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Revive Us Again.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (II Peter 3:8-9)

            Yesterday, I shared this video on my Face Book page.: David Barton: Revival video. It brought to mind a book I discovered years ago: Generations: The History Of America's Future, 1584-2069 by William Strauss and Neil Howe. It reviews American history with the perspective that approximately every 80 years, America goes through a secular crisis that effectively destroys our country: Revolutionary War (1776), Civil War (1860), Depression and World War II (1929-1945). On September 11, 2001 as I stood in the County Executive's conference room watching the towers fall, I thought, "Here is the beginning of our secular crisis."
           About half way between those secular crisis (and very like as a result of them) is what they call spiritual awakenings: the Puritan Awakening (1621-1640), the Great Awakening (1734-1743), the Transcendental Awakening (1822-1837), the Mission Awakening (1886-1903) and the Boom Awakening (1967-1980).
         Mr. Barton is correct. As we pray for revival in our nation now, especially during an election cycle, it's easy to pray with one eye open, looking for that person who was shaking his fist at God before we started praying to fall to his knees in repentance before we finish, and rise in the next ten minutes as a fully mature Christian. Of course, that's an exaggeration, but it's also true. As Mr. Barton put it, we expect to see changes.
           Mr. Barton believes we are in a revival. If we aren't, it's likely we soon will be. The thing that the last spiritual awakening should teach us is that the revival of faith doesn't have to be Christ-ward. For it to be, we must be Christ-ward in advance of it. We must also remember what today's passage teaches -  that God is at work even when we can't see it. God will keep His promise, even if it doesn't fit into our timeline or expectations. He will revive His people, and the difficulties we are facing today are very likely how He is going to do it.

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