We Need a Revival of Real Revival
- Feb 20
- 4 min read
“Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.” (Psalm 95:6)
Over the last four decades, I’ve participated in what many Christians today call “revival services.”
As I recall, most of these revival services have featured very exuberant, loud music, boisterous ministry times, and “high-level” ministers (prophets) whose supposed prophetic messages often promised sensational things to come for that church, city, state, or region.
Sadly, I don’t recall seeing one of those “words from God” materialize to date. That means one of three things to me:
1. It’s not the time for that word to come to pass.
2. The Lord lied.
3. The minister’s/prophet’s word came from themselves, not God.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe Jesus releases genuine apostles, prophets, pastor, teachers, and evangelists to His global community of believers, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness” (Ephesians 4:12-13). We haven’t reached that high standard of maturity yet, so Jesus must still be releasing these equipping and maturing servants into ministry.
I also believe that we must understand how these “maturing gifts” functioned in the 1st-century messianic Jewish community rather than concoct supposed “offices” and ministries based on ignorance and pride. But that’s not my point right now. I’ll address that some other time.
My point is, I’ve seen so much hype in contemporary revival gatherings, yet nothing changes. The revival meetings I’ve attended were like throwing gas on a smoldering campfire and watching it burst into flame, only for it to collapse into smoldering embers once more.
I’ve asked myself, “What changed after this?”
Sadly, the answer is, “Very little.”
The minister moves on to another conference or meeting, the participants return to their congregations, and plans are made for the next “big thing.”
Where are the profound societal or cultural changes that real revivals bring? Okay, maybe that’s a bit too broad. How about congregational or even personal changes? Well-documented past revivals record jails being emptied, social ills vanishing, and personal behaviors corrected as lives are radically transformed by the Holy Spirit’s power and influence.
Internet searches on the Welsh Revival, the New Hebrides Revival, and other genuine revivals reveal how stunning they were in the way they changed culture during and after their occurrence. These real revivals weren’t flash-in-the-pan events, nor did they have to be worked up. They happened when the Holy Spirit sovereignly moved over people, congregations, towns, cities, and regions. There was no need to invoke the Holy Spirit with “man”-ufactured efforts.
He was invited.
People had decided that they had had enough of the church’s busy-ness as usual. The status quo had become the static quo, and it didn’t measure up to God’s standard.
I’m sad to say, most of the revival services I’ve witnessed were more like the prophets of Baal dancing and carousing, trying to coerce and cajole their god into action on their behalf, even taking extreme measures and extended time just to prove how much they deserved their god’s response.
Nothing.
And then, after Baal’s prophets finally gave up, Elijah stepped up with a simple prayer:
“Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that at your word I have done all these things. Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, the Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back” (1 Kings 18:36-37).
And God’s fire fell.
Wouldn’t that be something if a congregation gathered in their place of worship with quiet reverence, with no worship team to “set the mood,” and the minister simply walked up to the mic, and prayed,
“O Lord God Almighty, let it be known today that you are God. Please answer, Jesus, so that we will all know, in a real and profound way, that you are the only true God, and that You alone have turned your wayward people back to you in sincere trust and devotion.”
Would the Holy Spirit’s fire fall? Would lives be renewed and rededicated? Would genuine, lasting change come to the lives of those gathered there? Would their enthusiasm be like a fiery, unquenchable furnace giving off spiritual heat and light, affecting their entire community rather than being just a uncontrolled congregational conflagration that quickly sputters out with no effect, or worse yet, leaving damage in its aftermath?
I’m so done with the revved-up, hyped revival services of today.
God’s people need to “humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Just that.
Nothing more.
I believe we need sincerity and simplicity, not sensationalism and silliness.
We need a revival of real revival.
Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.
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Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts