Day 1: The Scent of Revival

Not long ago, I went to a local garden center with my wife, Ouida. I needed some help. I couldn’t get anything to grow. When I told this to one of the garden center staff, he said, “You need peppermint!” “Peppermint?” “Once it gets going,” he said, “there’s no stopping it. Besides, it’s beautiful.” “Don’t do it,” Ouida whispered to me. What did she know that I didn’t? I debated carefully a few seconds and then said, “Sold” to the garden guy. As we walked back to the car with a handful of peppermint plants, Ouida said to me, “You’re going to have to control it.” “Yes, dear.”

Once back home, I got down on my knees in the dirt. The sweet scent of peppermint was unbelievable. The directions said: “Plant in moist soil. Full sun preferred. Don’t overwater.” I dug some small holes and nestled each peppermint plant in the ground. Then I gave each of them some water, stood up, and wiped the dirt from my knees. Every day, I came outside and looked at my tiny plants. Soon, they weren’t so little. Maybe my wife was right after all. Once it takes root, nothing can stop peppermint from growing and spreading.

Could the aroma of peppermint be a living metaphor for the undeniably sweet scent of a gracious Father, redeeming Son, and the fresh empowering Holy Spirit now spreading throughout our land? What if I told you there is a fresh, sweet Spirit of God now growing and spreading throughout churches, neighborhoods, businesses, and schools in our country? What if our prayer for Jesus to revive hearts and renew our land is happening now?

This resource is to encourage you and me to join Jesus in what He is already doing. In Jesus and through the promised Holy Spirit, a new day of spiritual awakening, fresh as the scent of peppermint, is upon us. The word has already begun to spread: the sweet scent of revival is in the air. Because of Jesus, our churches, our nation, our lives may never be the same again. Stay with me on this journey, and you’ll catch the passion and possibilities of Jesus now!

Habakkuk 1:5 New King James Version (NKJV)
“The Lord’s Reply
5 “Look among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe, though it were told you.”

 Ezekiel 20:41 New King James Version (NKJV)
“41 I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles.”

2 Corinthians 2:15-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
“15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”

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Phillips, Tom (2016-11-01). Jesus Now: God Is Up to Something Big (Preface p. 17-20). BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC.