Prayer Journal
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
"They sought the Lord eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side." 2 Chr 15:15b
We, as members of the Church, should pray for revival at every opportunity. We read from Genesis to Revelation how God's people through the ages have seen seasons of God's blessing. However we, can just as easily read about their fall from grace with a turn of the page. We can do well to profit from their experience.
Asa was king of Judah from 911 to 870 BC. Like so many others before him, he was warned by a prophet to avoid the evil ways of many of his forefathers. Asa took notice and responded properly. He eventually lost his way spiritually, but Scripture tells us a lot about his reign. We can learn much about revival by looking at his 41 years on the throne.
The first thing Scripture says about Asa is that he did what was good in the eyes of the Lord his God. (14:2) The message? The man of God, who leads the people of God, should behave righteously, setting a standard for behavior among those who follow him.
Secondly, Asa removed the foreign altars and the high places. (14:3) This indicates that turning away from wickedness is not enough. The people of God must be prepared to burn the bridges to sin and wickedness as well.
Asa then built up the fortified cities of Judah. This can be seen as preparing for spiritual warfare and strengthing one's resolve to resist the advance of the devil and his crowd. (14:6)
Finally, they sought the Lord. (14:7) The Psalmist said, "Those who know your name will trust in You, for you Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you." (PS 9:10)
We
should learn from this example that praying for revival will bring tough
choices. We should ask God for strength to make the difficult choices
and handle the consequences that come with it. The benefits of revival
will far outweigh the cost.
Just Thinkin'.. WebServant
(1) Scripture comes from the Holy Bible,
New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society
(2) The images used herein
were obtained from the Learning Company's ClickArt Christian Graphics Deluxe
product, (c)1999 The Learning Company, Inc and its subsidiaries, 88 Roland
Way, Novato, CA 94945 USA. All Rights Reserved.
