by Mr. Francis D'Souza
As goes the family, so goes the society. As goes the society, so goes the nation. As goes the nation, so goes the world. We are all praying for a revival, a change, a transformation of the world, of the Parish etc. To this end, people are spending nights in prayer, fasting and meeting as intercessory bodies. This is not only good, but scriptural (1 Timothy 2 :1-3).
Praying for revival is urgent, considering the condition of the world (2 Timothy 3). Also, because the world is in the grips of the evil one (1 John 5:19), we are become insensitive to sin, materialistic, etc. etc.
Considering the opening statement, "as goes the family so goes……", we can deduce the following : The family is the domestic Church. Church is made up of you and me
(1 Corinthians 3:16) Reading this statement differently, we can say "the world will not change until the nations change, and the nations will not change until the society changes. Society will not change until the family changes and the family will not change until I change. Revival therefore, is not OUTSIDE IN, but INSIDE OUT.
Every Christian revival is born of prayer. It is not the product of preaching, singing or any good work alone. Prayer alone changes life. and that is where the flames of the fire of revival are fanned. And so we are called to pray first for ourselves, specially in the matters of transformation, repentance, freedom from bondages. Praying for ourselves is not only good, but compulsory for revival. Revival will not happen by a miracle, because God works on the principal of partnership. He will do His part when we do our part i.e. praying followed by preaching, singing etc. Let us remember that we cannot kindle a fire in another's heart until it is burning in our own.
If we ever thought that praying for ourselves is selfish, let us stand corrected from this time onwards as we refer to the following points :
- In Psalm 51, David is repenting for his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. His prayer is "have mercy on me (mercy not on his wife or on Bathsheba or on Uriah).
- The hymn we sing "Change my heart O Lord " (not somebody else's heart)
- The story of the lady who had a 'holier than thou art' and intolerant attitude. Leave alone drawing her husband to Church, she was driving him away until one day she prayed in the words "Lord, change me". With that her husband became a committed church member.
- Next is the instance of that little child telling her mother "you are always praying for others and I think you must pray for yourself". The child's remark had an underlying message which is, 'to deny yourself does not mean to neglect yourself'.
- Jesus teaches us about widening the circle of our prayer in John 17. In verses 1-5 Jesus first prays for Himself. Jesus next prays for His disciples in verses 6-9. In verse 20 He prays for the world, present and future.
It is therefore right and fitting to pray for ourselves in "kingdom" matters i.e. everything which is not of a material, physical or temporal nature.
Gypsy Smith, a British evangelist when asked how to have a revival, gave the following prescription : "Go home, lock yourself in the room, draw a large circle; kneeling in the centre of the circle, ask God to send a revival within the circle, and when God has answered that prayer (and He will), you can be sure that the revival has begun all over the world because revival is not OUTSIDE IN, but INSIDE OUT.
Are you a believer whose heart has grown cold? Have you become indifferent to the Lord? Have the things of the earth and the pleasures of this life taken priority over spiritual and eternal values? If so, let us take the following steps :
- Acknowledge your need
- Confess your sins to the Lord
- Spend time daily in God's word
- Talk to your heavenly father in prayer
- Determine to say 'no' to every temptation of the world, the flesh and the devil.