Revival Challenge Day 19

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days... we're currently on the road in California, taking the kidlets to the various Southern California attractions. But I've been praying for revival and I hope that you are too.

I was reading Ezra over the last few days... the times that we are in right now are a lot like the times of Ezra's day. If you've read Ezra before, you might remember that the Israelites were taken into captivity by the Babylonians, and they rebuilt the temple. Some people who had seen the original temple were sad because it was not as nice as Solomon's, but many people were glad nevertheless.

Anyway, Ezra lived in a time that is very much like our own. The believing people were living among many people that did not believe in God. And just like in our day, the believing people were living a lot like the nonbelieving people. They were even marrying nonbelievers (it happens today too).

Ezra was very sad when he found out that the people were living like the world, and he prayed with repentance and forgiveness. The people decided later to live separated lives again.

My preacher was talking about how when he was a high schooler, he was invited to a church youth group meeting. He was wondering how church youth group could be fun. They started showing pornographic videos at the meeting. Preacher left the meeting early, and was turned off from Christianity for years as a result. Even the nonbelievers know that Christians are not supposed to be doing things like that.

If we live like the world, how are we supposed to show the world how we are different? How your life can change by believing in Jesus? You can't. The divorce rates in Christian homes aren't really different than the divorce rates in everybody else's homes. Our children are generally just as ill-behaved as the rest of the world's. If there is no change in our lives, why would the world want to be like us? At least they are free to do as they like on Sunday mornings.

I know that there are obviously some people who are Christians that have great families. I know many of them myself. But your family speaks more about what it's like to be a Christian than a lot of other things you could say. Perhaps that's something to pray about today, whether for strength for your own family (even if your family is great that's probably a good idea anyway), or strength for the families of people that you know, people in your neighborhood, and people in your country. Revival is more difficult when our families are falling apart.