041616_questionsforrevivalWhat is the key to falling asleep quickly at night? We’ve heard all kinds of tricks; haven’t we?

Refrain from using your cell phone, tablet, and laptop within an hour of wanting to fall asleep.

Lower the room’s thermostat to 65 degrees.

Don’t watch television while lying in bed.

And my all-time favorite has to be … Count backwards from 100.

With approximately 60 million Americans suffering from some form of insomnia, it is likely that more than a handful of this blog’s subscribers have experienced the tossing and turning of trying to fall asleep.

Recently, I remembered a bedtime practice that was prescribed from the pulpit by one of my former pastors. Bro. Hugh Callens preached, “Let His Word be the last word.” So with that suggestion in my heart and on my mind, I recovered my smaller, lighter Bible from the bookcase, and I’ve begun reading the Bible every night while lying in my bed. For the past few weeks, I’ve been enjoying the God-inspired passages, and I’ve also been entertained by the notes that I recorded in the Bible as a fourteen-year-old. Let me tell you, my inscriptions from those adolescent days have birthed a spirit of nostalgia within me. I love reading of my journey with the Lord. I can read sermon notes that I inscribed in the margins and on the “personal study notes” pages at the back of the Bible, and I am reminded of God’s grace in giving me all I needed to make it through the uncertain days of being a typical teenager in the mid-eighties. (Yep! I’m o-l-d!)

On the first page of my notations, penned in a cursive text – that looks nothing like my penmanship now – are the notes from a sermon entitled “Questions To Get Revival.” I’m almost certain that these were the notes taken from a message preached by my pastor at that time, Bro. Jerry Lee.

“Questions To Get Revival.” I long for revival! I pray most everyday for God to spur within me a consuming passion for Him. My heart’s desire is for the universal body of Christ to be awakened and then surrendered to lives of holiness. Behind every ministry effort of Enough Grace Ministries, there is a genuine and intensive longing for true revival to be the outcome of each ministry endeavor. I desperately want a supernatural movement of God to overtake my life and to be embraced by everyone.

For years, ministries that offer tools for seeking revival have blessed me. I highly recommend Dr. Gregory R. Frizzell’s book, Returning to Holiness: A Personal and Churchwide Journey to Revival. I also direct all Christ-followers to http://www.seoulunionchurch.org/data/Preparation_for_Personal_Revival_Prayer_List.pdf. At this site, you will find a printable brochure, Preparation for Personal Revival Prayer. Both of these works lead their reader through Scriptures that generate a heart-searching pursuit of repentance and cleansing. Now, let me clarify here … these two resources have been a part of my walk with God for quite sometime, but, I still have fallen gravely short of God’s intent of holiness even during my times of spiritual examination and confession. I know fully well that I must continue to daily place before myself God’s Word as I trust the Holy Spirit to reveal my sinfulness so that repentance and cleansing can take place.

When I found the “Questions To Get Revival,” I was intrigued by another source on this topic of cleansing prayer, and now I am eager to share with you these simple, yet profound, Biblically-based questions. I encourage you to take a few days and prayerfully examine each question and passage. Dr. George Frizzell states in his spiritual cleansing guide, “I am convinced a serious return to holiness is actually the very heart of all powerful prayer and every nationwide spiritual awakening.”

My friend, I want revival. I want revival for our land, our community, our churches, and our homes; but I also want a mighty move of God to overcome me and render me free of self and sin. I want to be made ALIVE with a renewed life in Christ Jesus.

Let us consider the following passages and questions as we surrender to the conviction, forgiveness, and cleansing of our sins. I encourage you to look up each verse and then reflect upon its meaning as you listen to the Lord. Take your time. Dr. Frizzell admonishes believers to seek out purity daily by asking God to reveal sin as these passages are pondered. As God reveals sin, we are to immediately confess it and forsake it. (Proverbs 28:13). If you and I answer “yes” to any of the following questions, then there is sin in our lives that will prohibit genuine personal revival.

1.) Matthew 6:12-15 – Is there anyone that I hate or have not forgiven?

2.) Matthew 6:33 – Is there anything in which I haven’t put God first?

3.) Ephesians 4:31 – Do I complain?

4.) Ephesians 5:20 – Have I neglected to thank God for all things good and bad?

5.) Matthew 6:34 – Do I worry?

6.) Luke 4:18 – Am I in bondage to the cares of this life?

7.) Philippians 1:21 – Does anything mean more to me than living like Jesus?

8.) Ephesians 4:32 – Do I ever by word or by deed seek to hurt someone?

9.) Philippians 4:4 –Have I neglected to rejoice in all things?

10.) II Timothy 2:22- Do I have any personal habits that are impure?

11.) Colossians 3:5 – Do I allow impure sexual thoughts to stay in my heart?

12.) Hebrews 10:25 – Do I think about others things when the Word of God is being preached or read?

13.) Hebrews 4:12 – Do I criticize God’s servants?

As we have prayerfully confessed (agreed with God about) and forsaken our specific sins, let us now be encouraged by God’s sweet promise of restoration.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9

Good night, my friend. Sleep tight.

Sources: .huffingtonpost.com