Revival and reformation P4-Positioning yourself for Revival

In the last few weeks, we have learned about the steps to take to start a true revival in your heart. To recap, they are as follows:

1.        The Church is ALWAYS to be in a state of revival.

2.        Be thirsty for revival. Revival will only come to hearts that are open to the Spirit of God.  Confess your sins so that your prayers are heard. Then, ask God for His Holy Spirit to revive your walk with Him. Fast and pray earnestly.

3.        Be ready to move! Revival comes to those who are ready to work for God for that is the purpose of revival. God doesn’t give you His Spirit and power to selfishly sit within the walls of your local church and do nothing. He told the Apostles to wait for His Spirit, for without Him they would not be able to boldly witness and proclaim the Gospel like they did. (Acts 1:1-8, Matt 28:18-20, John 15:5)

You have confessed your sins and prayed. You are ready to do God’s Will and work for Him. What next? It is important to position yourself for revival. You have asked God in faith. Now, you must position yourself in faith, ready to receive what you have asked for. As mentioned in last week’s message, God will never withhold revival from those who ask Him for He does not withhold any good thing from His children that they ask according to His Will. If you are ready to receive and work for Him, He is ready to pour out revival like you’ve never experienced before! So, believe it and get ready and excited to receive it! (Ps 84:11, Lk 11:9-13)

Many people’s expectations of revival are different to what revival actually is and that’s why when God is pouring out revival upon the hearts of His people, they fail to recognize it and position themselves to receive it. Revival is not always accompanied by loud bangs, speaking in tongues or a mighty rushing wind. Mostly it’s just a change of heart, an attraction to God’s ways and His precepts, a revitalizing of the earnest desire to serve Him, obey Him and love Him. Revival is God calling you back home when you have strayed far from the path He has chosen you to walk. It’s as simple as that! Revival is experiencing what it means to be a true Christian, revitalizing that first love for God you had at your conversion when you wanted to climb the highest mountain you could find and let the whole world know that you had found God, or rather that He had found you a long time ago!

When the rain comes in a desert place, people position containers to capture it. If they’re positioned in the wrong place, no water is captured. God is waiting to pour out His latter rain. Get ready. Position yourself strategically to receive it. The concept of revival is so simple. Jesus said that to enter into His Kingdom, you must be like a little child. Why do we complicate things so much? The steps I share, I have followed myself and it has led to a reformation in my life. Revival is the tree that produces the fruit of reformation. Without revival, there can be no reformation. Next week, we will focus on what it means to be reformed. (Mk 10:15, Ps 1:1-3)

Scriptures on the purpose of revival: To proclaim God's message to the world, to be a witness

"And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."- Acts 1: 4-8

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."- Matt 28:18-20

Scriptures refs are within the text of the message. Please read them.

Revival and Reformation Part 3: Pray and Move!

We have examined the meaning of revival, and last week we learned that revival is something that we should thirst for like the parched desert soil thirsts for the evening dew. This week’s message will deal with some of the more practical aspects of revival.  Jesus said in Mk 11:24 that whatsoever things you desire, when you pray believe you have received them and they shall be yours. Obviously, they won’t be yours if you ask contrary to God’s Will, but as long as you ask according to His Will, you will receive what you ask for. This is the promise of God to all those who believe in Him.

“How am I to know God’s Will?” you may ask. One thing is certain. Asking for revival is ALWAYS in accordance with God’s Will. Asking for His Holy Spirit is ALWAYS according to His Will, for He desires to fill everyone who believes in Him with His overcoming, powerful Spirit so that they may work His works in this world, bringing glory to the Father.  Read Luke 11:11-13; it clearly says so. So then, are we asking for revival? When we ask, do we BELIEVE that we have received what we ask for? That is the essence of faith. If we do not ask in faith, we ask amiss. Our prayers hit the ceiling and fall unanswered to the ground and we are not revived.

What does it mean to ask in faith? What does it mean to believe you have received what you ask for? It means that when you come out of your prayer closet having earnestly sought the Lord for spiritual revival, do not walk as those who are spiritually dying. Walk in newness of life, with a newfound purpose, with renewed vigour for the mission God has in store for you. Walk like those on the road to Emmaus whose hearts burned with spiritual revival as Jesus opened to them the Holy Scriptures. Walk as if you have something to offer the world, because you do! You have work to do. You have Gospel Truth to share. With God on your side, it is not a “mission impossible.”

When I first started driving, my mother would yell to me as I reversed out of the driveway. “Move and turn!” she would yell. “Move and turn!” Why? It was because I had a car without a power-assisted steering so if I didn’t let out the clutch a little and give the car a bit of throttle to allow it to move while I maneuvered the steering wheel, it made it that much harder to turn. When I allowed the car to move and turned the wheel simultaneously, it was easier to turn. So it is with our prayers too. God does not want us on our knees forever asking, but doing nothing. He wants us to demonstrate our faith in His power to answer by believing in Him, and what better way to do that than to start acting like a bunch of revived people? Pray and move! That is one of the secrets to starting a revival. If everyone did this, very soon, the whole Church would be revived and the effects would spill over into the wider community. If we spent half the time we normally spend on bickering, complaining and judging others on earnest prayer and fasting and then started working the works of the revived, we wouldn’t need the thrill of sporadic revivals any longer.

We would be like the tree planted by the rivers of living water!

"Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."-Mark 11:24

"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? "-Luke 11:11-13


"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."- 2 Chron 7:14