The Great Awokening

"Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame."  I Corinthians 15:34

The Great Awakening was a tremendous time of revival and renewed devotion to God preceding the American Revolution.  

By the 1730's, early American settlers had already lost the zeal for Christ that led them to the New World, having become preoccupied with wealth and comfort.  When church membership dropped, pastors of the day drafted something called the Halfway Covenant.  This allowed church membership without a public profession of faith.  Churches were now filled with people who didn't know Jesus and were led by pastors who had no relationship with Him, either.

Sound familiar?

But what caused the tide to turn and usher in this great revival?  

I believe it was ushered in just as the Holy Bible tells us in this well-known passage of Scripture, "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14)."

God-fearing men, such as Jonathan Edwards, Theodore Freylinghuysen, Gilbert Tennent, Solomon Stoddard, George Whitefield, and many others prayed fervently for repentance and real heart change to occur in the lives of men and women across the nation and around the world.

And. It. Did.

It. Did!

We are in desperate need of another awakening, especially in light of the "wokeness" of today's culture.

Consider the loving warning given to us in Ephesians 5:5-14:

"You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.  Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.  Don’t participate in the things these people do.  For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!  For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.  Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.  Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.  It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.  But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, 'Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'”

I am praying for my own awakening through humility, purity, repentance and zeal, and yours, too.  

Won't you join me?

Perhaps we will yet see it again.

Goodnight, Runners.