Revive Me In Your Way, 1of2, Evans Olang

Psalm 119:37, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way” 

There are three words (Replace, Restore, Revive) that work together with each of them having their own strengths. REPLACE is to put back into former position or place, it is also to provide a substitute. RESTORE is to bring back into existence or use, also to bring back to an original condition. REVIVE which is my key word is to bring back to life or conscious. It is to return to validity, effectiveness or operative condition.

The three words have functions that sound alike, they talk about bringing back which is a sign that something is dormant, dead, ineffective, corrupted, or broken. You can restore something but still not make a difference. You can replace something and still not do much, but when you revive something, you bring it back to life, to its validity, effectiveness and operational condition.

Nine times in Psalm 119 the word “revive” has been recorded. This an indication that at times we go through dormant stages in our Christian walk that leaves us ineffective, dead and without being valid. The cure for this dilemma is not replace or restore but revive, bring back to life. Psalm 119:25, “…Revive me according to your word; Psalm 80:18, “…revive us and we will call upon Your name”; Psalm 119:40, “…Revive me in Your righteousness”; Psalm 119:88, “Revive me according to Your loving kindness”; Psalm 119:149, “…revive me according to your justice”; Psalm 119:156, “…revive me according to Your judgments”; Psalm 143:11, “Revive me, O Lord, for Your name’s sake”; Isaiah 57:15, “…revive the heart of the contrite ones”; Habakkuk 3:2, “revive Your work in the midst of the years”

What causes us to need revival in the first place? Isaiah 40:27, “… The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary”, Of course God does not change and what affects humans has no effect on Him. For us, we will go through different cycles, times of being up, and times of being down, times of encouragements and times of discouragements, why? Isaiah 40:30, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall”. It is clear that each of us will have those seasons, but how do we get revived?, Isaiah 40:31, “But those that WAIT on the Lord shall renew (revive) their strength”. “Wait” as I have always mentioned does not mean sit and do nothing, “wait” is a word used in restaurants to mean serve. Wait on God means serve the Lord, find something that you can do for the Lord because this is how revival begins to come. Look at how the bible puts it “Shall renew their strength” as opposed to “their strength will be renewed”. What this shows me is that in the process of waking up and beginning to do something in your life to bring a revival, that process will renew (revive) your strength. Here are the results of revival, Isaiah 40:31, “…They shall mount up with wings like eagles (not doves)”. Doves would fly away very fast while eagles sow above everything. If you are dealing with struggles, learn by God’s grace to sow above it without trying to run away from it. “They shall run and not be weary” this is not trying to run a way but running towards the mark set before us. This is not a weary race but a race of hope. “They shall walk and not faint“, this is where I would plug in faith. Faint not, have faith in God, faith keeps hope alive.

Some people may think revival is all about hearing a fiery preaching, getting slain, basking in the presence of God, and all that is good but I am more revived being in the Father’s business. Inquiring of what’s in the heart of the Father and stepping out by faith with His help to serve Him. Where are you today in your spiritual walk?, what are you doing about it? Get into a revival mode. blessings Ev