Revive Us
February 8, 2023, started out like any other Wednesday at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. Students attended chapel in Hughes Auditorium at 10 am and received what even the president of the university described as "an ordinary chapel." After what was meant to be the final benediction, the choir began to sing a last song, and then something happened that was unexpected.
Nobody left.
Students continued singing and worshipping for hours. They praised and repented, both for themselves, their friends, and the world around them. They continued with reading, messages, and singing, as well as one-to-one and small-group prayer. It was a significant movement of the Holy Spirit. Some described their time as if no time had passed, just being enveloped in the power of the Holy Spirit.
A revival is happening in our nation, and it's spreading to campuses and gatherings all over the country. Gen Z is hungry for hope and change and other generations are here for it.
J. I. Packer defined revival as “God’s quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives.”
Because Asbury College has a history of revival, it is no surprise that the Lord began to move in the hearts of his people and this generation through this campus.
Perhaps hearing all of that leaves you feeling critical. After all, couldn't this be just another story that's being sensationalized by social media, by news outlets, and even just being embellished by students and witnesses themselves?
When you don't have a healthy theology of the Holy Spirit, it will make you confused or skeptical of revival. Revival is what our nation needs. It's a revival of the spirit of God for the people. It transforms lives, transforms churches, transforms hearts for God.
The word revival literally means renewal or awakening.
It's not cynical to use discernment; it is cynical to believe the worst. Love believes in the best. 1 Cor 13
DL Moody says, "There is no use in attempting to do God's work without God's power. A man working without this unction, a man working without this anointing, a man working without the Holy Ghost upon him, is losing time after all."
Think about what we've experienced in the church in the past few decades.
Church scandal.
Churches are falling apart.
People have left the church in mass numbers.
We need our churches to change, and you can't have a change without a revival.
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." Acts 2:1-4
Some of the major revivals of the past 300 years include:
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Great Awakening
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2nd Great Awakening
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Asuza Street Revival - 1904
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1970 Asbury Revival
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Jesus Movement
Even movements like Billy Graham Crusades have been credited with the confession and conversion of millions.
Churches and society always bear fruit from previous revivals. For instance, even secular historians acknowledge that the Second Great Awakening helped end slavery in our country.
Only changed hearts can change a world.
So how can you respond to this movement in a spirit of wisdom and love?
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Ask yourself, does what I'm seeing align with scripture?
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Listen to the Holy Spirit.
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Repent.
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Pray that revival will transform hearts.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this, we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error." 1 John:1-6
People who pray are people who see. If your heart isn't tuned to His, you won't see him move.
Lord Jesus, we pray for revival within Rise City Church, in Gresham, our nation, and our world. Be glorified in this generation and in those that are watching. Don't pass us by.
