Revive Us Again

 

There was a visiting pastor preaching at a church for a special occasion, and he was taken back by two signs he noticed mounted in the sanctuary. The first sign was a large banner washed out in orange and red; there were flames coming up the banner leading to words that said, “Come, Holy Spirit!” That wasn’t what struck the pastor. 

 

Directly under the banner asking for God’s Spirit to come was a small sign that simply said, “Fire Extinguisher,”advertising the location of the emergency device. 

 

That poor sign placement is indicative of what many churches do: on the one hand they beg God to send Holy Ghost revival, while on the other hand we bring a fire extinguisher with us. Just when God may be about to do a work among us, we grab the fire extinguisher and put it out. How do we do this? Sin is the fastest way to put to a stop the moving of the Holy Spirit. Whether there is lack of unity in the church due to gossip, or some besetting sin in the life of the members, God often chooses not to work where His people choose not to let Him. 

 

Praying for revival while carrying a fire extinguisher is like reading the second half of II Chronicles 7:14 while ignoring the first half. We want God to hear from heaven, to forgive our sin, and to heal our land, but do we do not want to humble ourselves, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways. I believe this is the idea Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Do not quench the Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19).”   

 

Our sin quenches the Spirit when God is trying to work. Instead of quenching Him, we need to agree with the writers of the Psalms who said, “Revive us, and we will call upon your name (80:18),” and “Will you not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You (85:6)?” 

 

I believe America needs to experience revival now more than ever. Yes, the lost need to get saved, but that might happen more if the church would wake up. Christian, we need the church to repent of any sin that may be quenching the Spirit from working; if we do, there may be a revival that leads to the church seeing more converts and making more disciples. We can’t do it if we are lukewarm. 

 

There just isn’t room for both signs in the sanctuary. We need to pick one. Do we want to the Holy Spirit to bring revival, or do we want the fire extinguisher?