DAY 20: When God Speaks, Everything Changes

By Dr. Bob Bakke (OneCry)

“Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.”
— Psalms 46:6 (NIV)

Our nation faces many troubles, and our colleges and universities are ground zero for many of them. Scholars suggest that Western culture is committing suicide. Respected voices say our republic, as originally conceived, is lost or should be overthrown and that the American Church is not only forever diminished but should be demolished as part of our hateful and harmful past.

I count myself among those who see the U.S. and its campuses as ripe for revival and spiritual awakening. Church history is my training. Seasons of misery have plagued the last 400 years. My father, brothers, and son fought in four different wars that left over three million dead. I experienced anti-war riots, race riots, burned-out cities, political assassinations, threats of nuclear war, the hippie culture of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, and massive political upheavals in the 1960s and 70s. But I also saw what God could do when His Spirit moves. I’m a child of the Jesus Movement that swept millions of students into God’s kingdom.

God is at work today, too. Believe it. God is rattling his people from their small, distracted, complacent, compromised faith. We’re being confronted by the sin that made us sheepish and lacking credibility. Meanwhile, millions of non-believers live in fear — hungry for hope and meaning. Some run from reality (suicide, gender dysphoria, opioids, etc.), and others resort to angry, delusional, or violent ideas, acting out their inner fear of meaninglessness. They are dry bones.

In 1797, Timothy Dwight became president of Yale. He couldn’t find more than a few students who were confessing believers. Only one student attended one Sunday when he preached in the college church. After a few years, Dwight determined to preach every day in chapel, defending and proclaiming the Bible. For eighteen months, he preached. Those who were previously timid repented and became emboldened. Prayer mounted, and the Spirit came. In 1802, 40% of the student body came to Christ. It can happen anywhere. When God speaks, everything changes.

PRAYER POINTS:

• Read Revelation 3:15-21, and pray its themes back to God. Hear Him speak to you. Turn to God, open the door of your heart and the door of the Church, and let Christ enter in the fullness of his Spirit.
• Read Ezekiel 37:1-14. Ask God for the courage to obey him — to open your mouth to speak truth to the spiritually dead — speaking hope to the hopeless. Ask Him to come from the four winds by His Spirit and breath on those slain to make them live.