Good Afternoon Friends.... Habakkuk 3:1-2 Chapter 3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. I am so hungry and desirous for God to bring revival to our land once again. Our nation is seemingly in a spiritual vacuum, and it certainly appears we are headed for sure judgement from a Righteous God, if we do not repent and return unto Him. In the above scripture the prophet was facing such a time in the saga of Gods chosen people, the Jews. God has delivered a message of impending judgement through Habakkuk to Judah and beloved Jerusalem that they are about to be overcome by the Chaldeans and suffer the results of their sinful rebellion........but in the midst of this he (Habakkuk) begins to review the history of Gods dealing with His people and he feels inspired to cry out to God that he might once again bring revival to the nation as He had in times past. Though the report sounded bleak, and things around him seemed discouraging, the prophet looked,by faith, to the character of God to appeal for a revival and restoration. Though things around us today may appear overwhelming, as sin becomes more overt and rampant in America, we too must begin to look to the past faithfulness of God, And allow it to motivate us to cry out to Him O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. There is a familiar scripture often quoted to inspire prayer for revival, (2 Chronicles 7:14), but too much of the time the quote does not include the preceding verse which validates the promise..... 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. A number of years ago I saw a simple Ziggy cartoon. Ziggy was on a cliff watching a brilliant sunrise and said, Go God! Do it again. In childlike faith, the cartoon character expressed what we often want to say. God, you are awesome! This is the essence of Habakkuks prayer. Like Ziggy, Habakkuk is saying, you did it before, there’s no reason why you can’t or won’t do it again. Praising God like this seems like such a simple thing to do, but it’s a subtle acknowledgment that we aren’t in control. And thats not always easy because we like to be in control. The more we acknowledge that we aren’t in control, the better it will go for us. So lets join Habakkuk, and cry out to the Omnipotent, Faithful Lord........ Go, God. Do it again! Blessings !!!!!
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 19:16:02 +0000