DAY 15 : Breaking Up the Fallow Ground - Part 4

By Charles Finney

Charles Finney, one of the greatest revivalists of our nation’s history, lived during the time of the 2nd Great Awakening. Much of the success of the revival was due to Finney’s thorough and uncompromising approach to repentance.

“Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness upon you.”

-   Hosea 10:12

DEVOTIONAL

Fasten your attention to the subject of your sins. You cannot look at your sins long and thoroughly, and see how bad they are, without feeling, and feeling deeply. Experience abundantly proves the benefit of going over our history in this way. Set yourself to the work now; resolve that you never will stop till you find you can pray.

You never will have the spirit of prayer, till you examine yourself, and confess your sins, and break up your fallow ground. You never will have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, till you have unraveled this whole mystery of iniquity, and spread out your sins before God.

Let there be this deep work of repentance, and full confession, this breaking down before God, and you will have as much of the spirit of prayer as your body can bear up under. The reason why so few Christians know any thing about the spirit of prayer, is because they never would take the pains to examine themselves properly, and so never knew what it was to have their hearts all broken up in this way.

You see I have only begun to lay open this subject...so that if you will begin and go on to do as I say, the results will be just as certain as they are when the farmer breaks up a fallow field, and mellows it, and sows his grain. It will be so, if you will only begin in this way, and hold on till all your hardened and callous hearts break up.

PRAYER RESPONSE:

(Disclaimer #2: As we continue with repentance points from Charles Finney that may be intense and searching, keep in mind that God has major breakthroughs and freedom in store for us when we refuse to be offended, but rather are willing to humble ourselves and repent! 

One of the things that may offend our sensibilities is when revivalists such as Finney refer to the reality of Hell, as it relates to a lack of repentance.  The reality is that Jesus, who is the embodiment of perfect love, spoke about Hell more than any other person in the Bible! 

In 46 different verses, Jesus warns about a very real place called Hell, and how to avoid it.  Also, 2 Peter 3:9 tells us God is not desiring ANYONE to perish, but ALL to come to REPENTANCE!  May His Word continue to challenge us deeply!)

Self-examination consists in looking at your lives, in considering your actions, in calling up the past, and learning its true character.  Look back over your past history. Take up your individual sins one by one, and look at them... It will be a good thing to take a pen and paper, as you go over them, and write them down as they occur to you.  General confessions of sin will never do. Your sins were committed one by one; and as far as you can come at them, they ought to be reviewed and repented of one by one. 

10. NEGLECT OF FAMILY DUTIES

How you have lived before them, how you have prayed, what an example you have set before them.  What direct efforts do you habitually make for their spiritual good?  What duty have you not neglected?


11. NEGLECT OF SOCIAL DUTIES


12. NEGLECT OF WATCHFULNESS OVER YOUR LIFE

Instances in which you have hurried over your private duties, and not taken yourself to task, nor honestly made up your accounts with God.  Where you have entirely neglected to watch your conduct, and have been off your guard, and have sinned before the world, and before the church, and before God.


13. NEGLECT TO WATCH OVER YOUR BROTHERS

How often have you broken your covenant, that you would watch over them in the Lord!  How little do you know or care about the state of their souls!  And yet you are under a solemn oath to watch over them.  What have you done to make yourself acquainted with them?  How many of them have you interested yourself for, to know their spiritual state?  Go over the list, and wherever you find there has been a neglect, write it down.  How many times have you seen your brothers growing cold in religion, and have not spoken to them about it?

You have seen them beginning to neglect one duty after another, and you did not reprove them in a brotherly way.  You have seen them falling into sin, and you let them go on.  And yet you pretend to love them.  What a hypocrite!  Would you see your wife or child going into disgrace, or into the fire, and hold your peace?  No, you would not.  What do you think of yourself, then, to pretend to love Christians, and to love Christ, while you can see them going into disgrace, and say nothing to them?


14. NEGLECT OF SELF-DENIAL

There are many who are willing to do almost any thing in religion, that does not require self-denial.  But when they are called to do any thing that requires them to deny themselves, Oh! that is too much.  They think they are doing a great deal for God, and doing about as much as he ought to ask in reason, if they are only doing what they can do about as well as not; but they are not willing to deny themselves any comfort or convenience whatever, for the sake of serving the Lord.  They will not willingly suffer reproach for the name of Christ.

Nor will they deny themselves the luxuries of life, to save a world from hell.  So far are they from remembering that self-denial is a condition of discipleship, that they do not know what self-denial is.  They never have really denied themselves...for the Gospel.  Oh, how soon such professors (professing believers) will be in hell!  Some are giving of their abundance, and are giving much, and are ready to complain that others don't give more; when, in truth, they do not give any thing that they need, any thing that they could enjoy, if they kept it.  They only give of their surplus wealth; and perhaps that poor woman, who puts in twelve and a half cents...has exercised more self-denial, than they have in giving thousands.



(Take a pen and paper [or phone] and write down the things the Lord brings to mind.  We will continue to add to this, in the coming daily times of repentance.)

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