“Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight. God’s bright glory has risen for you. The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, but God rises on you, His sunrise glory breaks over you. Nations will come to your light, kings to your sunburst brightness. Look up! Look around! Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you: Your sons coming from great distances, your daughters carried by their nannies. When you see them coming you’ll smile—big smiles! Your heart will swell and, yes, burst!” Isaiah 60:1-5 (MSG)
This passage has been such an encouragement and inspiration to me during these “Stay-at-Home Days” that we’re living in. Life as we know it is so different from normal (whatever that is), and we’re being forced to find new ways of doing things that we grew so accustomed to doing over the years. As a church leader, it’s been so interesting and exciting to find new ways to host church services and lead well through crisis, especially when our congregations are unable to gather physically. Many jobs have been lost and those that remain look different than ever before. Society and culture is adapting and changing, and even when things return to “normal,” they will never be the same. We’ll have a new normal.
Even though we’re clouded in the dusts of what’s unknown, I keep coming back to this passage. God is doing something. For those of you believing in this REVIVAL movement with me, this passage should be such a great encouragement! The glory of the Lord has shone upon us. And this isn’t just for us to hoard and take in; it’s so that we might shine that glory, reflect that light, so that others may see it and be drawn to it.
The burden and passion behind writing the songs for the “This Is Revival” album was to awaken the Church, believers everywhere, to begin living the lives we’ve been called to, living as if we understand that glory that has shone upon us. Our lives should look different. God is preparing us for a new season, a season of REVIVAL. Sons and daughters, prodigals, will return home to their faith once again. New believers will see the Light and accept Him for the first time. It’s coming.
The Church needs to wake up, to “get out of bed” and begin to shine. This is you. This is me. We’ve been called to an incredible life and privilege of proclaiming the Good News to those who need it. Imagine the sound of a sea of voices proclaiming the glory of our God. It’s a REVIVAL sound. Are you ready?
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