A Heart for Revival is a 21-day prayer guide designed to quicken your spirit and focus your heart regarding personal and community revival.
(I’ll be sharing devotions from it each Tuesday for the next several months — though, if you’d rather enjoy them in a daily format, the eBook or PDF versions are available here for download.)
To the church at Ephesus Paul penned,
“Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13 NASB).
Do you remember what it was like to be without God and to have no hope? What was it that you used to inject expectation into your life? Remember its vanity when it failed to really live up to its hype; or the enduring emptiness of its action? Maybe you even dabbled in a religion outside of Christ trying to fill the personal void within.
Well-known writer, director, and actor Woody Allen gives his view on hopelessness through his satirical glasses to fill that void,
“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness; the other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”
What a choice for one to make: utter hopelessness or total extinction. Yet, there are many who feel just that way.
Of course, Allen invokes a prayer without the true answer found only in Christ Jesus—the One who is our hope as the Apostle Paul wrote,
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1 ESV).
Christ Jesus our hope!
“To say that Christ is our hope may seem strange to you, as it is not found often in Scripture. Actually, the only other time you will find it is in Colossians 1:27: ‘… Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ The Lord Jesus died to save you. He lives to keep you saved. He is going to come someday to take you to be with Himself and to consummate that salvation. He is our faith when we look backwards; He is love when we look around us today; and He is our hope as we look ahead. But it is hope, actually, all the way through our lives, and that hope is anchored in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ” (McGee).
Prayer Focus
Pray specifically for those who feel they are without hope this week: the one who just learned she is pregnant and is considering abortion; the addicted who hates their life; the rich who are alone with their money; or the “good” man and woman who still can’t find meaning for their life. Pray Psalm 78:7 over them, “That they might set their hope in God….”
