“Will You not revive us again, that Your people will rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6 NIV)
I knew a man who died once. Had a heart attack in his front yard. He flatlined before the ambulance arrived. They used the paddles to bring him back. My friend was a paramedic on scene. We had coffee the next day, but she could barely keep her excitement contained, her eyes were still wide from what she’d witnessed; “It doesn’t happen!” she exclaimed. “Once or twice in the career of a medic, we might see it; the dead brought back to life! And without any brain damage, it’s a miracle!”
We spent yesterday’s power hour praying for revival. The Hebrew word is chayah; to be quickened, to be made alive, to be restored. We prayed for the life of Christ restored in us. We look to this original text and commentators believe it was written after Judah’s return from exile in Babylon, a people long apart from their country and their Temple. We can relate to a people in deep need of reviving.
Yet, today, for me at least, I feel it’s already begun. I can feel rebirth in my bones, in my fingers and toes. Death is being sloughed off as my soul comes up for air again. I’m being made alive by the gracious love and supernatural power of my resurrected Savior. I feel His resuscitation in my lungs, His hands coaxing my heart to regain it’s given beat. It’s my prayer that this is just the beginning. That it would start with me, but that the breath of God blow through and become infectious.
Our psalmist says it; revived people rejoice. They can’t help it, they can’t contain their joy. They’ve been dead and come back to life! They are now contagious. A revived man or woman lives ever at the ready to tell their story. Their lives are a spark that catches a church, a community, a nation on fire for the Kingdom of God.
Lord, please complete Your work of revival in us. Blow through our souls and blow up our routines and rituals. Captivate our hearts again. Set us ablaze for Kingdom’s sake. Amen.