“But He gives a greater grace. Therefore is says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVE GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you.” James 4:6-10
Revival is God. Anything not created by God is a man made creation. Revival is God’s work. It only comes when prideful people come to the end of their rope, and stop making rope. Revival is a call to God to step into a personal or corporate crisis. When His people draw near to God, He draws near to them. This only happens…EVERY TIME.
“Revival is falling in love with Jesus all over again.” Vance Havner
Say Grace! “But He gives a greater grace.” - Revival begins with the cry for mercy from the heart of a rebellious child, seeking the response of The Father. His undeserved favor brings to end the conflict and restores peace between The Father and His child.
Where revival is needed, judgment is deserved. When mercy is given it is undeserved. Revival is AMAZING GRACE pouring out of the heart of God upon His rebellious, but repentant children. Revival begins in the heart of one person admitting their need for God’s grace, and being humble enough to ask for it.
“You have not because you ask not.” James
Stay Humble! “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” - Revival is birthed when the spirit of humility is released in the hearts of God’s children. The Father’s unmerited favor is lavished upon humble children, not prideful brats.
“My people who are called by name, humble themselves.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
“Revival is a fresh new act of obedience.” Charles Finney
Call Assembly! “Submit to God.” - Revival is not an invitation to a pep rally. It assembles an army, and takes the battle to the enemy. Submit is a Greek military term used to assemble troops into a battle formation, and prepare them to march to war against a common enemy.
Revival includes submitting to God’s way, staying in His Presence, being saturated with His character, and seeking to do His Will for His honor and glory.
“Not My will, but Thy Will be done.” Jesus
Resist Evil! “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” - Revival is birthed by acts of genuine repentance and active resistance to the enemy. Revival turns to prayer as the world-class weapon in the battle against evil. Prayer identifies the schemes of the enemy. Like night vision goggles, prayer reveals and marginalizes the forces of darkness. Prayer removes the enemy’s influence upon human hand puppets under his influence. Prayer replaces the enemy’s intimidation with the infusion of The Spirit’s strength for courageous living.
“Revival is war between God and the devil.” J. Edwin Orr
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Dieitrich Bonhoeffer
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph in the world is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burk
“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless work, prayerless study or prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” Samuel Chadwick
Draw Near! “Draw near to God…He will draw near to you.”
Revival is a reciprocal relationship, but it is wholly dependent upon God. It begins when a rebel draws near to God in prayer. The first breath of prayer is the first step towards peace with God. Revival is found in His Presence. There is no revival without a visitation of God’s Presence.
Prayer expresses the desire of a child of God for the hand of The Father to be on them. They come into His Presence through prayer expecting a graciouls response, not a rejection.
“Prayer is how we set our sails to catch the wind of Heaven.” G. Campbell Morgan
Clean Up! “Cleanse your hands…purify your hearts.” - Revival is not a trip to the cleaners to remove dirt from the surface of a cheap suit. It is a complete cleansing that requires total purification.
Forgiveness comes to those who take personal responsibility for birthing in their hearts what they did with their hands. Revival calls for the washing of the residue of sin from dirty hands, and removing the stain of sin from rebellious hearts. Anything less is not confession, just rationalization. Revival is not a matter of getting cleaned up for a homecoming parade, and riding on a float to the cheers of the church. It is a matter of being cleansed from the inside out, mobilized for war, equipped for battle, and resisting the enemy, come what may. Revival is not a matter of inviting unbelieving people to get back to church. It is a matter of the backsliding church getting back to God.
Personal revival comes when believers take personal responsibility for their own actions. Corporate revival is a result of a repentant church settling for nothing less than setting their course back to God. Revival is not a matter of taking back a nation. It is a matter of a nation turning back to God, one desperate citizen at a time.
“Turn from their wicked ways.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
Sober Up! “Be miserable and mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom.” - Revival is a result of a reality check with God’s Word. Scripture is taken seriously again. His Word becomes written on the hearts of His children, and changes them from the inside out. God’s Word is no longer a course of study or a topic for discussion. God’s Word brings tears, not because it is informational but because it is transformational.
Preachers no longer comfort sin. They confront sin, not to bring tears, but to change behavior. The Word of God transforms because it conforms His children to the image of
His Son. Revival creates a fresh new hunger for The Word, and brokenness over sin.
“It is amazing what God can do with a broken heart, if you give Him all the pieces.” Samuel Chadwick
Kneel Down! “Humble yourselves in the Presence of The Lord…” - Prayer is about learning to lean into the Yoke, and yielding to the Father’s will. Jesus is The Captain of the yoke. When you pray in the name of The Son, The Father releases the synergy of The Spirit’s strength. His power merges with your weakness through prayer.
Stand Up! “And He will exalt you.” - Revival is not about making a name for yourself, your church, your denomination, or your political party. It is about calling on God to make a difference in the world, for His honor and glory, not yours.
Prayer is an act of war, not a devotional exercise. When you pray, you stand firm next to The Champion, in the face of the enemy. You are not called to charge, or retreat, but to stand firm, and to pray in The Spirit. Prayer holds ground. Prayer takes back the ground overrun by the enemy. Prayer is not for pushovers. Prayer pushes back. P.U.S.H.*
The Spirit’s breath of revival is not a last gasp for the survival of the church. It is an infusion of God’s power to influence every aspect of the soul of the nation. On a personal level, revival is a fresh act of obedience to God. On a corporate level, revival is the church saturated with the uncontainable Presence of The Spirit of God. When revival fills the church, it spills out into the streets of the city, and transforms a culture.
Revival is a recognizable movement of God. When revival comes, it is both undeniable and unexplainable. Before The First Great Awakening, America was in need of a movement of God. When it came, one observant Philadelphian reported…
“From being thoughtless and indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.” Benjamin Franklin
The First Great Awakening was described, by Pastor Jonathan Edwards, as a “surprising work of God.” Today America is a nation in crisis and needs nothing more than a surprising work of God. Pray for nothing less than what God can do, and give Him the credit for it when revival comes.
“When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is to set them a-praying.” Matthew Henry
Father in Heaven, please surprise us with the mercy we do not deserve. We humbly ask you for a visitation and a saturation of the grace of Your Spirit’s Presence! We need you to draw near to us, and to stay with us. Place Your merciful hand upon us. We submit to Your direction, protection and correction. In the name of Jesus, we pray.
Amen.