A Prayer for Revival and Reformation

Great and honourable Father, we come to You through the precious Name of Jesus. You established us as Your Church, to do Your Will on the earth and to make disciples of all men. Attached to this mission, You granted us the power of Your Spirit, that we may prevail against the gates of hell. We come to You today asking for Your mercy and forgiveness.

We have each gone our way and neglected Your Great Commission. You told us to be in the world, yet not of it; we have made ourselves comfortable here. Trading in the wares of the world, we have made enlargening our barns for survival our primary activity and neglected to rely on Your Providence. Our hearts do not beat in sync with Yours any longer and we have become cold and distant. We no longer have Your passion for the lost and perishing people who do not know You. Rich in the treasures of this world, we think we have need of nothing. However, we are really blind, poor and wretched! The love of God is not in our hearts, neither love for our own brethren.

Lord, open to us the treasures of Your Word that we may no longer be poor. We ask you for gold tried in fire, and eye-salve to take away our blindness and hypocrisy.  Quicken our cold hearts with the fire of Your love, that we may not be Christians in name only but with all our hearts. We no longer want to be just followers and fans; we want to be disciples for that is what You intended. We no longer want to be just hearers of Your Word. We have been so for centuries. We want to apply Your Word practically in our lives. We hunger and thirst for righteousness, for we have none of our own and so we come to You, the fountain of Righteousness.

Lord, You promised that if we asked anything in Your Name in accordance with Your Will, that You would do it. We ask for a revival in our spirits and a reformation in our hearts. Create in us clean hearts, and renew in each of us a right spirit. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may honour You in the world today, proclaiming Your great Name always. Help us to love our neighbor, both in and outside the Church. We have mostly been a reproach to Your great Name for we have tried to do things in our own strength. We have neglected Your blueprint and Your great wisdom and tried to cut corners in doing the work You appointed us. Help us to be no longer a reproach, but to bring glory to Your Name. Forgive us.

Revive us again! Help us as a Church to work in unity with one another, and to use the gifts You have given each of us so that we may finish our appointed work of taking Your Message to the whole world. We have lost our authority, because we have not lived the Gospel. Lord Jesus, when You were on this earth, You spoke with great authority because You are the Word personified. Help us to be the same, to speak with great authority,  the authority You have given us.

Revive our hearts and reform our lives, that we as a Church and as Your servants, may bring great honour to Your Name (Matt 7:29). AMEN

The King who Serves

God is calling us all to active service in His Kingdom. Although His Kingdom has not yet arrived visibly in majestic splendor in the clouds of glory, we have declared Him King in our hearts and He remains the King of the Universe and beyond.

Jesus asks some interesting questions in Luke 17:7-10. He asked His disciples which master, having a servant who came in from the field, would give his servant permission to sit down and eat before having first served the master. He then states what the conventional master would do i.e. ask to be served first. The master would not thank his servant for having performed his duty since he was merely fulfilling his purpose, neither would the servant expect any thanks from his master for having done his job.

Contrast this with John 13:3-5 where Jesus, knowing His position as master and sent of God, laid aside His garments and took the position of a servant in washing the feet of His disciples. What was He trying to say? He was trying to show that He is not a master like the masters of this world, who too often do not deserve the respect given them. Being the Son of God, He has every right to our respect and worship and yet He assumes the posture of a servant.

Now examine Luke 12:37. Jesus speaks of the future reward of His servants i.e. those who have labored for Him in this world. If He were like other masters, He would not thank them or give them honours for merely performing their assigned tasks. However, this verse reveals that when His Kingdom in all its glory is established, the King of the Universe will still be the same Lord that serves His servants and bestows upon them honours they don’t deserve! It says that His servants who are found working at His return will sit at His table and He will come forth girded to serve them. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever! (Heb 13:8)

He served during His time on earth. He gave His life to save us from our sins, and in the future He will still consider it a delight to serve those whom He loves. This shows that what you do doesn’t detract from who you are (Luke 22:24-30). The King remains the king even though He chooses to serve. So basically the message to us in Luke 17:7-10 is that we are not greater than our Lord. We should not expect any thanks from those we serve. We’re just doing our duty! Don’t let your service come tainted with ulterior motives or exercise a superiority complex over those you serve. Let the love of Christ, the servant-King, shine through your deeds. Let all the world see it and give glory to God! (Mat 5:16, 1 Cor 10:31, Col 3:17, Phil 2:14)

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."- Matt 5:16