God And Revival Are As Close As Your Cry
GOD AND REVIVAL
ARE AS CLOSE AS YOUR CRY
By Rodney W. Francis
“In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul”
(Psalm 138:3, NKJV).
These words can be your testimony. There is no excuse for us being weak and useless, when God has promised time and again that He will answer those who CRY unto Him! God is as far away from you as you make Him. He always hears the genuine heart-cry ~ the cry that comes from a heart that is wholly toward Him.
Many years ago, God issued a challenge to Jeremiah, saying, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know”(Jeremiah 33:3). His challenge is still going out today, and ALL who truly believe know indeed that God does answer those who call, or cry unto Him.
Even fools can cry unto God, and He will answer. Psalm 107:17-21 tells us that when they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, He saves them out of their destructions! . . . Now if fools can cry unto God, and get so great an answer, what excuse have we got before God, if we are not hearing from Him? None whatsoever.
WHEN can we cry unto God? Let’s be honest with ourselves . . . just as soon as we are prepared to ‘mean business’ with Him. The Psalmist said, “In the day when I cried . . .”David heard from God the very day he cried unto Him!
Remember when Daniel had a glorious vision? The voice came to him, “. . . for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12). From the very first day that Daniel began crying unto God, God heard him. So the timing is over to us. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”(James 4:8).
In the light of these Scriptures, let us consider a subject that is very much talked about today ~ REVIVAL. Christians everywhere are talking of a coming revival, and this (of course) is good . . . except for one thing. Every Christian can have a personal revival the very first day in which he or she decides to turn away from all selfish aims and ambitions ~ and cry unto God. Too many Christians are looking to a future day for a personal reviving, when God says in His Word we can have it NOW (in the very day when we cry) ~ if we really want one! Let us not be guilty of putting off until tomorrow what God wants us to have today. If we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness today, then what is to stop us from being filled today? . . . from being “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man”(see Ephesians 3:16-21). These promises of God are for us today, and not for some special future period only. The Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice . . .”(Hebrews 3:7) ~ which takes us right back to our first Scripture, “In the day when I cried out, You answered me . . .”
IF we need reviving we need to get alone with God right NOW, and begin to CRY out to Him to have His way in our life. Let every reader of this message be exhorted to get the reviving we need NOW, so we shall be prepared vessels to be used of God in greater ways in the days to come. I want my life to count for God NOW! What about you? Time is too short to be anything but revived NOW!
There was a time when Peter walked on water (Matthew 14:22-33). Faith in the Word of Jesus enabled him to overcome a natural impossibility. What a reviving that must have been for Peter after all the troublesome times he had in that boat. As long as he walked in obedience to the Word, and “looking to Jesus”, he could not ‘go under for going over.’ But as soon as he got his eyes off Jesus and looked to the circumstances, he became subject unto them and began to sink. He began to lose out on the supernatural ability he had just experienced. The Bible records, “. . . and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him . . .”The moment Peter CRIED to the Lord, HE was there to rescue him; to restore him to that place of dominion and victory over the raging sea. Together they walked back to the boat on top of the water! Peter certainly got “revived” just as soon as he CRIED OUT TO THE LORD. It was an earnest, desperate life or death CRY! Truly Peter could testify to the truth of the words of David, “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.”When the Lord’s people return to prayer and fasting, revival will come ~ and the power of God shall be made manifest.
God still issues the challenge to all men of all nations to CALL UPON HIS NAME: “. . . whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved (delivered)” (Joel 2:32). He desires that we know what He can do for us. The moment we CRY to Him from the depths of our hearts, we shall find that “The Lord was ready to save me”(Isaiah 38:20). We will find that He is right on hand to supply the need of our life.
If you need to be saved ~ right now CRY out to Jesus, and ask Him to save you (Romans 10:8-13). The first move is yours. WHEN YOU CRY TO HIM, HE WILL ANSWER YOU. If you need reviving . . . a healing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a stirring up of the gift of God that is within you . . . whatever your need, GOD WILL SUPPLY ~ in the twinkling of an eye.
If we will do what He has said we must do, then there is absolutely nothing that can stand in the way of our becoming a powerful, burning light for Jesus in the midst of a darkened world. We will know in all reality that, “He Who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”(1 John 4:4). May our eyes be opened to understand God’s will to make us the people He wants us to be ~ NOW! Tomorrow may be too late.
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