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Preparation

 Psalms 85:4-7 – “Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?  Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.”

            The Psalmist asks the question, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Then He follows up with this prayer, “Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.” We are asking the same question, “will you not revive us again?” Will you show us Your mercy?  Many of us are praying for our families and friends to experience true salvation.


            We need divine intervention. We need true revival. Revival is a sovereign move of God. We cannot make it happen, but we can prepare for it. How do we prepare? We need to have a spirit of expectancy. This is faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”


We act on our faith by preparing for revival. Joshua 3:5 we learn how Joshua prepared the children of Israel to enter the Promised land. Verse 5 says, “And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Different translations say “consecrate or dedicate yourselves. “Consecration involves setting oneself apart for a holy purpose. In the Old Testament, this often-included rituals such as washing clothes, abstaining from certain activities, and offering sacrifices. This act of consecration signifies spiritual preparation and purification, emphasizing the need for holiness when approaching God.”[i] To sanctify ourselves means to separate from the things that defile us. Lori Wilke defines sanctification in her book, The Costly Anointing as “to be clean, dedicated, and holy.”[ii] Ronald Mehl writes, “The people were asked to divorce themselves from anything that was unclean and to devote themselves wholly to the Lord.”[iii]


God is calling us to separate ourselves from anything that hinders us, anything that keeps us from fulfilling the call of God in our lives, and anything that holds us in bondage. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”


John the Baptist ministry was to prepare the way of the Lord. How do we prepare? We remove distractions and we make our devotional life a priority.



[i] [i] https://biblehub.com/study/joshua/3-5.htm

[ii] Wilke, Lori, The Costly Anointing, Destiny House Publishers, Shippensburg, PA, 1991.

[iii] Nelson, Thomas. NKJV, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible: Kingdom Equipping Through the Power of the Word (Function). Kindle Edition.


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