Right now, it’s a real possibility that if the redeemed reach for revival without bending in repentance our nation will erupt in revolution.

The clear-eyed options before the nation and the Church in this hour are revolution or repentance & revival. Those who refuse the way of repentance & revival will most certainly be bound up in either the hostility of anarchy, or the hostility of conservatism. Lest it not be said, neither of these hostilities will stand on the Day of the Lord.

If we don’t see the depth of the crisis before us we will most certainly NOT understand the depth of the solution God’s making available to us, nor the degree to which He wants it applied through our lives.

The only way forward for the Church (much less America) in this hour is through Luke 9:23,24 radical Christ-following; to learn the incarnational way of repentance and humility and cross-bearing… in all that we do – in our board meetings, our community service, our Sunday services, our worship teams, our small groups, our strategic planning sessions, our preaching and our posting, but mostly in our daily prayer.

A repentant, crucified church prays.The Lord is hemming His Bride into “His normal”. There is no hope for a church, nor church leadership that does not pray. If we’re not praying, we’re not repenting. If we’re not repenting, we’re not crucified. And if we’re not crucified all our international ministries, pet projects, blogs and Christian commercial labels will be the fodder of eternal regret.

“Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” (1 Corinthians 3:13)

Simply put: if the Church will not learn the way of prayer, neither the nation nor the church will survive. Our God who is “a Consuming Fire” (Hebrews 12:29) will guarantee it.

Church, the Lord is graciously giving us space to REPENT, SEEK HIS FACE and establish the priority of ONE THING. The time will come when, because of the deceitfulness of our unrepentant sin, we will be unable to see the wisdom or way of giving ourselves to these vital realities.

“Exhort one another daily, while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13)

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JSB • June, 2021