True Revival

I don’t know about you but generally when I am doing school I don’t learn/get spiritual applications from it. So I was amazed that I actually learned something spiritual in British Literature this morning! Now I confess, while I LOVE reading, English in general is not my favorite subject (I prefer the sciences), so while I was reading literature, I wasn’t exactly too excited about it, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

I am reading excerpts from John Wesley's journal and the first heading was "True Revival". Honestly, to start I didn’t really think about the topic, but the more I read the more it reminded me of situations in life today.
Wesley tells the story of a town in southern England that was notorious for its wickedness. Everything there was filled with drunkenness, blasphemy, and uncleanness, kind of like a modern day Las Vegas. Many people said that even an act of God couldn’t improve the conditions.
Wesley, of course did not believe this and set up revival meetings in this town. The town experienced HUGE revival, almost immediately atmosphere of the town completely changed. People began caring for another, they even gathered together to build a house for the orphans and widows. Wesley wrote that he attributed it God and the belief that revival was possible.

Sometimes I personally have a problem believing that the kind of revival described in Wesley’s journal is possible. The thought of Las Vegas becoming a place of revival, to the point that everyone started going to church, taking care of one another, and basically started living a Christian life is almost humorous. But as I was reading, I realized that maybe sometimes the reason we don’t have revival is because we Christians don’t think it’s possible. It’s almost as though we don’t believe that God is powerful enough to revive the unsaved people of the world. Maybe if we were to truly believe that it is possible and probable for revival to happen, it would!
This can even apply sometimes in our (at least my) prayer life. I may pray for something over and over again but I have to ask myself, do I really think that God will answer it? But then again if I don’t have faith that God will answer my prayer or give us revival, why should He do it? In I Peter 1:21 it says “that your faith and hope might be in God.” If our faith and hope for revival in anything isn’t in God, then why do we even bother asking?

I hope ya’ll are learning lots, even in school! ;)
Love in Christ,
Kristin Hanson