Ten years ago my friend Scott and I, his son Conrad and my son Chase stopped in Germany on the way to Africa. We visited Heidelberg Castle, a favorite place from my childhood. Then we went to Faith Baptist Church where I had received Christ and followed the Lord in baptism. The building was smaller than I remembered. We walked up to the balcony where I sat on the day my friend Renee’ accepted Christ.
Think for a moment about the most significant spiritual commitment you have made to God. Where were you? What happened? Who was with you? Can you go back to that place?
Jacob built an altar and made promises to God at Luz and named it Bethel which means the house of God. God promised to go with him and bring him back. Remember Jacob was all alone on the journey at that point. But when he returned home, he brought with him a large family. God told him to go back to Bethel and build an altar. Jacob told his family to rid themselves of idols and to change clothes. They buried their idols that day, and went toward Bethel in the presence and power of God. Jacob rebuilt the altar there and remembered what God had done for him.
My professor Virtus Gideon preached on this passage in a revival for me when I was a young Pastor at Williams Creek Baptist Church. He called us to remember the place we first committed to Christ and to return to that commitment. Revival often begins with obedience and repentance, laying aside our idols. We come near to God and he comes near to us. We rebuild the altar of prayer and we call upon his name. Spiritual renewal ignites through prayer. When we worship together, we collectively are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Even if we cannot go back to the geographic location of our decision to follow Christ, we can return to it in prayer, asking God to renew our lives again. Seek the Lord while he may be found. He may be found right now, right where we are. Let’s humble ourselves and ask him to make us new.
