Desiring Revival, God‘s way

Is Revival for our benefit or for God's glory? Is God obligated to come because we prayed, or are there conditions that we must fulfill before we seek Him and wait upon Him to send the refreshing from heaven? Is Revival a formula?

Does any movement that God has raised remain the same? As we walk through history, we are struck by the fact that what begins well often does not endure. To understand our position, we must return to the roots and the heights (peaks), examine how far we have strayed, seek the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him so that He may draw near.

Three main pillars seem to be prevalent when God starts dealing with His Church in where she is. Ruin is when the people are backed into a corner with no hope, but to cry out to God, like the children of Israel at the Red Sea. Repentance is when God, in an act of mercy, shows their need and the depraved condition they are in, and Refreshing is what He sends to revive His Church. The key to this is...

What is the great need we see around us? Not in America, but in Christianity that claims to preach the Gospel, believes the Bible from cover to cover, and holds to the fundamentals of the faith. What is the great need among us? It really comes down to the question: is God really enough? or do we need all the frills we are so used to that they have become part of our understanding of the essentials...

Is revival about saving our face before men, or is it about desiring Him, even if it means our shame before men? The great need of our day is honesty, not sincerity. Our need for God, and the acute sense to know it, will drive us to the place where we can seek God in the way He is pleased to send His gracious work of refreshing into our midst.

The essence of the Gospel is the man, woman, boy, or girl who is truly born of God. How do we answer life's fundamental questions of why we are here? Where are you going? What is the purpose of life? and such. As we look into the restless nature of man, we must realize that only God can satisfy us. God alone.

In times of great darkness, God, in His mercy, has seen fit to send an awakening to revive His Church. But during these moments, one of the areas people become aware of is this matter of who God is, and deep grief over all the shallow representations of God that we have built over the years. The need we have today is to return to the basics and relearn who God is, not as the culture dictates, but...

There is a grave danger when we equate the breadth of what we have accomplished or what is seen on the surface, and don't desire or see the depth that one should be concerned about. The tallest trees that stand must have deep roots, or they will topple, and the destruction will be great. 

When talking about Revival, it is easy to show that our lives are not corrupted by the obvious. One may consider their faithfulness to God's house, prayer for Revival, abstaining from known sins such as pornography, coveteousness, etc, and allow one to be blinded, not realizing the need for absolute surrender.

Do we need revival? Are we in a state where we can handle the power of God coming upon us while we live in disobedience to what God expects of us? The apostle Paul said that to present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) is our reasonable service; is that the reality of our congregation? Why are we unable to stop the tide of sin? What is the deeper issue that we need to deal with?

This matter of God coming down and manifesting Himself in our midst comes at a great price of seeking after God. But this is not without opposition. Just as the early church was persecuted and nearly extinguished, the matter of seeking God for revival must be in the realization of the spiritual nature of what it is. It is a spiritual warfare that one must be prepared to face.

Do you think revival is predicated on our asking? Is it because we ask God to send? Does God prepare those whom He has kept hidden, like John the Baptist, until the time of their showing forth? What was one of the key areas that God works on when He prepares a vessel to bring about an Awakening?

The declaration of Jesus, who said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." - Matthew 16:24, was not a nice thing to have around your neck as an ornament, but live a life of death to self on the narrow way. Such considerations must be taken seriously if we are serious about God's prerequisite for sending Revival.

Morality seems to be the new god of our day. We are willing to sacrifice truth at the altar of good behaviour. While true Christians will and should live a moral life that reflects their Saviour, what is the starting point of a work of God?

One of the grave dangers in times of Awakening is the ability of Satan, who as an angel of light" can deceive those who are affected by Revival, to see for some emotional high instead of grounding themselves in the word of God, the Bible. There is a grave danger when we allow the superficial moves of our day to be called "revival" when it is nothing more than the unity of devils. 

A heaven-sent Revival can undo years of the works of the flesh and the devil. One of the key areas is in the matter of Evangelism. It is a spontaneous outburst of people set on fire, who don't just pray but also put legs to their prayer through obedience and go out into the highways and hedges to compel them to come in, that Christ might be made known and be glorified.

Are revivals that we read of in the past isolated to a time period that cannot be repeated? We read of the great works of God in times such as the Evangelical Awakening in England, the Revival at Hebrides, or the move of God during the time of the Waldensians. Are we so different that we cannot expect God to work the same way today? What was their secret? 

God chooses the weak things to confound the mighty. Resting in God is not passive disobedience; instead, it is active confidence in God, knowing what He can do and what He has promised, and stepping out by faith into the realm of the Supernatural.

One man or woman with God is a majority, and God uses vessels to fulfill His work. Our reliance upon historic methods that the people of the past have used has been the bane of today's Christianity. Revival is God's work done God's way, unique to every generation.

Is Faith something we work up, or is Faith supernatural, a gift from God? When one finds their heart cold, how does Faith come when calling upon God to revive their hearts?

Does Prayer move the heart of God, or does God raise men of prayer during times of Revival in an act of mercy to send His glorious refreshing from Heaven? Does our prayer focus on what we can get from God or on asking God to do more than what we are used to today? 

Is it enough to conclude that what we see on the inside of a Church depicts the success of the Gospel? Hear from voices of the past in this matter of what God can do when we are honest before Him and see our need, see His abundant provision, and cry out to Him to draw near to us.

Much used and much abused, but are we seeing Revival as the Bible declares it? What comes to your mind when you hear the term Revival? Special meetings? organized campaigns? Let's explore the God of Revival and the outflow of Revival, God's way.

Topics include: • Why Pray? • What Isn’t Prayer? • Examining Motives • Sacrifice • Persistence & Assurance • Glory of God

Topics include: • Why Pray? • What Isn’t Prayer? • Examining Motives • Sacrifice • Persistence & Assurance • Glory of God