“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” Hab 3:2 (Amp)
This particular prayer or the essence of it has always been the heart cry of people who are caught in desperate situations and so needed God to intervene on their behalf. This is the cry of those who understand that maintaining the status quo is lethal to their prospect and well-being. It was the sentiment echoed by Gideon when the Midianites had so oppressed them to the point they could not eat the food they had cultivated. Gideon was well aware of the historical God who miraculously delivered His people from the horrors of Egyptian bondage, but that God seemed to be a relic of the past with little relevance to their present lives. From Gideon’s limited perspective, God might even be dead or how else could He allow them to be so oppressed by foreigners such that they are forced to resort to stealing from their own farms?
The scenario of God’s people calling on Him in desperation has been repeated so many times in history it has become common place. Nevertheless, it is what we need to be doing at the moment as the Church is increasingly sidelined by society and we seem to be losing our relevance and have become the laughing stock of the world. So, where exactly is God in all this? Why Has He kept quiet and refrained from proving His power in our lives as He did in the past? It is because the majority of us are not praying the prayer above enough or in sincerity. It is either we are not bothered about impacting our world for God or we do not know what to do to elicit His move in our time. Worse still we might know what God can do as well as how to elicit His power but cannot be bothered to pay the price required for that move to become a reality. We have become complacent; spiritual introverts who are content to leave the hard work to others while we chase after God’s blessings and anointing. If this is how you feel, then understand that you are inneed of spiritual renewal. The reality is that the Church needs renewal and we need it fast. She has always needed periodical renewal in order to achieve the tasks God had set her and she is due for one right now. So, how will this be?
The answer is right above. We need to seek God, first in our personal lives and then as a Church. We need to pray and invite God to do what only He can do, which is to give life to and thus renew our decaying world. The bible is on one level a historical record of God’s past deeds and are they not awesome? Our prayer is that He should not only repeat His past deeds in our generation, but that He should exceed His past deeds in our time. Our heart cry should be that God should redeem His maligned name by His wonderful and mighty deeds and reclaim the honour of His name so that the world might indeed know that we serve a living God. You can then add, Lord, I’d like a piece of the action and prepare for His response by consecrating yourself so that you can be a worthy vessel in His hand.
Prayer:
Lord, make your name known in our day and cause your revival fire to burn within me. Help me to seek you unceasingly and unashamedly until I find you. Infuse your life into me and break the spiritual lethargy that is making me to be indifferent to the needs of the world around me. Glorify your name in my life, Church, country and world in Jesus name. Amen.