Why Exactly Do We Want an Awakening?

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. This is my cry, and it ought to be the cry of every saint of God that's been praying for his spiritual awakening. It's not about my safety, my security, my comfort, my status, my wealth, my power. It's not about me. It's about you, Lord. Glorify your name one more time in the earth.

That's Carter Conlon, and welcome to this week's A Call to the Nation. In the book of 1 Samuel chapter 17, we find the Philistine army with their champion Goliath gathered together on one side of the valley, and King Saul with the armies of Israel on the other side. This is a pictorial representation of the constant battle which has taken place in this world since the Garden of Eden to follow the will and the way of God. Let's join Carter now as he asks the question, why exactly do we want an awakening? I have a thought that the Lord's put on my heart, and I want you to turn with me in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 17, if you will. 1 Samuel chapter 17, and I've given this a title, why exactly do we want an awakening? What is the reason why we pray for a spiritual awakening?

It might not be as simple as a lot of people think it is, and maybe, just maybe, and I'm only suggesting it, maybe our motives are not as pure as we'd like to think that they are. 1 Samuel chapter 17, beginning at verse 45, then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. This day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.

Now let's just go into the scene for a moment. The Philistines with their champion Goliath are gathered on one side of the valley, and Saul with the armies of Israel are on the other side. This is a representation, it's a pictorial representation of this constant battle since the Garden of Eden that's gone on in this world, where the powers of darkness and animated by the devil himself stand up and threaten the testimony of the people of God. Now the people of God had a history and they had a purpose on the earth, and I would assume that the army, many at least of the army, the soldiers that were standing there and the people that were on Saul's side of the valley, they knew their history, they knew they were called to be a people literally unconquerable, people that are representatives of the mercy, the grace, and the power, and the goodness of God on the earth, a special people. People set aside to give glory to God and to bring glory to God, and yet at certain points in history, like this one we're talking about, one more time the armies of darkness amass themselves, and morning by morning they issue a threat against the people of God, and the threat was quite simple. You can't fight against us, we're stronger than you are, and if you send anybody you want out against us, and if we defeat the person that you send against us, you will serve us. If you succeed in defeating us, we will serve you, and that's exactly the way cultures and societies and those who have countries that have had the gospel have seen darkness pushed back, and in one sense the powers of darkness have had to serve the word and the will of God, even if it was reluctant, they had to serve it. Remember in Psalm 2, the psalmist writes and says, why did the heathen rage, and why did the kings of the earth imagine vain things? They gather themselves together, and they marshal their forces, and they roar against the people of God, and they essentially say to the people of God, we're going to cast off your cords from us.

You see, your presence is a restriction on our behaviors. We want to behave a certain way, we want certain sins in our lives that God calls evil, we want them to be called good, so now we're rising against you, we're stronger than you are, we're lifting our voices, and we're making this declaration, you will serve us. That's what's going on in America today, whether you recognize it or not, this same voice that was animating Goliath and the whole Philistine army behind him is now raised up again, saying to the people of God, you are not as strong as we are, you can't fight against us, we're going to overpower you, and you will serve us.

In other words, you will alter your doctrines, you will alter your belief system, and you will acquiesce to what we say is good, and we will no longer have to serve the good that you tell us the word of God says that we have to obey. Now, there was no shortage, I'm sure, of people in the army of Saul, because the people of Israel were a religious people, perhaps the most religious on the face of the earth of their time. There was no shortage of prayer meetings, they all knew their history, many knew their purpose, many of them would, when they had the occasion, they would attend the synagogue, they would be involved in prayers as they knew it, and I have no doubt that there's soldiers sitting on the sidelines and they're secretly praying because they were afraid. It was a fearful moment in history. They were really under the threat of actually being brought into subjection to a foreign power, a foreign power to the kingdom and the word, the will and the ways of God. And you can just see these soldiers are praying, God, why are we praying and you're not hearing us?

How come this is being allowed to prosper? Where is our courage? Why is there none among us who will stand up and fight? What was the fuel source of the fear that had gotten hold of the people of God and the army of God of this time? And if we look at that and we take that whole scene and kind of more or less superimpose it on our present day today, we ask ourselves the question, why do we want revival? We're calling out for revival, we're calling out for a spiritual awakening, but I'm likening it to what must have been in the hearts of some of these soldiers at least or some of the civilians maybe that were with them hiding on God's side of the valley, if I can call it that. Do we want revival because we're afraid of losing our own safety and our own security?

Is that the reason we're asking for a spiritual awakening? Verse 24 of the same chapter says, all the men of Israel, when they saw the man being Goliath, they fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said, have you seen this man that's come up? Surely he's come up to defy Israel.

And it shall be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel. So there's a deep abiding sense of fear in this army because their own security is now being threatened, their own safety is now being threatened. And we have to ask ourselves, where did their courage go? Why were they so cowardly? Why was it not one man that raised up among them? They had armor, they had muscles, they had gone to their spiritual warfare conferences, they had done all of this stuff, but why is there nobody that has the courage in a sense to get up and say, oh yeah, you think we're going to serve you, have you forgotten who God is?

No, they all stand back and they all cower. I have a suggestion to you as to why they were afraid. They were under the ministry, not only the kingship, but the ministry of Saul. Saul at this point is an impulsive man, he's a carnal man, he's been rejected by God. Yes, he's still the king, he's still leading, he's still doing as he sees it, spiritual things, but all he has to offer these men who are called to fight for the honor of God is wealth, status, and power. He's offering the men that are called to fight for the glory of God the very same thing that the Philistine army are fighting for. They all want wealth, they all want status, and they all want power. Sociologists tell us those are the three slices of the pie in every society that outside of the kingdom of God, that's what everybody fights for.

They all want money, they all want to rise above everybody else in wealth, they all want to be close to the king, and they all want special status in society. And under Saul's ministry, that's what was being offered to the men who were called to fight for the glory of God. I ask you the question, what have we been offering the people in America in our pulpits? By and large, I know there are good preachers out there, thank God for them, but by and large, that's exactly the gospel that's been preached for two or three decades in America.

You come to Jesus and he will prosper you and he'll make you powerful and he'll give you special status in the church and in the community. We've lusted for titles and we've lusted for preeminence. I'm just so tired of it watching these guys with foot long titles come walking into conferences with their huge entourage and their little wee skinny shallow message, unable to fight against the darkness, having no effect against the darkness in our generation. Are we asking for a spiritual awakening because we simply want to win or be the dominating thought in our present cultural battle? We just want our voices to be heard above everybody else's voice and it's almost like a contest to us. We want the upper hand. We want our thoughts to be above everybody else's thoughts. We want to win the argument.

And sometimes that's sad to say, that's just what it's all about. We just want to debate those who are living in darkness thinking that somehow our debate is going to cause them to slap their foreheads and admit the error of their ways, which is rarely the case. Do we want a spiritual awakening because we want to return to our former comforts and lifestyles with its accompanying self-focused and powerless religion? Again, we talked about verse 25 where it was about wealth and status and power and are we afraid that we might lose our jobs? Are we afraid that our comfort might be taken away? Are we afraid that having a biblical viewpoint might cost us something?

And so we're just saying, God, just send an awakening to the nation. But the core of it is we're just afraid for ourselves. We're just afraid for our futures. We're afraid to lose our retirement plans. We're afraid to lose our jobs. We're afraid to lose our homes. We're afraid to lose our status.

We're afraid to just lose a lot of things. And see, when these are the core values, the core elements in the hearts of a fighting army, it leaves the men of God and the women of God standing under the threats of darkness, trembling. And I think in some measure, we stand there today. There are so few voices being raised up to challenge the darkness of our time as it was in their time until suddenly a young man, just a teenager, comes walking into the camp of Israel. My God, I'm so thankful for the young people in our Bible school. This is my hope for the future. It's young men, it's young women who are young Davids, young Esthers that are just saying, if nobody else wants to fight this, I will.

If nobody else cares. So the question that comes to my mind, they're about to experience a spiritual awakening. There's about to be a shout of victory. The army of God's about to go down the valley and into the battle. People are going to come out from caves and holes where they've been hiding. There's going to be a shout.

There's going to be a route. There's going to be a victory one more time against the powers of darkness, which is what we pray for in our generation. But what was the essential difference in David that was no longer found in Saul, it was no longer found in Saul's army, and it wasn't found among the people that were associated with them in that particular battle at that time. It's these simple words in 1 Samuel 17, 29, and David said, what have I done now? Is there not a cause? His words must have caused even his own brothers to think that we miss something in the battle.

What is it that we miss? David is talking about a cause. They don't know what the cause is.

The cause is really, really simple. David said it this way. You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you, take your head from you. And this day I'll give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the beach of the field that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel.

You see, that was the difference. David's prayer, David's purpose, David's ministry, David's heart that made him a king was it's all about you, Lord. It's all about your honor.

It's all about your glory. These people, this dominant evil cannot be allowed to triumph over you because you are God and the whole earth needs to know there's a God in Israel. I'm not content to let this present weakness or to let this present threat against my nation exist when there still is a God who's the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's as if David was saying in his heart, you are the God that destroyed Egypt and the power of Egypt through just an old man and his old brother. You are the God who parted the Red Sea and made a way for your people to enter into the Promised Land. You are the God who brought down the walls of Jericho when all they had was a trumpet and a shout of praise to you.

Oh God almighty, glorify your name again. Jesus Christ himself in John chapter 12 verse 27 and 28, the season of the cross was rapidly approaching and he said to his own disciples, or at least in their hearing, what should I flee from this hour? No, he said, I was born for this hour.

I was sent here for this hour. And he said these words, Father, glorify your name. And a voice came from above and this voice that came from his Heavenly Father said, I have glorified my name and I will glorify it again. And so this is my cry. And it ought to be the cry of every Saint of God that's been praying for a spiritual awakening.

It's not about my safety, my security, my comfort, my status, my wealth, my power. It's not about me. It's about you, Lord. Glorify your name one more time in the earth. You deserve to be praised. You deserve to be glorified. You deserve to be revered. Let the enemies of God, let those who are inspired by hell itself, let them trample in their shoes as the God of Israel moves one more time into the battle.

If you have time to read it, go to Ezekiel chapter 36 and begin at verse 22 and go right to the end where God said to his own people, Israel, at a certain point in history, I don't do this for your sakes. You have profaned my name everywhere you've gone. In other words, you've, you've made my name small everywhere you've traveled. You've, you've, you've displayed something of me that is not me.

You were sent into the nations and you went into the nations and, and he said it was essentially a mockery when people looked at you and said, these are the people of God. He says, no, I don't do it for your sake. I do it for my own holy name's sake. I will gather you out of the places where you've been driven. I will bring you back to your, the place that I have determined you should be.

I'll sprinkle clean water upon you. I'll put my spirit upon you and cause you to walk in my ways. And at the end of the chapter, he says, and I will do this also for you because you will inquire of me and I will fill your cities with flocks of men. Not because your prayers hit the right pitch or you sang the right song or you found the right formula, but simply because God says, I decided to rise up and defend my own name.

I will be kind to you for my own names sake. So he was telling his own people, Israel, when I do this, don't point to anything you have done. It's not about you. Don't boast of how many people you got together to pray. Don't, don't boast of all your petitions and plans.

It's not about you. I'm going to do what I'm about to do for my own name's sake. So walk very low in my sight and acknowledge that I am God.

This is the cry of my heart now. I pray for this nation. I pray for the youth of this nation. I pray for our cities, but it's really with one purpose in mind that all the earth may know. I pray for a spiritual awakening in New York City so powerful that the whole world will have to stop and acknowledge that only God could have done this.

Simply for his name's sake. I'm just so tired of the name of Jesus Christ being taken in vain. So Father in Jesus name, God Almighty, we bring our prayers to you and they might not be any more than the little boy's lunch, but you multiplied it and you fed thousands with it. So we're asking Almighty God in Jesus name, you take our little offering of our prayers and you would multiply it and you would save a multitude of people, people that are destined for the slaughter. God, you would save them from the womb to their senior years. We saw it tonight in one of the prayer quests, a new despicable law allowing people to be euthanized the very same day they ask for it without a chance to even counsel with family. God, this is evil.

We want to kill them in the womb and now we want to kill them when they get old. And pretty soon, pretty soon we'll be including those in the middle. I do ask, we ask, I thank you for my brothers, my sisters with us who are praying for a spiritual awakening in the nation, but we recognize Lord that our prayers are just a little lunch and the need is so big, but we ask you to take them and multiply them and we pray the prayer that Jesus prayed. Father, glorify your name in Jesus name. Now let's close with Carter as he sings When I Don't Understand.

No one cares. It's then that you whisper with heaven's sweet love And tell me forever you're there And tell me forever you're there Through trials and testings my heart would believe I've lost touch with mercy Why would God receive such a flawed sinking vessel To have for His own To share in His glory and come to His throne When I don't understand the way that you lead And my fear tries to say no one cares It's then that you whisper with heaven's sweet love And tell me forever you're there So lead me, dear Jesus, to where I can't go Give strength I've never had So that others might know You call not the righteous but the weak for your own To pass through the veil and inherit a crown And when I don't understand the way that you lead And my fear tries to say no one cares It's then that you whisper with heaven's sweet love And tell me forever you're there And tell me forever you're there And tell me forever you're there You've been listening to Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information and resources to help you in your walk in Christ, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. And be sure to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.