It was 538 B.C. when God, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah (25:12; 29:10) that the Babylonian captivity would last only seventy years, “stirred up” the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1) and “all those whose spirits God had moved” (Ezra 1:5) to begin to bring revival and restoration of His true remnant people back to Jerusalem. Under Ezra, the priest and the scribe, and Nehemiah, the layman, God revived the faith of His true people by restoring worship and holiness and then rebuilding the walls.
It was 2020 when God begin to “stir up” my heart again on the theme of revival and spiritual awakening. You see, there have been seasons, though brief, of my life when I forsook the possibility of God sending revival and spiritual awakening. I looked at the condition of the church and our nation thinking we had gone too far. But then I was reminded America has experienced worse moral decline in its early years than even where we are today. Then I remembered, like with Ezra, revival comes after a time of judgment. God used men of God like Don Graham to “stir my heart” again that God could bring revival and renewal. So in repentance, I begin to believe and pray for revival and spiritual awakening.
Due to my own experience with COVID in 2020, I did not complete the preaching and writing project I wanted to concerning revival. But the fires did not quench. In 2021, I wrote “Fan the Flame” for our church’s devotional guide for January 2022. But I did not get to preach Ezra and the theme of revival.
Once again, God has not let the fire go out. I took all of my written material to Africa with me knowing God was stirring this again in my heart. I am glad to announce this Sunday I begin a series “Revival of the Remnant” from the book of Ezra.
The theme of the remnant is an interesting one in Scripture. We will deal with it for God seems to focus on the remnant when He is moving His agenda. Who are the remnant? What does the Bible say about them?
Using Ezra, I will declare its time for the modern-day remnant to return to God, prayer, holiness, dedication, His Word, obedience, His Spirit, and His church. After the dark, cold, isolated days of COVID, it’s time for the REMNANT TO RETURN. And only through a revival of the remnant can we hope to see a lasting, sweeping revival of His church reaching into our communities and nation for a spiritual awakening.
This is difficult on several fronts. First and foremost, this is spiritual warfare. The “prince of the power of the air” hates the remnant and is doing everything to discourage them. Second, our generation has never seen a revival or spiritual awakening. In American history, there have been four major moves of God: the first and second Great Awakenings, The Great Layman’s Prayer Revival, and the Jesus Movement in the 70’s. In our generation, only the Jesus Movement would qualify, and it was rejected by most in the church, thus never able to get the spiritual momentum and footing it needed for a sweeping awakening.
My prayer is through examining Ezra, God will “stir the spirits” of the remnant to seek God for revival, prepare for revival and constantly pray for God to “rend the Heavens and come down.” (Isaiah 64:1).
Join us Sunday as we look at “Who Are the Remnant?” from Ezra 1:1.
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