Many people associate revival with tent meetings or a special emphasis week at a church, but true revival begins in the heart. One individual who genuinely looks at Christ on the cross, who understands the cost of grace, and who belongs to Jesus and loves Him enough to obey Him, can start a revival. One person fully yielded can be the catalyst for revival that spreads to the family, the church, the city, the nation, and the world.
Imagine what the Church would look like if all believers were actually praying for, hoping for, and expecting revival in the name of Jesus. Imagine how your community would change as people dedicated their lives to Christ and started serving Him. Imagine what would happen in our nation and even the world if people experienced the life transformation of personal relationship with Jesus. All Christians say they want to see revival, and many pray for it. But true revival doesn’t begin in a nation, in a specific location, or even in a church. Revival starts with you.
Revival has little to do with time.
We may set a time for a revival meeting or for a revival week, but if we attend the meetings without attending to our spiritual condition, we’ve wasted our time.
Revival has little to do with place.
We can meet God as easily on a hiking trail as we can in a revival tent. We can commune with Him in a coffee house as closely as we can in a church structure.
Revival has everything to do with repentance.
Genuine revival is a deep work of God that causes repentance and unleashes God’s power in our lives. It begins as an internal work that is so transformational it becomes external.
Revival has everything to do with grace.
Any believer who understands the cost of grace, and who loves Jesus enough to obey Him, can start a revival.
Revival does not require a large venue, logistical know-how, or staffing.
If you are a Christian, You are God’s holy temple. When you press in, drawing close to your Savior, you are moved to personal repentance, you are in tune with the Holy Spirit, and you are empowered to do the work of the Spirit—to bring in the bride of Christ. You need no training, no venue, and no staff.
Genuine revival is a deep work of God that causes repentance and unleashes God’s power in our lives. It is more likely to begin in a prayer closet than in a tent; it is an internal work that is so transformational it becomes external. For the follower of Jesus, revival starts with you, right here and right now.
Are you willing to seek God for revival?
Pastor Adrian Rogers taught biblically about revival in the Old Testament using passages from the books of Ezekiel, 1 Kings, and Isaiah.
Pastor Rogers revealed the source, the course, and the force of the rivers of revival pictured in Ezekiel 47.
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar (Ezekiel 47:1).
It is a humble source; it flows from under the threshold. Adrian Rogers said, “Revival never begins without God’s people humbling themselves.”
It is a holy source; it flows past the altar, the holiest of holy places.
It is a heated source; it flows out towards the east, where the sun rises.
It flows into the depressed, deserted, and deadly places. In our world, there are people who are fearful and perplexed, dissatisfied, and spiritually dead. They don’t know the joy that we know as believers or have the answers to life that we have. They need the rivers of revival to flow out of us.
Through the force of the river of revival described in Ezekiel, we learn that where the water flows:
Trees grow. “When I had returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other” (Ezekiel 47:7). Ezekiel is talking about Christians who have strength and life, becoming trees that will not wither. (See Psalm 1:2-3.)
Fish go. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said that we’re to be fishers of men. Evangelism is a by-product of revival; when the Church gets right with God, others will come to Jesus.
Fruit Shows. Galatians 5:22-23 reveals the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Health glows. When the rivers of revival flow through, the result is spiritual health: for us those around us.
Are you thirsty for revival? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Read more about rivers of revival in the article, The Rivers of Supernatural Revival.
In 1 Kings 18, there were dark days of apostasy in Israel. The people had forgotten God and begun worshiping a false god named Baal in obscene and immoral ways. Then God sent the prophet Elijah to challenge them and to remind them that our God is a consuming fire.
Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God (1 Kings 18:24).
In our own troublesome days, this story offers hope for those of us waiting to see God’s fire fall again and ignite a church revival.
There are the compromisers, represented by a man named Obadiah. (See 1 Kings 18:5-6.) Like Obadiah, there are believers who have compromised in their beliefs.
There are the corrupt, represented by Ahab and Jezebel. King Ahab was deeply religious, praying to idols and gods that fed his own pride and lust.
There are the confused who are on the fence, represented by the crowd in 1 Kings 18: 19-21. The crowd will be swept into the Kingdom of God if there’s true revival in the Church. God’s love will be multiplied.
And there is the competition, the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
The solidarity of God’s people, coming together in unity for an altar fellowship.
The separation of God’s people from the world.
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose powerful blood is our only hope.
The supernatural power of God, which shines even brighter through odds stacked against Him.
The strength of believing prayer. If you are on fire for Jesus, your prayers can ignite revival fire. And your prayers can keep the fire burning.
Once Elijah called upon the Lord in prayer, God answered with the fire of the Holy Spirit. The worshipful response from the crowds reveals that revival fire from Heaven is all-consuming, convicting, and converting.
For more about the revival in Elijah’s day, read the article, Let the Revival Fire of God Fall.
No military power, economic upturn, or presidential election can bring the revival we so desperately need in these Last Days. Transformation happens when, by holy boldness, one person seeks the face of God; revival can happen in one person, in a family, in a church, in a country.
Isaiah 64 shows us what happens when the Spirit of God shows up and revival breaks out.
Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence—as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! (Isaiah 64:1-2).
When God comes down, mountains melt, and sinners shake. His presence cannot be explained away or mocked. His presence makes the righteous rejoice (see Isaiah 64:4-5), because we know that God wants to meet with us.
But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6).
We are corrupted by our sins; our self-righteousness is like filthy rags. We try to cover ourselves with the thing that defiles and condemns us.
We can also be complacent in our sins (see Isaiah 64:7). We need to stir up our hearts—shake up and shake off the comfort of habitual sin.
We cannot let sin consume us; it cannot eat us alive. If we are serious about revival, we must get right with God and put ourselves at His disposal.
Seeking God’s face means fervent prayer.
This type of prayer recognizes God’s sovereignty, remembers God’s mercy, and respects God’s glory (see Isaiah 64:8-9).
Adrian Rogers said, “The problem with so many of our prayers is we’re not willing to repent. We want God’s mercy, but we seek no repentance; and prayer without repentance is a religious farce—a smokescreen.”
For more about revival in Isaiah’s day, read the article, Revival Begins with the Presence of God.
We live in a fallen world of broken homes and throw-away marriages. Now more than ever, we must come back to the Word of God and seek family revival.
Matthew 19 explains what marriage is so we can build our marriages in the name and power of Jesus Christ.
“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6).
Marriage is a divine institution made by God to meet the deepest needs of humankind. When we commit to another in marriage, we leave our mother and father and unite with our spouse, becoming one flesh. We are called to join together physically and multiply; we become one flesh psychologically and in spiritual communion. God alone founded the institution of marriage, defining it as one man and one woman committed to each other for life.
Adrian Rogers said, “It is not love that holds your marriage together; it is marriage that sustains your love.”
God has said in His Word He hates divorce. We are commanded to love continually; a marriage rooted in conditional love produces fear, guilt, and anger. There is no fear in perfect, unconditional love; only peace, security, and joy.
It is our duty to dispel the lies from Hell, vow to attack the problems rather than one another, and change the direction of a broken marriage. God has joined us together, and where there is God, there is always hope.
We do this by making Jesus Christ the center of our homes. We must continually feed our love for Jesus and for one another day by day, nurturing and caring for it so it will grow.
And if we ever find ourselves in a broken home, we must remember God’s forgiveness is always available for those who seek to honor Him in their relationships; we need only ask for it.
For more about family revival, read the article, The Power of God in Family Revival.
He presented himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs. …And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:3-5).
When the day of Pentecost arrived they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from Heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting (Acts 2:1-2).
After Jesus “presented Himself alive” the disciples submitted fully to the resurrected Savior as the Lord of the Universe. They were obedient to Christ and remained together in an upper room—studying, praying, and waiting for the Holy Spirit Jesus had promised to them. They had received Christ as Savior; now they waited for His power. Once they received that power, they were emboldened for the rest of their lives!
If you have repented (turned from) sin and are in a relationship with the risen Savior, you are a believer, and you have the power of the Holy Spirit abiding with you forever. You are not waiting, as the first disciples were, for a future event.
“The Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost. God didn’t take Him back up and send Him again,” Pastor Adrian Rogers said. “We don’t need to persuade God to fill us with the Holy Spirit; we need to permit Him to do so. The problem with many Christians is that they’ve been to Calvary for pardon but they haven’t been to Pentecost for power.”
For more about the revival at Pentecost, sign up for the email challenge, 10 Days to Pentecost.
Can revival happen today?
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
When I was a boy in Florida, we lived at the seaside. I love the water, and one of the things that always intrigued me as a boy was the changing of the tide. As we’d go out fishing, my brother and I would always be cognizant of the tides because we would come and go by the tides. The tides were important to us. There are tides in nations too. America saw a tide of revival sweep in twice—in the First and Second Great Awakenings. But today we’ve seen a different tide. At this lowest point, when the tide is as low as it can get, may God grant that we see the tide begin to turn back the other way, back to decency in America.
We need to look up. Only God can help us. We need to confess up and turn from our wicked ways. We need to speak up. We need to stand up for what is right. –Pastor Adrian Rogers
“You completely abandon yourself,” Pastor Rogers said. “This is the reason the Bible puts these two things in the same verse. ‘Be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Ghost.’ (See Ephesians 5:18.) Paul (the writer of Ephesians) is saying that, in a real sense, being filled with the Holy Spirit is like being drunk. When a new man (one who has been born again as a believer) is filled with the Holy Spirit, he is controlled by and motivated by the Holy Spirit just as a drunk man is controlled and motivated by his wine. Have you ever seen a man drunk? His talk is affected. His walk is affected.”
Have you acknowledged your identity as a sinner, repented (turned from) a life of sin, and recognized Jesus as Savior and Lord? If so, acknowledge also that you have the Holy Spirit residing in you.
Have you abandoned yourself to the Holy Spirit’s leading—letting Him motivate and control your talk and your walk? If not, tell God you permit yourself to be controlled by Him alone! He will reveal and remove any sinful strongholds that keep you from effective prayer and service.
If you want to see a move of God, seek personal revival first; then tell others how you are seeking and ask them to join you.
Consider using the new Bible study from Love Worth Finding, The Bride of Christ, as a family, small-group, or church study that will help bring yourself and others back to the basics of what God intended for His Church so that you can seek revival together.
