daily devotional

What can we do to change what is happening in our world today? It seems overwhelming as the news gets worse, the impact grows and each little square of toilet paper is now being counted. And here we are, seemingly helpless to protect what we have long term. But my God tells me DO NOT FEAR.

Okay, I will not live in fear, but still the reality is this is scary stuff.

I don’t have any answers to provide to the families now infected, to those grieving losses, to the ones who were sent home from their jobs yesterday, to the Seniors who are cheated of their prom and graduation. I don’t have any answers, but I do have a scripture. A scripture written over 1500 years ago which seems way too timely for our reality today.

2 Chronicles 7: 13-14

God gets our attention in the opening sentence when he says: “Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people …”

Has the rain been held back? Have locusts eaten the crops? Is there an epidemic? Let’s not just skim over this, let’s really look at the past few months in our world.

• Droughts in Australia caused wildfires to ravage their country just months ago. The rain was held back as the fires consumed homes, forests, and entire cities.

• Swarms of locusts have demolished crops in East Africa. Kenya is now in a state of emergency as the locusts ate the food to feed 34 million people, IN ONE DAY.

• And now are we in an epidemic? By definition an epidemic is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease.

Ding, ding, ding that’s right, we are 3 for 3 folks.

Oh dang, perk up your ears ya’ll the time to listen is now. God says whenever these things happen, there’s something we can do.

“Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people. if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.”

It’s right here in God’s word. When this happens, and it is, we have been given instructions. What are the instructions? Pray to God and repent, turn away from the evil we have been doing.

What will happen if we do? God will hear our prayers, forgive our sins, and make our land prosperous again.

Hello ya’ll there’s our game plan!

Yes to the social distancing. Yes to handwashing and self-isolation. Yes to buckling down and being safe. But even more so, yes to exactly what God is telling us to do.

It’s easy to read this scripture and then throw it back out into the world. It’s ya’ll that need to repent. It’s your sin. Someone “big” needs to lead us in prayer. These groups need to change. This problem needs to be solved.

So we all sit and point fingers and nothing changes.

Ya’ll need Jesus.

Actually, I NEED JESUS. I need to pray. I need to turn away from the wrong I have been doing.

This is personal.

And it’s personal for you as well. This is no longer just news. This is knocking on your door, threatening your livelihood, impacting your family, rocking your little corner of the world too. And when it’s personal, it demands our personal response.

We can’t hide beneath the blanket of someone “big” praying. No, YOU PRAY.

We can’t wait for others to change their ways. This has invaded your territory sister, it’s time for your change too. Me and you. Let’s be willing to change.

Where have you been living out of alignment? Where have you been lukewarm? Where have your priorities been out of balance?

Now is the time to pray, ask God to search your heart, convict you of necessary changes, then strengthen you to start now.

Seriously.

This isn’t about “them”. This is about me and you. Will we get our lives right?

Here we are, when history is being written. Future generations will read about our current day reality. And our actions today will impact those future generations.

I believe God is standing by to heal our land, he will bring peace and restoration, but he has made it very clear we have a role to play here. We have changes to make, me and you. This is where it starts. Not within our government, within our home. Not with a change in the law, but a change in our heart. A change in our priorities. A change in our perspective.

We, me and you, are about to have a revival. Yes, we will be revived! Revival begins with a desperate need.

And here we are, perhaps for the first time ever in our lives, with a desperate need. Not a superficial need. Not a selfish need. No, a desperate need. This is the root of a revival.

Think about it, someone can not be revived if they’re not first threatened with death. You don’t do CPR on a breathing body. You don’t shock a perfectly functioning heart. Revival comes as the result of failure first.

Revival comes after the acute failure, the overall destruction, the desperate need.

REVIVE US OH LORD. Psalm 85:6 “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”

God, in all his glory and majesty knows if we don’t first turn to him and seek him with our whole heart, fully surrendered down on our knees, then as soon as this is over we will immediately return to our old, busy, scattered, unbalanced lives. If we are to truly rejoice in him after the revival, we must fully seek him in our desperation.

No more temporary turns. No more momentary modifications. No more superficial surrender. Nope, God wants all your heart, all your soul, all your mind as Jesus instructed us in Matthew 22:37.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been really offering my all. God kinda gets my leftovers. And let’s face it, life has been busy so there’s really not been a lot leftover.

Time for REVIVAL.

Now we have a game plan, a personal plan of action here. What is it?

You pray. You seek. You change anything that needs to change in your life.

I will be doing the same.

God will do his part.

And with our revival game plan, we have a revival anthem. Yes, legit, check it out, there’s a song I love, a real wake you up and pep you up song called “Revival Anthem”.

It says:

Break the strongholds, come and unleash heaven – (Yes Lord, reveal to me any strongholds in my life and help me break them starting today. What has been holding me back from my potential? What has been distracting me? Help me breakthrough. Unleash your heavenly plans and your mighty power right here in this life, I am ready!)

Fill our hearts, Lord, with a holy danger
Lead us beyond our fear of failure
We’ll fight the good fight in Your strength and power
We’ll take back the night, victory is ours, yeah
This is our revival anthem
Can you feel the darkness shaking?
Oh, we are the dry bones rising
This will be our great awakening
This is our revival anthem

We are awake now. This is indeed our great awakening. We’re all awake. We’re no longer stuck in our monotonous routines, oblivious to our luxuries and blessings. No, it’s all threatened now and we just woke the heck up.

Now, revival. We will be revived. And it starts with me. It starts with you. This is personal.