Revival Looks Like Turning

Turning is something we do every day. We turn to get out of bed, we turn to go in and out of rooms, we turn on the road, we turn to greet people. Turning is such a natural thing that we don’t even notice we are doing it.

In Psalm 85, some conscious turning is taking place. God is turning from His anger, and the Psalmist is turning to prayer. Notice that the Psalmist is asking God to turn him; only God can truly turn you. But turn where? Turn to God!

Let’s look at three simple truths about turning:

TURNING FROM SIN BEGINS BY TURNING TO PRAYER

Jeremiah 31:18, “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou has chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.”

If we are too busy to pray, then we are backslidden. By turning to our jobs and responsibilities, we have turned our back on God. God pleads with you to turn back to Him.

Jeremiah 3:14, “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”

Prayer is a key factor in revival. Revival will not happen without it. God is the only One who can bring revival, so we must seek Him in prayer. No prayer, no revival.

Billy Sunday stated this: “If you are strangers to prayer, you are strangers to power.” In other words, no prayer, no power.

We must turn to prayer if we ever want to see our families, churches, and nation turn back to God. We must let God back into families by making Him the focus; we must open the doors of our churches and let Christ be the head of the church again; we must stop taking God out of our country’s policies and laws and put Him back where He needs to be. Revival tarries as long as we tarry to prayer.

Let me urge you to pray for revival every day. Pray for revival for yourself, your family, your church, and your nation. It will never happen if we do not pray for it.

IT IS BEST IF WE TURN TOGETHER

The Psalmist says, “Turn us.” Turning together is the goal. Families, churches, nations—the more the better!

Psalm 80:3, 7, 19—“turn us again”

Jeremiah 26:3, “If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.”

Notice that it says “turn every man.” This is not just one or two, or a small group; this is every person turning, and that is revival.

Lamentations 3:40-41, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”

We need to take Jeremiah’s advice and try our ways. The Hebrew word for “ways” is derekh, and it means “a road, a course of life or mode of action.” What is the direction you are heading in life? Is your goal in life to the live for the Lord and to please Him, or is that something you just do on the side or even when you feel like it? Search and try your ways and turn back to God!

Lamentations 5:21, “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”

Jeremiah has the entire nation in mind; Judah has just gone into captivity. If anything could turn them back to God, this incident could. The Hebrew word for renew is chadash, which means “to rebuild.” Through this terrible incident, God would rebuild His people, but it would only happen after they turned to Him.

The Bible says we are a spiritual house. We need to be rebuilt. We need to turn to the Lord together. There is power in unity. Personal revival is wonderful, but corporate revival is better. Families need to be rebuilt. Our nation needs to be rebuilt. If we want our days to be renewed, we must turn to the Lord together.

IF WE DO NOT TURN, GOD WILL NOT TURN

God’s turning from anger is dependent on our turning to Him.

II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Revival starts with God’s people. If we do not see revival, the world will never see revival. This promise is conditional, and God’s people today have failed to meet the conditions. There are four steps to seeing revival here: we must humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways. As a result, God will forgive our sins and heal our land (that’s our nation). But one or two cannot do it; we must all do it!