Revival in the Home
Humanity’s first home was a place of love, peace, and harmony. However, through disobedience, sin entered the home. The consequence was a home that degraded into a place of self-centeredness, discord, and hate. This degradation reached into the hearts of the first family.
In Genesis 4:7 God speaks to Cain: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” We know that Cain chose not to rule over sin but allowed it to rule over him. This resulted in the murder of his brother Abel.
The words “sin lies at the door and its desire is for you” is true of all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. Thank God that He had a plan before the foundation of the world to rescue us from ourselves! Since the first family there has been a desperate need for revival!
Sin entered the home first, and so it is in the home where revival needs first to come.
Author of The Calvary Road, Roy Hession says: “Our home is the hardest, most costly, but the most necessary place to begin.”
What is Revival?
Revival is defined as: “new life in hearts where the spiritual life has ebbed.” The most important aspect of revival is that it comes to a heart that is awakened to its need. Allowing the Holy Spirit to lead our hearts to the place of humility is the first step towards embracing a life of revival. I ask, how can someone like me – so self-centered and full of pride, find hope to live like this?!?
Jesus in the Answer
I love the clarity of Rom 7:21-25 in the New Living Translation: “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Crucified With Christ
Our hope lies in this truth further defined in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
To be crucified with Christ means that we make the decision to allow the work of the cross to transform us. Our part is flexing the muscle of faith and grace along the journey.
A husband and wife who choose humility and the Calvary road are well on the journey to revival in their home.