Feeling spiritually dull, distracted, or distant from God? This conversation charts a practical, hope-filled path back to joy and close fellowship, anchored in Psalms 85–87. We unpack why revival is for believers—those already made alive in Christ who need the Spirit’s smelling salts to wake desire and restore direction—and how confession, obedience, and Scripture become the engine of a real fresh start.
We start with Psalm 85’s honest prayer, Will you not revive us again, and show how revival begins with humility and clear-eyed confession that leads to forgiveness and rejoicing. From there, Psalm 86 models a Scripture-saturated life, where nearly every line echoes God’s Word and teaches us to pray promises rather than moods. You’ll hear simple, actionable steps to reengage your heart: name your drift, open the Psalms, pray slowly, and obey the next clear step.
Then we lift our eyes with Psalm 87’s kingdom hope: through faith in Jesus, you are registered as a citizen of the coming reign of Christ. That identity reframes your daily fight for joy—you are royalty in training, meant to walk with the King now and forever. Along the way, we share the gripping story of Dr. William McKay, who pawned his mother’s Bible and later found it at a dying patient’s bedside, a providential moment that sparked deep repentance and the hymn Revive Us Again.
If you’re ready for a fresh start with God, this message offers clarity, courage, and a map back to fellowship. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs renewal, and leave a review to tell us how God is reviving your heart today.
The first of Stephen's two volumes set through the Book of Revelation is now available. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ3XCJMY
Episode Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Wisdom Journey, where
Stephen Davy is taking youthrough the Bible with a lesson
each weekday.
Now, Stephen, your lesson todayis entitled How to Make a Fresh
Start with God.
And I think every believer knowswhat that feels like to drift a
little, to lose spiritual focus,and then the sense of the Lord
(00:55):
calling us back to him.
SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
Yeah, I think you're right.
I like to think of the Christianlife not so much as one long
victory march, uh, but a seriesof new beginnings.
We can't lose our salvation.
Uh we can lose our joy, ourdirection, our fellowship with
the Lord.
It's like a marriage.
You don't have to get marriedevery time you disappoint your
(01:19):
wife, um, but you need torestore fellowship.
So we don't get saved every timewe disappoint the Lord, but we
need that fellowship restored,and that comes through
confession and obedience.
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
Aaron Ross Powell I love how Psalm 85, where you're
going to take us today, capturesthis idea.
You're going to show us thatit's not a psalm for
unbelievers, but for believerswho need to be rekindled.
SPEAKER_00 (01:42):
Yeah, and it's it's for people who know God's
forgiveness and have arelationship with Him, but but
need to pray like this PsalmWill You Not Revive Us Again.
Uh we need revival.
The prayer is just as relevanttoday for us and for believers
around the world.
Revival, by the way, isn't forunbelievers.
They're they're spirituallydead.
(02:03):
There needs to be a resurrectionthere, but we need reviving
because uh we're we're notthinking correctly.
We're in a in a sense, comatospiritually.
We need to have that smellingsalt of challenge and conviction
to begin walking with God again.
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
Well, thank you, Stephen.
I'm really looking forward tohearing this lesson.
So, friends, let's join Stephenright now for this lesson that
he's called, How to Make a FreshStart with God.
SPEAKER_00 (02:36):
I've heard it said that the victorious Christian
life is a series of newbeginnings, and I happen to
agree wholeheartedly.
Now, that doesn't mean you canlose your salvation and you have
to, you know, start all overagain.
Somebody who's been born againby faith in Christ can't become
unborn.
So you don't lose yoursalvation, but you can certainly
(02:57):
lose your sense of direction,your joy, your contentment in
Christ, and that's going to callfor a new beginning.
You might call these newbeginnings fresh starts.
They're moments of rededicationto the Lord.
You might call them revivals inyour heart or your life or where
(03:17):
you renew your commitment.
We tend to use the word revivalfor unbelievers becoming
Christians, and I've got to tellyou, that's an inaccurate use of
the word.
That's because unbelievers arespiritually dead in sin.
Their spirit is dead.
You don't revive a dead corpse.
As a believer, you are alreadyalive then spiritually.
(03:41):
But if you're in a spiritualslump, maybe it's a time of
disobedience or disillusionment.
So that reviving of your hearttoward the things of God, that
that resuscitating of yourspiritual hunger, well, that
becomes a new beginning for you.
It's a fresh start in your walkwith the Lord.
(04:02):
Now, here in Psalm 85, the sonsof Korah are going to teach
Israel and us how to make afresh start as we walk with the
Lord.
And that fresh start alwaysbegins, always begins with
confession of sin and then thejoy of being forgiven.
So verse 2 sings here.
(04:40):
Sounds like that old hymn of thefaith I learned growing up as a
child.
It was written by Dr.
William McKay, Revive us again,fill each heart with thy love,
may each soul be rekindled withfire from above.
Hallelujah.
Thine the glory, hallelujah,amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory,revive us again.
(05:03):
In other words, Lord, today isthe day of rededication to you.
Lord, make today a day of newbeginnings.
I want to make a fresh start asI walk with you today.
Now the next Psalm is acompilation of several Psalms.
In fact, nearly every verse herein Psalm 86 is taken from
(05:26):
another Psalm.
David is so saturated with theWord of God that it just comes
out here in his prayer to theLord.
David demonstrates what it takesto make a fresh start in your
walk with God.
You see, beloved, you can't havea close relationship with God if
you have a casual relationshipwith God's Word.
(05:46):
You want to walk with God today,then your traveling companion
needs to be the Word of God.
Now, as we arrive here at Psalm87, there's a promise, there's a
prophetic promise to thosewho've been born again.
You're not only going to walkwith God through life, but
you're also going to walk withhim in a future kingdom life.
(06:07):
And then after thatthousand-year kingdom, right on
into eternal life as we think ofit in heaven.
Now, this Psalm is a song of joyfor those who have believed in
the Messiah.
And it actually connects back toPsalm 86, where we read in verse
9, all the nations you have madeshall come and worship before
(06:28):
you, O Lord, and shall glorifyyour name.
Well, these believing nationsthat are ushered into Jerusalem
to worship the Messiah who sitson the throne, well, this isn't
the glorious millennial kingdom.
This is still a future reality,and it's being celebrated here
in Psalm 87.
If you go over to Revelationchapter 20 and verse 6, it tells
(06:49):
us that every believer today isgoing to reign one day with
Christ in that comingthousand-year kingdom.
Jesus will establish thiskingdom following the
tribulation period when the Lordreturns to earth.
So here's the question.
Who has the right to live inthis kingdom?
(07:10):
Who gets this incredibleprivilege of having a new
beginning in this gloriouskingdom of Christ on earth?
Well, not just anybody's goingto get in.
In fact, three times here thepsalmist tells us that those
born in this city in Zion,they're the only ones who are
given the right to live in thekingdom.
Well, being born in Zion is afigurative way of saying they've
(07:34):
been redeemed.
They have been born into thefamily of God.
They belong to Messiah, Jesus.
John the Apostle wrote over inJohn chapter 1, to all who did
receive him, he's referring toJesus, who believed in his name,
he gave the right to becomechildren of God.
(07:55):
They're in verse 12.
So if you've been born again,born into the family of God by
faith in Christ, you happen tobe royalty.
There's a kingdom in yourfuture.
There's a crown in your future,if you can imagine it.
So who's getting into thekingdom?
Well, the psalmist says againhere in Psalm 87 in verse five,
(08:18):
this one and that one who wereborn in her.
That is, born as citizens of thekingdom.
Then again here in verse six,the Lord records as he registers
the peoples, this one was bornthere.
So think about this prophecy.
By faith in Jesus Christ today,you've actually been registered
(08:40):
as a citizen in the comingkingdom.
The Apostle Paul wrote to thebelievers living in the city of
Ephesus these words you are nolonger strangers and aliens, but
you are fellow citizens with thesaints, members of the household
of God, Ephesians 2 19.
Well now, even if you're acitizen of that coming kingdom
(09:03):
and you've been born again,you've been brought to life
spiritually, you still mightneed reviving today.
Perhaps you need a fresh starttoday.
Maybe you need a new beginningin your walk with the Lord
today.
And let me tell you, the bestthing you can do is remember
your salvation.
Remember your gracious, mercifulSavior.
(09:26):
Get this book, get the Bibleback off the shelf, get it back
into your life as you walk withGod today.
That's exactly what happened tothe author of that hymn I
mentioned earlier that wasentitled Revive Us Again.
William McKay had made aprofession of faith as he grew
up in a godly home in Scotlandback in the in the 1800s.
(09:47):
His mother had given him a Biblewhen he was a young man, and she
wrote in the fly leaf her desirethat he would consistently walk
with the Lord.
Well, at the age of seventeen,William headed off to the
University of Edinburgh to studymedicine.
His studies went well, but hisspiritual life suffered.
In fact, uh he he needed somequick money, and so he pawned
(10:11):
off that Bible his mother hadgiven him.
Several years later, abricklayer was brought into the
emergency room where McKay wasuh working, and he'd fallen off
a tall scaffold and wasseriously injured.
Dr.
McKay attended to him, and infact he determined this man had
no hope of survival.
(10:33):
He asked the young man if therewere any family members nearby
that he could notify, and hesaid, No, doctor McKay, but
would you at least notify mylandlady and ask her to bring me
my Bible?
Well, over the next several daysthis young man could be seen
reading his Bible, sometimesfalling asleep and even hugging
that Bible to his chest.
As expected, not long after hepassed away.
(10:56):
Dr.
McKay went into that young man'sroom to fill out the death
certificate, and he happened tolook over at the Bible, and it
seemed to him vaguely familiar.
He opened it.
He couldn't believe what he saw.
He rushed from the room withthat Bible, sat down in his
office, and opened it to the flyleaf, and there it was in his
(11:18):
mother's own handwriting.
See, this was the Bible she'dgiven him as a college student.
He was immediately convicted ofhis prodigal heart, and right
there in his office, Dr.
William McKay had a newbeginning.
He repented of his sin againstthe Lord, and let me tell you,
(11:39):
he had a revival.
He had a new beginning.
Let me ask you, do you need tobe born again today by accepting
Jesus Christ as your Lord andSavior?
You can do that right where yousit.
As you're driving along, pullover.
Ask him to become your savior.
Maybe you're a Christian, butyou need to have your fellowship
(12:02):
with the Lord restored.
You need to turn back towardhim.
You need to tune back in to theWord of God.
Well, do that right now.
Do whatever you need to do.
Make everything right betweenyou and God.
And until our next wisdomjourney, may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the loveof God and the fellowship of the
(12:24):
Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with
Stephen Davey.
To learn more about us andaccess all of our Bible teaching
resources, visitwisdomonline.org.
Our phone number is866-482-4253.
And you can email us at info atwisdomonline.org.
(13:00):
Stephen developed this dailyprogram to help you know what
the Bible says, understand whatit means, and apply it to your
life.
So please join us next time tocontinue the wisdom journey.
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