Charles

Finney, American revivalist who lived 1792-1875, went to

great lengths to discount the idea of God's sovereignty

as being the sole source of revivals. He contended that

Christian believers had a great deal to do with God

blowing the winds of revival over a church and/or over an

entire community.

The

argument of some is that revival is a sovereign act of

Almighty God. And since revival is a sovereign act of

God, there's nothing that you and I can do to facilitate

revival. Consequently, all the rest of us can do is to

look longingly to the Brownsville Assembly of God Church

in Pensacola where revival hit in June 1995 and has been

thriving ever since. The sovereignty argument says God

can be a capricious God and even if Christian folks have

prepared to the max for revival, they can just forget it

unless God's choice aligns with their desires. Finney, a

Godly man, fought that kind of concept.

Yet, I must

read Scripture as Finney. In recent weeks, I have come

back again and again to the classic Bible verse on

revival, 2 Chronicles 7:14. Let me unfold it to you.

"If my

people, who are called by my name, shall humble

themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their

wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their

sin, and heal their land." Now, would you agree with

me that the land between the great oceans needs healing?

The recent school murders represent only the tip of the

sinful stuff going on in America. If I have to make a

case for healing in America to you, then you are from

some other planet.

In 2

Chronicles 7:14 God promises that he will hear our

prayers- those we feel don't make it above the

ceiling, that he will forgive our sin, and that he will

heal our land. But God is no dummy. He's not willing to

do all that if it doesn't mean anything to us. That's why

he says, if! If my people will humble themselves. What it

would be for one person to humble himself may not be the

same for another person. For one person, humbling himself

may mean raising hands in worship. For another, it may be

to go forward and kneel at the altar. For another, it may

mean to ask forgiveness of another. To be sure, humbling

is part one of the formula for the healing of America.

The second

step is praying. The average Christian spends a total of

four minutes in prayer every day. That includes mealtime

prayers, crisis prayers, and even Sunday prayers. We must

overcome the reality that we are not a praying culture.

In India, China, Japan, and Argentina where revivals are

breaking out, believers start at an hour a day in prayer.

But the kicker is that one of the most prayerless places

is the church. Jesus said, "My House shall be a

House of Prayer." Not so in most churches!

The third

step is seeking the face of God. It sounds like worship

to me. Seeking the face of God is critical for the fourth

and final step in revival preparation. We must look

intently into the holiness of God in order to observe

what's unholy in our own lives. We don't know what sin is

until we know what holiness is. Amen!

Of course,

the fourth step toward revival preparation calls us to

turn away from our sins-our wicked ways. I am

convinced that the one thing the church has more on hand

than anything else is unconfessed sin. Secret sins.

Habitual sins. Casual sins. No matter what label, they

are wicked- even the sin of prayerlessness. So, God

gives us a formula that any church in any part of the

great land can follow. God's refreshing is not restricted

to a few. Only a few, to date, have wanted to pay the

price, however. To date, mind you!

The Rev. Dr. John

Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in

Fayetteville. /

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