Hold It Tight

Johnnyswim is a new husband/wife music duo quickly gaining deserved popularity. They are a breath of fresh air on today’s charts, relying solely on great songwriting and great voices. No gimmicks; polished talent. You can quickly tell by listening to them, they don’t make music for celebrity, but rather, simply, to create great art.

In their song, Live While We’re Young, Abner sings these lines:

Got my hand on my Bible

Hold it tight like a gun

While you pray for revival

I’m already living in one

I must confess those words both chilled me and challenged me.

So often we, in the Body of Christ, are guilty of praying for, and living for, some event out there in the future where the nation will turn, the world will profess truth, and all will be right. Or our own personal day of deliverance when all will be blessings and burdens are gone. Meanwhile, because we see the world getting worse, we slack off on making sure we are doing all we can to be the revival right now for the sake of those around us. Not waiting for the corporate to commit, but living out private submission today.

There is another subtle message in the song’s lines … the connection of a firm grasp of Scripture to bring personal revival, allowing us to be unshaken by the choices others make, as we stand on the foundation of His Word—with the metaphor of the gun as the modern-day “sword.”

Is anyone advocating that we don’t pray for revival? Absolutely not. The only way revival will ever come anywhere at any time is the movement of the Spirit of God. But, as we pray, we have the amazing opportunity and challenge to join Paul’s depth of obedience…

For to me, living means living for Christ … (Phil. 1:21a NLT)

The question to ask today is, “Am I ‘already living in one?’” If the answer is no, then the very great news is—you can. For the Kingdom of God is near.