The Poll Winner is…

I want to thank you for taking the time to vote in the poll. All four things are needed and would be essential in bringing this nation back to a solid moral foundation again. However, I do have an opinion on which one would be initially the most important. I strongly believe that parents are the key to a lasting and sustained moral revival in America.

Prayer in Schools?

Prayer in school means little if parents are not actively communicating with God in the home. Prayer in school disappeared because long before that, prayer in the home disappeared. We must not forget that society as a whole is a reflection of the home. The younger generation often lampooned and picked on by the previous generation for its lack of morals and restraint. What is not realized, is that the previous generation is what has produced the younger generation. According to the Bible, parents were entrusted with the responsibility of training, discipling, and instilling the word of God, into the child. This requires of the parent:

• diligence
• effort
• working knowledge of the bible
• personal inconvenience
• and time

Many moms and dads are instead taking the easy road in the hope of microwaving children into responsible adults who contribute to the good of society. They are doing this by allowing Hollywood, church youth groups, and all other forms of spiritual and unspiritual entertainment, to replace the personal parental involvement in the child's life in producing the spiritual formation that is needed. Obviously, youth groups and having fun is not something wrong. It's when the parent looks at these things as the replacement for their personal responsibility in the spiritual forming of the child. Strong youth are no more of an accident than a farmer planting seed and expecting a harvest. We can even pray that our young people be strong, but prayer is not a replacement for personal responsibility.

Revival in Church?

Why isn't revival in the church number one? Certainly one could make a very good argument concerning this one. However, a revival in a church will not last unless the home's that make up that church have a revival. We must also defined what do we mean when we say the word revival. I think that in many minds that it means a continual excitement and emotional highs maintained throughout many church services. Though revival is exciting and does effect the emotions, it's main components are change and hunger. Sinners will be changed to Saints, the sick will be changed to healed, the spiritual lukewarm will be changed to being on fire, and there will be no competition for the hunger of the Word. When children see consistent hunger for the Word by their parents it will leave an indelible impression that will last them a lifetime. My parents only had two children – both sons. We are both in the ministry and I can’t tell you the amount of times my parents have been approached and told “how proud you must be that both of your boys are in the ministry.” One of the leading factors was that our parents exhibited a consistent hunger for the Word throughout our time of growing up. We never saw hypocrisy in our home. My father would get shouting happy in church while my mother with tears in her eyes would play the organ for hours during the extended altar times. Then, during the rest of the week, their lives corresponded to the emotions I saw displayed in the church. Here again, if we want to see a lasting revival and one that affects society, it will not be the result of the snap of a finger or some magical wand waved over a few lives, but it will be the result of parents who painstakingly forge the next generation in the halls of a home that is filled with:

• Hunger for the Word in the parent
• Consistent living by the parent
• Biblical instruction from the parent
• Family devotions initiated by the parent

Studies have shown that a child's character is formed by the age of seven. Years ago, one religious organization would often state that if they could have a child from infancy to five years old, they would have the child for a lifetime.

A moral return of Biblical values being ingrained in society will not happen overnight. The digression didn’t happen that way and our way forward will not either. Children are like seed. You cultivate the soil and environment they are planted – born into. Then, we nurture, protect, and fertilize, and eventually a harvest comes. America can become healthy again but it starts at home. The problem is not the White House, it is with our house.

I am convinced that the next revival will not be some fleeting temporal emotional experience, but a lasting heartfelt existence of Christ producing the standard of righteousness for all the world to see. It will not just be a shout but it will be a force that carries clout, it will not be just an emotional high but will be the result of those who died to self!