Day 3: Repentance Brings Revival
Week 1: Awakening & Consecration
““Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”
In our verse for today, Joel speaks into a time of national crisis. The land is devastated, the people are shaken, and God calls them not just to fix their behaviour, but to return to Him "with all your heart." He connects this return with fasting. Fasting is a way of saying, "Lord, I am taking this seriously. I am humbling myself. I am making room."
An Altar, Not a Diet
Jentezen Franklin calls fasting a "discipline God expects". We see in Joel 2 that when God’s people fasted and returned, restoration and revival followed. However, the key was not the outward act alone. God says, "Rend your heart and not your garments." He is not impressed by religious performance. He looks for hearts that are genuinely broken over sin and genuinely hungry for Him.
These 21 days are not a diet. They are an altar. As we fast, we are not trying to twist God’s arm; we are letting Him soften our hearts. We are saying, "Lord, I do not want to live on the edge of Your will. I want to return with all my heart." This includes repentance for personal sin, as well as standing before God on behalf of our church and our nation, admitting where we have drifted from His ways.
The Doorway to Intimacy
Repentance is not a harsh word. It is a beautiful word. It is the doorway back into intimacy. In his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala shares how the Brooklyn Tabernacle saw God move dramatically as people repented and cried out to God together. He notes that the church did not need better programmes first; it needed humility, honesty, and a return to seeking God in prayer. That pattern runs through every true revival.
Clearing the Pipes
At ANCC, our mission is to help people connect, grow, and use their God-given potential to make Jesus known. That mission is crippled when we live in unrepentant sin or quiet compromise. Repentance reopens the flow of grace and power. It clears the pipes so the water of the Spirit can run freely again.
Let Us Pray
Gracious Father, thank You that You call me to return, not to run away. I come back to You with all my heart. I repent of my sin, my pride, my compromise, and my unbelief. I also stand in the gap for my family, for ANCC, and for Britain.
We have not honoured You as we should. Please have mercy on us. Let true repentance mark these 21 days. Where there has been dryness and devastation, bring restoration and revival. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.