-Our Entire City Needs Revival!

In preparation for a meeting, in a large city, Evangelist Billy Sunday wrote a letter to the mayor, of that city, and asked him for the names of various individuals that he could pray for that needed spiritual revival. The mayor surprised Mr. Sunday by sending him a city phone book!  “Our entire city needs revival,” he told him.  And, so does ours! And, so does yours! Every day I need God to revive my heart; because, left to my natural tendencies, in my flesh, I will choose the path of least resistance spiritually! I will remain apathetic! And, be honest with me— so will you, right? We all need a fresh outpouring, of God’s Holy Spirit, every day!

-Remove The Spiritual Indifference!

That’s revival! We need God to revive us daily, by removing our spiritual indifference & renewing our commitment to live for Him! Only as God revives us will we willingly rebuke ourselves— and, beat our chests in repentance— over our indifference toward God & His Word! Only then will we renew our commitment to crucify self daily & offer ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice. In 2 Kings, chapters 22-23, we find that nation of Israel in a really bad place spiritually. They’ve drifted far away from the Lord God. They’ve given themselves over to idolatry & the worship of vile, heathen gods! They’re stuck in a deep sinful hole & they’ve been warned multiple times, by various prophets of God, that they were in danger of the imminent judgment of God!

-An 8-Year Old King!

And, it’s with that background that we’re introduced to an 8-year old boy, named Josiah, who becomes king of Judah. Scripture says he “…was eight years old when he became king and reigned 31 years in Jerusalem… He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or the left” 2 Kings 22:1,2.  And, there’s a great verse of Scripture, in 2 Chronicles 34:3 that parallels the story of King Josiah, here in 2 Kings. It says, “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images.” I hope you can get a picture, in your mind, of what’s going on there; because, this was a GOD thing! In the 8th year, of his reign, while he was still a youth, he “…began to SEEK God…” He was 16 years old! And, in his 12th year, at age 20, he began to “clean house.” Please take that to heart if you’re a high school student or young adult! You can make a difference, in this world, for the Lord!

-Difference Makers!

We desperately need young leaders— both in the church & in the world— who will take their faith very seriously! Who will be intentional about reading & studying the Scriptures! Who will be intentional about prayer! And, about making disciples! And, for those of us, who belong to an older generation, let’s not be too harsh or quick to judge the younger generations! Let’s humble ourselves & admit that much of the Church, that we’ve led, is a mess! It’s a far cry from what Jesus intended for us to be! Let’s listen to those who are younger! Let’s dialogue with them so that together we can seek God’s help in correcting the mess we’ve made of Jesus’ Church! That was King Josiah’s dilemma! He was 8 years old & he inherited a nation the older generations had messed up! So, he sought the Lord God for help to lead a nation to revival!