Through the Bible - Ecclesiastes 10-12, 2 Corinthians 12
Good morning,
Awakening. What comes to mind when you read that word? Wiping away the cobwebs and sitting down to a cup of coffee or tea in the morning?
Have you ever prayed for a spriritual awakening in a friend or loved one, for a church, or for our nation?
I know I've prayed for an awakening of a different kind. It was when our oldest son Jeff was injured in a car accident and was in a coma. I prayed for that awakening like I had never prayed for anything before.
Jeff came out of his coma, but his awakening was a long slow process.
Sometimes it is like that spiritually. God awakens someone as He did with the Apostle Paul. Others over a long period of time. But in all cases it is the work of God.
Today's verse comes from a passage in Isaiah 64. Verse one starts with "Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down". It is a prayer from the heart that God would awaken His people and draw them to Him.
Today's verse comes a little later in the chapter:
Isa 64:8 But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
9 Do not be furious, O Lord,
Nor remember iniquity forever;
Indeed, please look — we all are Your people! NKJV
God does the calling, the work. It is when He reveals to us that we are broken, needful, sinful people that are in need of a Saviour that we will truly seek Him and not try to find Him in our own works and ways. It is when we consider our own efforts as "filthy rags" that shows that our hearts are ready to be molded.
MacArthur writes, "Such seeking and calling on the Lord as Isaiah describes in Isa. 55:6-7 cannot occur apart from the powerful conviction and awakening of the sinful heart by the Holy Spirit. Thus the prayer recognizes God as a potter in control of clay and pleads for Him to do a saving work. Such a work is what God promised to end His fury and His memory of sin."
I stil pray for and ask you to pray for a continued awakening (physical) in Jeff. I have seen a spiritual awakening in him by comments that he makes, by the "'Amens" or "ooh hoos' in church.
I need more of that awakening in myself. I believe that we need it in our church and in our country. Will you pray for it and seek it today?
I'll finish with the word of a song "Great Awakenings" by 4 Him. It was a song that I listened to time and time again in the weeks and months surrounding Jeff's injury, coma, and gradual awakening. I prayed then and I still do for physical and spiritual awakening.
Like a machine in pursuit, on the horizon like a raging fire, we move,
driven by questions in an endless search for truth. there is a
stirring in us, a great awakening begins
Chorus: I believe there's a mighty power. I believe it's a latter
rain. I believe there's a move of God calling us all higher. Oh I
believe these are the days of the great awakening.
More than our hearts can contain, it is an overflow of God's amazing
grace coming to reconcile a world that's lost its way. Oh all
consuming fire come purify us once again.
Repeat Chorus
Bridge: there's no containing this great move of restoration. It
knows no wall, no boundaries or lines. Without a doubt I do believe if
we'll just get down on our knees the latter rain is gonna fall. It's
just a matter of time.
In Christ,
Mike
Isa 64:1-9
A Prayer for Help
64 Oh, that You would rend the heavens!That You would come down!That the mountains might shake at Your presence — 2 As fire burns brushwood,As fire causes water to boil — To make Your name known to Your adversaries,That the nations may tremble at Your presence! 3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look,You came down,The mountains shook at Your presence. 4 For since the beginning of the worldMen have not heard nor perceived by the ear,Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,Who acts for the one who waits for Him. 5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,Who remembers You in Your ways.You are indeed angry, for we have sinned — In these ways we continue;And we need to be saved.
6 But we are all like an unclean thing,And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;We all fade as a leaf,And our iniquities, like the wind,Have taken us away. 7 And there is no one who calls on Your name,Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;For You have hidden Your face from us,And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord,You are our Father;We are the clay, and You our potter;And all we are the work of Your hand.
NKJV
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