Are We in Revival?

We have been talking about revival and believing for it for so long that some of us have grown weary for the waiting. Maybe you are in that category. Revival? You just want some personal help, some assurance that God still cares about you. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I look at where I am today and where I was 10 years ago spiritually, and I think “I must be backslid”. St. John of the Cross, who lived in the 16 th century, had what he described as the “dark night of the soul”. Is that where I am, Lord? People are talking about revival; some even saying we are having it right now, but right now it looks like we’re all being scattered. We’re running for cover and cowering behind closed doors. Maybe you can relate.

Are We Trying to Twist God’s Arm?

What is God looking for in order to do what we are asking Him to do?

• Do we have to pray so many hours?
• Do we have to fast so many days?
• Do we have to read so many chapters in the Bible?
• Do we have to attend so many church services?
• Do we have to witness to so many people about Jesus?

And what does revival look like anyway? Are we ready for it?

• Is it a lot of good meetings where we all get blasted in the Spirit?
• Is it many miracles and healings happening on a continual basis?
• Is it prayer meetings happening in cities at all hours of the day and night?
• Is it long lines outside of churches to get in?
• Is it thousands of people getting saved and discipled?
• Is it people treating each other with love and respect?
• Is it a time of repentance and forsaking of sin?

There is No Formula

God reserves the right to do what He wants to do when He wants to do it. The secret is we need to be in the middle of it when God begins to move.

Revival is an Awakening, a Resurrection

• God wants to pour into us a fresh infilling of His Spirit.
• He wants to work miracles.
• He wants to make alive again an increased love for Him and for each other.
• He wants to stir up in His Church the spirit of evangelism.
• He wants to give to us the ability to overcome sin and to live a life of holiness.

So Where are We Now?

Of course, God deals with all of us on a personal basis. Some are experiencing revival in their own souls, but corporately is a different story. My personal opinion is:

We are dry and waiting. God’s Spirit is slowly beginning to stir in us,

1. We are seeking revival again.

2. There is a desire for more.

3. We’re seeing the effects of sin on our world.

Petrichor

Petrichor is the pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather (the earthy scent when rain falls on dry soil). I am going to spiritualize it: the heavenly scent that occurs when the rain of the Spirit begins to fall on a dry soul. Petrichor happens when a raindrop lands on a porous surface. Air from the pores form small bubbles, which float to the surface and release aerosols. Such aerosols carry a scent called geosmin, which is produced by bacteria and viruses from the soil. Raindrops that move at a slower rate tend to produce more aerosols; this serves as an explanation for why petrichor is more common after light rains.

“If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” —Lev. 26:3-4

“For as the rain cometh down from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” —Isa. 55:10-11

Rain Has to Come in Due Season

“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” —Joel 2:23

“Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not me? Saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.” —Jer. 5:21-24

The Former or Early Rain

The former rain falls at sowing-time. It is necessary in order that the seed may germinate. Then the plant will begin to grow.

The Latter Rain

The latter rain falls near the close of the season, ripens the grain, and prepares it for the sickle. Both are necessary for the seed to grow and mature to the harvest.

What is the spiritual application of this?

Individually we need to receive the Spirit of the Lord when we are first saved, but then we need to continue on to increasing levels of His glory. We are changed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

Corporately God is dealing with us in the same way, but in the corporate setting, many times God waits to do things until the smallest lambs and sheep are ready for it. So individually one can progress as fast as he wants, but corporately sometimes we must wait for others to catch up and be ready. In the natural if the rain comes too fast on a dry scorched ground there will be flooding and destruction.

But if the rain comes gently at first and softens the ground then it will be prepared to soak up the more abundant downpours. And these spiritual seasons ebb and flow like the tide. They come in and we are feasting at the banquet table; they go out and we feel like we are in famine again.

But that should only serve to push us further into “seeking the Lord” with our whole heart, so that when the tide comes in again we can be surfing and not floundering.

So What Do We Do in the Meantime?

“Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to everyone grass in the field.” —Zech. 10:1

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain.” —James 5:7

Ask and Be Patient

Do what you can do with yourself, seek God, be in the Word, continue steadfastly in prayer and good works. Do not be anxious about what God is doing with others. In due time He will accomplish His will in the earth. He will send revival, because that is His will. He is preparing us for it.

Ezekiel’s Vision

Ezek. 47:1-5 “Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.”

The River will Rise

Be ready to jump in the river?

We all start out as babes, just able to handle a little; we are like lambs needing to be watched and led. But just like children we mature at different rates and levels. Some can handle responsibility before others can. However, the river will begin to flow. It is up to us whether we are going to get in it and enjoy the refreshing flow and ride it gives. Ezekiel had this vision of the River of God. In the vision he met a man that led him into the water and measured it as they went.

The River of God is at Different Depths

The first measurement was up to the ankles. He was just wading in shallow water. Pretty safe, yet it can be a little hard to walk, because the water tends to slow one down. He went out a little farther. The waters were to his knees. It is still hard to walk, but the water has given the body some buoyancy. It seems like floating is possible at this level. Again he went out a little farther. The water was up to the loins or the waist. Now it is possible to let the water carry you. It is getting harder to just walk in it. Going out a little farther still, the waters were risen, waters to swim in. It is at this level that one can make headway.

The river at this point was strong and swift. The only way to survive in it was to swim. But we have to be willing to get out that far and to let the Lord teach us to swim. That is what Ezekiel needed to do too. It says he could not pass over it, because it would require one to swim. Evidently he couldn’t do that. In order to swim one has to stop struggling and allow the water to hold you up. Then you have to cooperate with the water and begin to move your body in accordance with how it is flowing.

God, Teach Us to Swim

The River of God – oh how refreshing it is! Oh how inviting it is! But oh how frightening it is too! It is waiting for the abandoned, the ones desiring to experience the profoundly exhilarating refreshment of the Spirit of God.

The river flows from under the door of the Lord’s Temple. In fact it flows from the throne of God and of Jesus Himself.

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” —Rev. 22:1-2

Go Ahead, Jump in!

So what are we waiting for? The river is waiting for us to jump in. God is waiting! He wants us to have everything He has planned, all the blessings, all the promises fulfilled, all the desires of our hearts met. He wants to refresh us, heal us, and carry us to the destinations that He has ordained for us to go to.

Don’t sit on the bank any longer. Get going. The water’s fine.

“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.” —Psalm 46:4