Seeking revival for God's glory, not ours

There's an old joke - Randy Alcorn has told a version, but it's likely hundreds of years old - where a man says to God in prayer, "Lord, to you a million dollars is like one penny, right?" God says "Yes," and the man says, "And to You, a million years is like one second, right?" God says "Yes" again, and the man says, "So, Lord, please give me a million dollars." And God says, "Just a second."

We sometimes pray for things we want, not things we need, and God understands. But, you may ask, what does this have to do with repentance revival? Because God wants tto save souls, right?

Of course He does. However, we have to be careful not only that we pray for things so God gets the glory instead of imperfect man, but also it's vital to pray for the right things for the right reasons, and not for our own selfish ones. The Bible says, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."(James 4:3)

Why, when we pray,  should we seek God's glory?  The reasons tie in with what has already been said about repentance.

God wants us to recognize that we can't do it ourselves. Since we all fall short of God's perfect righteousness, we need Him to do something we can't do for ourselves, namely save us from our sins. Because we as a nation are forever made up of imperfect people, we need God to cleanse us and revive our hearts. And, since we are imperfect we can't rightly claim to have done work only God can accomplish. 

Remember that revival comes from the inside out. A person can change some things about themselves, of course. New Years resolutions are probably the most famous kinds of these changes, and many of them fail after a few months if not a few weeks or even days. One person might decide to quit a bad habit and succeed, another might do so only after a major health crisis is caused by it, and yet another might cling to that bad habit even as they lay dying. The point is that some people are more able to succeed at certain things, but we all struggle with something, there are things in each of us only God can change.

And, that is only talking about habits. Attitudes are even harder to change because they strike more at the heart of who we are. A person might train themselves not to call people a certain name, but that is different than changing how they treat such people, and far different than changing what they think about such people.

This is why we say with trusting Jesus Christ as Savior is a heart and mind decision. One must choose to invite Jesus into one's heart and let Him make one new on the inside. That prrson becomes a new creature as 2nd Corinthians 5:17 promises, and will continue to grow more Christlike as he or she matures. Jesus Christ works from the inside out, and that is where the person clearly cannot totally change oneself.

In the same way, we cannot change this country ourselves, we need Jesus Christ to do it. Then since we need God to work this miracle, then of course we must give God the glory and pray that He will be glorified in all that is done.

We must go a step further, also, and pray for repentance revival to come for God's glory first, and not for our own motives. Our own motives, because we are human, can be wrong, even as we pray for the right thing.

Case in point. I had a great friend from age 7-8 through high school who I have prayed for 25 years plus to come to know the Lord; yes, I'd appreciate prayer for him, please.(To keep it private, I wont' give names, but will say on here when he comes to know the Lord.) He may have been impacted more than I thought by a robbery, so I accept responsibility for not catching that as a possible reason he became very bitter(I may have slight Asperger's or PDD-NOS but could have guessed/asked). But, the crux of the matter is, he developed a very bitter attitude for a while and when I tried to help him be nicer, he bullied me with it, too. I eventually realized he was pulling me down and broke things off.

At first, I prayed for him at first because I wanted us to be friends again, but God showed me I was praying amiss; what mattered wasn't here, what mattered was his eternal destiny. He'd never trusted Christ to forgive and save him, and praying that he trust Christ and get changed on the inside was the right hing to pray for, but I was doing it for the wrong motives. I was praying for that for myself. Eventually, I learned I needed to pray for him to get saved regardless of whether we ever see each other again in this life. So, now I do.

On a happier note, I don't know how she prayed at first, but a woman I know prayed for her husband to get saved for 44 years before he accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour. A man I know prayed for his brother for decades, and I heard of a woman who prayed for her son for 25 years. Did any of them pray amiss at first, wanting their loved to be saved for their own reasons and not for God's glory? I'm sure they or others have.

So, you can see that when you are engaged with God in fervent prayer over the souls of others - or over this country or anything else - it's important to ask God to point out any wrong motives. It's not that God won't hear our prayers if we have some; at times He grants our petition and then deals with those motives later. But, the Lord wants us to grow, too; He wants us to become more like Him. Sometimes, the way to do that is to help us to see certain things in our lives or things about Him, our situations, or ourselves.(Such as prayer helping me to realize about my possible slight developmental delay in how my brain processes things, and how I am literal enough if people tell me something's not a problem I will presume it isn't.)

 So, pray witht he right motives - God to be glorified - as well as for the right reasons.

What is our goal?

Simply put, our goal should be for God to be glorified. He will be most glorified by souls coming to know Him through His lovingkindness. he won't force others to love Him because that is not love, it's intimidation. True love, as noted before, is when we love because we want to, not because we have to.

Thanksfully, the things we as Christians should desire - such as for others to be won to Christ and spend forever in God's perfect Heaven where there is no pain, no suffering, and no tears, where nobody has seen, heard, or even imagined the wonders that await us - are things God wants to give us. He wanted that woman's husband to get saved, he wanted that other woman's son to come to Christ, and so on. He wants these things.

he also wants to save our country, despite how many problems we have now, despite how many problems we've had for 400 years! But, saving one country is going to be a lot harder than saving one person who stubbornly clings to their own failed attempts to work their way to Heaven. It will be a lot harder, and take a lot more people praying, which is why this needs to be passed on, and the need to pray for our country must be encouraged - prayer int he right way, that is.

He also wants us to be able to lovingly show His love to others, because that is how He will be able to get people to see there is a difference between those who simply say they are religious and who have a working relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Thankfully, each of us is only a single, sincere prayer of repentance to Jesus Christ away from eternal life. Once that person calls on the Lord to forgive them, then they will have the Holyi Spirit in them nd be able to be a great prayer warrior themselves, getting more and more able as they grow in their faith.