Revival, And What It Really Means

I've been to dozens of church gatherings commonly referred to as "revivals".  These were exciting meetings with well spoken evangelists lifting up the congregation and chastising them when the Lord prompted them to. In these meetings there would be many more people than the congregation would typically hold. Many would be visitors, many would be family that were not committed, and others were people that had heard through word-of-mouth. In these meetings it was always exciting to see new people hear about what we knew about the Lord. We were full of fire and wanted everyone to know and have what we had and to see what the full word of God had to give.

I took a lot away from these revivals and was glad to attend them for years.

As I got older I began to realize that not everyone was taking away the same thing I was.

Everything has it's season. Everyone has their "down season". We all need to be lifted out of it, sometimes we are able to do it on our own, other times we need the encouragement of another brother. Hence the term revival, "To bring back to life".

For the two camps (believers and new believers) the change had from the revival would look two very different ways.

For the New believer, the change could be disorienting. A world of new emotions flowing around everything they have known their entire life. Looking at the world through the prism of "what is holy and what is not holy?" alongside thoughts of "now that I believe, what do I believe?". All of which should promptly be followed by a reading of the New Testament. Reading the Word is the foundation of our faith, and the fertilizer that helps us to grow in our youth. Every Christian has been there.

For those people that have been believers and have had a walk with God, a revival should simply bring back to life our depth of conviction, not only to witness but also to purge our lives of any immorality that we have allowed into it. Whether that be through the media or even immodest/immoral clothing.

 To maintain our separation from the world the Lord gave us commandments and convictions. Convictions are simple truths we live our lives by that we feel are biblical. The general public may be oblivious to some of our more simple convictions that are truly insignificant, but do matter to our Lord on a personal basis. I am not here to tell you what convictions you should have, or even what half of my convictions are. Many I have had and lived with for so long that I am almost not even aware of them, they are my normal.  

After attending revivals, I had new eyes for what was sin in my life. I looked at things and people I had allowed into my life with different eyes. Some things are best to be ridden of, other things we have in our life, we have to tolerate against our will. The same goes for people. Sometimes in order to have a closer walk with God, we have to say farewell to people that we know are not healthy for us to be around. Other times, we have to adjust the way we interact with those that we have to be around.

After years of having attended revivals, my disappointment came from seeing the parable of the sower illustrated. It hurt to witness people come to know God but then deny him the next day.

We all walk our own walk with our Lord, and we are all on different levels with him. Don't give up and don't be discouraged. Be revived in your walk. Be firm. Count it all joy.

If you have any questions or need any support, we are here for you.