“No Great Spiritual Awakening has not begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer.”

Edwin Orr

Is It Time For a Great Awakening?

I hope that everyone who dared watch the debate in America survived it. Our family chose to just catch the highlights. Today I am nursing a cold. I’ve got the general aches and lots of sneezing. Rather than spending my time recuperating by scrolling on my phone, I decided to do some Bible study and read a little. 

I hoped I had made the better choice

Choosing to study the Bible was the better choice I believe. I’ve had this impending sense of doom lately. Before I stopped being consumed by politics, several commentators on both sides of the political aisle had been saying that the time we live in is much like that of the 1960’s. What happened then? There was a war going on, Martin Luther King, Jr. was marching in solidarity with his peers for change. There was a zeitgeist that was making the rounds of culture. Basically, folks were saying, “God is Dead.” Division ruled the roost. In my listening to these podcasts, one common theme has been brought up over and over. 

We are on a precipice as a people

We are on a precipice as a people. We can’t continue down this vein of ugliness. Keyboard warriors and trolls who harass, people who say, “If you don’t vote for my person, you are trash!” It does seem that as each day passes, more violence continues to be in the news. We are on the ledge of that steep mountain teetering by the last few fingers. We can either just tumble over the edge and fall right into disaster, or we can start from the bottom of the hill and pull us off that cliff with all of our might. 

A new Bible study piqued my interest

During my Bible study time, I had an occasion to listen to a teaching from a very old family friend. He is also a missionary at times. In his teachings he talked about a spiritual awakening that was taking place in some of the countries he visited. At a lot of these revivals, one song was sung. “Because He Lives” by Bill and Gloria Gaither. I remember singing that song as a child. It was in the hymn book. After doing a little research I found out that Gloria wrote the song when she was in a time of deep despair. Much like today, the world was divided, wars and rumors of war were splashed across the news. There was the violence inflicted at Kent State University and tensions were mounting with Russia. To top it all off, her husband was ill and she was pregnant. She felt like the world was falling apart. 

There have been prior Great Awakenings

As I continued my research, I started to read that there are indeed awakenings that are taking place all over the world. In Brazil people are breaking out singing Because He Lives in the grocery store, tons of them. Revival is happening in Iran, Africa, India, Algeria. That is just a few of them. One country that surprised me was France. There is a church called The Martin Luther King church. The church has over three thousand members and their online reach? Forty Thousand! 

Can we have a Great Awakening here? 

With all that is going on in our world, could we perhaps have another Great Awakening? My answer is absolutely, yes. If you look up, “Great Awakening” you will see that there were approximately 4 of them in America. When did the last one start? 1960. I just wrote about that very time when I sat down and watched The Jesus Revolution. America was in a time where they had almost forgotten God, save a few people. Ugliness was rampant, the truth was far away in a corner and people had a sense of doom. I don’t know about you, but I struggle with those feelings a lot these days. It only takes going to the store and seeing the prices, reading the news, watching anything online and then reading the hateful comments after. In the words of my kids, “It’s a lot.” Not all students of the Bible agree that 1960 was the 4th awakening. After watching and reading The Jesus Revolution, I believe it was. 

How do we get to a place of awakening?

In my reading I see that in each awakening a few things had to happen. 

– Start with daily prayer. Luke 18:1 says just that. Jesus shared a parable with the disciples so that they would pray and not give up. I pray when I do dishes, clean, write, drive. Prayers are needed for our country and the world.

–Look within. Are there areas of your life that you need to ask or give forgiveness?

–Ask God to create in you a clean heart and keep your motives pure. 

–Get to know God. How do you do that? Read the scriptures. There are so many free commentaries online. 

–Find a community of believers. I’ve written so many articles about our need for community. We’ve lost it in the internet age. We need to build one another up in love consistently so that when we do step out into the world we can make it. 

–Start writing down how God has changed your life. I am not a journaling person, but I have started to make little notes about things that tug at my heart or are interesting to me. 

 That is a good place to start. 

There is a common theme in the Bible

All through the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, there is a common theme. The Israelites are blessed by God. They get to feeling good, they start letting other gods or traditions creep into their life, they leave God. They forget the past miracles of God. Naturally when they leave God the plagues come, wars, starvation and conquest. People cry out to God for help, they weep and tear their garments. God sends a prophet and he tells them to repent. God sends a renewed sense of purpose to the Israelites and they return back to God. Yesterday I was reading one of those occurrences. In Joel, God sends him to tell the people that they must repent. He also tells them God will forgive because He is gracious and compassionate. 

The prophet Joel gave us hope from God

In the last verse of Joel 2, God says He is going to pour out his spirit upon the people. In God’s forgiveness, he restored their faith. Yes, we can have a Great Awakening. We just need to be about our Father’s business. There are a lot of people out there with a God shaped hole in their soul that is begging to be filled with kindness. There are some who have left the church for varying reasons. Be the church to them so that they will return to the fold. Let us pray indeed for a Great Awakening.