Revival

Now that we know what the Fear of the Lord is, how to walk in it, how to build according to God’s pattern and how to guard against Satan’s will, How about we pray and ask the Father to send REVIVAL to you and I individually?

Before we get started, I would like to recommend a short prayer to you.  We should always confess our need for God to give us wisdom, understanding, knowledge and revelation in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ better through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are awesome in all of your ways.  Please give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ more and more as I read this article.

Part 1 of this Series – What is the Fear of the Lord? – Part 1
Part 2 of this Series – What is the Fear of the Lord? – Part 2
Part 3 of this Series – Walking in the Fear of the Lord – Part 1
Part 4 of this Series – Walking in the Fear of the Lord – Part 2
Part 5 of this Series – Build According to the Pattern
Part 6 of this Series – Avoiding Satan’s Will for the Church
Part 7 of this Series – Revival

Common Characteristics of REVIVAL

This may shock you, but God has already sent revival into the earth.  Believe you me, there are people all over this planet, just as I write this, saying the exact same thing to themselves.  Let’s take a look at some common characteristics of Revival.  By the way, if you’ve never read about past revivals in America, I encourage you to if you long for a renewal, refreshing, awakening touch from God Himself.

  • Bondage – God’s people cry out to Him for deliverance as a result of the persistent troubling times in a nation
  • God Touches/Calls the Deliverer(s) – God Himself visits the deliverer(s) and equips them with the answer for the deliverance that the people of God are crying out for
  • The Message – God prepares the deliverer(s) with a fresh message that challenges the status quo
  • Spiritual Warfare – The Deliverer(s) delivers the message and it brings extreme spiritual and subsequently natural attack.  A direct result of the offensive nature of the warfare attack launched against the forces of darkness as the fresh Word of God is preached and taught.  The level of warfare is directly related to the level of bondage holding the people of God from worshiping the True and Living God in Spirit and in Truth as opposed to idols.
  • Extreme Repentance – As the message is delivered, those who were in bondage receive deliverance and have an extreme awareness of their sinfulness, which provokes an extreme measure of repentance and a strong desire for reconciliation.
  • Revival – The extreme repentance is the catalyst that ignites the revival of the few deliverer(s) causing it to spread to the masses and shifting the very atmosphere from oppression to true freedom in the presence of a Holy God.

Please notice the quote below.  It’s simply an observation of the state of America as a whole in 1903.  I don’t believe it reports to be authoritative, simply the opinion of a servant of God.  That said, please ask yourself, even though we have way more Church buildings and some of the largest churches this nation has ever seen in existence today, is this nation better or worse than described below?

J. Wilbur Chapman wrote in 1903 in his Present-Day Evangelism, “1. America is fast following the steps of the old Roman Empire. 2. The home is despised, 3. children are an encumbrance, 4. a poodle dog is of more value than a baby. 5. Wealth and pride consume the lifeblood of the nation and 6. aristocratic weaknesses sap our democratic vigor. And yet in the presence of all these discouragements, we confidently believe that the skies are brightening and that there is the assurance of the dawning of a new day. There is an increasing number in the Church too longing for better things. There is a great volume of prayer ascending to God in behalf of the unsaved.”

So, why did I ask the question above and then include a quote from more than 100 years ago?  It’s simple, to prepare you for the next question, do you believe this nation is in need of a spiritual awakening or a REVIVAL? Before I present one example of Revival from scripture to hopefully spark a hunger in you to pray for Revival, I would like to review the conditions in the above statement.

  1. America is fast following the steps of the old Roman Empire This was the Empire in control of the broad political system when Jesus was crucified.  Remember, Jesus asked the Pharisees, who’s picture and superscription was on the denarius and they answered Caesar?  In other words, the taxes you pay are not to the Kingdom of God, but to Rome; or in the case of this country, the United States government.  By saying America is following in the footsteps of the Roman Empire, the clear implication is that America is quickly becoming an enemy of God and His son Jesus Christ.  Remember, this statement was made in 1903.  I’ll leave it to you to decide whether it’s accurate or not.
  2. The Home is Despised This is one that’s extremely close to my heart being a son of God, a husband and a father.  God Himself instituted family and I don’t think there’s one person who could, with a straight face, deny that there is a down-right agenda to dismantle the God ordained structure and order of the family stated clearly in I Corinthians 11:3 and I Timothy 5:8.  God has ordained for men specifically to be the spiritual and natural leaders of the home.  The traditional design of the family is one man, one woman and the children.  I’ll leave it to you to determine whether God’s original design is being undermined.
  3. Children are an Encumbrance In other words, Christian parents are to busy taking care of themselves to give their lives over to the development of their children in the ways of the Lord (see II Timothy 3 verses Proverbs 22:6).  The reason I emphasize Christian parents is because we really don’t expect parents who don’t know the Lord to train up their children in His ways do we?  My Apostle says, you can only produce what you are, and it’s true.  Remember now, these are not my statements, I’m simply expanding on the thought.  Again, I’ll leave it to you to decide whether this is true or not for our day.
  4.  A Poodle Dog is More Valuable Than a Baby I’m really not going to pull stats into this observation, but I surely could.  How many innocent children were murdered last year as a result of abortion versus how many pets were adopted to avoid euthanasia.  I won’t say any more than that, once again, I’ll let you decide.
  5. Wealth and Pride Consume the Lifeblood of the Nation Hmmmmm, do I really need to add anything here?  I don’t think so.  I would like to include a passage of scripture, however, Revelations 18:24 (NIV) –  In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth. If you study this passage of scripture, you find that the “her” is the global marketplace where goods and services are bought and sold.  In her was found the blood of prophets, saints and martyrs for the Lord Jesus Christ.  Once again, I’ll leave it to you to make the call.
  6.  Aristocratic Weaknesses sap our Democratic Vigor In other words, the sinful behavior of our political leaders is the very thing keeping them from providing the best solution for this democratic country.  Democratic is critical because this indicates that all political leaders are supposed to be working for the greater good of the people that put them into office to begin with.  Nuff said, you make the call.

I would like to add one note to the above observations, these are all fruit.  In other words, they are the end product of the spiritual condition of the people of God in this nation.  Don’t believe me, check out the following scriptures (see Proverbs 29:2 and Proverbs 28:2 – Remember, Understanding and Knowledge are products of the Fear of the Lord). Enough of the present reality.  Let’s see what God has to say about the matter.  I have a few passages of scripture I would like to share in the hopes that God will use it to light the spark of Revival in your spirit causing you to pray earnestly and fervently for yourself, your home, your community, your work place, your home church, the Body of Christ at large and this nation.

God’s Conditions for REVIVAL

IF my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

I bet you can guess why I highlighted the IF above.  You got it, it’s one of those conditional promises of God.  Let’s look at the conditions individually.

  1. My people who are called by my name Pretty simple, limits the promise to the assembly of believers in Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.  So everyone doesn’t qualify to ask the Father to bring Revival, or as it’s stated here healing for the land.
  2. Humble themselves Pretty simple, we all serve the God of the Universe and the Holy Spirit has a course on interacting with a Holy, perfect, cannot tolerate the presence of sin, type of God, we learned it’s called walking in the Fear of the Lord.
  3. Pray By the way, I don’t believe this means pray once.  My Pastor says, pray until you see God move.  I like that encouraging instruction.  But how do we pray and what do we pray for?
  4. Seek My Face Here’s the prayer directive.  It’s also pretty simple.  Money, cars, homes, a savings plan, new job, isn’t the answer; God is.  These are all the result of God healing your personal land and the land of this nation.  So instead of attempting to solve spiritual issues with physical things, seek the answer by looking into the face of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (who is the express image of God the Father) and asking Him to deliver us, since His Father already promised that He would if we meet His conditions.
  5. Turn From Their Wicked Ways Every time I hear this particular scripture quoted by someone, the atmosphere gets really tense right at the moment this particular part of the passage is voiced. I think the reason is that many of us don’t truly believe we can turn away from wicked ways, but we can.  If you have the Holy Spirit living inside you, it’s simply a matter of getting the appropriate help you need to stop doing your own way and deciding to do it the way God’s Word says to do it; one step at a time.  If you are under grace, you are not under the law, which means sin no longer has dominion over you (see Romans 6:14).  So the question is, do we really want to stop sinning, and not whether we can or not.  Well, I believe you and I can, and since it’s one of the conditions to God healing the land, we can also ask the Lord Jesus to help us do this as well.  You need to know that our Lord and Savior is in heaven right now making intercession for you, directly to the Father, to help you with the very sin you’re thinking of at this very moment.  You have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you and nothing in this world is more powerful than His ability to lead you to freedom, if you want to be led.  Please read the following passage aloud to yourself
    but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them Heb 7:24-25 (NIV)

Please notice that the conditions, in their simplest form, involve us giving something to God and in response, He hears our cry for help, forgives our sin and heals our land. Okay, now that we know the conditions God the Father requires from us to hear our cry for help, forgive our sin and heal our land.  Let’s just assume, for the sake of argument, that the state of our spiritual walk with the Lord, our families, our communities, our workplaces and our nation is indicative of the conditions mentioned at the start of this post.  Let’s see whether there’s an example in scripture to provide a lamp for our feet and light for the path to Revival!

The Request to Meet the Conditions for Revival

Please notice, the Lord wants something from the Samaritan woman that she is well able to provide because she’s there to draw water from the well.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” John 4:7 (NIV)

Reluctance to Meeting the Conditions

Please note, her initial response has absolutely nothing to do with giving the Lord what He asked for.  Can you say DISTRACTION?

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) John 4:9 (NIV)

A demonstration of Jesus’ Patience and Love until we agree with the conditions

It truly blesses me to watch the Lord Jesus love the Samaritan woman this way.  No matter how offensive and suspicious the Samaritan woman is about His intentions, Jesus never looses focus on the reason He engaged her in the first place, to bring Revival to her, her house, and her town.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10 (NIV)

Realizing our desperate need for deliverance without knowing what to ask for

Please note, although Jesus is referring to filling her with the Holy Spirit, she is expecting something natural or physical to address a spiritual issue.

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:15 (NIV)

My people who are called by my name

In case you’re unaware, Samaritans were actually Jewish believers who, through inter-faith marriages, had mingled other gods in their worship of the True and Living God.  They were rejected and hated by what we might call Orthodox Jews, for this reason.  However, the reason Jacobs Well is mentioned at the opening of this passage of scripture is because Jesus, who was called to the house of Israel, could build a Revival on the Jewish roots of the people in this city, even though they’re religion had become mixed with other religions.  The Well represents the old landmarks laid by the Fathers of the people of Samaria, which the Samaritan woman identifies is Jacob.  This helps us, no matter how smart or advanced we think we’ve become, we should never attempt to discredit the foundation laid by our Fathers, but instead, ask God to lead us in building on them.

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds? John 4:12 (NIV) Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” John 4:20b (NIV)

Humble Themselves

The Fear of the Lord is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit that provokes an awe inspiring, reverential and fearful awareness that God is real.

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet John 4:19 (NIV)

Pray

Even though her expectation in praying wasn’t quite what the Lord had in mind, Jesus honored her willingness to pray, and will do the same for each and everyone of us.

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:15 (NIV)

Seek My Face

Near the end of they’re chat, she is no longer focused on being relieved of her communal duties, but she’s fully engaged in a spiritual conversation with the Lord and Savior of her soul. This is exactly what God wants from each and every one of us.

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” John 4:25 (NIV)

Turn From Their Wicked Ways

The water jar she left behind (specifically the clay the jar is made of) represents her willingness to leave behind fleshly or carnal attempts to solve the spiritual issue in her life that led to the failed relationships, shame, rejection and many other things.  Now she’s focused on the evangelistic call on her life and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to meet all of the other needs.

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ ?” John 4:28-29 (NIV)

The Flames of REVIVAL Are Lit!

Remember at the opening of this post I stated that the second common characteristic of Revival is God dealing with a few people.  Then, once the fire has caught on with them, He prepares them with a message that brings strong conviction and repentance which causes the Revival of the few to spread to many.  Below we see the first wave of this Revival starting to break out.  However, because Jesus hasn’t yet died and risen, the full manifestation can’t occur because it isn’t the time for the Holy Spirit to fall.  Please read on…

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”  So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.  And because of his words many more became believers.  They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” John 4:39-42 (NIV)

Full Fledged Revival Breaks Out!

I must admit, I’m really fond of this passage because the latter rain of the Revival Jesus started in the heart of the Samaritan woman is being fanned by a deacon (Philip) and I’m a deacon.  We don’t all sleep in the back of the church LOL!

Bondage Triggering The Cry For Revival

And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.  But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison Acts 8:1-3 (NIV)

The Holy Spirit Gives Philip the Message

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city Acts 8:4-8 (NIV)

Spiritual Warfare

Please notice that the warfare, right in the midst of this revival, is designed to free the minds of the bewitched people who believed Simon was demonstrating the authentic power of God.  However, we know from scripture that his power was the illegitimate power of witchcraft that Satan gives his followers that yield to his will.

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,  and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. Acts 8:9-13 (NIV)

Extreme Repentance

But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.  Simon himself believed and was baptized Acts 8:12-13 (NIV)

REVIVAL BREAKS OUT

Notice that once Revival hit, no one seems to be concerned over the long history of issues between the Jews and the Samaritans.  I love how God settles our petty squabbles.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,  because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit Acts 8:14-17 (NIV) When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages Acts 8:25 (NIV)

I hope this was an encouragement to you.  I hope it ignited, in you a strong desire to not only pray, but pray until you see God move.  As usual, I recommend a short prayer to you.

Father in Heaven, I know that you love me because your Word says you demonstrated that love by sending your only son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for my sins.  Father, in the name of Jesus, I acknowledge your awesome power, your everlasting mercy, the grace you have extended to me and your loving kindness which you continue to demonstrate.  Father help me to turn from every wicked way contrary to your ways.  Help me to pray according to your will so that you might bring Revival to our land.