“… Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel …”

— Luke 2:34

Whoever you are, you cannot avoid Jesus Christ, either in this life or the next. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He is the One “with whom we have to do.” I once heard about a secular talk-show host who flippantly remarked, “Jesus means absolutely nothing to my life.” How wrong she is, for one day, like all of us, she will stand before Him in judgment.

The Bible teaches us that we can experience Jesus Christ as either a steppingstone that raises us to new heights or a stumbling block over which we trip and fall. Christ is as salt— permeating, penetrating, and seasoning all with which He comes in contact. You cannot avoid His influence. You cannot avoid the working of Christ any more than you can avoid the working of fire—stand before the fire, and it shall warm and comfort you; thrust your hand into it, and it will burn you.

An Eastern fable tells of a magic mirror that remained clear when the pure-hearted looked into it. But when the glance of a vile, unholy person fell upon it, the mirror clouded over instantly. Thus, the owner of that mirror could immediately tell the character of his visitors as they glanced into it. In the same way, Christ reveals our true natures to others, to God, and—if we pay attention—even to ourselves. Notice the reactions to Christ when He first came into this world: Mary and Joseph loved Him; the innkeeper was too busy for Him; the shepherds worshiped Him; Herod hated Him; both Anna and Simeon in the Temple praised God for Him. And so, Jesus Christ reveals our true character when we come into contact with Him.

What do you discover about yourself as you look into His face?

“Whoever you are, the Gospel must be
to you a savour of life or of death.”
Charles Spurgeon

“… learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart …”

— Matthew 11:29

The four Gospels present four rather different pictures of Christ from different perspectives, from different backgrounds, and through different events. As we read those Gospels, a character rises up from the pages, a character unique and altogether lovely. We begin to see a face and hear a voice, a voice that speaks with a music and a poetry never heard before. His message? “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . . . learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”

Have you heard and responded to that message?

That voice has reverberated through the centuries. Ah, the skeptics have come with their scissors and their paste, cutting up the Gospels and pasting them back together anyway they’ve wanted. Still that character stands and speaks an everlasting message. The invitation still comes, the music still sounds. “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”

Antagonists have attempted to refute Jesus’ claims. Nietzsche condemned Christ, mocking His humility and dubbing Him a slave. Nietzsche died in a madhouse, but the voice of Christ still resounds. Hitler, following in Nietzsche’s footsteps, declared that he, as a pure pagan, would uproot Christianity from the earth. Hitler became a charred cinder, his name a byword for one who does evil. But the voice of Christ continues to resound throughout the world. The Communists tried to kill just about every Christian they could get their hands on. But today in those lands more people follow Jesus than follow Karl Marx.

So it goes that Christ, whose message has outlasted all his detractors, criticizes His critics and becomes the final Judge of all His judges, and all the while His voice still exhorts, even today, “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Today let that lasting message reverberate through your heart, encouraging you in all you do.

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
does his successive journeys run.”
Isaac Watts

“I and My Father are one.”

— John 10:30

Have you ever really thought about some of the things Jesus Christ said about Himself? Have you ever pondered the fact that Jesus Christ made claims that today would put someone in a lockup?

Jesus said He was the “light of the world.” Talk about delusions of grandeur. (But only if the claim weren’t true.) Jesus also claimed an eternal origin—He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” His hearers, the Jewish leaders of His day, knew that those words were a claim to deity. (Recall that, in Exodus 3:14, God identified Himself to Moses as “I AM.”) Jesus also claimed the power to forgive sins, something only God can do. As well, Jesus presented Himself as equal to God when He said, “I and My Father are one.”

The Jewish leaders knew the meaning behind Jesus’ words, and they didn’t like what they heard. They recognized Jesus’ claim to deity and almost stoned Him for blasphemy.

If you really think about it, either Jesus was crazy, he was a deceiver, or He was telling the truth. C. S. Lewis, the great Christian writer, put it so well:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. — Mere Christianity (Macmillan, 1952)

Whenever you find yourself thinking about Jesus, take a moment to stop and consider Who He really is. He revealed His identity in His words, and He’ll back up His words by showing His power in your life.

“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten from the Father, God from God, Light from
Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being
with the Father. Through Him all things were made . . .”
Nicene Creed

“. . . O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!”

— Habakkuk 3:2

Today we’ll take our last look at revival. Particularly, we’ll look at some great revivals of the past.

Perhaps the most notable revival of the twentieth century happened in 1904 and 1905 in the tiny land of Wales. This revival started with a few people fervently praying. The prayers of these people had powerful results. Churches that had been one-fourth full of apathetic Christians began to come alive. The Spirit of God fell on various towns, moving everywhere. Within five months, over a hundred thousand people in that small land converted to Christianity. The bars in many towns had to shut down completely, and the jails were emptied and closed.

Another powerful revival happened years ago on the battleship North Carolina. While this battleship anchored in New York harbor, four young men out of a thousand got together. They could find no other Christians, but they asked for a room where they could meet and pray. They were assigned a little room way below the waterline, and day after day they faithfully met together to pray. They prayed that God would pour His blessing upon that ship. Finally one day the Spirit of God descended, the sailors’ hearts burned within them, and they knew that God was present. They began to sing praises to God, and their hymns of praise wafted up through the ship. Hearing the singing, rough sailors came down to mock the four men, but when these rough men entered the room, the power of God’s Spirit gripped them. These men fell to their knees. Eventually, hundreds converted to Christianity, and a great revival swept the entire ship. In fact, the revival carried from that ship to others.

The same God who changed these men, the same God who changed Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle, can change anyone. Today pray that God will bring revival to our nation, especially to the people whom you’d least expect would give their lives to Christ. He can work through you as you faithfully pray.

“It [revival] is a sovereign act of God, whereby He
intervenes to lift the situation completely out of human
hands and works in extraordinary power.”
Jeffrey King

“… then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

— 2 Chronicles 7:14

Yesterday we discussed our need for national revival. Today and tomorrow I want to continue with this theme.

Revival is a rebirth, a restoration of God’s power, and I believe that it can happen in America. God can yet change this land. He can stay the hand of chastisement acted out in our mean city streets and spreading into the countryside.

But to have revival, we must pay a price. God says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray.” Revival begins with God’s people praying prayers of brokenness, of humility, of acknowledgment of our own sins. How often do we pray for the sins of others and neglect repenting of our own sins that prevent us from being effective witnesses for God? We need to fall on our knees and get our own lives straight with God.

God doesn’t do His work in unbelievers until His people renew their devotion to Him. But when that happens, watch out. He has promised that when we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face, He will hear, forgive our sin, and heal our land. The spiritual renewal of God’s children inevitably issues forth a tremendous outbreak of evangelism that has fresh power and works in ways never seen before. God can release His power to bring the entire nation to Him.

The Great Awakening in America began when a few people prayed, seeking God’s face, week after week, time after time, until finally God began to pour out His Spirit. Christians met to pray. They began to expect great things of God. And people became Christians. For years this revival went on. At its peak, fifty thousand people a week were born into God’s kingdom.

Will you join me in praying for national revival? Will you humble yourself before God and seek His face so that He might bring revival to this land through you? Let’s all do this so that we might not hinder God from drawing this nation to Himself.

“Take a piece of chalk, and draw a circle on the floor. Then step
inside the circle and pray, ‘Lord, send a revival inside this circle.’”
Gypsy Smith
(On Being Asked How To Start A Revival)

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways …”

— 2 Chronicles 7:14

A multitude of presidents through the years have declared a National Day of Prayer. And our country needs prayer. In fact, I think this country needs our prayers now more than ever before, except perhaps during the War for Independence and the Civil War. We desperately need a national revival. Unless we have one, I believe that America, as we know it, won’t exist much longer. And if America falls, virtually the entire missionary enterprise of the Church could come to a screeching halt. But if America turns back to God, He could prevent this country’s demise.

If we need to be convinced of the importance of national revival, we need look no further than the Israelites. In ancient Israel prophets arose and proclaimed the destruction of Israel unless that nation turned back to God. But the people mocked the prophets and ignored them, telling them to go tell their doleful tales elsewhere. Yet true to the prophets’ words, the Assyrians came down like wolves in a pack, fiercely and cruelly defeating Israel, and ancient Israel (not to be confused with ancient Judah) never recovered. Had the Israelites turned back to God when He spoke His intentions through the prophets, they wouldn’t have met with such a devastating fate.

If our nation, like Israel, needs national revival, then what is it and how can we bring it about? William Sprague defines national revival like this: “Wherever you see religion rising up from a state of comparative depression to a tone of increased vigor and strength, wherever you see professing Christians becoming more faithful to their obligations and behold the strength of the Church increased by fresh accessions of piety from the world, there is a state of things which you need not hesitate to denominate a revival of religion.”

How can we bring this about? By doing what our government has set this day aside for us to do—pray. Will you join me and millions of others in praying for the spiritual revival of this great nation?

“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin, and
desire nothing but God, and I will shake the world.”
John Wesley

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

— Matthew 5:8

Some have called the concept of seeing God “the brightest star in the Beatitudes’ constellation.” For ages, Christians have longed to see God. The mystics of the Middle Ages rejoiced in the concept of seeing God, calling it the “Beatific Vision.” This vision was the great quest of theology and even the quest of science as originally constructed—through the examination of the cosmos, humans hoped to more clearly see the Creator.

But Scripture explicitly states that no human can see God directly and live. Yet many still seek to do so. Philip the Apostle said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Even pagan princes have sought to see God. In the ancient Roman Empire, Trajan said to a believer in the true God, “I understand that you believe your God is everywhere . . . I should very much like to see Him.” The believer responded, “I am afraid, sire, that no mortal eye can look upon His glory.” Nonetheless, the king commanded the believer to show him God. The believer suggested to the king that he first look at God’s ambassadors before he look God in the face. With that, the believer led the king outside on a bright, dazzling day and told the king to look at the sun. The king responded, “I cannot, for the light dazzles my eyes!” The believer then explained that if the king could not look at a mere ambassador that carries a message of God’s creation, how could he possibly look into the face of God Himself?

We cannot see God with our limited human eyes. But we can see Him with our souls, experiencing His joy, His peace, and His serenity. I hope that you have the blessing of seeing God this way as you foster a pure heart.

“Jesus, the very thought of Thee, with sweetness fills my breast,
but even more Thy face to see and in Thy presence rest.”
St. Bernard Of Clairvaux

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

— Mark 8:34

Have you ever noticed how virtually all of the people we call heroes have made great sacrifices in one way or another? To achieve the ends they deemed worthwhile, these people sacrificed their time, their finances, their health, even their lives. And because they willingly relinquished any claims to these things (which we take for granted), we view these people as heroes, worthy of honor and emulation.

Throughout the centuries, God has used sacrifice as the marble from which He carves greatness. Here are some people we call heroes for the sacrifices they made:

• the apostles who gave their lives at stakes, on crosses, and in other torturous ways;

• the early Christians in the Colosseum of Rome, who watched iron grates rise and famished lions charge;

• Christians who were tied to stakes and watched as torches ignited kindling beneath them;

• the Pilgrims who, in the dead of winter, sailed across tumultuous seas to the inhospitable coasts of New England;

• George Washington and his brave soldiers at Valley Forge, who left bloody footprints in the snow as they departed; and

• Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice, His life, at Calvary.

What sacrifice can you offer to God this day? What material will you give Him so that He can carve greatness from your life?

“There has never yet been a man in our history who
led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

— Romans 8:28

Have you ever looked back on a difficult time in your life and been amazed at how, in an entirely unforeseen way, it turned out positively? As we go through life, God operates behind the scenes, working everything for good on behalf of those who love Him. We may not recognize it in this lifetime, but when we get to Heaven and God replays the pictures of our lives, we’ll discover the positive end to each trial we’ve endured.

I hope you’ll claim this truth today. I hope you know God has everything under His control, even the chaotic times in your life. He has a plan for everything you undergo. You may face an avalanche of trial, trouble, and tribulation. Maybe you face it even today. Anyone in that situation would feel discouraged. I have often found myself in the deep, dark pit of despair and discouragement, wondering how I’d ever get out. But in those times God encourages me by reminding me of His promise: He works everything for good. We must view everything that comes our way, even the most difficult situations, through the filter of God’s love.

I invite you to do that today, whatever trial you face. Remember that God has a perspective on your problems that you can’t see as a limited human being here on earth. Be encouraged that God can see the big picture and that He’ll put the pieces of your life together to an end far beyond your wildest dreams.

“God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform.”
William Cowper

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

— Psalm 103:1

Think for just a moment of two things. First, when was the last time you asked God to give you something? Got it in mind? Now, when was the last time you praised God just because of Who He is?

So often we get on our knees and pray, “O Lord, bless my soul.” We constantly ask God to touch our lives. In contrast, the psalmist who wrote Psalm 103 got on his knees and said, “O my soul, bless the Lord.” A complete antithesis. Why? Because the psalmist was in the “graduate school” of prayer. He had risen to that elevated atmosphere of praise and adoration. As we read the rest of the Psalms we find everywhere the same note of praise: “Praise the Lord.” “Give thanks unto the Lord for He is good.”

Do your prayers begin in a similar fashion?

Such an element of praise and adoration, I believe, can change our lives completely. How? First, it will make a difference because we will become much more pleasing to our Father . . . and that will be the beginning of some wonderful things. Second, we should ring the bells of praise not only for God’s sake but also for the sake of others. Praise draws people to God, even as ringing church bells filter over the community and draw people to hear the Gospel. We need to become a steeple set with bells. We need to ring out the happy bells of thanksgiving, the golden bells of praise, until the whole world abounds with the echoes of that sound.

What praise can you “ring” to God today? Unbelievers yearn for real joy and praise, and when we express gratitude and praise to God, those unbelievers will be drawn to Christ. So today ring the bells of praise.

“If Christians praised God more,
the world would doubt Him less.”
Charles Jefferson