Dear brothers and sisters whose hearts are seeking His face and longing to see revival in our own hearts and in the Church as a whole,

I know I have not been posting here so frequently as of late, but I hope and pray your hearts are continuing to burn with holy desire, that our LORD rends the heaven and God's holy fire falls fresh upon His Church once again. (I would invite you to be checking out my other sites here and here for many of the things I write reflect my desire for revival to come once again.)

We can be assured that God always has a faithful remnant who are continuing to worship Him and Spirit and in truth and are seeking His face for revival in the Church. Let us not be weary in well doing. For those of us He has called to be watchmen, may His grace work in us to strengthen us so we might not be silent at His throne in the heavenlies or be silent in our congregations here on the earth as His love constrains and compels us.

There are so many wonderful promises for us in that 62nd chapter of Isaiah that we can take hold of and pray for the Church today. I would encourage you to read it and reflect on it and to pray it. We know that the LORD has not deserted us. We see His love there. Though we look and feel desolate and forsaken, our LORD reminds us that He has not forsaken us, in spite of our sinfulness, for His covenant mercies for us in Jesus Christ are secure, we are the bride of Christ and He delights over us for Jesus' sake! He calls us the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and promises that we shall be Sought Out, and A City Not Forsaken.

In spite of what we see throughout much of the Church today, in spite of the ruins and dry bones that are so prevalent, we know the LORD continues to have a glorious plan for His people. His desire is that His glory would come into the midst and would shine once again, that we might be a praise in the earth, a crown of glory and a royal diadem in His hand, so the nations might stream to Him and He might be highly exalted and Jesus Christ preeminent.

May we not let our grief and dismay over the dry bones and our importunity discourage and paralyze us, but may the Spirit sanctify that grief and dismay and turn it into a holy desire that burns in our hearts, a deep Spirit-led abiding conviction to seek revival and see revival come again. May the sight of the ruins and the dry bones drive us to knees to intercede with boldness and lift us to our feet to proclaim Jesus Christ with boldness. May we not hold peace or keep silent, but continue to make mention of the living God, to continue to lift up the living and true Christ in the midst of the valley of dead and dry bones in which many of us find ourselves, congregations which have a form of godliness but who deny the power of the living God, where the living word has been replaced with the external tablets of stone, where the Gospel truth has been exchanged for a lie.

May we not give our LORD rest until He makes us a praise in the earth again! May His Spirit carry us along, imparting to us His supernatural strength to persevere with all longsuffering with joy, even as we see little or no life at times. He has promised to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, so we can trust Him to provide strength to persevere in prayer and proclamation, to fulfill His calling to be watchmen. Let us continue to eat of Christ's promises for as we do so, we eat of Christ Himself. May those promises in His Word becoming sweet to us, become truly living food to sustain us to walk in the good works He has ordained for us, much like our Lord who said His meat was to do His Father's will.

May we look up to heaven and ask Him to look down and see and to come again...and to keep asking. To ask that His zeal and might come down, that He be stirred and show compassion on us again.

O LORD, our Father, our Redeemer, You do know us. We are Your children, Your chosen people, Your holy nation. Thank You for choosing us and calling us to Yourself and for doing for us what we could not do: for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ to die for us while we were weak and powerless. Your love, mercy and grace were set upon us before the foundation of the world! You loved us first.

We stand before you and confess our total inability. Just as we were dead and unable to save ourselves in the first place, we confess we are weak and powerless and apart from You we can do nothing to revive our own souls or the Church. We confess our need for Your Spirit's power to come to us again and revive us. We have no hope or strength or wisdom apart from You.

Be merciful and gracious and loving to us once again. Return for our sake! Return for Your Name's sake! We confess Your sanctuary has been trampled down. We confess we have not guarded the Gospel as we ought. The Precious Cornerstone has become a stumbling stone. We confess we have not guarded our hearts as we ought. We have become like those over whom You never ruled. Come and break and soften our hard hearts. Put Your Godly fear into us: a greater sense that You are a consuming Fire and we deserve nothing from You but wrath and eternal punishment, and yet in Your sovereign grace, You chose to show love to us, to grant mercy and grace to us to save us from just condemnation for our sin and to free us from power of sin, to translate us from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Your Son. O wonderful Lord, help us to know in greater measure Your glory: the glory in which grace and truth met, where justice and mercy kissed. The glory that overlooks all our sin and makes us righteous because You provided the propitiation for all our sins in Jesus Christ and counted His righteousness to our account by grace through faith. We confess and give you thanks and praise that it is only by Your grace, by Your covering us and clothing us with Christ's perfect righteousness that we stand before You. Holy God, be kind to us, we are Your people the sheep of Your pasture, lead us now to repentance. Give us ears to hear. Take our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh and put Your Spirit into us in a fresh and new way. Come again and set us free to live by You and to You as You have intended.

Yes, Jesus Christ came at the incarnation over 2000 years ago, but let us have eyes to see ourselves and the Church as a whole through His eyes, and pray He might come again in glory to revive us again. Where is the glory today in the Church? Are we not rightly called Ichabod today in so many places because we are living so far below the glory God intends for us? We have made lively religion into a dead ceremony. We have taken the living promises of the Word of God and not believed them to be true for us. Are we not captive, in dire need of deliverance from our worldly thoughts and concepts of God and His power? Are we not guilty of quenching, grieving and limiting God? Are we not become much like the religious authorities in Jesus' day and that of the early Church, whom Jesus called whitewashed tombs and whom Stephen described as stiff-necked and always resisting the Holy Spirit? We are in sore need of our Emmanuel coming again to free the Church from our captivity and reliance on the power and strength of men. May He send His glory to us once again! May He come to us again – no, not to ransom us – for the ransom was paid once for all! – but may Emmanuel come again revive us again! May our mourning become joy unspeakable as He comes into our midst again and He establishes us and He makes us a praise in the earth! But in the meantime we can rejoice in the sure hope that our God desire to revive us again – far more than any of us do – and continue steadfastly as watchmen on the walls in prayer and proclamation in eager anticipation of His coming!

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

* * *

This Advent, as you commemorate and celebrate Christ's first coming at the incarnation, will you please join me in earnest prayer He might come afresh and anew in power to revive us again?

We can be hopeful and rejoice for we can be assured that Emmanuel shall come to us for we know our God not only delights in us but delights in steadfast love! He is love!

Your sister in Christ, seeking His face for revival in the Church, rejoicing that Emmanuel will surely come again!

Karen

I've previously written about the opposition that had arisen against the building of the wall and repair of its gates in my prayers here and here.

Today I'd like us to focus on our need to continue in prayer day and night as we work because just as was happening in the time of Nehemiah, opposition to God's work is continuing day and night. Throughout the book of Nehemiah we see how the enemies of Israel kept coming back again and again to discourage and dissuade the people of God from the work of building and repair. That's particularly apparent in Nehemiah 4:

Nehemiah 4:6  So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

7  But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8  And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9  And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

10  In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” 11  And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12  At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” 13  So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14  And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

Notice that the wall had already been built to half its height, and notice how the people had a mind to work (after being mocked prior to this time). At this point there is real visible progress, and even so the people began to lose perspective, they became fearful and began to despair and wonder if the work could really be completed all due to the continuing attacks of the enemy. I've known that feeling. Have you?

This is a real reminder to us of our need to encourage one another (I wrote on this here on my other blog yesterday) and to continue on in prayer as we work, not only at the beginning of our work but throughout the entire span of our work (which means we ought always to be praying for our work on earth is not completed until our days here on earth are completed!). We must not ever sit back and relax and let down our guard – and we must especially persevere in prayer once we begin to see answers to our prayers. The devil is ready to step in, take advantage when we let down our guard and take a foothold wherever and whenever we give him an opening to do so!

15  When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16  From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17  who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18  And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19  And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20  In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

Once more we see here the continuing guard, the day and night diligence we must have as we work, which includes a day and night covering in prayer. So often we can get busy, busy, busy with our work and we neglect to persevere in the necessary work of prayer.

21  So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. 22  I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23  So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.

The work of the devil and his minions is 24/7. That's why Paul told us to pray without ceasing...

Holy and everlasting God,

Make us more and more aware of our need to pray without ceasing. We confess we so often busy ourselves with working and doing and we so easily forget the work of prayer. We think that prayer is a secondary thing, but it is a primary thing. Prayer must undergird, guard and surround all we do. The devil is prowling waiting for an opportune time to come and attack us as we work. May we be steadfast, immovable and abounding in all the work You call us to, and that work includes the work of prayer. May we take heed, lest we fall. When we think we are strong, when we think we can do all things, remind us we have no power, no reserves and no protection unless we continue to root all we do in prayer, that we can do nothing apart from You, but praise God, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! We can build, and we must build, but we must continue to set a guard and protection in prayer. We can plant Your gospel seed, and we must plant, but as we plant, we must continue to water it with prayer.

May we be like the watchmen described in Isaiah, may we never give you rest but continue to intercede to your for guidance, protection and help.

All the day...All the night...

You know our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak.

Yet we know enough to know we must continue in prayer.

Strengthen us, O Lord, to pray, through Your eternal, omnipotent Spirit who dwells in us. You are the God who never ceases in prayer in heaven. You are the God who never ceased to search after us while we were lost sheep. You are the God who is from everlasting to everlasting. You are the God who has the power of an indestructible life. Apart from You we cannot even desire to pray all the day and all the night. So certainly then apart from You we cannot even begin to pray all the day and all the night. These things are possible for us through Your life which dwells in us.

We confess we find time for all sorts of other things, but seem to find little time for prayer. Father, forgive us for quenching Your Holy Spirit and grieving You. Our Father, forgive us for Jesus' sake. We are not our own, but we are Yours. Our lives are hid with Christ in God. Therefore help us to set our minds on things above, to remember we are Your ambassadors here sent to build the wall wherever You send us and we cannot do so apart from continuing in prayer day and night.

Whom have we in heaven but You? You are are guide. You are our protector. You are our help. We confess we often forget we are totally dependent on You for all things. All things. We can do nothing apart from You. Jesus Christ is our life. Your Holy Spirit is our breath. Our Father, we are Your children. We ask You to remind us when we forget, when we begin working and have a zeal to work, but when we do not continue to abide in You and continue instant in prayer. We confess we need Your zeal for prayer.

When we do not draw our strength from You in prayer, our labor will be in vain, for it is not being done in You. Forgive us, O Lord, when we forget, and draw us back to You once again, take us to our knees in utter dependence on You, the Chief Shepherd. How can the sheep do or know anything apart from the Lamb who bought us, the Lamb whose lives indwells us, the Lamb who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven interceding for us? Forgive us, good Shepherd, when we forget You. May we continue in prayer without ceasing. May we continue in prayer day and night at Your throne of grace. Lord Jesus, You are continuing there on our behalf. Our Father, we know You are waiting to hear our prayers. Your Spirit longs to pray along with us there.

We come to You, our Father, in the Name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. While we continue to work strengthen us to continue in prayer without ceasing, to continue in prayer day and night...all the day, all the night...so we might see Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So Your Kingdom might come in greater measure here in our own lives, in our churches, in our communities, in our countries, to the ends of the earth, as well as in the blogging communities of Xanga and Revelife. We long for the Church to be a praise in the earth. We long to see the earth filled with Your glory, O Lord. Amen.

God of heaven,

Your servant Nehemiah was burdened over the state of Your people:

Nehemiah 1:1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the capital, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.

4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us again...

God of heaven,
We see how Your servant Nehemiah was genuinely concerned and burdened about the fate of his brothers and sisters, Your people.
We confess we are often not genuinely concerned and burdened about our brothers and sisters, Your Church.
We confess we are often only genuinely concerned and burdened about ourselves.
We confess we are not heavenly minded.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us again...

God of heaven,
We see how Nehemiah was genuinely concerned and burdened about Your Name and Your glory.
We confess we are not genuinely concerned and burdened about Your Name and Your glory.
We confess we are often concerned and burdened about our names and our own glory.
We confess we are not heavenly minded.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us again...

God of heaven,
We see how Nehemiah reacted when he heard of his brothers' and sisters' trouble and shame.
We confess we often turn a deaf ear to the trouble and shame of Your Church.
We confess we are often more excited about worldly matters, sports and entertainment than the state of Your Church.
We confess we are not heavenly minded.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us again...

God of heaven,
We see how Nehemiah sat down and mourned for days before You over Your people.
We confess we barely sit down and mourn for a moment before You, much less days.
We confess we find it easy to down and engage in time-wasting activities for days on end...and another week passes...and another...
We confess we are not heavenly minded.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us again...

God of heaven,
We see how Nehemiah continued fasting and praying before You.
We confess we find it difficult to fast and pray at all, not to mention continuing to do so.
We confess we find it easy to feed our flesh and speaking and listening to others rather than seeking Your face in prayer.
We confess we are not heavenly minded.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us again...

Forgive us, Holy Father, for Jesus' sake. We come before You and confess our apathy. How often Your children, our very own brothers and sisters, are in dire need, and yet we turn away because they are far away from us, we forget their difficulties, their struggles to survive, the persecution they endure daily for the sake of Your Name. We see how Nehemiah had a heart for his brothers and sisters even though they were far away from him. Give us a heart for our brothers and sisters, Your children, all over the world.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.

Forgive us, Holy Father, for Jesus' sake. We come before You and confess our apathy. How often our brothers and sisters nearer to home are in dire need, and yet we turn away because we are apathetic and uncaring and are focused on seeking our own kingdoms; we worry about what we will eat, what we will drink and what we will wear, we worry more about our comfort and convenience rather than seeking first Your Kingdom. We sometimes forget that if we are Yours, we are called to be on mission right where we are. We forget we are Your priesthood sent out into the world, even when that world for us is our neighbor next door.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.

Forgive us, Holy Father, for Jesus' sake. We come before You and confess our apathy. How often our brothers and sisters are in dire need, and yet how we are unable to see the need because we have lost the sense of Your glory. We worry more about looking socially acceptable and numerical growth. We are in great trouble and shame because we have not lifted up Jesus Christ and Him crucified and have failed to remain rooted in the apostles' doctrine and prayer. We confess we have relied on our own resources rather than the power of Your Holy Spirit. So long as we continue to remake You, the Lord Christ, His Gospel and the Church after our own image we will be remain in great trouble and shame.

Our Father in heaven, forgive us for Jesus' sake.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for You, Your Name and Your glory.
Restore to us a jealous and zealous love for Your Church.
Give us eyes to see the broken down walls and the burned gates in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in Your Church today.
Break our hearts at what is happening in our own lives today.