Our text is taken from:
Habakkuk 3:2 KJV:
O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid. O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known. In wrath remember mercy.
Habakkuk 3:2 NIV:
LORD, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known. In wrath remember mercy.
GOD'S WORD Translation:
LORD, I have heard the report about you. LORD, I fear your work. In the course of the years, renew it. In the course of the years, reveal it. In all this chaos, remember to be merciful.
After a series of communion with God about the nation of Israel, Habakkuk begins to lay out a template for securing divine intervention. The correct response to the chaos witnessed in homes, nations, the church and individual lives is revival. Revival is the arrival of God.
Our hearts must not drift from the things we have seen, heard and handled. Our longing must be to live in the reality of those encounters and pass them on to generations. Habakkuk heard of the fame of God and the impact of that revelation moved him to pray.
Our passion will drop when we stop beholding the possibilities available through God. Our hearts will become cold and our sight dim when we lose sight of His person and power.
History is a template for the future and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. We must return to ancient landmarks. Revelation 19:10 reminds us that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Methods can be modernized, but God cannot be modernized. The shallowness in our day can be traced to the absence of encounters with the fame of God. When God becomes famous to a believer, every other voice becomes secondary and that believer lives in constant pursuit of Him.
Habakkuk heard God for himself. One encounter is worth more than a lifetime of activities without God.
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The Impact of Your Hearing
No one becomes a voice for God without first hearing His voice. God's works are expressed through men. We are His workmanship created unto good works. What you hear determines what you say and what you say determines what you create. Your words carry creative power.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. When your ears are awakened to hear, you receive the tongue of the learned. Isaiah 50:4 says He awakens our ear morning by morning. This is the pathway to making the supernatural a daily experience.
Daily communion and beholding Christ keeps the heart aflame and the spirit conscious of spiritual possibilities.
Questions for meditation:
• What have you heard about God?
• What have you heard from God?
• What is God saying now?
• What move of God do you desire to see again in this generation?
The works of God and knowing Him
The works of God flow from His nature.
God forgives because He is merciful.
He sanctifies because He is holy.
He empowers because He is powerful.
He redeems, heals, delivers, blesses, guides, revives, judges, performs miracles, signs, wonders, creation and life. The list continues.
He desires those who will partake of His work to first be with Him. Mark 3:14 says He ordained the twelve that they should be with Him before He sent them to preach.
The knowledge of God is not found on the surface. Deep calls unto deep. Psalm 42:7. Habakkuk could pray for revival because he understood God and knew His intervention was the only solution.
God seeks those who desire to know Him. Philippians 3:10. It is through knowing Him that we manifest His light in a dark world.
Psalm 66:1 to 12 reminds us that the works of God bring praise, reveal His power, preserve lives, test and refine us, and bring us to a place of abundance.
John 9:3 tells us that miracles happen for the works of God to be displayed. John 2:11 shows that His miracles reveal His glory and cause men to believe.
Psalm 139:14 affirms we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Ephesians 2:10 calls us His handiwork created for good works. Genesis 18:17 shows God confiding in men He works with.
We are not spectators. We are vessels.
Building Capacity to Manifest His Works
John 6:28 to 29 reveals that the work of God begins with believing. Salvation is the foundation, but growth in faith is required for exploits. Faith is the currency that withdraws from heaven. Faith downloads Divine possibilities.
The disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast out the demon in Matthew 17:17 to 21. Jesus highlighted key imperatives:
1. Faith building. Be not faithless but believing.
2. Holiness. Perversion hinders prayer.
3. Communion. Failure should drive us to God not from Him.
4. The Word of God. Let the word of God dwell richly in you and listen for the speaking word.
5. Usage. What you do not use you lose. Practice your faith.
6. Speaking the word. Say to the mountain. Your declarations carry power.
7. Prayer and fasting. Declarations gain weight after fellowship in prayer and fasting.
James 5:16b says the earnest heartfelt prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available and it is dynamic in its working. Passionate consistent prayer flowing from a pure heart releases power.
Conclusion
The cry Revive Thy Work is more than a prayer. It is a posture, a pursuit, a hunger for God to move again in our days. It is a call to return to encounters, to faith, to purity, to the word, to communion and to prayer that births power.
May God revive His work in our lives and in our generation.
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