What Is Revival and Do I Really Need It?

The word might bring to mind a run of mid-week church services, the return of your favorite Broadway musical, the resurrection of a long-defunct architectural style (I’ll take a flying buttress on my home, please); or an album by Eminem… or Selena Gomez…or John Fogerty…or my favorite, Gillian Welch.

But…what is it?

WHAT IS REVIVAL?

Historically, revival is an outpouring of God’s presence, grace, and favor.

Further, they are times of spiritual rebirth (people with no faith finding it for the first time), rejuvenation (people with lethargic faith getting re-energized), and resurrection (people with dead faith finding spiritual life).

While it sounds like a religious term, revival has a simple (and not-so-spiritual) definition: “to bring back to life.” You can revive a flower bed by watering it, a dying patient with new medicine, or a friendship with a simple apology.

As humans, we’re drawn to revival. It’s why we love come-from-behind victories, the big reveal on home renovation shows, and why hearing the roar of your engine after a stranger jumps your car in the Meijer parking lot can bring you to tears (that last one might just be for me).

We love it when old things are restored to new life, but the reality of revival is more difficult than HGTV makes it look. I’ll daydream about a healthier body, but getting myself out of bed to hit the pavement is hard. I know how I could use extra income, but carving out space for a side gig is never easy. A date night with my wife makes us feel more connected, but making it a priority among all our other weekend commitments feels complicated.

I’m betting you’re like me—craving revival, even in the most minor areas of life, but habitually taking the path of (comfortable) least resistance.

Revival is hard. Messy. Complicated. But it’s necessary if we want a full life. Without revival, we’d all be dragging around a host of dead dreams, broken relationships, and dysfunctional attitudes like the world’s worst security blanket: a very emo Linus.

I can’t promise you that you’ll get the chance to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway again, but if history can be trusted, a spiritual revival—with new levels of divine presence, supernatural experiences, and otherworldly power—might be just around the corner.

A(N INCREDIBLY BRIEF) HISTORY OF REVIVALS

Ever had a great campfire during the night, only to wake up the next morning shivering inside your sleeping bag? Me too.

With enough patience, fresh kindling, and air blown in the right direction, the ashes and coals of last night’s fire can be revived. That’s often exactly how God works in the world at large. He takes the burned-down ashes of our lives and breathes his breath on them, adding fresh kindling so that a raging fire is rebuilt. Like a bonfire in a dark wood, its light and heat draw the cold, weary, and lost.

The Bible is full of examples of God reviving his people—from rescuing them from slavery in Egypt to dramatic mountaintop showdowns with the prophets of false gods, from the reviving life of Jesus to a supernatural movement accompanied by a miracle of language. Each revival re-stoked the dying embers of His people’s faith and brought new people into the fold. And they’re still happening.

Modern revival expert and historian Dr. Michael McClymond believes major moves of God happen every 50 or so years. He should know. Through his research, he compiled every revival movement in American history into a two-volume, 1,200-page book. You know, light bathroom reading kind of stuff.

If he’s right, and he certainly knows more than I do on the subject, it’s not unrealistic to expect a spiritual revival in our lifetimes. (Want to know more about revivals of the past? Read about five of the most impactful here.)

Whether it’s a public outpouring of God’s Spirit or a personal spiritual awakening, revival is a card in God’s hand, one that he plays more often than we realize. And it’s for our good.

THREE REASONS WE NEED REVIVAL

A spiritually vibrant life ought to be reason enough for me to pursue revival. But let’s be real, I’m also currently trying to balance work, homeschooling, guitar lessons for the kids, what we are having for dinner tonight, and “Oh, crap, was that dentist appointment today?”

Naturally, the most important things in life get pushed to the side because they’re less urgent than the daily bells, whistles, and push notifications. But keep putting off the oil change long enough, and the important-but-not-urgent can be the reason you have to replace your entire car.

When I slow down and examine my life, I can see three comfort traps that I routinely fall into, three big reasons why revival might be just what I need. I’m betting at least one might hit close to home for you, too.

I need revival because I’m naturally…

• Stale - Scientifically, the most delicious bite of any meal is the first one. At that point, the tastes, seasonings, and sensations of the food are new, flooding the taste buds in your mouth and on your tongue. The second bite is still delicious but a little less so. By the third bite, your taste buds are getting bored—even if you’re eating paneer makhani with basmati rice (yummmmm!). That trend toward habituation and boredom happens all over our lives. We couldn’t keep our hands off our significant other when we were dating, and now we fall asleep on opposite ends of the couch. After a year, the dream job is less dreamy, and the new city loses its luster. It happens spiritually, too—not because God is less good, but because we grow acclimatized to his movement in our lives. Like a piece of homemade key lime pie after swearing off sweets for a month, revival reminds us why we love (and need) God in the first place.

• Sleepy - I don’t like to admit it, but coasting downhill is much easier (and, because of that, often more compelling) than pedaling uphill. The things that are the best for me are most often the very things I don’t want to do—like ordering a salad instead of a mushroom Swiss cheeseburger or having a hard conversation instead of just ignoring it. But the more we put off what’s important, the harder it will become to implement it in the end. Revival stirs us from our spiritual slumber so that we can get on with living the best (and most impactful) life possible. Dreams are nice, but the real impact is made in reality. Revival is an alarm clock that gets us out of bed.

• Stagnant - If you get lost in the woods and need a drink, the cleanest water is water that’s moving. It’s the same for us. Without appropriate inputs and outputs, we get unhealthy. Revival is a major input of the movement of God, designed to get us moving toward an output. Revival movements—both personal and public—have been behind things like the abolitionist movement, the formation of hospitals and orphanages, and even the world’s favorite Irish beer. We need God to fill us up, and from that overflow, we need to pour into others around us. Healthy water moves; healthy people do the same. Revival pours good things in so that we can pour good things out.

WHAT IS REVIVAL, AND DO I REALLY NEED IT?

The more I read and learn about revivals, the more I see they are profound acts of God’s kindness. He uses revivals because he isn’t content to leave us with a tasteless life, asleep at the wheel, stagnating in a day-after-day grind that is focused only on us.

Instead, He calls us out of our comfortable life in the Shire into an adventure we could never imagine in our wildest dreams (That’s a Lord of the Rings reference, Mom. I’ll explain it later.).

I don’t know about you, but I don’t go to the doctor unless I’m sick. Like, really, really sick. A cold? Not going. Sore throat? It’ll pass. Missing a limb? I’ll think about it.

Consider the questions below a diagnosis tool. How would you honestly answer each one?

1. Is your faith compelling you to do something outside your comfort zone?
2. Are you regularly giving resources (time, finances, energy, skills, presence) to something or someone that doesn’t directly benefit you or your family?
3. Is there someone you are regularly praying for that they would meet Jesus for the first time or find their faith revived?
4. Are you working out your spiritual muscles by regularly practicing spiritual disciplines (scripture reading, prayer, fasting, silence, gratitude, etc.)?
5. Would the people who know you best be able to cite evidence that your faith is growing? (e.g., are you becoming more patient, loving, kind, and generous?)

If the answer to any of those questions is “no” (And I’ll be honest, I have more no’s than I’m comfortable with, so there’s no guilt-tripping here), then revival might be exactly where God is taking you.

All great revival movements in the history of the world revolved around prayer, seeking God, and radical obedience to what He said. It’s the same for us.

If you need revival, ask God for it. Seek Him daily through spiritual disciplines. If you feel Him prompting you to do something, even if you’re unsure, dive in with both feet.

To the stale, God wants you to “taste and see that He is good” (Psalm 34:8).

To the sleepy, He says, “Awake, o sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14).

To the stagnant, He calls out, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).

Revival ain’t for the faint of heart. But it is for the people who want to make the most of each day they’re given.

Lean in. Ask for it. Seek it. Act on it.

Your personal revival might be the spark that starts a public one.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” - Jesus

To learn more about revival and spiritual awakening, check out this page we made for you.

Disclaimer: This article is 100% human-generated.

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