September 2019

“ Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Isaiah 66:1,2

I love to cook. I love cooking, not simply because I love food (as all inspiring chefs!), but I really like the process of creating something with ingredients that I have at my disposal. Once in a while, my wife, Melissa, will watch me prepare a meal, and notice that I’ve stopped following the recipe at one point in my preparation. “You’re not following the recipe anymore, are you?” she’ll ask. And my answer is, “Nope.” I’ll tell her that while I love my cookbooks and all its recipes, I get to a point that I know what the key ingredients I’ll need for a sauce, or a meal, or a recipe are.

As “key ingredients” go, humility and a contrite heart are about as KEY as you will get when it comes to the LORD. David writes in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Not only will he not despise it, but it seems that it’s the key ingredient to the type of person to whom the LORD pays special attention. And not only that, a person who trembles at his word; someone who understands to whom they are speaking—the Creator, the Almighty, the One who sits on the throne of Heaven, the One who has the power to do all things—someone who rightly fears Him.

It is this posture that we are hoping that we take while we study the Word and pray for revival this year.

“If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, seek My face…”

As we’ve begun our semester at HLS, pray that we remain in this posture in all of our groups:

• Our first Bible course specifically geared towards married couples;
• Our first Bible course specifically tailored for our International Chinese students;
• Our co-ed Bible course through First Corinthians;
• Our weekly prayer meeting for revival, called Pause, Wednesday evenings, 8 - 9 PM;
• Our first inter-fellowship prayer event with Christian Fellowship and Christian Union on October 16.

God is doing something unique at Harvard. We keep saying it, because we keep seeing it. There seems to be a very large group of professing Christians in the 2022 class. They are seeking Christian community, and seeking a way to leave a legacy, to leave an impact on the campus. There is a growing sense for the need for unity and for prayer—a greater need for a posture of humility and a contriteness—so that we would see revival at HLS.

Thank you for joining us in this season of prayer! God is cooking up something pretty amazing!