I am seeking God intensely to send TRUE REVIVAL, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that gets ‘out of man’s control.’ I am totally weary of ‘church as usual.’ More than ever, I am ready for a new level of the supernatural. I know many of you feel the same way. In the last two issues of the Shield of Faith, I have shared two keys to a heaven-sent revival: humility and contrition. (based on Is. 57:15) In this article, we will study the third key: understanding.
KEY SCRIPTURE:
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. (Pr. 4:7)
KEY EXPLANATION:
To understand the nature of true revival, let’s compare it to the incarnation of the Son of God, who came to “revive” something Adam lost. True revival is usually birthed by deep intercession and travailing prayer, like the Jews who for many centuries repented of their backslidings and prayed for Messiah to come. It has key ordained persons, chosen by God to usher in the revival, like Mary, the virgin chosen to bear Immanuel, and Joseph, her espoused husband. It often emerges from mustard seed beginnings, obscure places or unlikely locations, like the Messiah being born in Bethlehem, the smallest of all the cities of Judah. It is wrapped in the swaddling clothes of holiness. It is attracted to simple and humble settings, like the stable that became a throne room. Signs and wonders usually accompany its birth, like the angel announcing, “I bring you good tidings of great joy” and the star that guided the wise men on their journey. It always results in great praise generated toward the Almighty, like the angelic choir singing, “Glory to God in the highest.”
True revival is typically attended by individuals supernaturally drawn, like the shepherds who came in from the fields to see the Christ child. As a rule, it is rejected by the established religious order and attracts satanically inspired opposition, like Herod seeking to slay this ‘royal’ child before He could challenge his throne. Oh, one last thing—the indicator of true revival is never the number of people present. For there were only a few surrounding the manger where the holy child lay. BUT HE WAS THERE, all power in heaven and earth, veiled in human flesh—and that’s what counts most of all.
I am sure by now you see the connection—any true “move of God” will normally follow the same pattern as this greatest of all “move of God,” when God came down from heaven to earth at the start.
KEY BIBLE THOUGHTS:
There are also key thoughts gleaned from Scripture that help us understand the nature of true revival. The word “revival” is actually not found in the King James Version of the Bible. However, related words like “revive” and “reviving” are found 16 times (14 times in the Old Testament; 2 times in the New Testament). The word “revive” actually means to restore back to life.
The first time the word is found is in Genesis 45:27. After having believed for many years that his eleventh son, Joseph, was dead, Jacob was suddenly confronted with the wondrous truth that he was alive. More than that, he had become the prime minister of Egypt. As a result, “the spirit of Jacob…revived.” After years of being nearly dead emotionally and mentally, overwhelmed with grief, Jacob’s heart was restored to new hope. Such is the nature of revival. It is a spiritual awakening, a resurrection, the shaking off of dark things like despair.
The second time we find the word is a reference to Samson. He was severely parched after slaying a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, and felt he was going to die of thirst. But God supernaturally caused a spring of water to break forth in Lehi, and Samson’s spirit was “revived.” (Jd. 15:19) The third time we find the word, Elijah is stretching himself three times over a dead child, until his soul came back into him and he “revived.” (I Kgs. 17:22) The fourth time, in order to flee from an approaching enemy, several men threw a dead companion on the bones of Elisha and “he revived and stood on his feet.” (II Kgs. 13:21)
In these references, a pattern emerges. A true reviving is extreme change, a radical move of the power of God. It is life from the dead. Many death-dealing elements are affecting our society and our world: lust, perversion, hatred, fear, ungodliness. Huge cathedrals often house congregations that are dead in their rituals and ceremonies, with no evidence of the presence of God in their midst. The biblical values our spiritual forefathers held dear are being forsaken—challenged by a decadent generation that fails to comprehend their present-day prosperity is actually the result of revivals of religion in the past. Yet there is a remnant who do understand, a people who, with deep yearning, look back to Elijah, David, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, Peter, James, John, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, Dwight Moody, Billy Sunday and countless others—to plead once more:
“Wilt Thou not REVIVE us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?” (Ps. 85:6)
“O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years; in wrath remember mercy.” (Hab. 3:2)