January 20 A Love Flood

Luke 10:27 He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”
 
WE begin with the Great Command to be reminded that true love for God is a key element of revival. Let’s continue with excerpts from “Firefall 2.0 How God Shaped History through Revivals” by Malcolm McDow & Alvin R. Reid. “Revival” means turning from sin’s death to becoming alive in God.
 
The overall spirit of the meetings was one of deep love for Christ. Many unchurched residents were amazed at the love among believers, the prayer, and the answers to prayer. People came (to New York City) from as far as St. Louis to be a part of the movement of prayer. The meetings were multi-denominational and cut across economic lines.

The spirit of prayer also led to unusual effectiveness in preaching. While a movement of prayer, the revival yet featured significant sermonic content. By the fall of 1858, large halls in New York City were filled to capacity: The Cooper Institute, where 2,500 gathered and thousands were turned away, while the Academy of Music filled throughout the winter every Sunday night for gospel preaching.

Simultaneously, revival came to areas across the nation. In Boston, a daily prayer meeting had been going on for years before 1858. As news of the growing prayer movement in New York came to Boston, a businessman’s meeting for prayer was set in the South Church downtown. The first day, the place was so filled some could not enter. Charles Finney, in the latter stages of his ministry, was preaching at the Park Street Church in Boston. He described the revival that soon swept Boston as “too general to keep any account at all of the number of converts, or to allow any estimate being made that would approximate the truth.” Across Massachusetts some 150 churches reported revival. Nearby Connecticut was also hit with a wave of unusual prayer meetings. Rhode Island experienced unprecedented movements of the Spirit in 1858. Revival touched every major city in the Midwest: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Louisville, Indianapolis, Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. In only two months in the state of Ohio, 200 towns recorded twelve thousand conversions. Prayer meetings sprang up everywhere.
 
    This is truly loving God and God loving his people, isn’t it? People hallowed – made holy – the Father’s name. They honored him with prayer, preaching, hearing and worship. The good news became real news to America. Imagine today if this evening’s headline or “breaking news” report was, “Revival is growing throughout the nations. Churches, theaters and even stadiums are filled with people who love God. They go to pray. They go to hear from God. They go to hallow the Father’s name.”
    Loving God and loving others, how revived would our world become? Let’s join praying hands as God’s people to pray, “Hallowed be your name, Father. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Then eagerly await what the Lord will do.
 
Prayer: Turn my heart to first love you, Lord. I pray your love becomes a reviving flood over the entire earth. In Jesus’ name, amen.