Tag: Renewal

How do Christians “Stand-up and Fight for What’s Right”?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment


Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord– Acts 3:19 NIV

America is in decline. 

Once trusted institutions are now looked at with scorn, cynicism and even fear. Many politicians have become corrupt, narcissistic and self-serving.  The economy is in crisis. Inflation is raging. Crime and violence are becoming disturbingly routine events.   Personal freedom is often a cover for evil and selfishness. Government has responded by restricting and regulating personal freedom at every turn.  The military is weakened. A once robust educational system is collapsing. Families are broken. Children are confused about who and what they are.  Drug use is endemic. Men and women are literally fighting for the right to kill their own children.  Truth tellers are despised. These ugly, irrefutable, painful realities clearly point to a state of growing decline. 

Sigh. 

What the heck? How on earth did the freest, richest and overall greatest nation (in my humble opinion) on earth transform into such a raging dumpster-fire so quickly? 

 As tempting as it is we cannot in good conscience lay the blame for the chaos entirely at the feet of our increasingly inept and morally bankrupt political leaders. In a democracy decline is never entirely the fault of the people in charge, voters get what they accept and vote for. Additionally, from a biblical standpoint bad leaders are always an indicator of judgment and are therefore just a symptom of a greater problem.   

In this case sin is the greater problem. 

Sin is always the ultimate cause of moral and spiritual decline (Romans 1:18-32). If an individual, family or nation is deteriorating or declining you can bet sin is at the root of the issue.  Anytime anyone turns away from God and starts to do their own thing they separate themselves from God and the moral code faith in God brings with it.  Eventually, the whole memory of that moral code fades and the person, family or culture is left with the ethical equivalent of a raging dumpster fire. What we’re looking at in the world today is what you get when people turn away from God, reject His moral code and choose to do their own thing. 

Unfortunately. 

Our situation will not be improving anytime soon. The decline America is experiencing will continue until we have a massive revival that fundamentally changes our trajectory or the eventual end of America as we know it. Obviously, we are all rooting for a revival. Here is what we need to do to get it:

Stand up the right way- 

 Christians are frequently told everything will improve when they “stand up” and “fight” for what’s right.  The problem is that no one can really explain what that means or how to do it in a way that brings God glory and facilitates change in the culture. Do we lead an insurrection? Do we focus on the political realm? What exactly does standing up for our faith look like in the modern world? I believe this is where we can take a page from the early churches’ handbook. The early church didn’t take a political or even a moral stand against the Roman government. They didn’t rally or rage against anyone or anything— no matter how wicked or evil that somebody or something was. As a powerless minority rallying and raging would have done little good, it might have even gotten them killed. Instead they simply refused to conform to the culture around them (Romans 2:12). They lived such good, right and moral lives within their culture that they slowly won the culture over to their way of thinking, believing and behaving (1st Peter 2:12). We must seek to do the same. 

Have a realistic perspective on the limits and potential of politics-

Politics are important in a democracy and we have to remember that living in a democracy is a gift from God. Nevertheless, it is critical Christians understand all political leaders (including conservatives) are flawed and cannot be depended on to bring about ethical change.  Every Christian living in a democracy or a constitutional republic is biblically obligated to do their part for the country they live in. That includes praying fervently for political leaders, choosing to vote only for the best and most principled candidate available. Doing our part means being a good citizen who follows all laws that do not contradict God or His laws. We must do our best to improve the political realm but politics should never take the place of God in our lives. Nor can we depend on human leaders to bring righteousness, justice or peace to our land. Only God can bring healing to our world. 

 Take spiritual risks– 

This is not the time to sit back and hope good wins out in the end. This cultural moment requires Christians be spiritually proactive. We become proactive by sharing our faith boldly, loving the lost boldly and doing what’s right in God’s eyes no matter the cost to us personally.  

Our job as followers of Jesus is not to demand our rights or spend our time cursing the darkness (1st Corinthians 4:12) . Our job is to be Jesus to our world. We must seek to represent Him well in our homes, churches and communities.  

Spiritual Survival in our Post Truth Reality-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

They refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false- 2nd Thessalonians 2:10b-11 ESV

Think about this:

  • A male is now the number one female swimmer in America. 
  • It is no longer true that being born with a particular set of chromosomes (XX or XY) determines gender. 
  • Feelings are every bit as valid and important as facts. 
  • Words are violence.
  • It is possible to say, write or post something inoffensive, truthful and kind in a “mean way” instantly making the inoffensive, truthful and kind thing “mean” and “aggressive”. 

Furthermore:

People with average I’Q’s routinely look at long lists of facts proving something to be true. After viewing the evidence (much of it airtight) they will assert that all those obvious and incontestable facts are simply not true.  They conclude the truth is in fact the exact opposite of what the provable facts say they are.  

This makes it official:

Our culture has fallen down the rabbit hole. Good has become evil, right has become wrong, and lies have become truth (Isaiah 5:20, Jeremiah 4:22). Literally.  

There is nothing stranger than watching a seemingly rational and apparently functional person deny the clearly obvious without any apparent misgivings. It feels like you’re witnessing someone morph into a pod person right before your very eyes. It FEELS as if you’re being willfully gaslighted. However, I am convinced that is not the case most of the time. The pod people really believe the lie.  They imagine men can really be women, feelings are as important as facts, words are every bit as harmful as a weapon in the hands of a killer and intent is irrelevant. 

Interestingly, the Bible does provide an explanation for this lunacy. 2nd Thessalonians tells us that as the world winds down and we near the “end of the age” (Matthew 13:39-43, Matthew 24) there will be “a great delusion”. The delusion will come because people will refuse to believe the word of God and be saved. The delusion will cause many to believe things that are simply not true. In Luke twenty-one Jesus warns of something similar. He tells His disciples that in the end false prophets and teachers will deceive many. Jesus warns that the delusion will be so powerful that even some of the “elect” or those who have a relationship with Jesus will be tempted to believe the lies.

The delusion appears to be gaining ground.

It’s the only rational explanation for the madness currently running amok in our culture. Furthermore, the monkey business we’re experiencing will not end until we have a massive revival that impacts the majority of the population or Jesus returns.  Seriously. Once a civilization collectively hops on a bus to Crazy Town there is little chance of turning the bus around without divine intervention. 

This means believers in Jesus must get busy figuring out how to deal with the current reality in a way that reveals truth to the world around us and honors God. 

Sigh. 

 Nothing is impossible with God. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean everything God calls us to do will be easy. Living for God in a topsy-turvy rabbit-hole world of post-truth is no easy task. That said accepting the following realities will make it easier. 

First:

We must question everything- 

Seriously. The ideas and philosophies taking root in our culture are not all OBVIOUSLY insane, some clearly are. However, some actually look, sound and feel good, right and even true if we are not looking at them through a biblical lens (Colossians 2:8). Deception is often subtle. Some lies have a little seed of truth at their core. Others seem good and true on the surface. It isn’t until you carefully examine the fruit of the idea that you see the idea is, in reality, totally toxic. This means Christians have to practice wisdom and discernment (Psalm 119:125, Job 34:4) in every circumstance.  

We have to learn to pray about everything-

We do not live in a time and place where can pridefully “lean on our own understanding” about anything and survive spiritually (Proverbs 3:5-6). This a time to humbly acknowledge the reality that God knows more than we do about everything and ask Him for wisdom about everything even the things that feel right to us (Proverbs 14:20)

We have to be okay with not being liked- 

The days of being an esteemed majority are all but over for Christians, at least for the foreseeable future. The sooner we get comfortable with the reality of not being liked the sooner we can get on with learning how to live spiritually productive lives in a post-Christian culture (Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:9, 2nd Corinthians 4:7-10). This reality does not give us permission to be rude, unpleasant or lacking in grace but it should give us the courage to say what needs to be said and to defend what’s good and true (Colossians 4:5-6). 

Our world is officially post-truth. 

I don’t know if this is the beginning of the end or simply a blip on the radar that will lead to a revival that will lead to cultural transformation. That question is way above my current paygrade.  I do know our call in this cultural moment is to be faithful in all things and trust God with the rest (Revelation 2:10, Galatians 5:22, Revelation 13:10.  

What is the Difference Between Renewal and Revival and how do we get Both?

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me– Psalm 51:10 NIV

 Our world is a flaming-hot mess right now.

 This is not a new thing.

 Sin and the messiness sin inevitably produces is as old as humanity (Genesis 1-3).

However.

It could be argued the world has been in a spiritual and ethical freefall for the better part of a century.

 Hedonism replaced Christianity as the predominant worldview in Western society a century ago. As a result, the average person does not even know how to think about life from a moral and ethical perspective. Abortion is thought to be a human right. Marriage is one of plethora of options available for sexual fulfillment and individuals are free to define marriage any way they want.  Attitudes towards sexuality have changed dramatically in recent years, with pedophilia being the latest in a long list of sexual behaviors that have become normalized, or are quickly becoming normalized. Most children are raised by godless influencers on google and YouTube while Moms and Dads blithely chase down self-actualization. Each new generation is more godless than the last. 

 Sigh. 

 The moral and social upheaval has accelerated at an unsettling pace over the last three years. Coronavirus is at least partly to blame. Coronavirus ravaged the economy of every nation on earth. The psychological distress brought on by economic hardships has shone a spotlight on the social dysfunction festering beneath the surface of society for decades.  COVID-19 also accelerated the political corruption that already existed. Politicians used the pandemic as an excuse to grab power and make rules they themselves refuse to follow. Democracy hating revolutionaries seized on the confusion brought on by the virus and used underlying racial and economic tensions as an excuse to loot, burn and murder.  These rioters said they wanted a better, more just society but their real aim was and is to create a new social order with a godless government.

 Sigh.   

 Our world is in a state of chaos because most people are spiritually dead.  They don’t know God or care about right and wrong. Most individuals do what they want with no regard for God or what will happen to them after they die (Romans 1:18-32, 1st Corinthians 1:18).  Revival is something that occurs in those who do not know God.  When authentic revival takes place, people who are spiritually dead and unresponsive to spiritual truth (non-Christians) have a spiritual awakening and are brought to spiritual life (Ezekiel 37:1-14). When this happens, their heart undergoes a profound change. They fall in love with Jesus, repent of their sins and begin to see life the way God sees life. As their thinking is transformed their behavior changes too (Romans 12:1-2, 2nd Corinthians 3:18) One consequence of widespread revival is that attitudes towards sin undergo a profound change and eventually every part of society is affected in some way.  Historically, anytime genuine revival has taken place alcohol sales go down, divorce rates plummet and crime rates drop dramatically.

 We could use some of that. 

 But, here’s the thing: revival generally does not occur without renewal first taking place. Renewal is a spiritual work that occurs in the hearts of those who do know God (Psalm 51). Renewal takes place when God begins to work in the hearts of people who know Him and have drifted from Him. God changes the hearts of Christians who have become disobedient or apathetic towards spiritual things. Renewal makes our faith fresh and new again. When renewal happens, Christians have a fresh hunger for holiness, a desire for truth and have a renewed longing to see revival take place in the culture. God always brings renewal before revival because renewal prepares the church to meet the needs of the new believers that come out of revival.  

 The church needs God to renew His people because for the most part, Christians have ceased to care about revival. Instead of praying for a movement of God we have settled for isolating ourselves from the sinners in our culture. The church has become far too focused on our own needs. This is demonstrated by the fact that most Christians are more worried about having their personal rights respected than in doing what’s right. We tend to see the world in terms of us (Christians) and them (non-Christians) and many of us would likely struggle to come up with one thing we would willingly give up to see someone else saved. Christians rarely pray and when we do pray our prayers tend to be fairly self-motivated, as a result we rarely feel personal conviction and when we do we seldom act on it.  

 Sigh.

 The need for revival is always obvious when its required. The need for renewal is generally much less obvious but more critical because we will not get the first until we get the second. Renewal comes on God’s people when they collectively pray and ask God for it. God moves when His people seek Him with all of their heart, soul and strength (Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 22:37). Renewal occurs when Christians do the things they did when their hearts were on fire for God and when individuals couple right behavior with asking God to give them the right attitude (Revelation 2:5). I believe God wants to bring both revival and renewal to our world but He won’t do it until Christians around the world collectively ask for it.


Like we really mean it.