I am very inspired by your courageous commitment to focus on personal revival during this three week period.  My hope is that you would each enjoy the increased intimacy with God SO MUCH that you make “personal revival” a lifetime pursuit! 

Today’s Prayer Challenge—a matter of the heart:

To quickly enter into an intimate relationship with God, especially if you’ve been away for a while, ask God a simple question that always works to “cut to the chase.”  Ask Him to show you your heart.”  David showed us how to pray that prayer in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me O God and know my heart…test me…know my anxious thoughts…see the offensive ways in me…”  When I first began to pray one hour a day…I was still in my twenties.  And I didn’t have a clean heart.  I had a bitter heart and an angry heart.  I began the daily practice...and have maintained it for over 22 years…of asking God to search my heart.  Twenty-years later, I still invite God’s Holy Spirit into my heart and He not only tells me the truth, but He forgives, heals, and most importantly shows me the way out.  I encourage you to make Psalm 139:23-24 a daily part of your “thirty minutes with Jesus.”  (It’s the “clean cup” theory for all you Roy Hession/revival fans!)

Today’s Purity Challenge—chasing after holiness with intention:

William Wilberforce, politician and honored Englishman, wrote extensively on the contrast between a Christian who is holy and one who deliberately sins, calling them nominal or bad Christians! He argued, “The true Christian knows therefore that this holiness does not precede his reconciliation with God, and then be its cause. But it has to follow, and be its effect. In short, it is by faith in Christ alone, faith marked by repentance of sin.”

Charles Spurgeon (English preacher) gave a very riveting explanation for ridding oneself of ongoing, deliberate sin, saying, “Oh that you would run away from old master tonight, without giving him a minute’s notice. If you give him any notice, he will hold you. Run to Jesus, and say, ‘Here is a poor runaway slave! My Lord, I still wear the chains upon my wrists. Will You set me free, and make me Your own?’”

If you struggle with something “ongoing”, make Spurgeon’s prayer…your prayer.

Today’s Purpose Challenge—not deterred:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer first published The Cost of Discipleship under the title Nachfolge in 1937. He spoke in great earnestness about the power of a believer’s testimony, giving us reason and courage to speak boldly of Christ, saying, “Neither failure nor hostility can weaken the messenger’s conviction that He has been sent by Jesus.”  A hostile college atmosphere certainly isn’t as life-threatening as being imprisoned for sharing your faith, but Bonhoeffer’s encouragement is valid for anyone who is hesitant to share Jesus, possibly intimidated by previous failures that resulted in rejection or embarrassment.  He reminds us why we share our faith to unbelievers—we’ve been sent by the King!  We’re His ambassadors.  This isn’t about us—it’s about Him!  Our commission is His mission!  Be inspired by the “great cloud of witnesses” that are watching and cheering as you share the Good News.  (For those on state school campuses…don’t get overwhelmed by the vast number of those who don’t know Jesus—just start right in your sphere of classmates and professors.  For Christian campuses—incoming freshman and transfer students have been brought to campus by the God who loves them!  Finney really believed in fall revivals!)