This may be a controversial statement, but God answered our prayer by allowing Covid-19. He is still answering our prayer. Going even further, we are praying that God keeps shaking this world.

I attend a smaller church in Duluth, MN. This last winter, we had an Evangelist come through and preach on revival. He told a story of a small church that actually saw revival. Their church ended up growing exponentially and winning many souls to Christ. Some other pastors contacted the pastor of that church and asked, “How did it happen? Why did he (the pastor) think the church saw revival?” He was reluctant to respond, but after they pressed him, he told the other pastors that a small men’s group had been praying for revival. The men had started meeting on Monday nights and praying together for revival in the church. The pastor then added that the men had been praying for 25 years.

Boom, the conviction! Did my church really desire to see revival? Did I personally desire to see revival? Did we really desire to see revival in the United States or even the world?

As a result, the men of our church started a men’s revival prayer meeting on Tuesday nights.

In this region, people are very hard-hearted. They are multi-generational Catholics and Lutherans. They don’t want to hear the Gospel, and while our door-knocking had resulted in a slow stream of souls being won to Christ, we were hoping for softer hearts.

We needed God to move as only He can. We needed God to soften hearts as only He can.

…So, we prayed. The Tuesday men’s prayer meeting focused on asking God for a shaking that would soften the hearts of the lost as well as wake up the Christians who were sleeping.  Our church ended up adding fasting on Tuesdays to go along with the prayer meeting.

We prayed for a shaking that would shake the United States and this entire world. We prayed for God to move the hearts of mankind as only He could.

God answered prayer! Not to our merit, but to His glory, 2020 has been an incredible year and a wonderful year. We have seen prayer after prayer answered, and God has really softened hearts. We have seen souls saved.

We are still praying that God keeps shaking this world. 

Why?

To see the lost shaken out of their comfort and hardness to spiritual matters.

To glorify God and draw all mankind to Jesus.

To see a refining in Christians.

To have a focus on the eternal rather than the temporal.

Biblical Perspective

Some of the statements above are very counter to the wishes of lost mankind and counter to the prayers of many Christians. What is pleasing to God? Does God desire Christians and churches that would rather sacrifice the open hearts of the lost for a comfortable life?

I John 2:15 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

As announced on radio programs and online, some Christian denominations and organizations started prayer initiatives to ask God to reverse COVID, stop the protests, and calm the crazy weather events.  It seems many Christians want to go back to how life was in the “old norm.” Many churches were filled with people who had no intention of doing anything for God. Lost people were enjoying life with their boats, cars, houses, and all manner of distractions. Most people, including Christians, had a general hardness to the true Biblical life of a Christian.

What are true Biblical Christians to be? We are to be living sacrifices for God.

Romans 12:1 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

I Corinthians 6:19-20 – “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Our focus and desire should not be to get back to the old comfortable life, but to go anywhere and do anything in the service of our Saviour. We should also be willing to go through anything as a servant of God. I heard an old quote that says, “People don’t turn to God on the mountaintops; they turn to God in the valleys.”

This world is in a wonderful valley! This is a time to reach the lost like no other time.

Please don’t pray that life will go back to “normal,” but that God would be glorified and souls would be drawn to Jesus in these “gloriously dark” days.

(“Gloriously dark” was a term I heard from Adrian Rogers years ago. The term describes the combination of how as the world falls increasingly into darkness and rebellion, we can see the brightness of Jesus’ glory drawing nearer in His return.)

These are also prophetic days. This age is certainly drawing to the very end. Christians, for the last 2,000 years, have lived and died desiring to see the return of Jesus. We will very likely see it. Additionally, some may not know that Jesus has been waiting for 2,000 years for us to see His glory as well!

John 17:24 – “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”

Jesus wants you to see His glory! Hopefully, today will be the day!

Miriam Webster’s definition of “Hope”: (1) to cherish a desire with anticipation; to want something to happen, or be true. (2) to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment.

Wikipedia’s definition: An optimistic state of mind that is based on expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances or the world at large. As a verb: expect with confidence and to cherish a desire with anticipation.

Hebrews 11:1; “Now Faith is the assurance of things Hoped for; the conviction of things not seen.”

Psalm 130:5; “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my Hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11; “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not harm you; plans to give you a Hope and a future.” (eternal life).”

Romans 8:24-25; “For in this Hope we were saved. Now Hope that is seen is no Hope at all. Who Hopes for what they already have? But if we Hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently.” (at least as much as is possible)

2 Corinthians 4:17-18; “For our light and momentary problems are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen; since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (our eternal life)

The refrain of a song by David Wallace Crowder, from Texarkana, Texas, states:

“All my Hope is in Jesus. Thank God my yesterday’s gone! All my sins are forgiven; I’ve been washed in the Blood.”

This is very short and simple, yet makes a major point. People who are fully attached to this world do not look past the present time to consider their future eternal destination. Their “Hope” is the “here and now,” and “what’s in it for me?” They will have all eternity to consider and regret their choices.

Crowder says, “All my Hope is in Jesus.” Right now, we do not see Jesus, but have the faith that the Bible is the true and inerrant word of our Heavenly Father. Titus 1:2; “in Hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”

We have positive assurance for our Hope through God’s word as given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:16-22; “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then, those also have fallen asleep in Christ perished. If in Christ we have Hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead; the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For by a man [Adam] came death; by a man [Jesus] has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die; so also In Christ, shall all be made alive.”

We have a Heavenly Father who does not put more expectations on us than He knows we can handle. First and foremost, He knew that mortal man/woman could never meet His demand for perfection, and any sacrifice we could possibly make would be tainted. That’s why that, before Jesus, the priests had to make continual, regular sacrifices to keep in God’s will. These were temporary, and people would receive forgiveness if they followed the law given by the Father.

Then, as prophesied throughout the Old Testament, God sent a part of Himself to be born of a virgin, to be fully human yet still fully God, but without the sin-tainted blood all other humans had. The infant was placed in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit, and through the normal function of the placenta, Jesus received nourishment, but their blood did not mix.

After His birth, Jesus led a life that no other human ever did to that point; nor ever will all the way to the end of His millennial reign. He did not sin; not even once! As for all of the rest of humanity, we look at Romans 3:23; “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” No exceptions are given. Going to verse 24; “and are justified by His Grace thought the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Through the sinless shed blood of our Savior, all who will call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:9-13). This is to say we must truly believe Jesus paid our sin debt on that cross as a gift for all humans who will receive Him and accept that gift. We have faith that God’s word is true, as stated earlier, and that Jesus was raised from the dead to conquer sin and death and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Our greatest Hope lies just around the corner, and all signs say we will be rescued from the coming wrath very soon (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; and Revelation 3:10). It’s a personal choice that everyone has to make for themselves as no one else can do it for us.

Once a person receives Jesus as their Savior, this does not mean they will never sin again. Reread Romans 3:23. However, through the apostle John, the Father has given us a true formula to obtain forgiveness. In 1 John 1:8-10, we’re told to confess our sins and ask His forgiveness. Be honest; God already knows what we did. Then as promised in Psalm 103:12; “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.” We will still be subject to discipline, but the sins themselves are forgiven.

Obviously, this is not a license to continue in “habitual sinful ways,” but we ask the Father to help us turn from evil. The only time we will be perfect and sinless is after we rise up to meet Jesus in the air at the Rapture. We will be given perfect forever bodies and a new mindset that will not be subject to Satan’s temptations ever again.

There is a “however,” and that is all who do not accept Jesus as their Savior will have to answer for every sin they ever committed when they reach the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20:11-15. There is no forgiveness for all who are at this judgment. They will spend forever in the Lake of Fire with the devil and all his demons.

Only through Jesus can we be acceptable by the Father (John 14:6 and Acts 4:12). Our Hope is that through Jesus we are not condemned (Romans 8:1). There is no special manmade ceremony or special recital to perform. Just ask Jesus to be your Savior and confess you are a lost sinner without Him. He’s absolutely the best friend you will ever have, and He’s waiting for your call. Make that call today, as tomorrow could be too late. No one is guaranteed another day on this earth. Put all your Hope in Jesus, and you will never regret your decision.

Maranatha!

huebshman46@gmail.com