Ephesians 3 - The Revelation of the Mystery

Last time in Ephesians, we saw how the Gentiles were aliens (foreigners) from the nation of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, hopeless, and without God. However, they have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Jesus is our peace: He has broken down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, and has made a new man out of the two. He has abolished the sentence of the Law over us by His work on the cross. We all have access to God by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Gentiles are now part of the nation of Israel and part of the family of God. Jesus is our cornerstone, and we as living stones, are being fitted together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Picking up in chapter 3, Paul states that it was for this reason that he, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Remember, Paul was in prison at this point for sharing the Gospel, in particular sharing it with the Gentiles. When he was in the temple at Jerusalem, the Jews from Asia saw him, and cried out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” Paul hadn’t taken a Gentile into the temple, but they presumed he did. He went through a series of trials in which he appealed to Caesar, and, at the time of writing this letter, was on house arrest in Rome. However, Paul viewed himself as being a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I think this is interesting, for Paul was recognizing he was in this place due to the sovereignty of God. He was in prison, but he did it as unto Jesus Christ.

He refers to the dispensation of the grace of God that was given to him for the Ephesian Gentiles. The word dispensation refers to an administration or stewardship. In other words, Paul was being entrusted with not only sharing the Gospel with them, but seeing that they were adequately discipled. This word is also used in referring to specific times in history in which God dealt with people in a certain way. In chapter 1, Paul stated that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, God gathered together in one all things in Christ. In the OT, God dealt primarily with the Jewish people through the Law, but in the Church age, it is both Jew and Gentile by grace through faith.

Paul states that he received a revelation of the mystery: When we think of a mystery today, we think of something that is difficult to figure out or solve, but here it means something that was hidden and now been revealed by God. This idea that God would bring Jew and Gentile together into one new man and give the Gentiles the same promises of eternal life and spiritual blessings had been hidden, but now was being declared through Paul and even Peter. Paul didn’t make this up, for he was paying a high price for what he was preaching. He was writing to them so that they would understand this mystery that had been revealed by the Spirit to the holy apostles and prophets. Gentiles are now fellow-heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel.

Paul had become a minister according to the gift of the grace of God by the effective working of His power. The gifts and callings of God are an act of His grace, and they are given by the Spirit. It is to be done in humility: the word for minister is a title of service, and he goes on to state that he is less than the least of all saints. Paul never forgot what the Lord had saved him from, and in fact, he seemed to have a deeper understanding of this as time went on. This grace was given to Paul, the once persecutor of the Church, so that he could preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. The riches of God cannot be comprehended.

It was also given to him that all would see the dispensation of the mystery which was hid in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. The mystery has been declared, and it is to all who will receive it. It was hidden in God meaning that God kept it under wraps until just the right time. Paul affirms here, as do the other New Testament writers, that Jesus created all things. The effect of all seeing the mystery of the Gospel revealed is that the vastness of God’s wisdom would be made known by the Church to the angelic beings. Peter tells us that when it comes to matters of the Church and the Gospel, the angels desire to look into these things. Apparently, God hasn’t revealed all these things even to the angels, but He has demonstrated His wisdom through the Church to them. This was according to God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus; He had it planned this way all along.

We have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Boldness is freedom in speaking without fear and with a cheerful courage. The Jews didn’t have access to God, but through the high priest once a year who would enter into the holy of holies to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil to the Holy of Holies was ripped in two, top to bottom, meaning the access to God is open to everyone through Christ. This access, again, is with confidence (trust), we can enter His presence with a total absence of fear because of Jesus’ work on the cross. The author of Hebrews writes, “for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:15-16)

Paul asked them to not lose heart over his tribulations for them (his imprisonment for preaching the Gospel), for it was their glory. Remember, when Paul was speaking to the Jews about his own testimony, when he told them the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, they couldn’t stand it any longer, and started a riot, calling for his death. Paul figured his imprisonment was worth it if the Gentiles were able to hear the Gospel. Our sufferings for doing what is right is to God’s glory, and is often times to others’ glory as well.

We see another example of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. He bowed his knees to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a model we see in the Scriptures: we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. The whole family in Heaven and on Earth bears His name. If we stop and think about this, that’s quite remarkable yet sobering. He has placed His name on us because of His love for us, and that we are His adopted children by faith. The question is, do we act like we have taken Jesus’ name? The third Commandment states, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” (Exo 20:7) This is more than using God’s name as a curse word or to show disgust. It’s taking the name of Jesus, but not acting like it. I’m a Christian, but we act like the world. That’s taking God’s name in vain.

Paul prayed three things: that the Father would grant them, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. We can be strong outwardly, but weak inwardly (in our spirit). Peter was thought to be a big burly guy physically, but when confronted by the servant girl when Jesus was on trial, he denied he knew Him. How do we become strong spiritually? Well, the first thing we see here is through prayer. Paul was praying for the Ephesian believers, and Jesus told Peter in the garden, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mar 14:37-38) Peter didn’t set out to deny Jesus, but he caved under the pressure. Battling through prayer is a key ingredient to becoming stronger spiritually, especially when it comes to saying no to temptation. As we spend time in prayer, the Holy Spirit strengthens us with His might in our inner man. It’s not that prayer is some magic formula to make all our troubles disappear, but the times in my life when I spent a significant time in prayer and fasting, I saw my faith in the Lord and in His word grow dramatically. And that’s the other main ingredient for being spiritually strong is regularly studying the Word, hiding it in our hearts, and doing what it says. The Holy Spirit and the Word work in tandem, you cannot have one without the other. So often we see groups of believers gravitate to one or the other; however, to truly have the Spirit is to have the Word, and to truly understand the Word we must have the Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit uses prayer and the Word to strengthen us with might in our inner man.

The second thing Paul prayed for was that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith. Jesus told His disciples, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14:16-17) And in V 23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” So, as we can see, both the Father and the Son dwell in us through the person of the Holy Spirit. We have the triune God of the universe living inside of us, and when we lose sight of this, we become weak and fearful. However, the Scriptures say “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Third, Paul prayed that they would be rooted and grounded in love. John wrote in his first epistle, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 Jn 4:17-19) This rooting and grounding is in God’s love for us. We love Him because He loved us first. We are secure in Christ’s love, and have no need to fear His judgment. Instead, we can be bold or confident on that day because our sins have been washed away.

This love appears to have four dimensions, breadth, length, depth and height. This love is so great that it passes knowledge. Mathew Henry stated the following: “Some describe the particulars thus: By the breadth of it we may understand the extent of it to all ages, nations, and ranks of men; by the length of it, its continuance from everlasting to everlasting; by the depth of it, its stooping to the lowest condition, with a design to relieve and save those who have sunk into the depths of sin and misery; by its height, its entitling and raising us up to the heavenly happiness and glory. We should desire to comprehend this love: it is the character of all the saints that they do so; for they all have a complacency and a confidence in the love of Christ: And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.” The word “to know” is to know by experience. Paul was praying that they would experience God’s love even though it surpasses knowledge.

The word love is thrown around quite loosely today, so it’s important to remember how the Bible defines love. We looked at Divine love in chapter 1, and here I would like to take a look at 1 Corinthians 13 to better give us some examples of what it looks like. It states:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” This is the type of love the Lord loves us with, and this is what He empowers us to love others with.

Lastly, Paul ends with a praise: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” God can do the unfathomable, things that can just blow our socks off. This is according to the power that works in us (the Holy Spirit), so the context here is what the Lord does through us as the Church (to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations). This is a fitting ending to the first half of the book of Ephesians. Again, we have been learning about all we have in Christ Jesus, and in the remainder of the book Paul will transition into how we should act as believers in light of all God has done for us in Christ.    

What Must We Do for Revival?

When we take a look at what is going on today in the world, in our country, and even in the Church, we do not have to look far to see that we are in a sad state. Sexual immorality, violent crimes, and almost every evil imaginable are being promoted as good. Our governments are out of control and seem bent on taking away our freedoms that have been fought so hard for. Although the Lord may bring national judgment upon the United States, this is not His will for us. As a good heavenly Father, He would much rather see us turn around before He has to step in with that type of correction. The question to ask then is, how do we change course and get our nation back on track to serving the Lord, and restore the freedoms we have been so blessed with? As with all important questions in life, the answer is found in the Scriptures.

After Solomon had dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, the Lord appeared to him in a dream. He told Solomon that if His people had turned away from Him, and as a result were experiencing national discipline, the Lord would offer them a means of escape. He said to Solomon, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14) Let’s go ahead and examine this passage a bit closer.

The Lord says “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people.” This very passage is proof that the Lord does use events such as drought, pest infestation, and sickness and disease as a means of discipline for a nation that is going astray. I think it is interesting that people today attribute strange weather to Global Warming or Mother Nature, but the Scriptures are full of examples of the Lord using weather and other natural disasters to accomplish His will. In the days of King David, there was a famine in the land because of King Saul. Saul had killed the Gibeonites whom the children of Israel had made a peace treaty with in the days of Joshua. Proper justice had not been executed, and the Lord brought the famine on the land for three years until the house of Saul had been properly dealt with (2 Samuel 21:1-21). For the wicked king Ahab and his wife Jezebel, the Lord withheld rain for three and a half years from the land of Israel for their leading the entire nation into idolatry in the worship of Baal (1Kings 18). In early Plymouth, a drought lasting from the third week of May through mid-July, threatened to wipe out the pilgrims’ corn crops. This caused them to declare a whole day of prayer and fasting in which they humbled themselves before God and asked forgiveness for their sins. The Lord answered their prayers. According to Governor Bradford, “All the morning, and the greatest part of the day, it was clear weather and very hot, and not a cloud or any sign of rain to be seen; yet toward evening it began to overcast, and shortly after to rain with such sweet and gentle showers as gave them cause of rejoicing and blessing God. It came without either wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith. Which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed corn and other fruits, as was wonderful to see, and made the Indians astonished to behold.”

While we cannot attribute every natural disaster or trial in life to the Lord’s discipline, we can see that the Lord does use these things at times to get our attention. To explain all them away to climate change, Mother Nature, or coincidence is an indication of the hardness of our own hearts to spiritual things. Unfortunately, our human nature is far too prone to straying into sin, and it is through these types of things the Lord uses to awaken us out of our slumber. We get so wrapped up in what we are doing, and we need to be sobered up a bit. These things may be a warning signal that we are going astray, and that we are about to head into certain peril if we do not change course. The good news is that the Lord’s discipline is always remedial or corrective in nature. His goal is to provide temporary pain on a smaller scale in order to avoid far more serious consequences in the future. Much like the child who insists on playing in the street, his loving parents will discipline him to prevent him from becoming seriously injured or worse. It is in these times of trials that, if we are wise, we will cry out to the Lord and ask Him to search our hearts. The Lord then lays out the conditions for which he would bring revival to His people (if we do, then He will respond).

First, the Lord says “if my people, which are called by my name.” Who are the Lord’s people? They are not those liberal politicians, university professors, those in Hollywood, or the drug dealer on the street. Those individuals do need to repent, but that is not who the Lord is referring to in this passage. In Solomon’s day it was the Children of Israel, in our day it is the Church (both Jew and Gentile). The apostle Paul stated in Romans 11 that the Church, as the wild branches, have been grafted into the olive tree. They are those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins. It is not enough just to believe in God, for even the demons believe in God and tremble (James 2:19). We must believe on Him.  This means to put our complete reliance and trust in Him and what He did by shedding His blood on the cross for our sins. If you are reading this today, and you have not chosen to place your faith in the Lord Jesus, you have no basis for which to call yourself a Christian, nor can you expect to benefit from the promises and blessings found in His Word. The Scriptures say, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), and “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Choose this day to place your faith in the Lord Jesus and receive eternal life. So, we can see then that those who are truly born again are the Lord’s people and are called by His name. The Lord addresses His people first, because judgment must first start at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

Second, the Lord says we need to humble ourselves. The Lord says a lot about pride in the Scriptures. Consider the following passages: “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2), “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18), and “…for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1Peter 5:5). First, pride can keep us from salvation. If we cannot admit we are wrong, and have sinned against God, then we will not see our need for a Savior. Perhaps maybe we can admit we are wrong, but we are too proud to profess faith in Jesus Christ for fear of what others may think. Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33) We need to confess Jesus as Lord, and we need to confess Him before others.

Pride can be a problem for the believer as well. Pride says the principles found in the Scriptures do not apply to me. We often make exceptions for ourselves, while holding others to a higher standard. Pride says I’m a good person, and keeps me from receiving correction when it is based upon Biblical truth. If you or I am proud we will have difficulty admitting when we are wrong, and the message of correction will be offensive to us. Most importantly, it will keep us from receiving the Lord’s correction, and thereby will stunt our spiritual growth. None of us enjoy being corrected, but it is a necessary part of life and of the Christian walk. Proverbs says, “Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.” (Proverbs15:10) We all have pride to one degree or another, but a good measure of how much pride we have is how offended we become once we receive Biblical correction. If we want to see revival, we need to humble ourselves before a great and mighty God, and remember that He is the potter who wants to shape us as the clay into His image. Humbling ourselves is the first action required, because pride will prevent us from doing the rest. We must be humble in order to take the next steps.

Third, the Lord says His people need to pray and seek His face. One of the major trends we see in Church today is that it is common to emphasize worship over prayer. However, that is not the way it is emphasized in the Scriptures. This is not to diminish worship in any way, for worship is an important part of the Christian life. While prayer certainly includes worship, it is much more than that. This can be an easy trap to fall into, for prayer is probably one of the most difficult of the Christian disciplines. It’s much easier to sing worship songs and have a feel-good experience, but prayer takes work and perseverance. Paul instructed Timothy, “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” (1Timothy 2:8) He told the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Prayer is how we seek the Lord and communicate with Him. As we prayerfully read the Word, the Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures to us. It is how we praise Him, and how we request things from the Lord in times of need. It is how we receive forgiveness as we confess our sins unto Him.

Perhaps one of the most challenging things about prayer is that we do not know how to pray. This was even a struggle for the disciples, for they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus responded to them with what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer. “And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” (Luke 11:2-4) Now Jesus was not saying they had to pray this exact prayer every time, but He was laying out a pattern or model for them to follow. We pray to the Father through the Son Jesus Christ. We see praise (hallowed be Thy name), supplication (give us this day our daily bread), and asking forgiveness of sins. Again, this is a basic model to follow, and as we step out in prayer the Lord will lead us. I often wonder how Roe vs. Wade would have turned out differently over 50 years ago if the Church at large had been praying. How would the Supreme Court have ruled on same-sex marriage if the Church at large had been praying and fasting? The Scriptures say that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). If we want to see revival in our lives and in our nation, we need to be men and women of prayer.

As I previously stated, prayer is how we speak to the Lord and seek His face, and the Scriptures, in tandem with the Holy Spirit, are the primary means by which He speaks back to us. If we neglect to read the Word, we are missing out on what the Lord wants to communicate to us. Joshua charged the children of Israel, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8) Paul told Timothy, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2Timothy 2:15) Every revival we have seen throughout history has always been characterized by a renewed hunger for the Word of God. We can see examples of this in the Word as well: In times of revival in ancient Israel, they returned to reading the Law (Nehemiah 8), and in the Church the Apostles devoted themselves to the Word of God and prayer (Acts 6:2-4). It is over time that people begin to question the accuracy and authority of the Scriptures, and liberal theology begins to take over. You can see this in our own country. Most of the liberal churches today were once solid Bible preaching churches who gave into the pressure to become culturally relevant. As they have done so, they have lost their witness, and have become just another social organization. Paul also told Timothy, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) If we want to see revival in our nation, we need to return to the literal interpretation of the Scriptures, and not cave into the pressure to be politically correct. We need to stop picking and choosing which passages we accept and which ones we do not, and take the whole counsel of God’s Word as valid for us today, regardless of what others are saying around us. This does not mean we will agree on every point of doctrine, but that we should agree on the fundamentals that are plainly taught in the Scriptures.

Lastly, the Lord says we need to turn from our wicked ways. Now when you start talking to Christians about turning from their wicked ways, this is often when you begin stepping on people’s toes. It is so easy to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others, rather than measuring our own lives up with the Word of God. James says that the Word of God is like a mirror (James 1:22-24). God’s Word gives us an accurate reflection of how our lives are measuring up to His standard. If we were to just look at the Ten Commandments, this is enough to show us how unworthy we truly are. If we have told a lie, we have born false witness. If we have used God’s name as a curse word, we are guilty of blasphemy. If we have hated a brother or sister, Jesus states that we are guilty of murder. If we have lusted in our hearts, Jesus says we are guilty of adultery. These are only four of the Ten Commandments, but James says if we have broken the Law in one point, we are guilty of all (James 2:10).

Lest we think we are somehow not guilty, Paul says in Romans, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10) John wrote in his first epistle, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1John 1:8) There is not one of us, believer or nonbeliever that can say we are without sin. As believers we are a new creation in Christ and are no longer under the sentence of the Law; however, we still have to deal with the sin nature. There is a sanctification process that takes place in our lives that does not stop until we reach Heaven. We should always be like David in asking the Lord to search our hearts (Psalm 139:23-24). As we ask the Lord to search us, He will reveal those things that are unpleasing in His sight. Even when we are actively seeking the Lord, we still have sin in our lives that the Lord wants to deal with.

All those whom the Lord used mightily throughout history had a real sense of unworthiness, and simply had to trust in the grace of God and the righteousness of Christ. When Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord he said, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5) Job, a man whom the Bible refers to as being perfect and upright, said the following after the Lord spoke to Him out of the whirlwind, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6) Jonathan Edwards, a man the Lord used powerfully during the first great awakening in the American colonies stated, "I am nothing, and can do nothing: I desire your prayers that I may be more sensible of it, and that God would grant me his presence and assistance, and again grant me success.” It is when we have come to an end of ourselves and trusting in our own righteousness that the Lord can truly use us for His glory and in His service.

The point in the Lord revealing our sin to us is not to condemn us, but to cleanse us of it and remove it from our lives. The Scriptures say, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13) Also, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9) So then, this is not a bad thing, but a good thing. Oh, the peace we have when we allow the Lord to lift the burden of sin from us and to cleanse us on a continual basis.

There have been times in the past that it seemed as if there would be a revival, but it did not last because the message of repentance was missing. For example, churches filled shortly after 9/11 as people began to seek the Lord, but it quickly faded because the message of repentance was lacking. Repentance is a crucial ingredient in revival, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). If we as the Church want to be effective in seeing souls won for Jesus Christ and becoming true disciples, we must allow the lord to weed out those things in our lives that will be a hindrance to His working. If we want to see revival in our country, we need to get back to calling men and women to repentance, and if we are going to call others to repentance, repentance must start with you and me.

It is then after we have humbled ourselves, prayerfully sought the Lord, and repented from our sins that the Lord says He will respond to us. He says He will hear from Heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land. By humbling ourselves we have placed ourselves in a position to where He can exalt us in due time (1Peter 5:6). If we have sought Him, He will be found of us (1Chronicles 28:9). As I previously stated, if we have confessed our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) It is then that He can remove His chastening hand from upon us, and bring healing to us and our nation. It is when revival takes place in believers that the Holy Spirit can move through them with power to bring conviction of sin to the lost and show them their need for a Savior.

It may seem a daunting task to seek the Lord for a revival for an entire nation, but it should really start with you and me as individuals. Each of us individually need to seek the Lord for revival in our own lives, and as He does bring a personal revival, it will naturally spread to others around us. This would hopefully affect our churches, communities, and eventually happen on a larger scale. This nation has had two great awakenings, as well as other significant revivals. There is no reason why another great awakening is not possible. The Lord has laid out the steps for us to take if we want to see revival happen in our land, and I truly believe He will honor His Word and bring revival if we sincerely seek Him for it. It may not be a quick and easy process, and it may not truly bring America back to greatness again. However, the alternative will be much worse if we do nothing. How much better would it be to have the U.S. fall from its standing in the world because the rapture happens rather than the Church sitting idly by while our society unravels before our eyes? Although we certainly care for our nation, ultimately it is not about the United States, for nations rise and fall. It is really about souls being won for the Kingdom of God, so that they can receive eternal life rather than eternal punishment. Our citizenship is in Heaven where the King of Kings is, and we will eventually rule and reign with Him. So, let’s be about His business until He returns.