REVIVAL.
For the last few years, the Church at large has been talking about revival in such a way that my generation hasn’t ever experienced before. While generations before my own may be more familiar with some very significant revivals in Christian history, it’s true that revival itself isn’t all that new. Somehow though, many of us might agree that what God is doing in this hour certainly is. As God has revealed more of Himself through the power of His Holy Spirit, hundreds of thousands of people are encountering God’s presence and power in ways they previously didn’t know was possible. Not only is this exciting, but it’s also incredibly holy.
J Edwin Orr said it best when he described revival as a move of God that, “begins with prayer, is followed closely by our repentance and is stirred by our confession.” Orr sought to exhort the Church that revival was less about “converts filling our churches” and more about God cleaning up his Church. The need for revival means that somewhere along the way of our following Christ, we as the Church lost sight of what truly matters and now need to realign ourselves with the Gospel and our role as Jesus’ disciples. Revival is our returning to what we were always meant to have focused on. Here’s the thing: there would be no need for revivals if we were already (and consistently) living in the full reality and truth of the Gospel of Jesus. While we do get it wrong, God, in His sovereign mercy, leads us to repentance and back to His heart, and friend, this too is good news.
One thing I’ve learnt so far is this: religion and revival do not go together. Religion has a tendency to want to control, whereas what we call revival — which is really just God’s Spirit at work — is much more unpredictable and uncontrollable. A lot of what we’re seeing in this hour is an incredible separation of God’s people from religious mindsets so that the Church can be what the Church was always meant to be. For someone who has grown up in the Church, I’ve found myself doing a lot more unlearning in this season because I’ve recognised belief systems within myself that I know God doesn’t want me to carry for what’s ahead. These include beliefs I may have adopted from contemporary Christian culture rather than from the very Word of God and I too, have had to repent.
I wonder where you find yourself in this season. Perhaps you, too, might agree that you’ve heard or read enough about revival. I wonder what God’s invitation is for you. We’re still in the very early stages of the wave of God’s glory that is sweeping across Australia and the nations of the world and I’ve personally found myself asking this question: how can we actually prepare for revival — or better yet, how can we steward it? You might find yourself in the middle of a personal or corporate revival, or you may be sensing God stirring something in you for your family or community. As I’ve been reflecting on this, I felt the Lord drop a very well-known verse into my heart:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
— Isaiah 43:18-19
There is a real temptation to consider the things of the past when we’re in a season of revival because revival can keep us in a period of transition for a long period of time. Even the Israelites were tempted to go back to Egypt, a place of slavery, because their period of transition in the wilderness certainly wasn’t going how they expected it to. We, too, can often find ourselves wanting to go back to what has been familiar, predictable and even comfortable. While this is true for changing seasons, I also feel it’s true as many of us are waiting for the revival that has been prophesied over our cities, communities or families. The words, “Forget the former things,” keep ringing in my spirit. God is simply saying to you and me, “Stop looking back.”
But why? Well, looking back can keep us stuck and unaware of what God is doing now, and what He may be wanting to do next. It’s possible that while we are yet to visibly see the new thing, we may default to either complaint or complacency, but friend, neither of these can be our response, especially to the things of God. There is a process of preparation that each of us has to undertake in order to be ready for the new and ready for the next. Not only is there a preparation process, but I also believe there is a posture we ought to have. One that is humble, expectant, prayerful and ready to behold all that Jesus is doing in his Bride. We have to be open to things looking nothing like what we’ve always known. This can be scary and difficult to navigate, but our openness and willingness for God’s way can better allow us to embrace whatever the new thing will be. If we don’t properly steward our preparation or have the right heart posture, we risk missing a mighty move of God — being observers instead of partakers or conduits of it. Some might even be a stumbling block. I, for one, don’t want to miss what God is doing and I have to constantly remind myself that what is ahead will most likely be completely different to all I’m familiar with. It will definitely be different to what I’m comfortable with. You may feel the same way too. This is not just for the Church corporately, but it’s also for our personal lives. There is a revival happening in individual lives just as much as it is happening in the Body of Christ. We are the Body after all and that is why revival has to start with you and me.
LIVING IN REVIVAL
We have to understand what revival is and what it isn’t. Revival isn’t hype or a buzz word. It’s the purification of God’s Church. Below are the characteristics of revival we need to be mindful of:
Revival is for repentance — a turning away from sin, rebellion and even our desire to control.
Revival brings liberation — freedom from any form of bondage and even from mindsets and attitudes that keep us stuck.
Revival is for reformation — what comes next can’t look like what has already been. There must be an end to the old and a birthing of the new.
Revival is for consecration — an undeniable holiness amongst God’s people. We are called to be a people set apart for the Lord.
Revival is marked by God’s judgement — we can’t avoid to reality that God is a just God and will judge according to His Word and commands. J Edwin Orr said, “Every great revival is marked by judgement.” This is why God’s mercy should lead us to repentance.
Revival is about God’s Kingdom — the power, rule, reign of God and His Holy Spirit in the earth.
There is a restoration of the fear of the Lord coming back to the Church. Where we began to treat the things of God as common, we will now begin to revere as sacred. Our reverence and awe of God is what will mark this generation in this revival as we love and honour Him for who He truly is, rather than who we think He has to be.
One other passage of Scripture that has stood out to me in these last few months is from the book of Joshua:
“Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.””
— Joshua 3:5
I truly sense that Joshua 3:5 is a prophetic message to the Church in this season. There are amazing things that God is wanting to do amongst us as His children and His consecrated vessels. God is giving people new blueprints in order to journey through this next season well and step into greater and wider horizons. These blueprints will only be able to be accessed in the secret place, given to those who are willing and hungry. God’s Kingdom is being built by those who aren’t concerned about building systems but are more concerned about building God’s people.
We’re about to see more and more of the Kingdom of God “on earth as in heaven,” just as Jesus told His disciples to pray and I believe that right now, Jesus is calling us up higher. His desire for us is to see things from his perspective, but we can’t expect to see what we already know or what we think we know.
“After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.””
— Revelation 4:1
What are the things you’re looking back on that may be stopping God’s revival in, around and through you? It’s the kindness of God to want to reveal these things to us. I pray that you and I wouldn’t be a people that are so afraid of what’s ahead that it keeps us stuck in the things of the past. I pray that we would be set apart for the amazing works of God and that our first response would be prayer and repentance.
Whatever God is doing, it can only be good and it will only reveal more of His glory here on the earth, as it is in Heaven.
Written for The Global Pursuit, June 2023.