21st, February, 2022.

UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL REVIVAL Pt.1

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do. 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”.

WHAT IS REVIVAL?

In my few years of walking with the Lord, one of the few misunderstood terminologies I grew up hearing in the church is "Revival". Another one is the word "Apostolic/Apostle". I see things like " Apostolic invasion/ covering". Let's save this for another time. As touching revival, while growing up in the faith, what we were made to understand is that our week long prayer program was revival. The posters and banners reads, "Revival Revival Revival !". The evangelists featured mostly in those programs. Little did I know that true revival is not a program but an inner working of the Spirit in the lives of men that produces kingdom fruit. Revival need no advertisement or media publicity because it announces itself and people( believers&unbelievers) will see it. The flames of revival cannot be hidden because all it produces are burning men. From the simple English meaning of the word 'Revival', it means to strengthen something that is weak. The thing you want to revive once had a form of vibrancy and liveliness but now has become weak. True revival is an awakening of those that are slumbering, weak and weary.

Robert Coleman defined Christian revival as "the awakening or quickening of God's people to their true nature and purpose." On the issue of revival, Charles Finney says it is the return of the Church from her backslidings, and the conversion of sinners. True revival will set the backsliders on fire once again and will bring about massive conversion of the lost because the revived believers will go all out to the harvest field to win souls for the Lord. That's why I always say that one of the marks of a revived life is the willingness to engage in evangelism. You cannot be truly revived and not go all out for Jesus or not partake in missions in one way or the other. If they're still begging you to evangelize and be part of God's end time missions, you need spiritual revival. When we call for praise Jamz/concert, you will see a mammoth crowd in attendance but when we tell the same people to present themselves for evangelism, one may not see up to 10%. When the early church caught the fire of revival, they went from house-to-house preaching the Gospel: "And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah”, Acts 5:42 NLT

The church is what it is today because we lost the fire of revival. In church history, when revival broke out among believers, the nation was sanitized because the light of believers shined so much that darkness was dispelled. One of the outcomes of the revival in Pennsylvania at the turn of the century was that the cells and prisons became empty because there were no criminals. A corrupt and decadent nation is a mirror of a weak church. You and me need true revival, the church need true revival. Our souls need to be hot and burning for Christ in true righteousness and holiness. The love of many are waxing cold already, negative endtime prophecies are being fulfilled right in our very eyes. I hear Jesus saying: "Be watchful, and strengthen the things, which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God", Rev3:2.