What Crown Will You Have to Cast?

Image by Juicy Fish on Freepik

Years ago I read of Queen Victoria saying she would like to lay her crown at Jesus' feet. I found that updated in a September, 2022 article by Charles Gardner:

“I wish Jesus would come back in my lifetime.” Asked why, she reportedly replied: “Because I would place my crown at his feet.” Victoria’s great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth, carried the same heart for Jesus.

In that same article, Gardner also wrote of a Christmas message from Queen Elizabeth II: 

Some years ago, for example, she quoted a verse from a well-known carol, In the bleak midwinter:

 “What can I give him, poor as I am, If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb, If I were a wise man, I would do my part, Yet what I can I give him, give my heart.”

As a true evangelist in the spirit of Billy Graham, she encouraged millions of viewers to give Jesus their heart. This was our Queen, and we are all so proud of her!

 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (Revelation 4:4 KJV)

The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:10-11 KJV)

Do you know what crowns are available when we believe God exists, loves mankind, sent a Redeemer to remove our sins that keep from God, and provides us eternal life? Here's the short list:

Simply being in God’s presence is a joy filled crown of righteousness.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8 KJV)

The crown of righteousness is available to all.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12 KJV)

Same with the crown of life – another crown is available to all who love Him.

And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. (1 Peter 5:4 KJV)

This following crown is not for all.  This one is special, for those here on earth who lead the church, feeding His flock.

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 KJV)

Indeed, would we not want to follow the example of the elders and cast our crowns before the King of Kings who provided those very crowns simply because we loved Him when He loved us?

All of those crowns are handed to us through God's grace. There is not one thing we can do to earn them - not one iota of work is required:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV)

Oooops - there's that "work" word in verse 10. Seems to be pretty well tied to the grace, faith, walk, doesn't it. We are created to do good works. When we know what God has for us, we will do good work. James says it very well - and says more in that second chapter than this:

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:17-20 KJV)

Once knowing the love of God that brought us to Him, it is given to us the understanding what work He has for us to do. That goes back to the lesson of the body of Christ. 1st Corinthians 12 has a lot of information on the "body of Christ." Bottom line, we are one with Christ and what we do in our lives has one goal - to be with Christ here on earth, always looking forward to being with Him in heaven.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians 12:13-14 KJV)

When you are with others, do you deliberately go out of your way to belittle them? Do it by accident? Or be aware of them and focus on bringing happiness to them and to yourself. That, my friend, is doing good work. Better work would to be certain they were aware of how important your belief in Jesus Christ is to you -- if it is. Too often, Jesus is not important in our livess and we do not work at letting others know our goal is bringing glorty to God through our lives.

Can people see your faith in your actions? Do they understand your faith will bring you crowns, and you'd like to share that with them?

Back To School

 

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It is that time of the year. Everyone mentions school - and earlier than when I was attending. The Tuesday after Labor Day was usually our back to school day. The earliest this year for our family was a new college student headed for training on an athletic scholarship. Those young people do get an early start on school.

By this time, our athlete knows what to expect because there have been years of training, and achievements, to earn an education on an athlete's ability. Their scholastic achievements must be well above average, too, even when their most outstanding talent is athletics.

While almost all of the young people in the United States are going back to school - or just starting it as another family member - adults take advantage of educational opportunities, too. One such group is involved at our church. Our members signed up for Faith Bible Institute. The three honored last Sunday night started four years ago in a program that has been around for a long while.

When our church started the classes, we didn't really think about the facts of life - people move around, lives are changeable, relationships change. Usually it's young people who go through classes one right after another. By the second semester of the four year course, some people had to drop out and new people joined in. I overheard one person say, "I'm glad this starts the third semester, I already have two done and I can pick up now and complete."

This is not confined to our church members. I know of at least three different churches whose members attend the three hour course each week, studying out of a three" +/- thick tome well suited for college.

"All you need is a TV, DVD player and 10 students. We provide everything else to start you on this 3 year journey through the Word of God. There is no cost to your church and each student’s cost is just $157* for the first semester and $115* for all other semesters. Click here for a tour on how you can have a Bible college in your church."

For a small country church, where our attending membership fluctuated about 125-150 on Sunday mornings, I wondered about getting ten people interested the first time around. But that was a personal consideration. I would have enjoyed the class, I know, but making a four year commitment not long after my husband experienced two Myasthenia Gravis crises along with one sepsis incident, I became a care giver.

Later, as his ongoing treatment relegated crises to memories and ICUs weren't in our forseeable future, I did take one of the audit classes offered by the same organization that was only one semester. It was very educational. I believe the full four years of Bible study is one reason, especially during Covid, our church membership numbers remained the same, while attendance usually streamed about the same. Soon after Covid, though, the membership grew and the FBI classes grew, too. It was a good time to learn:

So - what are they studying? The Bible. From Genesis to Revelation. There is a study book, a class book and three hours of DVD college lectures each Tuesday night of the semester. There are tests, and there are diplomas at the completion of the four year course.

Why? For a couple of very good reasons. First is application in our own lives. How can you discuss Christian doctrine without being familiar with Christian doctrine? Second is the opportunity to share what you've learned with others.

Becoming familiar with biblical Christian doctrine is extremely important in understanding why there are different denominations. If you say "I am a Baptist," how is that different from saying "I am a Catholic"? Do not both religions believe God created the heavens and the earth, that Abraham was made a promise by God? Absolutely - but Muslims and Jews believe that very same thing. What sets Jews, Christians, and Muslims apart? Why do all three hold Abraham as the beginning of a relationship with God, but stand so far apart now?

For many years now I've written this blog that encourages Bible reading. Four years with this FBI course, you'll learn much more than ten years of reading my blog, or any other. The coverage is theology more than personal application, but that makes even deeper personal applications available. However, my primary purpose remains to encourage people pick up their Bibles - they remain available in every book store, downloadable for every smart phone - most free, some with a small cost. I recommend YouVersion for the freebie and e-Sword for a small cost. Both are study Bibles with additional aids available.

I also recommend the King James Version. I know, people will "swear" by the 1611 version - don't download that one unless you are extremely determined to work through it. However, there is an English flow in the KJV that puts me in a worshipful mood because I'm spending time with a familiar book. I also know the translations source - which is a big deal for me. Both Bible apps I mentioned come with the KJV without additional cost. Most of the newer versions have a cost. I'm a firm believer you should be able to get a free Bible. We have missionaries handing them out freely on street corners. If you are on Facebook, follow Sam Ward, a missionary in Croatia, well known for street corner Bible handouts. Today he's mailing them by the hundreds to people in Croatia.

Paul wrote in Romans the process involved in learning about Jesus, God's Son, who provides us salvation:

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:13-17 KJV)

That is such a small portion of what is available in the Bible - and Paul quoted an earlier writer, too:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7 KJV)

We Need Goals

 

Goalposts, Durdham Down by Derek Harper, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What first caught your eye? The beautiful field, the homes in the background? What thoughts and descriptions went through your mind? Oh - you paid attention to the the goalpost!! Good. Because you read the title, or because it is almost in the center of the graphic, and the largest item?

I have goals on my mind today due to a conversation I had with a young lady who changed one of hers in midstream. During our talk, I asked her what she was going to do next summer. Her answer was a job that often offers room/board, but not much money, if any. Fortunately, for her there would be a small income on top of room/board.

"What will you do with it," I asked.

"I intend to save it," she said.

"For what," I insisted, still wondering about her goals.

"I'm saving it to have on hand," she quizically replied.

Knowing she had not made application for college, and also knowing she hadn't mentioned anything about her new path for her future, I had to get a bit more basic. Eventually we discussed possible employment, along with transportion. We both live in a rural area, without an ounce of public transportion.

Thus, I've had goals on my mind - and realized 1) how few I really set in my own life, and 2) how many times mine changed due to events outside my control. I would wager these same items happen in most people's lives.

Yet the Bible tells us of a young, important, probably royalty, with more of a future than others in a kingdom, who came to purpose one thing in his heart that we all can do - Daniel.

In the first verses of Daniel (please, take time to read them on your own), we find Babylon overpowering Israel, and as part of their "peace agreement," the king's children and princes were taken to Babylon, ostensibly as teachers but no doubt hostages. There, they would eat the king's meals, as royalty would expect. But one chose otherwise:

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. (Daniel 1:8 KJV)

Jews had laws as to what they should eat, and what they could not eat. There were also Jewish laws about drunkenness, which was prevelant. Daniel set a goals for himself that he would not break God's Law. He achieved his goal, his purpose.

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. (Daniel 1:15 KJV)

What sent me to the Bible for examples was a verse in Proverbs:

Where there is no vision, the people perish: (Proverbs 19:18a KJV)

The Amplified Bible translates "vision" slightly differently:  

Where there is no vision [no revelation of God and His word], the people are unrestrained; (Proverbs 19:18a AMB)

I like that extra explanation. You see, as Christians, we believe that God has a purpose for our lives. We are where we are because God has something for us to do. Paul explains very well in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 (again, I ask that you go to your Bible for the whole reference - I'm using the one verse I have highlighted in mine):

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14 KJV)

Just as each member of our own bodies have a purpose, so does each Christian. The difference is, the members of Christ's body have free will not to follow what God has in mind for us, but to make decisions on our own. Some members (think church, as well as "body") have actions that not only end up embarrassing them, but is an embarrassment to the congregation where they worship.

That's why Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, and why we would do well to do the same - purpose in our hearts to never be an embarrassment to Christ, unto whom we are baptized. That should be the first goal in our hearts, which will fulfill the most important commandment:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38 KJV)

This is our primary goal. The second, of course, is to love our neighbor (see verses 22:39-40.) The third really falls under the first, which is to live the life God has planned for us. To do that, we must keep in touch with God, and hear His plans for us. Some of those were hidden from people during their early lives - such as Joseph, Daniel and Esther. Who would think a brother sold into slavery, a captive prince, and a woman to replace a rejected wife would follow God into royal palaces and literally save their people? 

Not all of us must make such sacrifices, but in each case here, there were rewards. Jesus followed God's will after praying that He wouldn't have to, for the joy that was to follow:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 KJV)

Like my young friend, set your goals to match what God has told us how to live, for we, too, are receivers of the joy set before us in heaven.

Neither Hot or Cold

 

By Darren Hester - Openphoto.net, CC BY-SA 2.5

I just ran across my notes from August 7, 2022 worship service. The first reference was Revelation 3:15-16. According to John, author of Revelation, Jesus spoke these words:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16 KJV)

On BibleGateway, you’ll find the same verses slightly different, with notes:

15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are [a] neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were [b] cold or hot.

16 So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust]. (Amplified Bible)

a.  This phrase and the word lukewarm in v 16 form a metaphor that is probably based on the quality of the water supply of Laodicea, which was delivered by aqueduct from the hot mineral springs about five miles away. During its journey, the water cooled to a warm or lukewarm temperature.

b. I.e. alive, productive—beneficial in one way or the other.

To me, those who were “hot” – or invigorating or refreshing, as AMP uses, or could be described as actively involved in the education and goals Jesus laid out for us. I’ve heard some described as “on fire for the Lord!”

Those hot are the least in need of God’s intention. They are doing what Jesus laid out for us to do and obviously seeking to learn more of God’s good news for mankind.

Those cold are the most in need. Those have no relationship with God and actually may be church members for personal or secular reasons.  They may be reached by those who are actively reaching out with God’s Word.

But – then there are the lukewarm, spiritually useless, unfit for service, and most likely feeling sure that they have fulfilled the requirement of John 3:16 and are quite safe for eternal life in heaven. I believe that is possible that they are safe, but they are unfulfilled by not understanding God has use of everyone who believes.

First and foremost is loving God. When you love someone you should want to know about them. What pleases them? What causes them joy, pain, and anger. The Bible describes each of those qualities for God. Where do you stand with Him? Do you bring Him joy, pain, or anger. How can you change that? The Bible has the answer in examples.

Second in importance – and actually covers the rest of His Commandments and the reality of prophecies – is loving our neighbors as ourselves. Always a problem when we don’t love ourselves, when we don’t understand that God accepts us as we are while He is able to change our lives. Once we understand that, we can be of service to help others as we follow His will in our lives.

Best part is finding beautiful verses that explain why God enjoys our company:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8 KJV)

Do You Accept Free Gifts?

 

This is one of seven I’ve received just this morning. I’ve won so many over the past years – yet I do not have any new cookware, or any of the other remarkable items that would be free if only I would … That changes with the whim of the scammer/advertisers.

Yet we Christians keep telling unbelievers that believing will not cost them a thing – while at the same time it will change your life forever. We often forget to explain just how that happens.

Let’s start with someone who knows about religion. Not only do they know Jesus by name, they might combine it now and again with a socially unacceptable companion word. The fact that it is not socially accepted depends on who they are with, and where they are. Believing might cost you those friends:

For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: (1 Peter 4:3-4 KJV)

That has happened to a number of people who have come to believe the most simple verses in Christian beliefs:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 KJV)

That is one major hurdle right there. God, a singularity, only one deity, who is presented to mankind in another verse as a trinity:

Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Luke 3:21-22 KJV)

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in one incident, proclaiming their togetherness, recognizably separate. That one has been difficult for a couple of people I love, but they come to understand, party because of:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:1-5 KJV)

Finally, the simplest of verses:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

Believing really is that simple. Paul repeats in action to a jailer:

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:30-31 KJV)

Remember, his house wasn’t saved because the jailer believed, but because he brought Paul and Silas to his home:

And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. (Acts 16:32 KJV)

The Bereans didn’t find it that easy – they heard Paul’s preaching and had to do some studying:

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. (Acts 17:10-12 KJV)

Remember, it wasn’t the Bible as we know it today, it was what we call the Old Testament, prophecies from hundreds of years before, along with notes from men who studied them. Bible study is one of the things mentoring Christians should encourage for those asking why, how, or who to believe.

Now that’s a daunting thought, isn’t it. How can you be sure that’s how it works today? You would have to study tons of material, right? Shouldn’t we memorize and follow the Ten Commandments? Jesus told us how to get started with that long before we understand all the laws, with one simple paragraph:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV)

Yes, even the “neighbor” you hate for what you know is good reason. You will come to love those you know have done you harm, for they need Jesus, too, just as much as you and I do.

The New Testament is full of what we do get when we believe Jesus is the Christ, but God simplified what happens when we do – and when we don’t:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18 KJV)

Take a bit more of you time and check out the verses I use to confirm their context and read as much as you can to see who is talking to whom, and how it is applicable today. Please – let me know if you have questions, or have a reason to disagree with my writings. I promise to answer biblically.

Tears In A Bottle

I've used this graphic before - although I have no idea what source. In that blog two years ago, "I Still Miss Her," I wrote of my sister-in-law, Janice Grove. She was one to share the good news of Jesus' resurrection and the promise that faith would keep us eternally. 

I really like the way my sister-in-law worded Pascal’s Wager (the emphasis is her own) on her own blog in 2011:

“I WOULD RATHER LIVE THINKING THERE IS A GOD AND DIE TO FIND OUT THERE ISN'T THAN TO LIVE THINKING THERE ISN'T A GOD AND DIE TO FIND OUT THERE IS.”

She found the answer October 18, 2011. I missed after that - and found that I still miss her, painfully, often afterward. I could speak to her about many subjects - and we shared a love for family history, to the point we referred to it as genealogy. We filled in many blanks.

She is on the very top of my mind, has been since last Friday, when her beloved husband, Kenneth Grove, made the same discovery she did.

There is so much to be told about our husbands, separated when they were pre-schoolers. In and out of a children's home in Maumee, Ohio during the first part of World War II, then separated by a divorce where their father took the two older sons to Oklahoma, leaving her husband, the youngest, with their mother. There wasn't a reunion for thirty-five years, after all three brothers had grown children.

Can you see how many tears our Lord has put in His botttle, how much is written in His book? And there are two less people who share our interest in sharing the work of the Lord. She would have loved discussing Pascal's wager in another blog:

An atheist commented as to how surprised Christians are going to be when they die and find there is no God.  To me, that shows he hasn’t thought through his own argument.  If death is the end, no eternity beyond, Christians will not be surprised, nor will anyone else.  However, if Christians are correct, eternity does exist as explained by them, I would not want to be an atheist.  Of course, that’s Pascal’s Wager.

My concept of the “play it safe rather than risk being sorry” is to study what is offered about God.  Others have done so and chosen different religious views.  I will but simply state my own beliefs and their source.

I still run across other articles, opinions, studies, refutations, and debates on Pascal's Wager, such as this one just two days ago. Check out Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy's "Pascal's Wager about God." It opens with:

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) offers a pragmatic reason for believing in God: even under the assumption that God’s existence is unlikely, the potential benefits of believing are so vast as to make betting on theism rational. The super-dominance form of the argument conveys the basic Pascalian idea, the expectations argument refines it, and the dominating expectations argument gives a more sophisticated version still.

 I will admit I've given you a lot of background and a lot of reading. I hope it makes you thinkk about what you would say if, as Paul was, you are brought before an authority, as Agrippa was, and you have the opportunity to explain what you believe, and why, as Paul did before Agrippa - and I give you more to read in Acts 26. Will you start an outline now? What do you believe about what the Bible says about Jesus - and why?

Revivals

 

No - that's not the brush arbor our Youth Pastor, T. N. Terry built years ago, we had better seating, but the shading structure was similar. There were many of these where people heard the gospel message from time immemorial. But when I think of a brush arbor, I do think of revivals.

You may have been invited to a church revival, complete with visiting evangelist. I've attended many over the years, but having specific church services are not necessary for a revival of a church - or an individual.

Almost a year ago our Pastor preached on the subject of revival. I believe our church has been experiencing one for some time, based on:

Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? (Psalms 85:6 KJV)

You see, we have continued to rejoice about what has been doing within our congregation for a couple of decades. As a congregation, there has always been times of sorrow, but the majority of these past years, I've seen expressions of gratitude for what God has provided:

I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. (Psalms 9:1-2 KJV)

When we rejoice in the Lord, we acknowledge His place in our lives. We share with others what He means to us on a personal level, that seeking Him is worth their time and effort - not only speaking of what has been done for us, but what He can do for them.

First of all, He is available to everyone who seeks Him:

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29 KJV)

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. (Psalms 9:10 KJV)

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: (Isaiah 55:6 KJV)

If we seek to know more about God, we will hear it, even if it is not believable.  Many will tell you that the Bible is confused, contradictory, and condemning, and use that as a reason for not learning more I do not find that to be true:

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. (1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV)

Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. (Romans 12:16 KJV)

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17 KJV)

These are not the only verses - I've limited myself to three in each followup. God is shown to so love this world that He gave Himself in His plan of salvation:

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:8 KJV)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

I and my Father are one. (John 10:30 KJV)

It takes faith to believe God planned all the way from creation of the universe, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, the death of Jesus, through the end of time. Yet we are asked to do so throughout the Bible:

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:18 KJV)

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:5, 8-9 KJV)

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9 KJV)

And I've gone down a rabbit track - the focus should be on reviving the joy in our lives that we understood from our own salvation:

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (Psalms 51:12 KJV)

That is part of King David's prayer of contrition after sinning grievously. Betrayal, lies, seduction, adultery, murder. Very deep personal sinfulness that determines the future of other people, as well as himself. The knowledge of this sin is made evident in II Kings chapter 11, and the consequences in chapter 12. Psalm 51 is David's prayer to God, after the consequences of his sinfulness was to be made public, to not only all of his Israeli subjects - but for us, too:

For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. (2 Samuel 12:12 KJV)

Even then, David sought the Lord to restore the joy of his salvation, to be experience a revival. Another Psalm by the Temple's musicians, also asks:

Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? (Psalms 85:6 KJV)

Don't wait for a revival - be one. You will find that you are part one one as those around you see the joy of your salvation. It is truly a joy to be a child of God, to read of His promises, to worship with those who are also seeking to know Him through His word. 

I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. (Psalms 85:8 KJV)