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Welcome to "The Bible Breakdown," where we break down God’s Word so we can know God better. I'm your host, Brandon Cannon, and I'm here to guide you through the pages of the Bible, one day at a time.
Each day, we'll read through a section of the Bible and explore key themes, motifs, and teachings. Whether you're new to the Bible or a seasoned veteran, I guarantee you'll find something insightful or inspiring. My hope is to encourage you to dive deeper and deeper.
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Remember, as we journey through the pages of the Bible together, we're not just reading a book, we're unlocking the secrets to eternal life. The more we dig, the more we find! Let's get started!
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Revival can be one of those church words that means everything and nothing until you’re the one feeling dry, distracted, or just “too comfortable with being too comfortable.” Psalm 85 puts real language to that ache. We walk through this chapter line by line and watch the psalmist do something we often skip: start with gratitude for what God has already done, then ask with courage for God to do it again.
We talk about what spiritual renewal actually looks like in everyday life, not as religious hype but as God breathing fresh life into your relationship with Him. Psalm 85 shows the movement from forgiveness and mercy to restored joy, from asking God to revive us to listening carefully for His peace. It also carries a warning that matters for anyone praying for awakening: don’t ask for a fresh touch from God while planning to return to the same foolish patterns.
Pastor Brandon shares a personal story from his teen years when a small Saturday night prayer group asked God for revival and started seeing real change and real hunger for Scripture, prayer, and witness. The surprising lesson was simple and unforgettable: the best way to pray for revival in your church, city, or nation is to start by praying, “God, do it for me.” When God moves in one life, it creates hunger in others and the ripple spreads.
If you’re ready for a clear, biblical way to pray for revival, press play, then share this with someone who needs renewed passion for God. Subscribe, leave a five-star review, and tell us what you’re asking God to revive in you right now.
Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Psalm chapter 85. And today's title is How to Pray for Revival. How to Pray for Revival. Now that word revival means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but the idea of reviving something is to take something that is dead or dry or almost dead and breathing fresh life into it. And for the church, what that has meant so long is it is breathing fresh life into our spiritual walk with God. It doesn't mean that we're necessarily dead. It doesn't mean that we've backslid. It just means we've gotten too comfortable with being too comfortable. And so the idea of revival is how to breathe fresh air into your relationship with God so that there is that passion and that excitement and that newness all over again. And if you have ever wondered how to do that in your own life, we're going to talk about it today. Because once again, God's word is faithful, God's word is relevant, it speaks to us about it. So if you're ready, get your Bibles out, get your coffee out, get ready to go. We're going to jump into
it today. But also, as always, right before we do, take just a moment, pause this, like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And you can get all that information by going to the Biblebreakdown.com because the more we dig, the more we find. Well, once again, we are going through the book of Psalms one chapter at a time, and we are well over halfway done with the longest book of the Bible. And the longest book of the Bible, the book of Psalms, we're calling the soundtrack for life. It's a collection of the greatest hits of the people of God from the time of Moses to the time of Malachi. And they help us see how the nation of Israel, the people of God, process through doing life with God over several generations. And it shows us how to take road trips with God, how to battle armies with God, how to, you know, how to mourn with God, how to laugh with God, everything. And this one is how to ask God for a fresh awakening of his presence in our life.
So let's read this together and let's see what God's word will teach us about asking and praying for revival. God's word says this, Psalm 85, verse 1 Lord, you poured out blessings on your land. You restored the fortunes of Israel. You forgave the guilt of your people. Yes, you covered all their sins. Interlude, which means let the band play. Well, while the band is playing, the author, the descendants of Korah, whoever this is, they started with just celebrating the Lord that he had poured out his blessing and he'd forgiven all of their sins. So it's a celebration to begin with. Okay? All right, the band is done. Back into it. You held back your fury, verse 3 says, and you kept back your blazing anger. Now, restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more. Would you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations? Won't you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people, but let them not return to their foolish ways. Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him, so our land will be filled with glory. Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth springs up from the earth, righteousness smiles down from heaven. Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings. Our land will yield its bountiful harvest. Righteousness goes as a herald before him, preparing the way for his steps.
So what the author is saying is, is God, you have been so faithful in the past, and we need you to do it again. And as you do it again, and as you pour out your blessings, all of the goodness of God flows with it. And
what this psalm reminds me of is I remember a long time ago when I was a teenager, I went, I was part of a church, and there were several in the church who just they just got tired of just going through the motions. They knew God was faithful. It wasn't God's fault, it was their fault. You know, they were like, God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. All of that is fine, but I just feel weary in my soul, and I'm and I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. So I want God to revive me, revive us as a church, rather. And so they started meeting on Saturday nights, a bunch of us. And since I was one of the pastor's kids, I didn't have a choice. I met on Saturday nights too. And we just started praying and just saying, God, we are asking you to revive our church, to revive us. Just we want a fresh touch from you, a fresh vision of you. And once again, we were careful to make sure we had the proper perspective. This was not a God problem. This was an us problem. So we're asking God to fix our perspective and help us to see him more clearly. And something interesting started to happen on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights. We used to meet on Wednesday nights, you know, different times the church, you know, would get together, that those people who were praying on Saturday nights, they started to experience the presence of God in their life. They started to get a fresh vision for reading God's word, a fresh vision for prayer and for sharing God with others. And they were experiencing exactly what they had asked for. But not everybody. The people who weren't coming on Saturday nights, who were only coming to church at the normal, specified times, they weren't experiencing the presence of God. And it got to the point to where we started to think those of us on Saturday nights, maybe we're doing something wrong. Maybe if we pray harder, maybe if we pray more fervently, that what's happening for us on Saturday nights will spill over onto Sunday mornings. And so we would pray more and pray more. And God would begin to bless us more and more as we would get. I mean, truly, God had revived all of us, but it wasn't happening to everybody on Sunday morning. And I don't remember who it was, but at some point somebody said something, and I never forgot
it. What they said was is they said the number one way to pray for revival is to pray and ask God for do it to do it for you. You know, the best way to pray for revival is to start with yourself. You can't pray for revival for someone else before God first does it in you. And what they were trying to say is all those other people that were meeting on Sunday, they didn't want to be revived. They weren't praying and seeking after it like we were. And for many of us, we were saying, God, send it to the church, but send it to us. We want to know you in a fresh way. And so when we were asking for that, God was doing it for us. And so the lesson that we were learning is God wants to reveal himself to everybody, but not everybody wants God to reveal himself to them. And so the number one way to pray for revival for your nation, for your church, for your city, for your family is to first pray and say, God, do it for me, and then give a hunger to everyone around you. And you know what happens? When God begins to move in your life, other people will see it and it will create a hunger inside of them. And then they will begin to pray, God, if you're real, reveal yourself to me. And he will. And it spreads and it spreads and it spreads. So nationwide revival begins with statewide revival. Statewide revival begins with citywide revival. Citywide revival begins with churchwide, churchwide begins with a single person who says, God, I want to know you more. I want to be revived. Starts with us and then it goes from
there. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that as much as we may want to experience you, you want to know us even more. Lord, I ask you to start with me. Revive me. I want a fresh touch of you. I want to see you in a brand new way. I want to be surprised by you again. I want you to take my breath away, to see you in a fresh way in something I've never even known about you. Something that makes me just lift my hands and say, that's awesome. I pray for that today. I pray that you'll give a hunger to everyone who is listening or watching this, that they'll have the same prayer. Because God, before we can change the world, we have to change the state. We have to change the country. We have to change our church. We have to change our family. Before we do that, it has to start with us. Let it start with us today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And what God's Word says in Psalm 34, verse 1, say with me, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Psalm chapter 86.
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