I wish all my American friends a Happy Independence Day as we celebrate liberty from tyranny. May we also experience liberty and freedom in our thoughts and souls, from the evil one whom the Lord Jesus defeated at the cross. We continue with our daily meditations on the world's need for revival so that all the Earth will recognize our need for Christ.
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6).
Our daily meditations continue to explore the need for a Holy Spirit-empowered revival. When reaching the multitudes without Christ, business as usual is not enough. I am convinced that God is looking for entire congregations to pour out their lives in dedication to saving those who have yet to come to Christ. Did you know that it was not until 1830 that the Earth's population reached 1 billion? From that point, it took 130 years to add the second billion to Earth's population, reaching 2 billion by 1960. As of 2025, Earth's population stands at 8 billion, with an increase of approximately a billion every eight years. God visited us with powerful revivals in the days of Charles Finney, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and George Whitfield; why wouldn’t He do the same today? More than half the people who have ever lived are alive now. Because of the population increase, if we don't experience a move of the Spirit and a visitation of God today, more people will enter a lost eternity without God than in all previous generations combined. I believe the Lord will not allow that to happen.
Do you believe what the Bible says about eternal life, Heaven, and Hell? If God could work through entire communities to bring people to Christ in the 1830s, why wouldn't He do the same now in your city? Our faith and expectation of God's power working through us need to be strengthened and nurtured through practice. Faith is like a muscle; it must be fed and exercised. Adding 20 or 30 people to our churches each year isn't enough. The population is growing faster than our church membership. But God hasn't left us without hope. He has promised a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the last days to accomplish the task of reaching the world for Christ. It is to that mission that we at Group Bible Study are committed.
Does the Bible Prophesy an Outpouring in the Last Days?
17" 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19I will show wonders in the Heaven above and signs on the Earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved' (Acts 2:17-21; emphasis added).
I believe the Day of Pentecost was just a preview of what God will do in the last days (v. 17 in the passage above), and I think we are nearing the time when a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit will occur. However, it won't happen without persecution. Throughout Scripture and history, persecution of the church often led to revival and spiritual growth. I don't know about you, but for years I have longed to see our young men and women prophesying, with the Holy Spirit resting on them. As an 'old man,' I am content to dream dreams! But God's power among us doesn't come without prayer. It's time for God’s people to cry out to Him and ask for His Spirit to be poured out.
Taken from the series, On Fire with the Spirit. This study is If My People Who Are Called.