Revival and Holiness

Leslie Basham: When is the last time you prayed for holiness?

Without You we would be nothing. But, Lord, we thank You that in Christ we have been set apart for Your glory and Your honor. Lord, we just thank You. We know of the impossibility of any kind of holiness within ourselves.

Leslie: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Friday, October 19.

We’re in a twelve-week study of personal revival called Seeking Him. Nancy has been teaching through the qualities that accompany revival, like holiness, humility and repentance. If you missed any of it, you can listen at ReviveOurHearts.com.

During these twelve weeks you have a special opportunity to pray for revival. Here’s Nancy to tell you about Seeking Him: A National Prayer Meeting for Revival.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: As you may have already heard, each Saturday morning during this twelve-week Seeking Him series, we’re inviting God’s people from all across this country to join together in a one hour national prayer meeting for revival.

You can listen by means of the Internet and there are a number of radio stations across the country that are carrying this live prayer meeting as well. You can go to ReviveOurHearts.com to get more details about how to participate in this very special prayer meeting.

Several Christian leaders came together for this particular prayer meeting. Among them you’ll be hearing from Fern Nichols, who is the founder and president of “Moms in Touch;” Sammy Tippit, who is an international evangelist with a deep heart for prayer and revival; and Byron Paulus, who is the executive director of Life Action Ministries, the parent ministry of Revive Our Hearts.

Let me encourage you, if at all possible, to put aside what you’re doing at the moment and to join with us as we seek the Lord together with these leaders.

Mark Bubeck: The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:10 that because of Jesus’ wonderful, sacrificial death on the cross, we have been made perfect. That’s what Nancy called our positional holiness this week in her teaching. This is our position right now if we’ve received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. God sees us as holy or perfect because of Jesus.

What I want us to do in this first segment of prayer is to have a period of thanksgiving and praise to God today for who Jesus is and what He has accomplished for us. We have been made holy.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank You today for this wonderful gift of salvation that You have given to us. We praise You this day.

Sammy Tippit: Father, we do praise You that You are a holy God. There is none like You in heaven and on earth. You alone are God. You are the Creator; we are the creation. Father, I thank You even as Mark shared that all of our holiness is found in You because You are the holy one. Without You we would be nothing.

But, Lord, we thank You that in Christ the Lord we have been set apart for Your glory and Your honor. Lord, we just thank You. We know of the impossibility of any kind of holiness within ourselves. Lord, we would just be a mess were it not for Jesus.

So we thank You for the Savior. Thank You for Jesus. And thank You that He is the holy one and thank You that He has taken up residence within us. Lord, I just want to say that I love You today because of Jesus. Lord, my life would be a mess. I wouldn’t have positional or any practical—I wouldn’t have any kind of holiness, if it weren’t for the Savior. Thank You for Jesus.

Byron Paulus: Father, I want to thank You for the cross. God, we know that the greatest demonstration of Your holiness was that point at which Christ paid the penalty for our sin. God, by our sin we confronted Your holiness; we disregarded it; we challenged it.

God, I pray that You would once again bring us to a place of wonder and awe of the work that You accomplished on that cross. Thank You that by the cross we have access to holiness and we can come boldly before Your throne today and find help in time of need.

God, thank You for the fact that we’ve been justified by faith, that You can now treat us as if we are holy positionally. God, You’re working out our salvation to become practically holy in every aspect of our behavior and our conduct. Thank You for access to that through Your cross.

Fern Nichols: Our precious holy Jesus, we are so grateful, so very grateful, that You took all of our sin on Yourself at the cross and called the great exchange, all my sin on You and You giving me all of Your goodness and righteousness.

I praise Your holy name. I thank You that I, before Your eyes, do not have one stain because of Jesus.

Mark Bubeck: Thank You, Lord Jesus, for what You have done for us. We honor and we lift Your name up this day. We recognize immediately that every passage in Scripture that deals with God’s holiness or that deals with an individual or group, as soon as they see God’s holiness they recognize their own lack of holiness. So let’s take some time now to repent for the lack of holiness individually, in the church, and in the nation, the sin against a holy God.

Lord Jesus, we ask You to come now. Holy Spirit, show us our sin that we repent of this day. Help us to see that.

Sammy Tippit: Lord, I confess that I allowed busyness and deadlines and schedule to interfere with my priority of really spending concentrated time in the mornings this week seeking Your face and in Your Word. God, I confess that as sin and wrong priorities. Thank You for Your forgiveness.

Byron Paulus: Father, You’ve called us to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of the body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Lord, I confess to You that my mind can so easily revolve around myself and my desires and my attending my needs. God, even in my prayers I focus more on me than on You and what Your agenda is and the needs of my family.

Father, I confess to You my complacency. I confess my satisfaction in business as usual and even in ministry; to be satisfied with a few people responding to a message or for people to “amen” and be satisfied with the praise of men rather than to make sure I have Your approval.

God, forgive me for my proud heart, for my desire to seek attention and draw attention to myself and to elevate myself rather than to decrease that You might increase. God, I pray that You would restore in me a holy fear that would be afraid to confront You and to defy You even through complacency and being satisfied with where I am.

God, I confess to You my complacency in sharing with others that we have access to Your holiness and my failure to be an ambassador of that gospel of Jesus Christ. God, I pray that You would find me living each day from this point forward with a sense of urgency to seek that holiness.

God, we’re coming before You to approach Your holy hill. God, You said that in Psalm 24 we must be a people that have a pure heart and clean hands. And so I offer my dirtiness to You and ask You to purify and sanctify and set me apart, that others when they think of me would not think of my righteousness but think of You and Your holiness and the righteousness of Christ.

Fern Nichols: Father, as Your daughter, You tell me in Your Word to be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving that I would make my requests known unto You (Philippians 4:6, paraphrase). Father, I ask that You would forgive me for at times feeling worried about this next generation; being anxious as I pray so desperately for my three little grandbabies that are so little and being raised in such wickedness and immorality.

I just thank You for forgiving me for the times when I don’t remember that You tell me that You have a plan for them, a plan not to harm them but a plan to give them a future and a hope and that You have a destiny for their lives (Jeremiah 29:11, paraphrase). May I trust my almighty, holy God to keep them from the ways of this world and that they will give their lives to You at an early age.

Father, I confess that at times when I read Your Word I maybe give lip service to it, but to totally trust it with all my heart so that there is not one anxious little nerve in me. I want to trust You better. I want to read Your Word and believe it with all of my heart without one little bit of doubt.

Mark Bubeck: Let’s turn our attention secondly to repent for the specific lack of holiness in the church of Jesus Christ across America today.

Fern Nichols: Father, my heart is so heavy that the Body does not love one another as You love us. Father, I repent of the church where we are so nit-picky and grumbling and complaining and comparing. God, forgive us; revive us.

Sammy Tippit: Father, it breaks our hearts as almost every week we hear of a pastor and a people who are at odds with each other. Lord, I don’t understand why this happens and yet I know it does not please You. I pray that You would come in such a way that there would be level ground in the church—that it would be at the foot of the cross.

We are so far away from the cross. Lord, we get our eyes fixed in every other direction. We’re doing all kinds of things, Father, and yet we’ve lost sight of Jesus. I pray that You would just bring us back to Him. I pray that You would deliver us from our thinking that we’re sufficient in ourselves, that we have all that we need.

God, I pray that You would bring us to the place where we realize our neediness of You, that we would in our churches depend upon You and seek You. We desperately need You, Father, in Jesus’ name.

Mark Bubeck: We’ve repented of our own sin. We’ve repented and stood in the gap for the church. Now let’s intercede and swarm the throne of heaven with our prayers for a great revival in the church, a great harvest of the lost. Let’s just plead with the Lord to do that.

Fern Nichols: Father, we know that revival is a sovereign work from Your hand and Your hand alone. God, we pray that You would have mercy on Your Bride. Restore us. Bless us. Heal us, that we would love one another.

Father, we cry out for mercy and we thank You that that is Your heart’s desire because You are so passionate for Your people.

Prayer Leader: Thank You, precious Lord, that You do draw near to Your people in ways that touch them, in ways that wonderfully move them to respond to Your love and to Your message of hope and truth.

We thank You for the way that You drew near to Isaiah. Thank You, Lord, for that tremendous brokenness that came to him. Thank You for what happened at Pentecost when the mighty person of the Holy Spirit drew near to Your people until they cried out, “What will we do? What should we do?” (Acts 2:37, paraphrase).

Oh God, do that again. It’s not something that we can generate by our efforts, by our programs, by our own strength. It’s all of God and it’s all of grace; it’s all of Your mercy and Your love.

So have mercy upon us, Lord. Draw near to us. Let us be touched anew and afresh with heaven until our hearts are broken and humble and repentant and ready to receive all the riches that are ours in the Lord Jesus.

Byron Paulus: Revive us again, God. Cause Your people to rejoice in You. I pray that You would open up the windows of heaven and that You would come down. With Isaiah we beseech You. We beg of You. We plead with You. We are Your people.

God, I pray that You would tabernacle in the midst of Your people, that You would come and reign as Lord and that You would visit Your people and dwell in our midst. Oh God, we need You; we cry out for You. God, we long for that manifest glory to come in our midst.

God, would You touch Your church even tomorrow morning and tonight and wherever Your people are gathered across this nation. God, I pray that You’d move into those congregations and that there would be this indescribable anointing of Your Spirit upon the pastors and Sunday School teachers; that there would be this openness and readiness and eagerness and urgency that You put into the heart of Your people; that tomorrow morning might be that divine moment that You would come and show up in Your church and glorify Yourself and turn Your people back to Yourself.

God, would You please hear our prayer? Answer our prayer. Hear our cry. Come in our midst. Show Yourself mighty and powerful and strong. God, send that great revival where everybody’s focus will go to You, and You’ll be lifted up on high in Your church. Do it again I pray.

Prayer Leader: God, I pray that You would make us once again a people hungry and desperate and thirsty for righteousness. And as a result of that hunger that You would fill us up, that you would draw us to Christ the Bread of Life and satisfy our thirst with the living water of Your Word.

Father God, I pray that You would start tomorrow in Sunday School classes and youth groups and even on college campuses and devotional times and worship services. God, that there would be an unusual drawing to Yourself, that You would quicken Your Word as it is preached, as it is read. God, that it would leap off the page and people would find the great source of Your revelation, knowing who You are.

Strip away our false concepts of who You are, the images that we have of You that are not true. God, reveal Yourself once again as holy and set apart. Give us a fear of who You are. So many times in the Scripture Your holiness is tied to having a fear of You. God, help us to be aware of Your presence.

God, as people walk away tomorrow, I pray that there would just be a sense that they’ve been in Your presence and You’ve filled us up.

Mark Bubeck: Lord, we’ve prayed around the issue of holiness today. We’ve prayed about the past tense that You’ve already seen us as holy. We’ve prayed in the present tense that we are being made holy and we have recognized our sin.

But, Lord, there’s one more aspect of holiness and that’s a perspective holiness. Some day, Lord, we are going to be perfect. We are going to be completely holy. Lord, today we just say thank You for that hope which You give to us that we will one day walk with You.

We will one day be with You. We will one day, as it says in Revelation, reign with You forever and ever. We will see our Jesus, and we will be like Him, and we will be holy, pure, set apart.

For that we give You great praise. We give You great honor. We give You great glory. There is none like You, Lord! Thank You. And God’s people said, “Amen.”

Byron Paulus: Amen. Hallelujah and thank You. Fern, in a moment here before we go off with all our dear friends who have joined us and fellow intercessors . . . I’ve just had on my heart; I got three emails this morning from parents asking us to pray for their children, and I know you have a burden for this next generation. There are all of us, hundreds of us, on this call who are burdened for children.

Fern, I wonder if you would just close our time in praying for the children and grandchildren. Fern, thank you.

Fern Nichols: Our loving, sovereign, heavenly Father, we do cry out, not only for us and our children and our children’s children. Father, we are asking that the Spirit of the holy, living God would fall on us and live within us.

God, we pray for this—for the fear of the Lord for our children, for that is the beginning of wisdom, and they need to know truth. They don’t know truth. God, we pray that the Word of God would dwell in them richly. We ask that they would hide it in their hearts that they might not sin against You.

Father, we pray for a moral generation, that no worthless thing would come before their eyes. Father, we pray, as Job prayed, for our children and grandchildren that they would make a covenant with their eyes not to look with lust upon anything or anyone.

Lord, we are asking in the name of Jesus; we are asking passionately for our children. Father, we pray that they will not make treaties with the world. We pray, Father, that they would be strong and courageous to be holding out the Word of life.

Oh Lord, that our Christian young people would see that this is truth. This is the way to live. This is what will bring them happiness. This is their destiny. Lord, we are asking for the “Joshuas” and the “Moseses” and the “Daniels” and the “Marys.” Lord, we are praying that they will break down the idols that are so before them in our generation, that they would smash the idols down with love and a gracious spirit, holding out the Word of life.

Lord, we are praying for this next generation clean hands, guiltless hands, pure hearts. Father, we are asking that the younger generation yet to praise You, Lord, will not be stolen by the enemy.

And so, Father, we as parents and grandparents want to commit ourselves to You that we will do all we can in our prayer lives and in our speaking truth to our children and grandchildren. That we would when they lie down and when they get up, when they walk along the way, Lord, that we would be one who will be Your mouthpiece to this next generation (Deuteronomy 11:19, paraphrase).

God, we pray for Your continued passion. Don’t let Satan have our children or our grandchildren. Lord, that not one moment of their lives would be in the kingdom of Satan living for him. Oh God, we pray for revival in Jesus’ name, amen.

Byron Paulus: Amen, amen. Thank you every one of you. And thank the Lord. God, You’ve been so good to us during these prayer times and thank You for meeting with us with Your presence once again. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Leslie: Byron Paulus from Life Action Ministries has been leading us in a prayer for revival along with Fern Nichols, Sammy Tippit and the host of Revive Our Hearts, Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy has co-written a notebook called Seeking Him. It will take you on a journey into personal revival. Imagine clearing your conscience, feeling the freedom that comes from forgiving others, walking in obedience, purity, and holiness.

Twelve weeks with this study will help you take steps forward in all these topics. We’ll send you a copy when you make a donation to Revive Our Hearts. To order, visit ReviveOurHearts.com or call 1-800-569-5959.

Nancy has been teaching through a twelve-week study that corresponds with the chapters in this book. During this time Christian leaders have convened by phone for Seeking Him, a national prayer meeting for revival. The prayers we heard today give you a taste of what the prayer meeting is like.

You can listen live and pray along over the Internet. You might be able to hear it live on the radio in your area as well. For more details visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

What does it mean to obey God? You don’t wake up every morning and hear Him spell out a “to-do” list in an audible voice. So how do you obey? Nancy will speak on revival and obedience all next week on Revive Our Hearts.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.