse as the scripture above shows this is behavior that needs to be repented of. We must make the conscious decision to return to our first loves and work on personal revival.
This is done by deciding to pray, worship, study and share the gospel more. By removing sin from our lives that have crept in and return to the way we lived when we first were saved. Christians must continue to fan the fire in their life and not allow any area to smolder out. It’s always an option to keep growing in faith and action but we can never slip backward and let go of what we have gained. Because one slip can and often will lead to backsliding.
Don’t just pray for the revival of others and neglect the need you have for personal revival. Too often we wonder why revival has not come and it could very well be that we need our own renewing before we can see that of others. So take some time and examine yourself and see if you have kept your first love. Do you still live for God like you did when it was fresh and new?
2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
It is far better that we discover any shortcomings that we may have now and address them through a personal revival. Instead of waiting until the day of judgment and have them revealed to us by the Lord. Don’t let the embers die out in your life but be purposeful and fan them back into the mighty flames they were when you first meet Jesus and received salvation.
If you want to experience personal revival today you can. Repent of any sins you have committed. Examine the way you have been living and remove anything that does not align with scripture. Start praying and asking God to move in your life. Start praising and worshiping the Lord. Thanking Him for all He has done. Start living a purposeful and Christ centered life once again. Then you will experience the refreshing that comes from personal revival.
Psalm 51:10 (ESV)
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
James 4:8 (ESV)
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Joel 2:13 (ESV)
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
Needing personal revival does not make you a bad Christian. In fact, coming to the realization that you need to turn back to God and your first love shows the heart you have for Christ. Don’t be ashamed if you need to renew something’s in your life because every believer will inevitably face this as well. So embrace it and make the necessary changes today and do all you can to keep yourself living on fire for the Lord.
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