Stirring Up Revival Sample

2.   Sincere repentance with change. 

“Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” Joel 2:13 NIV 

The MSG translation of the same verse says “change your life” in the place of “rend your heart.” 

Repentance must precede revival. This is the message the prophet Joel came to share. Something had to change and sin was the problem. The people of God had stopped worshipping God. 

Is this true of us? Time is short. This is urgent. Wake up! Change your life. Rend your heart. We serve a turnaround God! Am I willing to let Him turn my life around? That’s repentance. Turning around and changing courses. 

When I think of sincere repentance, I’m drawn back to the story of a freshman student who showed up at our ministry and had never heard the gospel. When he arrived, he didn’t want to be there, and by the end of that night, he couldn’t believe he only had 4 more years left. When he started his discipleship journey, he found that the way he had been living was sinful and he sincerely repented like I’ve never seen before. For example, he had a computer filled with illegally downloaded music and he got rid of it. His small group was so inspired and moved that they got him iTunes gift cards as gifts. There was a sincere repentance with immediate life change, even when it cost him something. 

Joel reminds us to return to the Lord our God. Who is this God? He is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love. He relents from sending calamity. 

When people repent and change, God intervenes.