The Lasting Purpose of Revival
When we talk about revival, we need to look at the lasting effects and ongoing purpose. Revival isn’t just a few meetings a year in the local church. Revival must focus on the future of the church as a whole.
The word revival means “to bring something back to life, health, activity, or public attention after a period of forgetting, decline, or dormancy.”
The heart of revival is radical transformation. It is God’s heart poured into the church. It is a calling back to the first love, and the ministry that follows.
Revival is meant to produce a lasting effect that reaches beyond the doors of the church and down to the next generations.
Revival cannot be taken lightly.
Its purpose is to awaken the church to the heart of Acts chapter 2. On that day, the great outpouring roared into the streets of Jerusalem and confronted the entire nation with the full Lordship of Jesus Christ. It was a call to repentance, surrender, and infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Once started, there was no turning back!
Revival touches nations and generations. Its purpose is to ignite a Holy Ghost fire in the church to fulfill its purpose and calling.
Jesus said in Matthew 16 that He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against her.
But lasting revival is difficult to accomplish. Many obstacles stand in the way of revival. For us, as the church, to see the success of a great awakening, we need to be aware of the mountains we must face for revival’s momentum to grow and grow.
So many so-called revivals start well but lack the ingredients needed to break through to the awakening’s success and purpose.
In this blog, I want (from my perspective) to address the areas we need to overcome to see the purpose of the revival itself, conquer the obstacles that can stand in the way, and watch a great move of God change hearts for years to come.
An Atmosphere of Prayer
The first and obvious one in any revival is an atmosphere of prayer. But I must stipulate that the atmosphere must be on two levels.
First, it is focused prayer for revival. This is an obvious statement. The power of prayer has to be central to any move of God.
Acts 6:2-4 states: “Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, ‘It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’”
When an issue arose in the church, the apostles responded that it was most important that the power, place, and purpose of prayer not be interrupted.
A great move of God was happening, and the Apostles needed to stay in the flow and focus of the Holy Spirit, and keep themselves so that the source and direction of the prayer would not be compromised.
Prayer led by the Holy Spirit is the life source for any revival, and for any ministry, for that matter.
The devil works overtime to do anything he can to cause the church to cease coming together in Spirit-led prayer. If he can break the prayer, he will disrupt the ministry’s power source and focus. When he does, a door opens for him to do what he can to disrupt the church’s unity and purpose.
Longing for God’s Presence and Direction
Looking for God’s move requires us to long for Heaven’s presence and direction to arrive in the meetings. We must be willing to submit to the Holy Spirit and the direction He desires.
Prayer for revival stirs the church to action. It calls believers to repentance.
With it comes a great revelation as to the absolute holiness of God.
In Isaiah 6:1-5, we see a vision of God’s holiness and majesty. After seeing God’s glory, the prophet becomes aware not only of his sins, but also of the nation’s sins and backsliding. He sees that without God’s intervention, the nation will stand in judgment.
For himself, he needs a cleansing from his own iniquities.
“Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips” is his statement as he sees God’s glory, then the state of the nation as also a people of unclean lips.
Revival not only needs to awaken us as the church to our state, but it must ultimately produce holy fear and a burden for the future destiny of millions upon millions who don’t know Christ.
Isaiah responded when cleansed of his sin, “Here I am, send me.”
Prayer in One Accord
Secondly, prayer must be unified in one accord, expecting and anticipating an outpouring from God.
Acts 1:14 states: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”
Acts 2:1 states: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
Revival needs to confront our agendas as being far below God’s, and replace them with the agendas of heaven.
The two great purposes of the church are to:
- Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), and
- Go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
This scripture also declares that God’s power will be with the church.
Our prayer must be unified in this direction, or the revival dies in the house if it comes.
Revival Must Bring Back the Power
The message is a power message, and revival must bring back the power.
One of the big problems that has plagued the church is that many believers have become bored with their Christianity, and constantly need attention and entertainment to keep them interested in their faith.
They have no vision and always need assurance of their value. This is because the vision that they do have goes no farther than themselves.
As a result, many churches have abandoned the church’s core values and direction for user-friendly services and messages.
Keeping a crowd seems more important than raising an army of Spirit-filled warriors ready to storm the shores of the nations with the gospel and the mighty delivering power of God.
The church becomes backslidden, accommodating backslidden believers rather than becoming a pillar of fire with a message born in the heart of God to confront the sins of laziness and lethargy that have seduced the church into carnalness and ineffectiveness.
Another issue is that many believers lack accountability or commitment, and either don’t attend church or bounce from church to church, always looking for a new high.
A third issue is that Hell has worked diligently to bind many believers up in the affairs of this life and has stripped them of power to overcome.
This has happened because many churches have abandoned the Spirit-filled life and authority believers need to live an overcoming life.
2 Timothy 2:4 states: “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”
Many dysfunctional believers exist because of this, and we now need revival to heal the hurts, bodies, and lives of those who should already be walking victorious but are not.
This has limited their usefulness for the kingdom.
What is needed is a revival of the revelation of God’s glory, goodness, and power to set the whole man free and reinstate a vision of His greatness and purpose.
A Renewed Revelation of True Servanthood
Revival brings a renewed revelation of true servanthood and what it means to follow the Master truly.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-25:
“…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Rather than chasing prophecies about our greatness and personal destiny, we need to chase God’s true heart for our lives and how we, as servants, can advance the kingdom of God together.
We must once again long for a burden for the lost, and find our place in the body of Christ to advance the kingdom of God into the nations of the world.
A great question would be:
“What is the burden of the heart of God?”
We must long for a heaven-born burden for the souls of the masses that surround us.
Do We Truly Want Real Revival?
We must glimpse an eternity without God and feel a zealous passion for those who are lost and need to find God.
The challenge to the church is: do we truly want real revival?
There is a price to pay to see all that God has. Opposition will always come in different forms.
The early church went through great persecution because of it, but you and I are here today as proof that God is not fazed.
As the church, we must see the hurdles and issues in front of us.
Nehemiah had to get a clear picture of the problems and difficulties of rebuilding the wall and the opposition there. From there, he had to convince the leaders it was the right move and that God’s favor was with them before they could say, “Let us rise and build.”
By facing the difficulties with determination, they not only built the wall to God’s standard, but they built it in record time. (Nehemiah 2:18; 6:15).
Revival is desperately needed, and the devil knows it. That’s why he has worked so hard behind the scenes to stop, hinder, or compromise it.
But I’m here to tell you that all of heaven is on our side, and God is ready to release glory upon the nations of the earth.
The Darker It Is, the Brighter We Get
Isaiah 60:1-2 states: “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.”
The darker it is, the brighter we get. God can and will outshine all darkness.
John 1:5 states: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
The amplified version says that darkness can’t overpower it or absorb it.
God is ready to move; He just needs a people ready to move.
God asked Ezekiel in chapter 37:1, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
God knew that no matter how dry they were, or how long they had been dead, He could, with the prophetic word and power, turn a valley of death into an unstoppable, living, breathing army.
Believers, we need to press toward the mark of God’s high calling; we need to lay hold of what we have been laid hold of. (Philippians 4:12).
All we need to do is believe that God can and will if we, unashamed and determined, step up to the plate.
When we take our place and stand firm in faith and prayer, we can be confident that all of hell will be shaken, the heavens will open, and the glory of God will rain down in waves of global revival.
Be Blessed,
