Foundations to Revival: Repentance

Foundations to Revival Key One:

Repentance

      What is the number one key that unlocks the door for revival? What is the foundation that God lays before revival takes place? Repentance. Every genuine move of God begins with repentance. If we wish to go deeper into God’s Presence and desire to be used as revivalists, we must first repent.

I’m not just talking about asking Jesus to be your Savior, because if you’re reading this manual, you’re probably already saved. Getting saved is not the end to what I call the “repentance process,” it’s only the beginning. Granted, it is the most important part of the process – we cannot know God without following Jesus, of course – but, it’s not the only part.

This week, we will learn about the differences and importance of initial repentance, day-to-day repentance, corporate repentance, and intercessory repentance. In a lot of teachings about repentance, intercessory and corporate repentance is taught as the same thing; however, Holy Spirit has taught our ministry team that they are, in fact, two very different things. They are both needed, if we desire to see revival happen.

2 Chron. 7: 13-14 says, “If I shut up the sky until no rain falls, or if I bid locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, then, if My people who belong to Me, humble themselves and pray and seek My Presence, turning from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal My land.”

 

This is one of the most popular scripture verses about repentance and one of our favorite scripture verses in the entire Bible. This verse alone could be discussed in an entire book itself – and maybe someday we will make a book discussing this in length. However, let’s focus on the top five points in this scripture verse.

• The Lord will judge His people unless they repent

2 Chron. 7:13 talks about how the Lord is mulling over whether or not to send judgment onto His people. But first, let’s talk about the context of this verse briefly – He was addressing Solomon’s prayers over the temple. However, the Lord was warning Solomon that if His people choose to follow after other gods then He would send judgment upon them.

It’s important to note that God is not cruel nor does He delight in people suffering, however, He does desire that His people stick close to Him and that they are not swayed by false gods or teachings.

In those days, the people of Israel went back and forth in their worship of Him – to put it simply, they were lukewarm fence riders. Many of them chose to follow the One true God when it suited them, but were led astray by many of the same false gods they had worshiped in Egypt. So, the Lord was warning Solomon that, if the people followed the false gods again, He would send judgment that would not stop until they repented.

2 Chron. 7:13 rings true even today. Many of the “Christians” in the western church have been led astray by false teachers and unbiblical doctrines. Instead of being encouraged to grow in the Word themselves, they’ve been taught to listen to so-and-so and not question anything. The Lord’s Heart is broken over the state of the western church and if we desire to be used as revivalists, we must come into the understanding that repentance is needed above all else.

In Rev. 3:15, the Lord addressed the church of Laodicea (which was very much like the American/western church of today) and told them He’d rather them be hot or cold, instead of lukewarm. If we want to see revival take place, the church MUST be repentant.

We must be willing vessels that are more concerned with having an intimate walk with Jesus than we are about what other people think. In other words, we must stop riding the fence, like the Israelites were doing. Now, don’t get me wrong: this is NOT directed at every single person in the American/western church, this is addressing those who follow greasy grace, lukewarm Christianity.

There are some very strong Christians and churches in the western world, but the sad fact is that the majority of the teachings you hear on Christian television today – or even during your local services – are watered-down heresies, focused on get-rich-quick schemes and a “you-centric” Gospel of lies. Christianity was never meant to be “you-centric,” it was always meant to be Jesus-centric.

If we want to see revival happen in the world, we must be realize what the greatest heresies and false doctrines being taught in the body of Christ are and we must warn others. We must repent before Him and ask Him to use us as pure, unfiltered streams of His Gospel and His Truth.

If we don’t take responsibility for the false doctrines and false teachers in the body of Christ, He will send His judgment like He promised He would to the Israelites. He doesn’t want to do that, but He never changes His Ways. Therefore, we must take the initiative ourselves and begin being like a John the Baptist, calling out for repentance in the wilderness of the lukewarm church.

2.)    He desires us to offer our repentance in humility

The Bible speaks about the dangers of pride and arrogance over and over again (e.g., Isaiah 2:12, Isaiah 23:9, James 4:6, James 4:10, Phil. 2:3, etc.) and therefore, prideful “repentance” is not a form of repentance at all, but rather, a stench to the Lord.

The Hebrew word for “humble” is rpk (pronounced: kaw-nah). It means to bend a knee, to fall into submission, to be brought low, etc. Now, God does not like humiliating human beings, He’s not some bully that wants to makes other feel bad about themselves. However, He DOES  want us, as His people, to realize our sinful ways and repent from them.

What He’s saying in this verse is that He wants us to be honest with Him: if we desire to be a vessel He uses for revival, we must first ask Him to forgive us for our sins. This is not just an one-time only thing; we need to die daily to our sins. Just because you are saved doesn’t mean you never have to repent again; we all fall short of God’s Glory every day, multiple times a day.

So, if we want to be used for revival, we must expose our sins to Him. Sometimes, we may not even know what our sins were from that day, that’s why I always pray this, “Lord, I ask You to forgive me for any sins I knowingly or UNKNOWLINGLY committed today. Please forgive me for them all. If there’s something that hurt You, please show me that specific sin. In Your Name amen.” I’ve been praying that since I was young girl. Every night right before I go to sleep, I ask Him to highlight any sins I may not have realized I was doing. And almost every day, He highlights something I did.

By confessing our sins and asking Him to shine His Light on our hidden sins, even those we’ve “hidden” to ourselves, we are allowing Him to purify us as holy vessels for His Glory.

• We must pray and seek His Presence during the repentance process

In a lot of translations, 2 Chron. 7:14 uses the word Face instead of Presence, but I like the translation I use (Moffatt’s) because of what the original word for face meant there.

The word used for face in this verse is mipt (pronounced paw-neem) and it has many meanings but the ones I liked the most were presence, favor, and beseech. So, what the Lord is saying there is that if we beseech His Presence, He will grant us favor. A lot of Christians use the term favor to represent finances, new jobs, etc., and while that’s all fine and good, however, He wants to grant us favor in His Heart…i.e., having intimacy with Him.

If we seek His Presence and repent for our sins, He will grant us a place in the depths of His Heart. A place very few people encounter, but He wants to encounter us all there. Having intimacy with Jesus is the single greatest way to bring another soul into the kingdom of God.  The world thrives on relationships – with a partner, with family members, with friends, with co-workers, with school mates, etc.

The world’s starved for true relationships. And, if we repent and humble ourselves, He will give us the keys to introduce the world into an intimate walk with Him. All revival flows from intimacy with Jesus.

• We must turn away from our wickedness and expose it to Him

The Hebrew word for turn away here is aey (pronounced shoob) and means to turn back to God (and away from a lifestyle of sin), retreat, or to weep. It’s interesting to note that aey means to weep; the Lord wants us to weep for the sins of the church (this is where intercessory and corporate repentance comes in).

We need to expose our sins, the sins of our church/ministry/the bride of Christ, and the sins of the world before Him, weeping and asking Him to give us the grace to walk away from our sins. We need to ask Him to give us the ability to be pure, unadulterated vessels of His Glory.

 

• Then, He will forgive our sins and heal our land

Only after we start acting upon these five steps will He forgive our sins (corporately and personally) and heal our land. This part of the scripture verse is our favorite because it’s literally talking about revival.

He promises to forgive us – the Hebrew word for forgive is glq (pronounced saw-lakh) and it means to forgive, pardon, or spare – our habitual sin (a lifestyle of sin) and mend, repair, and restore (raphah) our territory.

If you want to be a revivalist, if you want to be a conduit for God’s Fire and Glory, you must first live in repentance. Over the next week, consider this teaching, as well as the daily teachings, and make it your mission to live a lifestyle of repentance before the Lord.

Jesus wants to use us as holy vessels, fully devoted to Him. He wants to use us as conduits for His Glory but we must first be willing to live a lifestyle of repentance, longing for holiness. He cannot remain in an impure vessel or ministry, He is holy and if we want to be used for revival, we must seek after His Holiness and Righteousness. Then, and only then, can we be prepared to be used by Him.