Revival! The word alone holds the imagination captive. REVIVAL! It is like the sounding of a war trumpet that echos across ancient valleys and bounds over celestial mountains. REVIVAL! REVIVAL! It is the sounding of a million voices in the desert that herald the victorious return of the King of Kings! I love the word revival! Beyond the Name of names it is one of the few words that can send chills through my body, a shiver of excitement. I love revival!
Revival by definition is to revive or bring back to life a group or interest in an idea. You hear it applied to movements to reinvigorate interest in an art period or musical style but the word revival is most synonymous with the reviving of religion or a renewing in the interest of the things of God. It is an unprecedented period of time in which the kyrological (the God moment) intersects the chronological (Man's understanding of the progression of time). Throughout history the Spirit of God has worked in the field of revival beginning long before the Christian church.
The precedent of revival was established in the first three verses of Genesis. "In the beginning God created...And the earth was without form and void: and darkness was upon the face...and the Spirit of God moved...and God said..." This introduction to the word of God and all of creation gives us the initial state prior to revival and the necessary actions of God to ensure revival.
!. Nothing can be revived unless it is first created by God. A necessity, albeit probably an obvious one to you and I, is to be created by God. The fulfillment of this versus is easy "All things were made by Him and without Him was not any thing made that that was made." (Jhn 1:3) It is not just enough to be made by Him but there is a necessity to have a belief that He made us. That is the importance of this first point the belief in the Creator.
2. Nothing that God has created is, initially, without form/void or with darkness upon it. It has been conjecture, and I agree, that it was the fall of Satan when he was cast from heaven to earth that the world God had created was thrown into this state of chaos. This is a mirror of what happens to a life that is without God. We were initially created for the purpose of companionship and a reflection of the order of God on earth but when we enter into sin we are thrown into a chaotic life.
Genesis 3:8 indicates to us that God was known to walk through the garden looking for man to spend time with him. In Genesis 17:1 God commands Abraham to "Walk before [Him]" In Leviticus 26:12 God says He will "walk among you" (His people) and in John 14:18 Jesus says to His believers "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." All of these indicate a desire of God to return man, His creation, to our initial state of companionship and image. It is only because of the introduction of sin in our world (life) from Adam and Eve's disobedience that we are no longer in the perfect state of being as God had created us. So we see from the begininng that a state of corruption is the second point on our path of revival.
3. Now we get to the exciting part of this study. The third point is a necessity of God's Spirit to move. This indicates more than is first visible to the reader. First God recognizes the state of His creation, next He is desirous to correct it's disorder and finally He moves to change it. It's important first to revisit (quickly) who that Spirit is because some would say this was one of three in a being but (Real quick):
John 4:24 "God is a Spirit..." + Lev. 11:45 "Be holy, for I am holy " = Holy Spirit
John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" + John 14:26 "But the comforter, Which is the Holy Ghost...send in my name" = name of the Holy Spirit, Jesus
So the Spirit moves to change us back to who we were initially meant to be, the sons and daughters of God. but it is not enough for just the Spirit to move there is also always accompanied with the moving Spirit of God the word of life.
4. This brings us to our forth and final point. In revival God moves and Speaks. We see this represented here in the beginning we see this also in Ezekiel's revival of the dry bones (which was a type of revival for all of the nation of Israel) when he "prophesied as I was commanded...there was a noise...Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind...and the breath came into them" (Ezk 37) and also seen in the upper room on the day of Pentecost "suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house...and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Spirit) and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance" (Acts 2)
In all of these examples of revival we see a commonality of Spirit movement (Referred to as the "wind" in the last Ezk and Acts) and the word (referred to as "noise" in Ezk and "tongues" in Acts) The foundation of the Church started in Acts chapter 2 with a fiery Revival and that is the way revival will always continue!
The question is "How do we move God to see our plight and revive us?" This is answered directly in 2Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land." This verse holds the keys to enacting revival in your city, state, country and world.
WE are responsible for the state of revival in our world. It is only God who can revive but it is His people that call upon Him to remember us and heal us. Study out this scripture and learn and act upon it's principles for revival and you will see a vast change in the world around you as the Spirit moves and speaks life into those you interact with.
God Bless and REVIVAL! REVIVAL!
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