What is Revival?

Talk for monthly in-person Prayer Meeting @ All Nations

At present there is a much talked about revival in Ansbury, Kentucky, where a Christian university’s prayer meeting has gone on for weeks without stopping. People are flocking to it. ‘Celebrity’ pastors and worship leaders have turned up and offered ‘help’. They’ve been shown a chair in the congregation to seek God. 

This seeking God movement is spreading through the USA. There’s a growing sense in the the UK that we want more of God too. In our services we are becoming more aware of God’s presence. How can we move into a spirit of revival?

The Pastor’s job is not to give yo all the answers but to preach you hungry.

Isaiah 55: 1-13

You Can’t Buy it or Manufacture Revival

1: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Much like salvation, revival is free. It is something that God gives at certain times.  When you by without cost it means it’s free, it is no respecter of social position, the price is paid. Much like when my kids were home and they’d raid the fridge. It’s there and available for all.

In Revival God is Revealed in a More Tangible Way

6: Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

There is something about the presence of God that is more real than at other times. We know that God is with us all the time, everywhere (Psalm 139).

So how does this work? 

The story of the tasty orange: from the fridge it was just so thirst quenching, so juicy, so moreish. I had eaten hundreds of oranges in my life but that oragne seems to stand out in my memory.

Psalm 34:8: Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

It is when we come before God to meet Him for who He is, not for what we want from Him.

In Revival There is a Move of Repentance

7: Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord…

One of the hallmarks of revival is there is true repentance, a turning back to God, changed lives. This repentance often comes with emotion but it not emotionalism. 

In Revival There is an Outpouring of Mercy

7b: … and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

In revival there is repentance but an outpouring of mercy too. When we see laughter, weeping, shaking and so on, these are often the outward expressions of what God is doing inside of a person. They are a symptom of overwhelming mercy and love being shown to an individual.  

In Revival God Does Things He Loves Doing

8 :“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Salvation is above our thinking, We would never have thought of Jesus! But also, in revivals, there are things that happen we may not agree with. 

I do know where the Spirit moves the flesh moves too. I know that not everything that happens in a revival appeals to my sensibility's. Weird people were weird before they were Christians an weird before a revival. I look for the fruit. 

In Revival God Accelerates His Purposes

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish

what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

God has a plan and a purpose for a revival. I am sure we won’t always be sure what that is at the time. I am sure that there will always be an obvious thing in that moment. But He is accomplishing His purposes. 

So, whilst some will criticise immediately what is going on (as has happened on social media because a revival may not fit into a person’s theological box) I am also sure that God is at work and working out His plan.

Outward Joy is a Sign of a Revival

12 : You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Joy and peace and flow out of revivals. But this is not something that is contained in the church - it is to go out into the community.  It will affect those outside and have a transformative effect on the community.

The Fruit in a City is Changed Because of Revival

13: Instead of the thorn-bush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

There is a promise here of a physical change in what grows in the soil. In Reading there’s all kinds of things growing in the spiritual soil. If we want to see that change we need a revival, that starts with the churches and moves out. A transformed church leads to a transformed town.

God’s Name is Glorified Through a Revival

13b: This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”

When Jesus came and salvation was made possible it was for God’s renown. When revival s come the focus and the glory must be on God. They are to bring His renown.

Wrapping This Up

Let’s worship and seek God.