“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways…
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
Psalm 139:1-2, 23-24
As the video above expresses, confession, repentance and brokenness are the necessary steps to experience revival. (Revival defined as the life of Jesus poured into our hearts – not as an event in history.)
“The first thing we must learn is that our wills must be broken to His will. To be broken is the beginning of revival. It is painful, it is humiliating, but it is the only way… The Lord Jesus cannot live in us fully and reveal Himself through us until the proud self within us is broken. This simply means that the hard unyielding self, which justifies itself, wants its own way, stands up for its rights, and seeks its own glory, at last bows its head to God’s will, admits its wrong, gives up its own way to Jesus, surrenders its rights and discards its own glory – that the Lord Jesus might have all and be all.”
The Calvary Road, p. 20 – Roy Hession
Isaiah 58 is a national call to repentance for the people of God.
“Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God.”
Isaiah 58:1-2
The Jews were gathering for worship, they were bringing sacrifices to the Lord, they were coming to Jerusalem for their annual festivals. But their hearts were not in it – they were just going through the motions of religion while in reality they were crushing one another with high interest loans, they were abusing the blue collar workers among them, they were fighting and fussing…
“They ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.”
Isaiah 58:2-4
So God would not hear their prayers. He did not accept their worship. He did not value their fasting and religious exercises. Instead, through the prophet God called them to true spirituality, anticipating the equally prophetic words of James:
“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
James 1:26-27
Our behavior reveals our hearts. We are not saved by our works, but our works reveal if we are saved. “You will know them by their fruit.” If a church is neglecting it’s children and seniors – especially the most vulnerable – the Lord isn’t impressed with their loud worship music or their extended prayer meetings. If a small group is embroiled in unresolved conflict the Lord isn’t moved by their in depth Bible discussion. If a couple is quietly or loudly doing battle with one another the Lord doesn’t appreciate their service on various leadership teams. If someone is enslaved to an addiction – pornography, drugs, alcohol, shopping, eating, gossip, bitterness – they are grieving the Holy Spirit and allowing their heart to be hardened to His voice.
The way out is, of course, the gospel. It is coming again to the cross of the Lord Jesus in open, honest confession and sincere repentance.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
1 John 1:8-10
Then, as Hession says, we take the lid off the cup of our hearts and the life of Jesus can fill us again – with His love, joy, peace, patience, power and everything else. Then we are released and empowered again for kingdom ministry:
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”
Isaiah 58:6-7
The Lord already knows our hearts. Let’s invite Him to speak to our hearts this weekend, drawing us closer to Himself and showing us where we can bring more of the light of His glory and love and justice to bear in this dark and dying world.
“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.”
Isaiah 58:8