Some people think that revival is seeing the lost come to know Christ. It's not. That is Awakening. Awakening is a sovereign move of God's Spirit that results in people coming to know Christ. And though this is not revival, the compassion for the lost that precedes an awakening is a characteristic of a Body that God is preparing for revival and even bringing revival to in that moment. Awakening often accompanies revival, but the two are not to be confused. Awakening is bringing to life that which has never been alive. Revival is the brining back to life that which is dead or near to death but was once alive. These are Jesus' words to the churches in Revelation, that we say we are rich and that we have need of nothing. We have all the best facilities, worship environments, software, trappings and toys, but we don't realize that we are wretched, poor, pitiful, blind and naked. Yes, we have the reputation of being alive, but really we are dead. We once were among the living, but we lie at death's door. Oh how we need the Holy Breath of God to fill us now.
Revival is not something we advertise on the church marquee out by the road. It is not a series of meetings that are and have been on the church calendar annually consisting of 5 nights in June. Revival is not something that happens in a tent. There is nothing wrong with having those meetings, and even sometimes, by the grace of God, there are strains…hints…inklings of true revival that manifests here or there, but let us not confuse our terms. Revival is not something we schedule in our Daytimers.
Revival is not clean. It is messy. It is messy because life is messy and relationships are messy and revival deals primarily with life and relationships.
Revival is not easy. It must be fought for, prayed for, sought after, and wept over. It does not come in a cellophane-wrapped, shiny box, prepackaged and marketed for our immediate and mass consumption. It cannot be purchased in the drive thru window of Mega-Churchianity for the sake of our convenience. It must be toiled over in the field, having sown with tears and patiently tended with prayers. It must be cultivated, harvested, and brought in to the house of God, washed in the Word and prepared in the crockpot of intercession, seasoned with the broken-heartedness of the saints of God.
Our frail attempts to manufacture revival have failed. The heart, which once beat for our First Love, is weak and the pulse of the Church is fading. Our own arms are too feeble to perform CPR on ourselves, to pathetic to compress the chest of the Church and thereby keep it alive. We need the Holy Spirit of God to break out the defribulator paddles and shock us back to life.
God is not mocked. As a man sows so shall he reap. Where we have toyed with sin as Believers, we are reaping consequences. Where we have been selfish, our relationships are hurting. Where we have failed to confess sin and rid our lives of it, it has taken control and has mastery over us. Where we continue to feed ourselves with worldliness through media and pop culture, the result is a Church full of Biblically illiterate, self-absorbed, apathetic, church-going, pew-sitting, feed-me-first, fat baby Christians who don't have a clue about the battle we're in. Nor do they care. Where we have cuckolded our Groom and fornicated with the spirit of the age, he has been a fickle lover and we find ourselves abandoned in a house full of bastard children who do not want to be fed, but only entertained. God forbid that we should challenge them or cause them to be inconvenienced. In our day, blaspheming the Holy Spirit has been replaced by making church-goers uncomfortable as the unpardonable sin. This is state of affairs here in Laodecia.
But don't lose heart and don't be confused. All around us in the Body there is conflict. Character issues are springing up. Marriages are breaking up. Sin is abounding and commitment to Christ is waning. Is this revival? I believe it is. At least, these are the first signs of a coming revival.
We have excelled in hiding our sin, justifying it, and dressing it up in religious clothes. We have kept in darkness those things which Scripture says were to be brought into the light. We have not allowed Christ unfettered, unrestricted access to every hidden place, every deep place, every black recess in our cavernous, wicked hearts. We have not repented earnestly before him. Oh, we've been remorseful, make no mistake. Remorseful at the hurt we may have caused others. Remorseful over the ways in which sin has affected our status quo. Really, just remorseful over getting caught. But we have not been repentant. We have not turned from sin and adultery with the world and embraced holiness and righteousness.
Christ is desirous to return for a radiant Bride. In our day, we are seeing a cleansing like never before. All our sin, He is dragging into the Light of His Presence, even if it must come kicking and screaming. He is bound and determined to purify His Church, and that is what we are seeing now. The conflict, the character issues, the infidelities and indiscretions, and the abundance of other sins in the Church are being brought to light. They aren't new. They've been here all along. They've just been hidden, but He's just not going to let us go pretending and playing dress up any longer. Welcome to revival. We can fight it, but it is to no avail. The sooner we willfully and volitionally bring our own sin to account before one another, the sooner we humbly bow before Him and bend the knee in His Presence, the better off we'll be.