Nehemiah

  • one sign of revival: attentiveness to the Word of God (Whitefield's Journals)

    A couple days ago, when I began to write my post May we gather as one man to hear Your Word (Nehemiah 8), I was expecting to post on Nehemiah 8:1-8, but then decided to cut it off in the middle of verse 3 because the passage was so packed.

    The end of verse three really hit me then (and it still does), particularly the word attentive:

    And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    I had planned to post on that last portion of verse 3 yesterday, but before I began to pray/write/prepare to post on that I had been paging through George Whitefield's Journals looking for something else, and, in the providence of God, I ended up stumbling across a wonderful account of Londoners being attentive to the Word of God in much the same way we read of in Nehemiah 8.

    I had actually planned to include this account in my prayer yesterday, Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, but I got carried away with praying, so I would like for you to read it today (from p 88-89):

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God. The churchwardens and managers of charity schools, were continually applying to me to preach for the benefit of the children; and, as I was to embark shortly, they procured the liberty of the churches on weekdays,––a thing never known before. I sometimes had more than a dozen names of different churches, at which I had promised to preach, upon my slate-book at once; and, when I preached, constables were obliged to be placed at the door, to keep the people in order. The sight of the congregations was awful. One might, as it were, walk upon the people's heads; and thousands went away form the largest churches for want of room. They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    I now preached generally nine times a week. The early sacraments were exceeding awful. At Cripplegate, St. Ann's, and Forster Lane, how often have we seen Jesus Christ crucified, and evidently set before us! On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God. Other Lecture Churches near at hand would be filled with person s who could not come where I was preaching; and those who did come, were so deeply affected, that they were like persons struck with pointed arrows, or mourning for a firstborn child...

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God.

    They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God.

    I've not seen people flocking to hear the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that type of attentiveness to the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen the streets in my city filled with people going to Church conversing about the things of God? Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that kind of hunger for the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?

    I think, no, I know it, a lot of people think those of us who are praying for revival are nuts.

    Honestly, how can you not pray for revival when you read these accounts?
    How can you not get down on your knees and beg and plead with God to revive us again?

    That is why I am praying for revival, and I hope this gives you one more reason to pray for revival.

    Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke of the glorious possibilities God has for us as believers. This is one of those! People flocking to hear the Word of God and being attentive and hearing for eternity!

    Dare we imagine it? Yes, we must imagine it! We must never lose sight of these glorious possibilities! And then let us look to the God of glory who can impart that hunger for and attentiveness to His Word once again! He is the God who can do immeasurably above all we can ask or imagine!

    One sign of revivals is that there is an increasing desire to hear the Word of God preached rightly. We can see how wonderfully the Holy Spirit worked to make God's people attentive to His Word at the time of Whitefield. Whitefield wasn't preaching fluff. He wasn't catering to itching ears. He wasn't sugar-coating things. He was preaching Christ and Him crucified. He was preaching a Gospel of repentance and remission of sins by grace through faith in Christ. He preached of the need for souls to be born again and regenerated by the Spirit. I regret to say many people today do flock to churches, but those are churches where fluff and sugar-coated preaching is the rule. The apostle Paul's words to Timothy are evident: our churches are filled with people who no longer endure sound doctrine. They have heaped up teachers for themselves because they have itching ears. They have turned their ears away from the truth and turned to fables. Such preaching does nothing to impart life to dead souls or revive lukewarm or cold believers. I long and pray for the day when people would flock to hear the Word of God preached as it ought to be!

    I will say that for those of us who are praying for revival, one of the most encouraging things we can continue to do is to read the accounts of revivals and the stories of the men and women God used during those times. Go back! Please do that! You can find books at your library or do searches online or ask me. When we look back at the work God has done in the past, it gives us hope of what God might do once again. When I read of past revivals and then look at the state of the Church today and the state of my own soul, it makes me sick to my stomach and causes me to weep to see how far we are from the glory God has for us . .  yet at the same time it also spurs me onto prayer for it gives me a vision of what is truly possible through the power of God Almighty. Yes, it seems impossible! It seems so unlikely! Yet we have a God who does the impossible and does unlikely things! He can part the Red Sea! He can cause the waters to stand up in a heap! He can cause Jericho walls to fall down! That's what makes God God after all!

    We all know that God's Holy Spirit can come in the blink of an eye and rend the heavens and open a single heart or 3000 hearts to Him. The Spirit blows when and where He wills. Such a movement of the Holy Spirit is what I have been praying for, and I know many of you are also. Yes, this is impossible with any of us, but it is possible through Him.

    When we look at the state of the Church through our human eyes, we would so quickly give up. But when we look at the Church with the eyes of faith and the assurance that God loves the Church and will never leave her or forsake her, we cannot help but persevere in prayer...after all, Jesus Himself is persevering in prayer, is He not? Truly God is the God who can do miracles today, and some of the greatest miracles God can do are to bring dead sinners to life and to take cold or lukewarm believers and ignite the with passionate fire. Many people are seeking physical healing, but let us consider how much more wondrous and amazing are the supernatural spiritual healings God desires to work in souls, souls which are currently separated from Him by that great gulf fixed or those souls which once burned hot for Him but now have left their first Love. I know I have seen touches of that reviving work in my own life and in the lives of a few others, but I am not satisfied with that. I am praying God might do such work on a large scale as we have seen happen at various times throughout history, including the time of Whitefield and the brothers Wesley. That's what revival is. It's not a sideshow. It's not a feel good experience, it's not a health and wealth prosperity gospel, but it's the power of God coming to breathe life into dead souls, or to revive into all but dead believers for His glory.

    Revival is people convicted of their sin and cut to the heart, pleading "What must we do to be saved?"
    Revival is people seeing they are unclean and their righteousness is filthy rags.
    Revival is people weeping over their sin and seeking to be holy.
    Revival is people being transformed and set free from the power of sin.
    Revival is people zealous for the glory of God and the Gospel.
    Revival is people being shaken from their apathy about their own soul and the souls of others.
    Revival is people being given a heart to weep and plead for the souls of the lost.

    Again, none of us can make revival happen, but we can plead with the Lord that He might be gracious to us, and we can be faithful to remain in His Word and give out His Word without compromise. God is sovereign and He does all things in His time, always. But let us not give up meeting Him in prayer in the tent of meeting, and let us not give up encouraging one another to pray. Perhaps God's Spirit might be poured down on us from on high! We are poor and needy! May He have mercy on us, His Church, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

    Please add your prayers that God might revive us again, that we might be attentive to His Word once more.

  • Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone (Nehemiah 8:3)

    Yesterday I posted a prayer that we might gather together as one man to hear God's word based on Nehemiah 8:1-3. I'd like to continue on with that passage, and have us focus and reflect on the final portion of verse 3: And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    Nehemiah 8:1  And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2  So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3  And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    Proverbs 2:
    1  My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
    2  making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
    3  yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
    4  if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
    5  then you will understand the fear of the LORD
    and find the knowledge of God.

    Proverbs 4:
    20  My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
    21  Let them not escape from your sight;
    keep them within your heart.
    22  For they are life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their flesh.
    23  Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for from it flow the springs of life.
    24  Put away from you crooked speech,
    and put devious talk far from you.
    25  Let your eyes look directly forward,
    and your gaze be straight before you.
    26  Ponder the path of your feet;
    then all your ways will be sure.
    27  Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
    turn your foot away from evil.

    Our Father,

    We know that apart from Your Spirit's working in our hearts, our human tendency is to be inattentive to Your words! Yet we are Your children, born of Your Spirit. It is Your desire that we be attentive to Your words and love Your words. Make our ears attentive to Your words! Give us a love for Your words! Give us a thirst for the living Water and a hunger for the true Bread from heaven!

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    We are barraged day in and day out with so many words: spoken, written and sung words. We confess that we are attentive to so many, many words day that are not edifying to our faith, including so many that serve to tear down and disrupt our faith and the dismantle the work You have been doing in our lives.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    We confess that we are allured by the world's words. The devil disguises himself in the world's words as an angel of light. Give us discernment to know truth from error and life from death. Protect us from the evil one and his schemes. Help us to put on and to keep putting on Your whole armor so we might not be deceived. Help us to walk not like the world but to set our minds on things above and put off any and all words that are not building us up in our faith.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    Send Your Spirit, O Lord, to strengthen us. We confess we have no power to keep ourselves or guard ourselves apart from Christ's resurrection power which dwells in us. Work in us so we might not turn to the left or to the right. Keep us from stumbling. Let us not give Satan a foothold in our lives by giving his words a hearing. May we continue to shore ourselves up by taking in Your word regularly, by being attentive to Your words and not his words.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    Send Your Spirit, O Lord, so we might desire You and Your word more and more. Work in our hearts so we might be attentive to Your word. We know full well that Satan knows Your word is our lifeline, that is why he does all he can to keep us from Your word, or to keep us inattentive as we are hearing or reading Your Word. We confess we struggle with abiding in Your Word and letting Your Word abide in us. Strengthen us so we might be attentive to Your words and increasingly delight to hear and read them.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    Please add your PRAYERS to be attentive to God's word alone as His Holy Spirit leads you.

  • May we gather as one man to hear Your Word (Nehemiah 8)

    I've previously written about my concern for Christians to be holy in doctrine and behavior and along with that our need to be united together in Christ (e.g. - please see here and here). The only true unity we have comes through the Holy Spirit, the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ; I've expressed my deep concern about our need to be rooted in and united in the Gospel.

    I've been chewing on the book of Nehemiah for a while now here as well as on my other blog (please see here for the links to those posts). I would like us to consider Nehemiah 8 and 9, specifically to focus on and reflect on the centrality of the Word of God we see there and pray God might give us a similar passion for His Word in our own lives, our congregations and the life of the Church as a whole. The purpose of this website is to be praying for revival in the Church. All the true revivals of religion have had associated with them a return to Biblical preaching. Some might say the preaching spurs the revival; others might say the revival spurs the preaching, but regardless, Biblical preaching is central to any true revival of Christian religion.

    I would ask you to read through Nehemiah 8 and 9 on your own and reflect on the emphasis on the Word of God we see there and ask yourself:

    How central is the Word of God in my own life?
    How central is the Word of God in the life of my congregation?
    How central is the Word of God in the Church as a whole?

    Today I would like us to look at just the first few verses of Nehemiah 8, and D.V., I hope to continue on with more from these chapters in coming days.


    Nehemiah 8:1  And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2  So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3  And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand...

    Holy Father, Son and Spirit,

    We see your people gathering together as one man here. What were they doing?

    They were asking for the Word of God to be read! Their leaders read from the Word of God! They were listening to the Word of God! They listened to Your Word for hours on end. How wonderful! How often does that happen in our churches today?

    We confess how so many of our activities in our own lives and in the lives of our churches revolve around any and all things but the Word of God. We confess we will come together and gather for hours for so many other activities, not that they are all bad in and of themselves, but how pitifully little time do sit (stand) and listen to Your Word being read and taught...particularly when we come together in Your Name in our church meetings. How often do we ask to have the Word of God read? Really? How often do we do so?

    Forgive us, Lord God, for our attitude toward You and Your Word. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
    To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of life!
    May we gather as one man to hear Your Word, O Lord God!

    We confess that we do not have a hunger for the Word of God like we should. We are Your children, born of and filled with Your Holy Spirit. We certainly ought to hunger and thirst for the sincere milk of Your Word. Forgive us, Lord God, for we hunger and thirst for so many other things but Your pure Word. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake. We ask for so many things to be taught in our churches, but very often they are not really meaty, they are not truly centered in the Word of God and on Jesus Christ and the Gospel and not seeking to bring You glory first and foremost. We know this is a supernatural hunger You alone can impart. Our sinful hearts are hungry and thirsty for all else but the true Bread from heaven and the living Water. We are too easily satisfied. We are too easily deceived. Make us hungry and thirsty for You and Your Word, O Bread of Life. Help us to be satisfied with nothing less than the pure preaching of Your Word in our pulpits and the teaching of Your Word in our Sunday School classes. Yes, we certainly may use resources from human teachers and preachers, but guide us so we are not deceived as we choose those tools. There are many teachers out there who are not really firmly rooted in Your Word. Please give us discernment. Help us not to settle for second best.

    Forgive us, Lord God, for our attitude toward You and Your Word. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
    To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of life!
    May we gather as one man to hear Your Word, O Lord God!

    We confess how many of our preaching and teaching services today revolve around any and all things but the Word of God. Forgive us, Lord God. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake. We have been deceived into thinking that we must attract the world and that the best way to do that is to minimize the Word of God or even jettison the Word of God altogether. Forgive us, O Lord. Your Word must be kept central at all times. You are only honored as Your Word is kept in its rightful place. Yes, we should be all things to all peoples in one sense; we should connect with the cultures in which we live, we can use technology as an aid and so on, but it is clear that You will never bless us if we try to cater to the world rather than lifting up Your Word and making Christ preeminent. Only through the clear preaching of the Word is Jesus Christ lifted up. Anytime we try to compromise with and yoke ourselves to the world and follow the world's ways You will never be lifted up and exalted and glorified as You ought. We do not wage war as the world does. We cannot allow the world to dictate to us what to preach or how to preach. We must always be led by Your Holy Spirit for He is our teacher and guide. He alone will lead us into all truth. He alone will help us to glorify the Lord Christ and You, our Father.

    Forgive us, Lord God, for our attitude toward You and Your Word. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
    To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of life!
    May we gather as one man to hear Your Word, O Lord God!

    Because we are not of the world, Your Gospel message will not be attractive to most. The cross is an offense. The Rock is a stumbling stone. We must trust that when Jesus Christ is lifted up faithfully, You will draw Your sheep to Yourself, Good Shepherd. Your Holy Spirit will work through the faithful preaching of Your Word to draw men and women and boys and girls to You. We are not to seek decisions but rather genuine conversions through Your Holy Spirit. All the efforts and works of men can never accomplish that work in the souls of men. Never!

    Forgive us, Lord God, for our attitude toward You and Your Word. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
    To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of life!
    May we gather as one man to hear Your Word, O Lord God!

    May we not be concerned about being like the world and imitating the world to increase our numbers or our esteem in the world. Strengthen us so we may we not grow weary in well doing, but continue to sow seed, to preach the Word, knowing that in due time we will reap. May we follow in the steps of our Savior Himself and the early Church who continued to preach Your Word, the Gospel of repentance and remission of sins, without reservation and with great joy no matter the cost to them. Keep us rooted and established in apostolic doctrine so we might not be carried about by every wind of doctrine but be equipped to preach the Word of God faithfully. May we put aside our concern for worldly reputation and remain faithful to Your calling to guard the Gospel and preach the Word in season and out of season, no matter how many may leave our churches because of that. The people of God, those born of the Spirit of God, will be satisfied with nothing less but the pure Word of God. Help us to trust You in that. Yes, we may see many leave and go to other places and feed there, but they will not truly be fed. We mourn for them, we will be sad, and we do pray for those other churches, but so be it. As for us, let us never compromise, let us never water down the pure milk of Your Word. Never! Send Your Spirit from on high to anoint and fill us so we might be steadfast to You and speak Your Word with boldness and assurance so we might be Your witnesses to the ends of the earth as You have commanded us. Send Your Spirit to continue to encourage us and stay faithful and true to the preaching of Your Word regardless of what we may see. Even if all leave us, let us never leave off preaching Your Word faithfully.

    Forgive us, Lord God, for our attitude toward You and Your Word. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
    To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of life!
    May we gather as one man to hear Your Word, O Lord God!

    If Your Church is not rightly rooted in the Your Word, what do we have? What hope do we have? What message do we have to a lost world? What power do we have? If we are Your people, we ought to be rooted in Your words. Forgive us, Lord God, that we make so many other things central to our lives and to our churches rather than Your Word. Forgive us for making other things a priority rather than Your Word. Give us a renewed hunger and thirst to preach and teach and hear Your Word once again. Give us an appetite and a love for You and Your Word so we might not be satisfied with lesser things.

    Forgive us, Lord God, for our attitude toward You and Your Word. Be merciful to us for Jesus' sake.
    To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of life!
    May we gather as one man to hear Your Word, O Lord God!

    Please add your prayers as the Holy Spirit leads you.

tent_of_meeting

"he called it the tent of meeting..."

I am burdened to pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the reformation and reviving of Christ's church.

The phrase tent of meeting comes from Exodus 33:7: Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

This site is devoted to God first and foremost. In all that is done here, my prayer is that God is glorified and His Name magnified and Christ and Him crucified is lifted up so He might be preeminent and God might receive all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. All who have come to a saving knowledge of our Father by grace through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are welcome to enter this tent of meeting to seek the Lord.

This blog is a place for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to come and seek God's face for revival. My intention is for this tent of meeting to be a holy place where we can enter into PRAYER together to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit leads you, please enter into prayer either here (think of "comments" as prayers) or on your own.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

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