We in the USA have enjoyed living in a land that has been blessed by the fruits of truth and righteousness. We are now beginning to see the fruits of its rejection in our culture of anger, immorality, death, and destruction.  Abortion is evil beyond words. Immorality abounds in every form and is readily accepted, applauded, and celebrated. Anger is the norm, as our culture is now doomed to live solely by its feelings.  The result will continue to be the death and destruction that always results when a culture rejects God, truth, and every other foundation necessary for a favored and peaceful society.

The list goes on. The Nuclear Family (one man and one woman who marry and raise a family together) has been destroyed over and over again and is now hated and rejected.  Black Lives Matter, while rightly addressing the issue of injustice, advertises openly on their website that they desire to disrupt the nuclear family and are actively working to replace it (as stated by their website list of beliefs, available online). Abortion abounds and some even defend it as “better for a baby to die than to live in this world.” The church is filled with members who no longer see Christianity as essential. They faithfully visit Walmart and grocery stores and fill ball fields but see no need to assemble, to pray, to worship, and to provoke one another to love and good works.  Family altars are almost non-existent. Many of our churches see no one saved and no one being discipled and have been in decline for quite some time.  

We are not the first culture that has been blessed by truth and righteousness and later been cursed by its rejection. Read the history sections of the Bible and the scenario repeats itself with alarming frequency. When a society embraced truth and righteousness, peace and favor ruled the land. When they rejected it, death and destruction followed.  It was true in the book of Judges and throughout the Minor Prophets. It has also been true throughout the course of history and we are simply seeing history repeat itself.  The nation that forgets God will be turned into hell (Psalm 9:17), is a simple and yet powerful statement. We certainly are in need of revival!

Is revival even possible?  I believe so, and offer you three suggestions from the life of a young man who saw his culture destroyed and yet faced it with faith and character.  His name was Daniel.  I have observed at least three responses Daniel had as he found himself living in a culture of evil.

1.  He determined to do right.  

Daniel was removed from his homeland, made a eunuch, enslaved, and then brought into the kings court to be trained in the thinking and ways of Babylon. Daniel 1:8 records his personal response: “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” In other words, he decided to do right even though the culture was decidedly atheistic and ungodly. Believers in our age must do the same. We must be willing to think through the issues of our day and make decisions based on truth and righteousness.  We must determine to reject error and stand up for right.  That will likely mean we can no longer just “veg” while watching the news or scrolling social media. We must decide to think Biblically and act accordingly.  We must rely on truth and not our feelings.  We must be willing to face rejection and scorn if necessary.  We must put God in front of everything else, even if it means we cannot play ball on Sunday, cannot rely so devotedly on social media apps, and cannot consume any more mind-numbing TV entertainment and misinformation. We must say no to the porn culture and the divorce culture and the immorality culture. We must do right regardless of the culture around us.

2.  He decided to publicly lead and serve.

Daniel trusted God, walked with God, and advanced with God. Daniel 1:20 says it like this: “In all matters of wisdom and understand, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the astrologer’s that were in all his realm.”  The statement is simple but loaded with meaning. Daniel obviously did not grow in wisdom and understanding automatically, but must have sought it carefully. He must have studied and diligently prepared.  We too must advance in wisdom and understanding so that we can lead and serve in this culture. Lazy Christianity will make no difference at all.  Sunday morning only Christians won’t either.  Our Christianity has to become real to us and we have to immerse ourselves in the word of God and in the study of truth.  We have to be “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).  In so doing, we can publicly lead and serve. We can raise Godly families. We can be a voice of reason in a hopeless society. We can point to truth as noble and desirable. We can impact those around us and the culture as well.

3.  He decided to pray and walk with God.

I love the story of Daniel in the sixth chapter. It is a story about how King Darius promoted him and appointed him to key leadership positions. It is a story about how those who hated him and hated truth attempted to destroy him by attacking his faith.  It is a story of how he simply kept on praying and walking with God.  Daniel 6:10 says that “when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before His God, as he did aforetime.” The final word is an old English word. It signifies that Daniel’s habit was to pray and walk with God.  He knelt when he prayed. He did it three times every day. He was unashamed and unafraid to do it publicly.  He was a mighty man as a result.  Should we not do the same?  Should we not decide to pray and walk with God.  My dear Christian friend, will you not determine to become a praying Christian?  Will you not set aside time each day and get on your knees and seek God on behalf of yourself, your family, and your land? Will you dads and moms not decide to start Family Altars?  Will you not determine to put God first and to walk with him unashamedly? God answers prayer and does miracles and adds His blessings and favor to those who walk with and serve Him.  No wonder the enemy has worked so diligently to stop us from praying and walking with God!  We can and must change. I want to do so. I sure hope you will too.

Do we need revival? Of course we do. Do we want revival? That is a better question.  Am I willing to do right and prepare to lead and serve? Am I willing to pray and walk with God?  Those are better questions still.

I am. I hope you are too.

Thanks for reading.

Your sincere friend,

Dave Young