The past couple of weeks we've written about two indicators that show our desperate need for revival in the land - a "prayerless pew" and a "powerless people." There's another signpost that points to our need of a great spiritual awakening in this generation -a "passionless people."
A few years ago I was traveling back from India to the United States. I was anxious to find out what had been happening in my own country. I picked up and American newspaper in an airport to read on the plane. The headlines told of a pastor who had resigned his church because of immorality. A couple months later on my way home from Africa I again read a newspaper on the flight home. This time the headlines told of a famous evangelist who had been caught in immorality.
There's one subject that many Christians would prefer not to talk about, and that's the relationship of suffering to revival. In the Western world we seem to have lost the meaning of suffering in the believers life. We've opted for power religion and forsaken the way of the cross. But there never could have been a resurrection of Christ unless He was willing to suffer and die on a cruel Roman cross.
Often we hear an evangelist's testimony, and it goes something like this, "I was a drug addict. Then I met Jesus, and since then everything has been wonderful." That's a great testimony to the grace of God.