An Article of Faith

The sudden change in Romania brought more than the exchange of one political system for another. It was a massive revolution of the soul and spirit of a people.
But how did something so big and so impossible happen so quickly and so comprehensively?
It began with the way Scripture teaches that every heart, family, church, community, or nation is changed: with an unusual season of repentance. As the Romanian believers began to repent and cry out to God, extraordinary power was released in their lives. The little-told story of the revolution in Romania was that it was fueled by a revival in the Romanian church.
If God can change a godless, atheistic, oppressed country like Romania in a moment, then God’s supernatural intervention is possible in any nation.
“As long as God is on His throne,” wrote Del Fehsenfeld Jr., “revival is as possible as the sun rising tomorrow morning.”
Two Christian leaders were leaving a meeting with the president in Washington, D.C., after the discussing the overwhelming moral and spiritual problems in America. Deeply discouraged, one of the leaders turned to the other and said, “If we don’t have revival, nothing else really matters.”
Wisely, the other leader replied, “And if we do have revival, nothing else really matters!”
There is no hope apart from revival. And there is no hope like revival. Hope is the faith and fuel that keeps on crying out to God for revival.
There are many hope-killers at work in our society today. And as things keep getting worse and worse around us, it is easy to despair that things will never change. Hope-killers believe that we are nearing the end of the ages. And since the Bible talks about the rise of wickedness before Christ’s return, we should not expect things to get better. However, historically, revival has always turned the tide of evil for the glory of God. He always has the last word (taken and adapted from: OneCry: A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening. For more information see: www.ONECRY.com).
One day Jesus told His disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” He said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to His chosen people who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith” (Luke 18:1-8 NLT)? That is, the faith to pray and never give up?
“If My people,” declares the LORD, “who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV).

Jessie J. Charpentier Sr. is pastor of Jenkins Memorial Baptist Church in St. Martinville.