REVIVAL

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion, for I will give you horns of iron; I will give you hooves of bronze, and you will break to pieces many nations. You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”

Micah 4:13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I was in the midst of the darkest time of my life. My marriage had ended, my family was gone, and I was left alone. All I had was my military career and even my successes there left me completely unfulfilled.

I was in need of revival in a big way.

Looking back at that time of hardship and difficulty, I can’t help but think it all could have been so much different. All I would have had to do is to walk with the Lord and make Him first in my life. But I was far from there, living in accordance with my own will and way. I was on my own program and all that program did was take me to the depths.

The Israelites of Micah’s day had been on their own program too. They had decided to follow their desires and abandon God’s direction for their lives. They worshiped false gods and idols. They mistreated the needy. They practiced injustice, took bribes, and lost a grip on the sanctity of life in general, killing their fellow man.

And so they sank into the depths of God’s judgment, attacked by foreign forces who destroyed their homeland before carrying them off into seventy years of captivity, a period that made my three to four years of consequences seem like child’s play.

The Israelites were in need of revival in a big way too.

In my case and theirs, God delivered because He is a God who is in the business of revival.

Look at the final verse of Micah, Chapter 4 as God tells His people that they will be revived and brought back to a place of prominence again:

“Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion, for I will give you horns of iron; I will give you hooves of bronze, and you will break to pieces many nations. You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”  Micah 4:13

In yesterday’s devotion, God called out the enemy nations of Israel for gloating over the judgment suffered by His people. You’ll remember He promised judgment would come on them as they were drug onto the threshing floor like sheathes of wheat. The illustration was that Israel’s enemies were soon to be beaten and thrashed themselves and in today’s verses, we see who will be doing the beating and thrashing.

For Israel, God’s beloved nation, was going to make a comeback of epic proportions. For not only was God going to restore them to their homeland after they paid the imposed penalty for their sins, but He was reviving them to a place of power over all other nations. The imagery here is one of supremacy and might as God gives Israel “horns of iron” and “hooves of bronze” so they could “rise and thresh”, breaking to “pieces many nations”. And any plunder gained from the “ill-gotten gains” of the enemy nations would be devoted to “the Lord of all the earth”.

In my life, there was an epic comeback as well. Because the Lord brought a woman into my life who told me the Lord had to be first if we were going to have a relationship. From that day forward, I started to rededicate my life to the Lord I had turned away from for so many years.

Guess what happened?

He revived me and in a big way. For the stronger I grew in the Lord, the more He called me to do for Him, revealing gifts I never knew I had. I started to sing for Him, even soloing, and I had never sung publicly before in my entire life. I had lead in the military but He wanted me to lead in the church and so I was given the privilege to be an elder, deacon, and worship leader. I was a public speaker and so He used me to speak publicly for Him, giving me opportunities to write and deliver sermons. I liked to write casually but He wanted me to write with intensity, sharing God’s word with other and so The Christian Walk ministry was born.

He called me to do so many things and I have answered His call in every instance, all in devotion to the Lord of all the earth.

Friends, the Lord indeed restores and revives. He empowers and brings us back to a place of strength and power, not a power of our own but fully in and of Him. Turn to Him and you will find revival.

And be ready because it might come in a big way.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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