revival

This morning I was praying a prayer of presence: "Dear Jesus, I come to you today longing for your presence." It made me think, how much do I truly long for Jesus' presence?

At lunch yesterday I met with some pastors and a couple of them mentioned that they had a deep desire for revival. I haven't heard that term for a while. I've always associated it with outward phenomena such as big meetings, people weeping, dramatic manifestations of the work of the Holy Spirit. But today I realized that there's little difference between longing for Jesus' presence and desiring revival.

I suppose that my fixation on outward signs got in the way of my noticing the relationship to the inward signs. The outward signs of revival are accompanied by the inward signs of the work of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, etc. And who doesn't want those for themselves? But the work of the Spirit isn't just in individuals. What does it look like when God's people pray and God heals their land (2 Chron 7:14) and love, joy, and peace characterize a whole culture?

We don't usually associate Jesuits with the work of the Holy Spirit. But the prayer of presence I was praying comes from a Jesuit website. And I'm sure that it's that longing for Jesus' presence that motivates many Jesuits to work for love, joy, and peace in our world. Jesuits don't hold revival meetings. But they long for Jesus' presence in their lives and in our world. And so should I.