Awakening

“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

God “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5).

Meaningful, lasting change in human lives comes about as a result of God’s action. Our job is to trust and obey, looking to the Lord for the impact of his great soul-saving, life-sanctifying work.

Waves of such glorious, gracious movings of the Spirit have come many times in history. Acts gives a grand example of this. Jesus sends the Spirit to launch the disciples into the world as witnesses (1:8), triggering a great spiritual awakening with miracles and the conversion of thousands (2:1-4, 41), and leading to a profoundly new, deep, and unified community life for the newborn church (2:42-47). Opposing forces arise to try and impede the Spirit-filled, loving, truth-telling church, but in the end they only accomplish what God intends to do through them (4:27-28)!

Here’s the big question for my church and your church: are we ready and eager for the hand of God to move powerfully among us? Are we joining in urgent prayer to plead for revival—spiritual awakening—that brings growth in holiness and conversion of the lost? Or do we prefer the status quo?