The cry for revival in families, churches, cities and nation is widespread and reflects both an awareness that we have turned from God as well as a desire that His sovereign intervention is desperately needed to redeem all that is broken. The Lord has continued to impress on me a sobering premise that shouts “Revival is not coming!”. Why?
Among the many times Israel wandered from God, Isaiah 59:1,2 declares:
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. [1]
How do we define revival? Is it different than something like the Great Awakenings or like rainfall is different than a typhoon? Is it deeper than that and, maybe most importantly, what do we really desire? More people attending church? Individual professions of faith and baptisms? Reverse social decay and chaos? Make America great again? All the above?
Regarding the above passage in Isaiah, my deep concern is that because so much of The Church is deaf and/or silent to the evil permeating every fiber of our culture, all institutions, even the homes of our families, the Lord “does not hear” the prayers for revival. One glaring example follows.
The City of Houston has successively elected four mayors spanning twenty-five years who have openly embraced “reproductive rights”/unlimited abortion and government-sponsored advocacy of what is now the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer +” agenda using city buildings, personnel, resources, First Responders and more. Since “We the People” speak our values through elections it is clear that these actions rejecting the God of the Bible reflect the hearts of the majority of Houston citizens eligible to vote.
We can play church all day, revel in our programs, rejoice in the bodies entering our buildings, and more, yet our rebellion and disobedience to the clear directives of the Holy Scriptures fly in the face of His call to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”. In fact, based on recent polls it seems evident that we are preparing to choose a new Mayor for Houston who is one hundred percent behind Planned Parenthood and one hundred percent behind the anti-God, anti-family, and anti-freedom LGBTQ+ extreme agenda.
The two frontrunners, Senator John Whitmire and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee both have ONE HUNDRED PERCENT ratings by Planned Parenthood and the LGBTQ+ Human Rights Campaign.
Where are the thousands of credible, qualified, godly men of the city who love God, love people, love justice, love freedom, love decency, love life, love their families? Not running for mayor. Thankfully, we do have some excellent candidates running for City Council and we will address that in a subsequent edition.
Why are we content with the truly, legitimately, “lesser of the evils”? The truth is we don’t know if we will even get that – and WILL NOT unless God’s shepherds in the city, His generals, lead vocally and visibly from the pulpits “aflame with righteousness” to turn the hearts of the people back to Him. We can’t stop the explosion of crime if we bow to the culture of death and perversion.
Battle time, Houston’s shepherds! It’s not politics, it’s ministry!
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Is 59:1–2.
