Since the middle of December, I have prayed and asked God to send a personal revival into my life. Although I had rededicated my life to the Lord Jesus Christ in 2006, I felt that I had reached a point in my spiritual walk where I only had two choices: spiritual growth or spiritual stagnation. Although I did accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior in 1988, I had become spiritually stagnant. There was no spiritual growth and at times, I had little to no excitement about the things of God. Having been there once already in my life, I have no wish to turn back to that way of life.
This morning, I read a familiar passage of scripture: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (Revelation 3:14-18). Now while I realize that it is talking about a particular church/stage of church growth, there is also an application that can be made to the individual believer. This particular teaching within the book of Revelation was not a new idea recorded by John but is a continuation of the teachings from the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry: No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13). The lukewarm church – and the lukewarm Christian – while still proclaiming love for Christ is also trying to appease the earthly desires of the flesh.
In December, I began praying for that personal revival, asking God to not only strengthen my walk with Him, but to allow me to become more passionate about my faith. I knew that I didn’t (and still don’t) want to become a lukewarm Christian; I never want to reach a point in my life where I am comfortable about who I am spiritually without any real wish to see further spiritual maturity. I’d much rather hear the Lord describe me as He did David, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will (Acts 13:22) than to have Him say So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth (Revelation 3:16). As I continued my personal Bible reading, I found great comfort in three verses I’ve probably read a few hundred times, When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek (Psalms 27:8), Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified (Psalms 40:16) and O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him (Psalms 34:8). It’s not because I just discovered them for the first time – it is because I had come to the point that I was ready to listen to what the Lord, through His word, was trying to tell me.
