How to Keep Revival: Daily Love God

by David Chadwick Yesterday, we talked about how in order to keep revival fires burning, you must daily choose to hate sin. You must kill it. Crucify it. Suffocate it. But there is another important step to this process. You must daily cultivate a deep love for God. With ALL your heart, soul, mind, and might (Deuteronomy 6:5). With every ounce of your being, LOVE Jesus. Desire him and his kingdom above all else. Any desire to crucify bad behaviors must accompany a deep desire to love God or it will not last. John Wesley was right when he said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” A deep love and desire for God changes everything. We love Jesus because he first loved us (1 John 4:10). He took the first step toward us. In the incarnation, he became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). To know we are loved and forgiven of our sins prompts us to worship. Here is a great daily exercise. Sit down somewhere and contemplate the cross. Imagine yourself at the foot of Jesus’s cross. Acknowledge that your sin put him there. You hate sin. But it didn’t keep him there. His love for you and for me sent him on a rescue mission to bring back access to the eternal Father. What a great and wondrous love he has for us! Now, go spend a few moments thinking about the empty tomb. It’s forever empty! And you are forever forgiven! These daily reminders of the meaning of the cross and the resurrection keep revival fires burning! Then you walk in the Spirit, a military term of daily, disciplined promenade in God’s grace. And the fruit of the Spirit is produced within you: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Crucify your sin, yes. But love God. Love him with every fiber of your being. Watch as revival fires burn brighter and brighter in the hearts of God’s people, creating a unity that allows us to grow up and be a healthy and whole body, built up in love (Ephesians 4:13-16). This is the kind of revival that will change the world for Jesus.