Revival Time Again

Among Baptists the autumn months often bring several special events. Fall festivals get people in the mood for the bounty represented by Thanksgiving. Many churches plan homecoming or anniversary celebrations when the weather begins to show signs of cooling off. Then there are the fall revivals.

These annual events serve to aid in focusing the resources of the local congregation upon spiritual self-evaluation, a reemphasis upon the gospel proclamation, and it even gives the local pastor a chance to hear someone else preach.

If to revive means “to return or restore to consciousness or life: become or make active or flourishing again” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), then there must be preparation made to have hope that revival will take place. When we acknowledge the miracle of revival is not in our hands but is an act of God in the life of an individual and a congregation, then the best we can do is try to make ourselves available for such divine action.

What is valid preparation for revival? II Chronicles 7:14 says, “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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.

The opening phrase makes the whole concept of being revived a conditional event. “If my people, who are called by my name…” gives the strong implication that God waits for the cooperation of those who have identified with him as their God in the sense of the Covenant Statement: I will be their God and they will be my people. Only if we as his people are willing to receive the results of revival will we see God’s hand in action.

What does God require his people to do? Four ideas are mentioned in this verse. The first is self-humiliation. God finds it difficult to work his miracles in us if we feel we don’t need him. A recognition must be present we are not what we ought to be and we cannot get there on our own. We need God. Honesty can be a hard pill to swallow, but it is required medicine.

Prayer that is effective is always two-way. We talk to God. We listen to God. He speaks through his written word. He speaks through fellow pilgrims on the Way. He speaks through life experiences in which we are sensitive to his nature being revealed. When we are honest before God in prayer, we begin to see ourselves as God sees us.

When Adam and Eve made the decision they no longer needed God to direct their lives (Genesis 3), they also discovered they could not rest easy in his presence. They felt compelled to hide. To seek the face of God is to acknowledge who he is, who we are, and how much we need him. With the reestablished relationship, God can do wonderful things in our lives.

The biblical concept of repent comes from the image of a journey in which the traveler is heading in one direction and then makes a 180 degree turn. God calls his people to reject evil and wickedness. He does not recognize a gray area in the decision-making system of his followers. Right and wrong are distinguished. Our confusion comes when we are reluctant to pay the price for being right. We seek a compromise, a gray area. That 180 degree turn demands confession of sin and the request for forgiveness with no compromise. That means recognizing, acknowledging, and regretting we are sinners.

These revival meetings offer one more source of strength – The Body of Christ united. We encourage one another. There is strength in numbers. Christians alone become lonely Christians who become weak Christians. Satan does not like Christians claiming victory. He will throw cold water on the revival fires if possible. Christians revived are a threat to the wickedness of the world. This twelfth anniversary of a major sign of evil in our world should urge all of us to seek to have our relationship with God strengthened. May we see real revival take place.

Who Wants to Be Revived?

This is the season for gardening, watching azaleas bloom, wishing you could die instead of going through any more pollen explosions, and counting the days until professional football starts. For many churches it is also the season for scheduling their semi-annual series of worship services called spring revivals.

Churches schedule a set of evening services for their members and community generally with a guest preacher, sometimes guest musicians, and lasting from one day to two weeks or longer. In preparation the calendar is cleared of all other activities, publicity is spread throughout the congregation, and members are encouraged to invite everyone they know. Members are also asked to spend time praying for desired outcomes either alone or in groups.

Among us Baptists that is where we have our challenge, deciding what are our desired outcomes. We want to see new energy in the congregation. We want to see a renewed vision for ministry. We want to see people who are out of relationship with Christ develop one that offers new life. Unfortunately too often the results can be boiled down to one question in everyone’s mind. Did we get revived?

Perhaps a better question would be do we want to be revived. We say we want spiritual energy to come into our family of faith. We want a restoration of faith in the miraculous power of God. We want to see the pattern of lives change into spiritually healthy and growing individuals fully devoted to God. We want to see marriages strengthened. We want to see children begin the journey of Christian faith. We want to see priorities focus upon glorifying God through a renewed emphasis upon serving others in the name of Christ.

Do we also want to be revived to a life that brings the responsibilities of service and sacrifice? Revival services that fill a slot in the calendar and allow us to feel that we have tried is not revival but another church program maintained to sooth our spiritually shallow commitment to Christ and the Christian life. As the last song ends and the last church supper remains are cleaned up, members head home weary but relieved they have satisfied the requirements for being faithful, religious children of God. Being revived through transformation is not a priority for their lives.

Revival, being instilled with a renewed life to be given over to God, means change. We can easily say we want to be revived, we want to live a life that reveals more of Christ in us and honors our heavenly Father. Saying that is not the same thing as being willing to accept the changes that go along with being revived. We may not be so quick to pray for revival when we realize the sacrificial service that is required to live out the revived life.

To be transformed through spiritual revival would lead to loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and spirit and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:28-31). To experience spiritual revival would involve a rejection of temptation to conform to this world and choosing rather to be transformed by a renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). To experience spiritual revival would be to consider others more important than ourselves (Romans 12:3, 10, 16) A life impacted by spiritual revival would seek to serve rather than lead (Mark 10:43-45), seek to give rather than receive (Acts 20:35), seek to be redemptive rather than judgmental (Matthew 6:14-15). A life that has been touched by spiritual revival will operate on a different standard from the world, returning good for evil (Romans 12:17, 21).

If we reap the fruit of true revival, we will be different from the world. We will stand out from the world. We will live by a different standard, respond in different ways, and represent a spiritual ethic that will not just be different from that of society, but will stand in judgment upon society without us uttering a single condemnatory word. To put it bluntly, if we live lives that have been transformed by spirit-deep revival, the world won’t like us very much. Are we ready to accept that?