40 Days For The Next Generation

Today we start our 40 days of prayer for the Revive retreat. The first devo I am sharing is from my beautiful wife, Kimberly:

As Jody and I share daily what God puts on our hearts, we’d love for you to share as well. Please pray for revival to breakout, not only with our students, but with each of us. Thanks for giving your time to invest in these young people!

The definition I pulled on “revive” talked about restoring from an inactive state. For months I have been praying for revival, not only in the lives of students, but in our home.. in our daughter’s lives… in our marriage.. in my heart. At some point during my third trimester, my heart and time with God seemed to go on autopilot. It may have been from exhaustion. It may have been from hormones. It may have been from pride. Whatever it was, I knew I needed God to revive my heart. My time with Him felt inactive, and I was miserable.

As I prayed for God to revive my heart, to renew my spirit… I knew with every part of my being that He would. Oh, how I love Him and need Him more than I need air. He has never failed to renew and refresh my heart when the world takes a toll. I asked Him to give me His heart for teens. He has. I asked Him to agape through me. He has. I asked for revival, and my heart absolutely came alive. God is so faithful to come running when we cry out for a Him.

This morning I read Isaiah 66:2, which says "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” As we individually and collectively prepare our hearts for Revive, let’s approach God with a humble heart and contrite spirit… as Beth Moore says, not because we deserve to approach the throne but because He is approachable. I pray we tremble at His Word.

Let’s ask Him to do impossible things in the lives and hearts of these students. Let’s ask Him to stretch us and change us. Let’s ask Him to amaze us with His works. Let’s ask Him to show these kids His power. Let’s ask Him to provide abundantly more than we expect or need, in the number of students signing up, the funds provided, and in the passion He gives us as we prepare and serve His kids.

I want us to be amazed… even though we fully believe all things are possible with God… I want us to stand in awe of who He is the weekend of March 27th. I pray we never cease to be amazed at what He can do. I want our kids to be amazed… so much so that they come home, never the same. I want them to come fully alive from an inactive state and live revived, so every student will want what they have… Jesus.