Tag: renew Your works
Prayer for Revival
Scripture reading for September 24th: Habakkuk 1-3
God places a hunger in His people for more of His presence! Sin has caused us to be separated from God and darkens our knowledge of Him. As God draws us and reveals Himself to us, we have the entrance of His light into our consciousness. We begin to see the world and try to understand how God is working in the mess we see. We struggle at times to make sense out of what we observe. The world is full of violence and wickedness and God seems absent. Habakkuk struggled to make sense of his times and cried to the Lord for understanding!
“How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:2-4) As he looked at his world, Habakkuk felt that things were out of control. He wondered if God were absent or did not notice all the trouble.
God answered Habakkuk by telling him that He was going to act soon by raising up the Babylonians to bring judgment on God’s unruly people. Things were really not out of control! (Habakkuk 1:6-11) This revelation brought another question. He asked how a holy God could use wicked men to punish His people. ( Habakkuk 1:12-17) God told him that all evil would be punished, “but the righteous will live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4b) This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament. (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38)
In faith, Habakkuk cried out to the Lord for revival! “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2) Oh how we need this prayer from God’s people today! It is a prayer of faith for God’s grace to be poured out on His people. We need it today, in our time! We need mercy as God’s wrath is being poured out on the wicked! God is indeed in control and will answer the cry of His people for renewal!