Tag: Revival

What If Revival Wasn’t Necessary?

In the Christian world, we are so often praying for revival.  We pray that God would move in our midst…that God would transform the broken…that God would bring life to that which is dead.  We so often long for revival, even to the point of tears.  Our hearts break for the lost, and our longing is for more of God.  What incredible prayers have been offered in the name of revival!  But what if revival wasn’t necessary?  What if it’s ultimately not what a broken world needs?

What if rather than simply praying for revival and longing for revival, we became the revival?  What if we put our prayers to action?  What if God is wanting to send revival to our communities and to our nation, but he’s just waiting for someone to do something beyond just praying about it and talking about it?

I know these are big questions to ask.  And in asking them I don’t intend to presuppose revival is completely our responsibility, because God is sovereign and moves as He chooses.  But God can only ‘revive’ those willing to be the change, not just wish for the change.  That’s the ultimate purpose of ‘revival’ anyway.  It’s not to simply fill altars with people praying and crying out to God, but to reach those that are far from Him and see their lives miraculously transformed!  

For that transformation to happen, and revival to truly take place in our community, maybe, just maybe, it’s not so much our lack of prayer, but our lack of participation with what God is already doing?  That’s not to diminish the huge importance for every Christ follower to be in prayer for our world.  Instead, let it be a caution to not simply pray for God to change our world, but to step out and be the change our world needs.

That is true revival.  That’s something that no church service or prayer meeting will do.  That’s what Jesus called his followers to thousands of years ago…not, “Pray and I’ll make disciples…” but “Go and make disciples…”

And if that’s the case, then maybe our world doesn’t need another ‘revival service’ but it needs you…it needs you carrying the love and hope of Jesus Christ throughout it.  It needs you willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the hurting.  It needs you willing to put feet to your prayers, and love the unlovely.

Let’s stop waiting for the next big revival to reach and change our world, and let’s start being the revival our world so desperately needs.

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Revival in the Land

Back when I was a kid, Carman had a famous album called “Revival in the Land“.  It had some big hits like “God’s Got an Army”, the human video super-song: “A Witches Invitation” and of course “Revival in the Land”.  Revival is something that, for centuries, Christian have sung about, prayed for and truly desired.  Some generations have experienced what we would refer to as ‘Revival’, some were not as fortunate.  As I’ve really thought about this a lot, I am continually convinced that our concept of revival is so skewed.

My personal desire is first for revival in my own life. How can I say this world is going to hell and needs revival unless it starts in me?  I would argue that any revival you have seen throughout history has started with one person. One person going after God with a holy abandon.  Rather then praying for revival and constantly signing about it – my question for you…and for myself, is what are you doing about it personally?

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Revival and Our Spiritual Walk

With the recent talk of revival in Florida, I’ve heard a lot of discussion taking place about this topic. Revival is a very interesting subject and it seems everyone has their own definition of what revival is. The more I’ve thought about it myself, I’ve come to this conclusion. A person’s definition of revival will often determine the direction of their spiritual walk. Let me explain.

Revival to many followers of Christ is the ultimate spiritual experience.  Call it right or wrong, many followers of Christ would agree.  The issue, however, is what does revival look like to you?

My definition of revival isn’t a week or months or years of having services every night.   It isn’t necessarily a few services where people are being healed.  I think revival is most effective as it impacts the mundane. True revival doesn’t actually start in the church, the church simply becomes a gathering of ‘revived’ individuals.  There are numerous components of revival, but I think if personal change in the mundane aspects of life aren’t taking place, I don’t want any part of it!  The reason is because true life doesn’t take place on the mountaintop – it takes place in the valley.  The question I have for you today is this:  How is your definition of revival affecting your spiritual walk?  Are constantly looking for the “Rah-Rah” spiritual experience or are you taking intentional steps to cultivate the divine presence of Jesus in your everyday life?

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