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A Great Awakening
Jon Burgess“My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.” Psalm 57:7-11
This is one of my favorite Psalms that has worked its way into many of my favorite worship songs. And, yet, it wasn't until this morning that I noticed the context from which this song about a global awakening takes place. The context reveals so much. Before there could be a spiritual awakening "over all the earth" there had to be an awakening within David himself. Before he could "awaken the dawn" with his song David had to run for his life in the middle of the night. He wasn't writing this song at a conference filled with faith, or surrounded with songs of praise. David was writing this prophetic declaration in the shadows of a cave. It's a declaration that his circumstances will not determine his certainty that God is good. David wasn't waiting for all to be resolved before putting all he had in the Redeemers hands! He was weary, worn and wanting to hide, but he told his soul- Wake Up! Then, when he awoke to the largeness of God, David saw the concentric circles of Gods Spirit going out and filling the whole world. Nations would come to know the Lord from the epicenter of one mans awakening. Peoples would praise God because one man decided not to fall into a spiritual slumber! Truly, David could not have been more right. From David's lineage would rise the Messiah, Jesus our Lord, the provision for our salvation and the epicenter of our great awakening!
Every revival in America starts with one man or woman who moves from an awareness of God to an awakening in God. This person, anointed of Gods Spirit, then becomes epicenter of a spiritual shaking throughout the nation. Its not about an event. Its about the advent of the Holy Spirit
-The First Great Awakening was during the early 1700s, with such men as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield taking part. During two years of this revival from 1740 to 1742, between 25,000 and 50,000 people came to believe in Jesus Christ – and that was out of a population of only 300,000.
-The Second Great Awakening took place during the days of the early frontier, the Wild West, from the 1790s to 1840. Preachers like Charles Finney were proclaiming the gospel at a time when the law was disregarded and sexual sin was rampant. People would come from everywhere to camp meetings, where makeshift structures with sawdust floors were set up in the middle of a forest. Itinerant preachers would ride on horseback from place to place, preaching the gospel. One lanky young lawyer who was dramatically impacted at one of those sawdust revivals was Abraham Lincoln.
-The Third Great Awakening, from 1857 to 1859, had unique beginnings. A 48-year-old businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier began a prayer meeting on Fulton Street in New York. At first, not a lot of people attended this prayer meeting. This revival started slow, but it began to build. Then the stock market crashed, and soon hundreds of New Yorkers were gathering for prayer. Within six months, 10,000 people were gathering daily for prayer throughout New York City. It was reported that 50,000 New Yorkers came to faith from March to May, and they saw approximately 1 million people come to faith in Christ during that particular revival.
- The Fourth Great Awakening, called the "Jesus Movement" from the late 1960s to the early 1970s was a genuine revival in the United States. It turned around thousands of young people. Many of those who came to faith during the Jesus Movement are grandparents now.
It's time to get on our knees and cry out for this next generation for a fifth wave of awakening to come to our shores wash over our slumbering cynical souls. Join me in May as we fast and pray every Wednesday morning leading up to "Epicenter"- A midweek service Worship & Prayer gathering led by our OG youth ministry at New Hope at 7 on May 11th. Then, come with expectancy to our weekend services on May 14/15 as we celebrate the Third Person of the Trinity and learn about the Holy Spirits work in our lives! #MayAwakening
I join with the Psalmist in praying, “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6). Let heaven invade earth. Let my heart become the epicenter for revival. What You want to do around me must start within me!
