2 Chronicles 7:14
Within each of us is a longing for more, a season of new spiritual refreshing, and a personal revival if you will. God has given His own recipe for revival.
I. GOD’S DESIRE (“If My people…then…”)
God longs to send a spirit of revival to his people. He is "not willing that any should perish….” 2 Peter 3:9. But, He will not overrule our wills. Consequently, there is a very real sense in that while revival is always the sovereign work of Almighty God, it is also conditional.
II. GOD’S DESIGN (“If MY people…”)
Revival is conditional upon God’s own people. The problem today is not with the lost, the decay of our culture or the decline of our marketplace. God reveals the real problem is with His own people – with us. History reveals that many great awakenings begin with one man or one woman who becomes desperate for what David called “fresh oil.”
III. GOD’S DEMAND (“…humble themselves, pray, seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways…”)
To humble ourselves is to recognize and confess our need for “much more.” True humility avoids pride and self-centeredness. It involves a broken spirit before the Lord. Likewise every true revival in history has been born and cradled in the place of prayer. If we would seek God’s face as much as we seek His hand, we would be on the way to revival. And it is not enough to simply be sorry for our sins; we must also “forsake” them.
IV. GOD’S DELIGHT (“…I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”)
God delights that we would appropriate all that the cross entails, so his death would not be in vain. He delights in healing our hearts and homes more than we do.