"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day:
the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4

This hymn was penned not long after the Second Great Awakening by Charles Carroll Luther. He was a journalist and lay evangelist before being ordained as a Baptist minister in 1886. Though not a prolific composer, he authored this hymn in 1877 when he heard Reverend A.G. Upham relate the story of a young man who was about to die. This young man had been a Christian for only one month. Though thankful to the Lord for granting him salvation during his final hour, he was nevertheless grieved that he had no opportunity to serve the Lord nor to share Him with others. He explained, “I am not afraid to die; Jesus saves me now. But must I go empty-handed?” Upon hearing this account, Luther wrote this hymn. Charles Luther then handed his lyrics to George C. Stebbins who did a beautiful job conveying the heart’s cry of this lovely hymn into music.

1857 found America in a tumultuous time. Civil War was brewing, the economy was unstable,
and morality seemed hardly to be found. But God used a man who was willing to give up his
lunch hour to prayer, to draw His people close to Him before one of the worst wars in our
country’s history.

Jeremiah Lanphier was just an ordinary man. He worked as a clothing wholesaler in New York
City. He was so concerned with the souls of those around him, that he spent his evenings
handing out tracts. Eventually, Jeremiah accepted a job at a Dutch Reformed Church visiting
members, witnessing, and holding Bible studies. This job proved to be demanding work with
little visible reward and Jeremiah found himself physically and spiritually exhausted when his
days would end. Because of this, he began to pray at noon for one hour. He found this
reinvigorated him and gave him strength to continue his work as the scripture says,

 Since we met last, our nation has gone from having the strongest economy in her history to having an unemployment rate that is the highest since the Great Depression. We have states still in lockdown, which many people believe is for political reasons. 

 America is in distress! 

We are all very familiar with the song Amazing Grace. Even those who don’t profess to be Christians will stop to listen if the song is being sung, and almost everyone knows the words to the iconic first verse. But fewer know the bloody but beautiful story behind the hymn or the role it played in the Second Great Awakening.

This song was written by John Newton in 1772. Newton spent a short time in England’s Royal Navy, but left disgraced and directly entered the world of slave trading. Caught up in the money it provided, he transported people from their homeland to England. However, one travel found his ship in the midst of a terrible storm where he realized that it would only be by the grace of God that he would survive. It was then he answered the call of the Holy Spirit on his life, and gave himself to Christ. While he did not immediately quit the slave trade, a few years later found him rejecting that life style and pursuing the ministry. He later published a tract, Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, which did much to open the eyes of the public to the horrors of slavery. Newton’s life and story were also fundamental in William Wilberforce’s fight to abolish slavery in England.

As we meditate on Passover, Good Friday, and Easter this week, much more comes to mind than previous years. This will be the first Easter celebrated out of church in the recorded history of the United States. As the Israelites were during the Passover, so are we, shut in with God. 

For most of us, before the coronavirus epidemic our time with the Lord was very limited, but for many of us now we have more time. 

When we look back at past revivals, they seem as they are incredibly separate and distant from our present time.

In the year 1607, when Jamestown chaplain Robert Hunt first set foot upon the shore of Virginia, he made this declaration,
“From these very shores the gospel shall go forth, not only to this New World, but to all the world.”

"Lord, forgive us, for the church has conformed to the world. God’s people view pornography, listen to the same music as the world, and act like the world. You are a holy God and You are seeking a holy people. We repent and ask that You would forgive us and send us a revival! O God, make us a holy people for Your glory!” 

This prayer was prayed recently in an America Pray Now prayer meeting and was very impacting! The Lord’s desire is to have a church that is not conformed to this world. Only then will His life and power flow through us to our needy nation. 

Three American men, held in captivity without hope, with no way out of the terrible North Korean prison were suddenly set free a few weeks ago!

Imagine if you were in those oppressive prisons, doomed to years of hard labor, and suddenly you were told, “You are free — free to go home, to hug your loved ones. Free at last!” You would walk out of that prison feeling like you were dreaming. That is what these three men experienced. Imagine how they felt when their plane landed on US soil!

When those freed prisoners landed at Andrews Air Force Base one of them gave Vice President Pence a note. Written on it were these words from Psalms 126:
“When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing... The Lord has done great things for America, the Lord has done great things for us!”

Psalm 106:2 says, “Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise?”

As we look back and reflect on 2017, I think all of us can say with the psalmist that God has done so many mighty deeds. God has done great things for us. Both corporately and privately there have been many prayers that God has heard and answered. 

Our nation, which once — for the most part — promoted righteousness, has been promoting things in the world that are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Our God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, but he also forgave and restored Nineveh when they repented of their wicked ways! He did this with a great revival that spread from the top down.

Only the spirit of repentance sweeping across our land can change the hearts and minds in this nation. We desperately need a revival, which will be what spares us from God’s judgment. This revival can begin with you and me!

In the past those whom God used to bring about revival were men and women of God who had sought Him with all their hearts — men and women of prayer. We cannot stop praying until we see revival become a reality!

When will we repent?

Great spiritual awakenings are the sovereign work of Almighty God. Revival is when God comes down. I have experienced this only one time during my 38 years in ministry. God came down with the sound of a freight train rolling through 200 pastors and lay leaders who broke out into repentance, while I was preaching a revival among the villages on the border of Uganda and Kenya. It is my passion to see this happen in America.

Revival for America

It is a privilege to take time out of our busy schedules to pray. None of us would take time to pray if we did not believe that through prayer God changes things. Election after election we have put our hope in people believing they can bring about the changes we have so desired. But time and time again we have been disappointed in man.

At this time in history no man can save us...even if the Republicans take over the Senate, or a righteous man takes the White House in 2016, that is not enough to save America. They cannot save America because they are not capable of changing the hearts of the people.