On July 9, I started this series as a call for others to join me in praying for an extraordinary work of God.

In the last three posts on this subject (July 26, August 6, and August 22), I identified three characteristics that were present during the season of revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10. The public proclamation of God’s Word preceded His work. A sense of overwhelming grief over of their sin prepared the people for life change. And the invitation to worship God by recounting His faithfulness in the past led the people toward the resolve to life differently.

Ultimately, however, this and other great works of God are entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit. So I close this series with a prayer and I plead with you to continue praying with me for God’s extraordinary movement in our lives and churches.

God, in the Name of Your Son Jesus and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, breathe afresh in our hearts…

Send men to Your churches.

• Men who love Your bride, the church…
• Men who want to serve her…
• Men who won’t beat her with words…
• Men who won’t abandon her when she looks ugly…
• Men who embrace her as an instrument for Your glory in the world…
• Men who hold firmly to Your word…
• Men who love Your word…
• Men who feed on Your word…
• Men who know Your word better than they know sports…
• Men who trust Your word more than creativity…
• Men who study Your word more than they watch television…
• Men who will quote Your word more than movies…
• Men who labor at preaching and teaching…
• Men who preach Your word with humility and courage…
• Men who obey Your word with zeal…
• Men who won’t listen to the applause of the crowd…
• Men who hate their lives enough to lose them…
• Men who will lead us to rebirth and renewal…

Show me the depth of my sin.

• Show me how much I love myself…
• Show me when I mistake the freedom of Your boundaries for captivity…
• Show me when I trust my intuition more than Your word…
• Show me how I crave earthly pleasure…
• Show me when my pursuit of You is marked by laziness…
• Show me how I fear the future…
• Show me when I measure security in terms of money in the bank…
• Show me how badly I yearn for worldly recognition…
• Show me the depth of my rebellion…

Remind us of Your faithfulness…

• Remind us of how You rescued us from sin…
• Remind us of how You healed our wounded hearts…
• Remind us of how You pursued us while we fled from You…
• Remind us of how You died for us before we loved You…
• Remind us of how You freed us from the bondage of sin…
• Remind us of how You delivered us from our slavery to sin…
• Remind us of how You protected us from ourselves…
• Remind us of how You have sustained us from day-to-day…
• Remind us that without You we have no hope…

God, change our lives for the sake of Your Name, Amen.

On July 9, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God.”

and

“Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.”

I return to this subject today to highlight a final characteristic present during the season of extraordinary revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10.

God’s movement included an invitation to worship God by recounting His faithfulness in the past.

Again, you might recall that the Israelites gathered to hear God’s Word read and they responded by confessing their sin. A group of men stood and led the people to worship God.

They called the people to worship Him by recounting His faithfulness to the Israelite nation throughout previous generations. In fact, Nehemiah 9:5-37 records their act of remembering God’s work from creation to their present day.

One reason so many individuals and churches fail to see God’s power manifested in His extraordinary movement stems from our terrible memory. Many people are too ignorant biblically to know what God did in the past. Others are so preoccupied with what God can do for them today to care about what He did in the past. Still others are too busy to remember God’s faithfulness in even their own lives last week.

Our short memories hinder our worship God. And our dispassionate worship hinders our ability to experience the extraordinary work of God. We will value God supremely (or worship Him) when we consider more fully the breadth and depth of His work in our lives and throughout history.

Until we understand and embrace God’s extraordinary work in the past to the degree that it elicits worship, we are not likely to see His extraordinary work in the present.

God, we ask you to lead us to worship you by reminding us of your faithfulness in the past. We pray that you would draw us to read your Word and to glean a greater understanding of your faithfulness. We ask you to give us the discipline to record even the smallest incidents of your faithfulness in our lives so that we can praise you for each of them in the future.

On July 9, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God.”

and

“Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.”

I return to this subject today to highlight another characteristic present during the season of extraordinary revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10.

The people were moved by overwhelming grief over of their sin.

Twice in a little more than 3 weeks, the crowd gathered, listened to the reading of the Law, and responded with weeping and mourning because of their sin. On the first day of this extraordinary movement, Nehemiah interrupts their weeping to call them to celebrate a great festival. Yet the contrast of their disobedience and God’s holiness had immediately moved them to extreme sorrow and repentance.

On the 24^th day of the month, the people gathered again, heard from God’s Word, and once again began to weep, mourn, and confess their sin. Again, the contrast of their sin and God’s perfection overwhelmed them.

In an age when sin is commonly referred to as a “shortcoming” or a “mistake,” their reaction seems strangely foreign. Perhaps the reason we fail to see an extraordinary movement of God is our ordinary view of sin.

God, we ask You to penetrate our hearts with the gravity and severity of our sin. And we plead for You to give us an accurate view of our sin that will usher in an extraordinary renewal and rebirth.

On July 9, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God.”

and

“Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.”

I return to this subject today to highlight one characteristic present during the season of extraordinary revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10.

The public proclamation of God’s Word preceded the season of renewal among the Israelites. As the 50,000 or so people gathered in the city square, a team of men preached from the Book of the Law.

Ezra the priest, with the help of thirteen men from Israel, read from the scrolls containing the first five books of our Old Testament from “daybreak to noon,” and the people stood to listen. Helping them as they read, thirteen other men were scattered throughout the crowd translating these words and explaining them to the people.

This act of reading the Scripture and explaining it to the people is the definition of preaching. More specifically, the twenty-seven member team read God’s Word, made it clear, and gave the meaning so the people could understand and obey it (Nehemiah 8:8). Little wonder God moved. He was exalted as His Word was proclaimed.

To their own detriment, however, many churches have jettisoned biblical preaching in favor of talks on contemporary issues. We should not be surprised that so many churches fail to see God’s extraordinary work. When man’s ingenuity is exalted, we cannot expect to see God’s power.

God, we ask You to lead men all over the world today to take up Your Word, read it, explain it, and apply it to the lives of their listeners. And we plead for to bring a season of extraordinary renewal and rebirth through the faithful preaching of Your Word.

The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God. During these exceptional times of ‘revival’ (as they have been commonly called), God’s people were moved to radical, life-changing faith.

Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.

The details of this ‘revival’ are recorded in Nehemiah chapters 8-10. Approximately 140 years after Jerusalem was destroyed and nearly every Israelite had been exiled, tens of thousands had returned.

The temple and the walls of the city had been rebuilt, but this generation of Israelites had never experienced fellowship with God the way theirs ancestors had. They had not read from the Scripture or sacrificed in the temple or celebrated a commemorative feast. In returning to this once great city, God was calling them to return to Him.

The people – most likely 50,000 or so – gathered in the city to hear God’s Word read and explained in early October 445 BC. Upon hearing the Law read for hours, the people respond with repentance and worship. They weep and mourn because of their sin, but Nehemiah encourages them to celebrate.

During the next 3-plus weeks, the people celebrate a long-ignored feast, assemble regularly to hear God’s Word, fast, mourn, and confess their sin. Finally, led by a group of men, they renew their commitment to God and His Word.

This season of revival is important for understanding the history of the Hebrew nation and God’s relationship with them. Moreover, studying these events can also be valuable for understanding God’s extraordinary blessings of revival.

Please take time to follow these posts during the next several weeks and join me in praying for an extraordinary work of God.