Let me be among the first to wish you and yours a Happy New Year in 2005! What does this new year hold? No one knows but God, and because He is good, and the Bible tells us He works all things together for good, we who know Him can look forward, by faith, to what our gracious God has in store.

For Iowans in January, we are smack-dab in the "dead of winter". This is typically the coldest month of the year. Looking out my office window I see no signs of spring. The trees are bare of any leaves and show no visual signs of life. Yet from experience I know that a few months from now, buds will sprout again on those dead-looking branches, leaves will burst forth anew, and birds and squirrels will play happily in their natural habitat. How do I know that? Because of the faithful character of God who promised to Noah, 5000 years ago, that "while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22.

Are you looking forward to Spring? I sure am! I would challenge you to look forward in the same way to spiritual revival and renewal that only God can bring. As you look around does it seem that the spiritual landscape is looking pretty bleak and barren? Are you seeing very few visible signs of life in many Christian lives, homes and churches? Just remember that appearances can be deceiving. In the wintertime, trees can look dead when they are really just cold and dormant. In the same way, Christians and churches can appear to be lifeless when they are just spiritually cold and stagnant. What we need is a fresh touch from the hand of God! Unlike the physical season of spring that comes automatically, spiritual revival and renewal comes as God’s people humbly seek God in fervent prayer.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Psalm 85:6 says, "Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You?" From these wonderful verses we see that spiritual revival results in at least 3 things:

(1) God will Hear our prayers.

(2) God will Heal our land.

(3) God will make us Happy.

Do you want to have a truly "Happy New Year? Then I challenge you to humbly and prayerfully seek God's face, turn from any and all known sin and ask Him to hear your prayers, heal your marriage, family, church and country, and make you happy in the unspeakable joy that only a holy walk with Him will bring.

I’m asking you who are in our CBC family to join me in seeking God for spiritual revival this year. "Our God is Alive, So Let’s Revive in 2005!" May this be our motto and prayer. Instead of resembling a barren and dormant tree in the winter, may we be like the blessed man described in Psalm 1:3, "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper." By God’s grace and for His glory, "Let’s revive in 2005!"

"Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love.

May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen!

Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Revive us again!"