Chip Gilmour, former minister of Amazing Grace Church in Louisville, is striving to initiate a spiritual revival in our city. He has been meeting with a small group every Sunday afternoon for the past year, earnestly praying for God to send a revival. I have attended many of those meetings and have really appreciated the intensity of the prayers uttered on behalf of our country.
Last Sunday night, Chip brought together a diverse group of spiritual leaders from various denominations, representing all ages and races, to prepare for a series of outdoor prayer meetings. Beginning Sunday, June 13, at 6:00 p.m. in the area of the Louisville Waterfront Park Amphitheater, all of God’s people are invited to join them for prayer, worship, and preaching as they seek to unite our city on the truths of God’s Word. They plan to meet there at 6:00 p.m. each night next week to continue to seek God’s anointing on our community.
I commend any effort to bring about a spiritual awakening among us. Our nation has not been so divided since the civil war. We are divided by partisan politics, racial identity, and moral standards. Jesus said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Our community and our nation are in trouble if we soon don’t overcome the hostility and incivility toward one another and learn to love one another as Christ loved us.
Politicians cannot bring us together; educators, scientists, sports personalities, Hollywood entertainers are not going to unite us. We believe that only Jesus Christ can bring us together. He prayed, “May they be one Father as I am in you” (John 17:21). He promised, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me”(John 12:32). Only Jesus can forgive our sin and grant us hope for eternity. Only Jesus can break down the walls that separate us. Only Jesus can unite us and make us one nation under God again. The Bible says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
However, for revival to occur, there must be humble swallowing of pride and total surrender to the authority of Jesus Christ on behalf of individuals. I wonder if the pandemic we’ve just endured wasn’t a warning sign from God pleading with us to repent of our sin and turn to Him. God used a virus — something so small we can’t even see it — to shut down the world and remind us of our vulnerability and insufficiency. Jesus said, “…apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
So Christian leaders are asking for Christians from all walks of life to humbly come together and pray for a spiritual awakening – a turning to God in repentance & prayer. The music may not always be your favorite. The setting may get you out of your comfort zone. The preaching will be a variety of styles. But I’m in favor of any effort to call our nation to repentance and renewal.
God promises, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Kentucky has a rich history of revivals. Some, such as the Cane Ridge Revival, impacted the entire nation. In 1801 Christianity had been declining, while immorality, corruption, and drunkenness increased throughout the area. In response, a group of preachers from various denominations led by Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian preacher, called the entire region to gather for a communion service and prayer in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, just outside Lexington.
The Christian History Institute reported, “At this Cane Ridge Communion…sometimes 20,000 people swirled about the grounds—watching, praying, preaching, weeping, groaning, falling. Though some stood at the edges and mocked, most left marveling at the wondrous hand of God.”
That meeting helped spark the Second Great Awakening in America. The Christian History Institute further reported that Vanderbilt historian Paul Conkin called it “‘arguably … the most important religious gathering in all of American history.’ It ignited the explosion of evangelical religion, which soon reached into nearly every corner of American life. For decades the prayer of camp meetings and revivals across the land was ‘Lord, make it like Cane Ridge.’”
The first revival in Christian history occurred on the day of Pentecost, a little more than a month after Jesus’ resurrection. It began with 120 people who met for a week-long prayer meeting. So, let’s gather and pray that a revival would begin here that would permeate the city and motivate our state to repentance and renewal.
See you there!
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