What is Revival?
Revival is…
a work of the Holy Spirit
“Revival is an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results.” – Richard Owen Roberts
Revival is not something we can “muster up” in human strength. It is a move of God. Our job is to (1) hunger and pray for it and (2) give God permission to do what He wants to do.
God is responsible for starting revival; humans are responsible for stopping it. We might stop it because we get uncomfortable with the new and different, or because we don’t understand, or because it isn’t convenient. We might stop it because God starts asking too much. I don’t believe God ever intends revival to stop. When revival stops, it is on us. But we don’t have to stop it. My prayer is that we would be the people who continue to surrender; the people who continue to give God permission to do what He wants to do until the harvest is harvested and the bride is complete (Rev. 19:7).
a transformation from the inside out
“In revival, God is not concerned about filling empty churches, He is concerned about filling empty hearts.” – Leonard Ravenhill
We often look at what is happening on the outside to try to understand and define what revival is. But revival is not what is happening on the outside. Revival is what is happening on the inside of people. It is a transformation that involves (1) getting free of our sin, our selves, and our oppressions so we can be (2) wholly filled and consumed with the Holy Spirit to then (3) step into our true identities as the sons and daughters of God that the all of creation has been longing to be revealed. “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” (Rom. 8:19 NIV).
What is the nature of Revival?
REVIVAL BEGINS WITH REPENTANCE
“The depth of our repentance will determine the depth of our revival.” – Frank Bartleman
Repentance is not the same thing as remorse or regret. We can have decades of REGRET and still be in bondage because we have never moved from the enemy’s grip of REGRET and REMORSE to the Holy Spirit’s work of CONVICTION and REPENTANCE.
“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Cor. 7:10 NIV
A look at revival history demonstrates that the move of the Holy Spirit starts with His conviction. Conviction moves us to confess to the Lord. To confess means to agree with God’s verdict. I believe the deepest form of confession is the confession that gets at not just the “fruit” but down to the “root” of our heart conditions. The kind of confession that admits we have made idols out of people, position, and power. The kind of confession that admits we have made fear king instead of making Jesus King. The kind of confession that gets at the roots. Because when we agree with God’s verdict on the root issues, we can repent – which means to change our thinking from human thinking to line up with God’s thinking about it – and get FREE. Repentance is not condemnation. The Apostle Paul reminds us there is no condemnation to those who are in Jesus (Rom. 8:1). On the contrary, true repentance is the ticket to FREEDOM.
REVIVAL LEADS TO FREEDOM
“Revival is the awakening or quickening of God’s people to their true nature and purpose.” – Robert Coleman
After coming into agreement with God’s verdict on our heart conditions and entering the true repentance that is the key to breaking bondage, the enemy has no more claim on us. Shame dissipates. Fear dissolves. Chains break. And Freedom reigns.
The sons and daughters of God begin to be revealed (Rom. 8:19) as they step into true identity and glory. Revival leads to miracles, signs, and wonders, and it also leads to increased love for God and for others. It leads to manifestations of the Spirit as people partner freely with the work of the Holy Spirit in them, and it also leads to a passion for the lost and a return to Kingdom mission as the previous barriers are melted by the love of Jesus.
How does Revival break out?
“Fire always falls on sacrifice.” – Bill Johnson
REVIVAL IS BIRTHED OUT OF HUNGER
“Every revival in history seems to be the result of a few people becoming so hungry for God that they wanted Him more than oxygen. Those who have such hunger will not be denied.” – Rick Joyner
The Holy Spirit does not come without permission. God honors human free will. He does not take over where we don’t want Him to. And therefore, our hunger is needed. God brings the fire that ignites the revival, but it is our job to bring the wood – and we are the wood. The fire falls on the sacrifice of our lives. Revival fire is attracted to the sacrifice of our laid-down lives.
REVIVAL IS BIRTHED OUT OF PRAYER; AND ULTIMATELY BIRTHED BY GOD
“There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.” – Arthur Tappan Pierson
Revival history reveals that revival is birthed out of prayer. Revival is a work of the Holy Spirit, a move of God. It is not something we can make happen. It begins with conviction of the holiness and goodness of God, and the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts. May we be a people who pray until we see God move. And may we be a people who stay in the place of prayer and in His presence. May we be the people who see the move of God through to His completion.
Rees Howells, on the revival that broke out at the Bible college in Wales in 1936:
“’I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice’ (Rom. 12:1). It seemed as though we had never seen that verse before. He made it clear that He was not asking for service, but for a sacrifice. ‘Our God is a consuming fire’ (Heb. 12:29); and if God the Holy Spirit took possession of these bodies, then His life was going to consume all that there was of ours.” (Rees Howells Intercessor, p. 275).
Fire falls on sacrifice.