WHAT CAN WE DO? Part 5
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Over these past few chapters we have seen the stronghold that has been built that has led us to the place where we are in our Western society. The question that comes up and begs for an answer is: What are we going to do? What steps can we take?
We all go through a transformation, or perhaps a better word would be that we go through a revolution in our thinking or theology. For a long time my theology was that everything is going to burn up and so we need to save as many as possible. I still believe that we need to save as many as possible, but now I have come to see that culture needs to be redeemed as well. I know that we will not reach that goal until Jesus comes and reigns, but that is the goal we should be working towards. That is what the Father is working towards and like Jesus, ‘whatever the Father does the Son also does.’ (John 5:19)
In these past chapters we have seen what human reasoning that is based on experience has brought us to which is the stronghold that we now face here in our Western world. What steps should we be taking?
I think of the admonition given to us in 2 Chronicles: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
We all know that verse and probably have quoted it quite often, but do we realize what it is saying? God does not say that if the government, or politicians, business people, the entertainment crowd or if the media outlet would get on board then we would see our land healed.
In the Old Testament “my people” refers to the Children of Israel, but in the New Testament this is referring to the Church – those who have been born again. Peter brings this out: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9
God gives us the solution which is at once quite easy, but seems hard to put into practice. If we, His people, will do our part: “humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways” then God will do His part: “I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” We see that the burden lies with His people and His people only.
What will God do? We know that when it is the darkest in the land God’s light shines the brightest. History gives us a glimpse of what God has done in the past and shows us what can be done in the days ahead.
Five students from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts met in a grove of trees near the Hoosic River to talk and debate about the theology of missionary service. A thunderstorm interrupted their discussion and time of prayer so they took shelter under a haystack until the sky cleared. That prayer meeting now known as the “Haystack Prayer Meeting” sparked a new interest in missions that sent out missionaries all over the world.
D.L. Moody the greatest evangelist in the 19th century gathered together university students to hear different speakers speak about the need of missions around the world. That meeting sparked what is now known as the “Student Volunteer Missions” and spread to other universities around the States and the world where thousands of students dedicated their lives to missions. Under the watchword of “THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD IN THIS GENERATION” came the most successful missionary recruiting challenges of all time.
Through the years 1904-1905 the Welsh revival had a profound effect upon the West. What happened? The church did what 2 Chronicles 7:14 said to do and when they did their part they found God doing His part; that of forgiving sins and healing the land. God tells us in Zechariah 4:10: “Do not despise these small beginnings.”
In 1906 in the living room of a small house on Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles one of the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit came upon a small group of people that included William Seymour. Word spread and soon thousands gathered, and small groups were gathering in living rooms all across America and rapidly spread throughout the world. The Azusa Street Revival was born and the Pentecostal movement spread throughout the world and swept millions into the Kingdom.
We could go back and look at the Great Awakening with Jonathan Edwards that shook America out of its apathy at the time or John Wesley, George Whitfield who shook Great Britain. It is stated by historians that what kept Great Britain from following the blood path of the French Revolution was the preaching of these two men.
Moving into the 21st century things look bleak spiritually, but is God limited, can His hand not move, or not bare His arm and bring about another great revival? He can and just like the examples above He is looking for a faithful man through which to work. That is always His method. At the first coming of Christ we read: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” (John 1:6) At the second coming of Christ perhaps we will see the same thing: There was a man sent from God and his name is ________.
God is on the throne and we need to remember that God’s method of doing anything is through men and women sold out to Him.