Friday, October 30, 2020
How Spiritual Awakening Begins
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly” (Jonah 2:1 nkjv).
The belly of a sea creature is a very interesting place to experience revival. But it’s where Jonah came to his senses and cried out to the Lord.
Then, after the fish vomited him onto dry land, he went to Nineveh and delivered the message that God gave him.
Initially we might think that message wasn’t a very hopeful one: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4 nkjv). But I think it was pretty hopeful. They had 40 days to think about it, 40 days to consider their lifestyles, and 40 days to get right with God.
As a result, the people of Nineveh believed God’s warning and repented. Verse 10 of Jonah 3 says, “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it” (nkjv).
I wonder if God is giving the United States of America an opportunity to repent right now? I think He is.
However, one of the reasons that revival came through Jonah was because he experienced personal revival. Revival started with Jonah. You see, nothing can happen through you until it has first happened to you. You can’t take someone any further than you yourself have gone.
To reach our generation, we need to preach the gospel. Paul wrote, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14 nkjv).
As we see the breakdown of the family and so many bad things happening in our nation today, I think only a spiritual awakening can turn the United States of America around.
We need to pray for that. God can do it. He’s done it before, and He can do it again.
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