PART 2 (Psalm 85:4-7): What We Need God to Do: Prayer for further mercies.
GOD HAS BEEN GOOD! BUT, WE NEED HIM TO ACT ONCE AGAIN. ASSUMPTION WILL GET US NOWHERE, WE MUST ANTICIPATE.
Assume = to take upon oneself; to pretend to have or be; to take as granted or true though not proved. An action of the flesh.
Anticipate = to foresee and provide for beforehand; to look forward to. An action of faith.
The people of God need to plan for and make provision for God’s goodness to be shown once again.
*We can’t mistakenly believe that God’s goodness is only a thing of the past. He desires to be good again to those who hunger for and desire Him to be good.
1. Restore us again.
a. Restoration of relationship
b. Restoration of place/authority
c. Restoration of His Kingdom now on earth
d. Judgment and cleansing will always begin among the people of God, and that must take place again now so that the world will see something in the Church that they lack and need in their own lives.
2. Put away His displeasure and anger toward us.
a. We need the smile of God on our lives and on our community.
b. Some just need to quit living as though God is angry with them.
c. Purity and cleansing brings God’s pleasure. God is pacified when we are purified.
3. Revive us again.
a. We need life in the people of God once again.
b. Revival is simply church God’s way.
c. When there is genuine life in the church, it will dispel the death and darkness of the world.
d. Revival will always be accompanied by a genuine rejoicing in God by His people.
4. Show us His unfailing love.
a. Sometimes we just don’t see it even when it is right there in front of us.
b. God’s love is limitless, unfailing and unconditional.
c. We need to learn to let Him love us as He wants to. We don’t earn it, He chooses to give it freely.
5. Grant salvation to His people and the land.
a. God’s desire has always been to bring salvation and awakening to the people of earth.
b. All people need to be granted this salvation. As large as the Kingdom is, God desires it to be bigger. He is not willing for any to perish.
c. True and genuine restoration brought on by God always includes repentance and reformation of hearts and lives.
d. In a time of revival, God challenges and stirs the hearts of His people to reach out to the lost like never before.
George Whitefield said this: “Secure sinners must hear the thundering of Mount Sinai before we bring them to Mount Zion. Every minister should be a Boanerges, a son of thunder, as well as Barnabas, a son of consolation.”
