Psalm 85:6 “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”

Revivals and awakenings have been interwoven into the history of our country. From the 1730’s with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, to the 18 and 1900’s with people like D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham. Even recently we have seen revival starting at Asbury University and spreading across the country.

To define “revival” I’ll go back to what observers said about Jonathan Edward’s Northampton, Massachusetts church in 1734.

They said, “It pleased God… to display his free and sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time, turning them from a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity, to the lively exercise of every Christian grace, and the powerful practice of our holy religion.”

That’s about as clear a definition as we’ll ever get! During a revival, the Lord revived the hearts of men and women. He supernaturally transforms believers and non-believers in a church, region, nation and they are taken hold by a sudden, intense enthusiasm for Christ. People sense the presence of God powerfully and from that flow conviction, confession, and a contrite heart that leads to repentance. These revived people become difference makers in their world.

They desire prayer, they thirst for God’s Word, and they enthusiastically share the Gospel. They are a people focused on giving glory to and receiving glory from God. They live for His glory alone.

Do you believe we need revival?

In our movement? Country? World? What I mean is this, do you believe we have adopted a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity that needs to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into a lively exercise of every Christian grace, passion for Christ and a desire to see lost souls won to His kingdom? Today Christianity is prevalent, but not powerful. I believe we need to be revived.

G. Campbell Morgan said, “Revival cannot be organized, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.”

We can’t force or manufacture revival, but we can pray and prepare for it. J. Edwin Orr said, “Whenever God is ready to do something new with His people, He always sets them to praying.” If we desire revival, we must first be a people of prayer. We must become a movement of prayers. Praying that God would do what we cannot. That He would awaken men, women, boys & girls to their need for Him.

But we also must prepare. We must be ready. Those who God uses to spark revival are those people who hunger for His glory above all else. I believe that if we want to see revival break out in our hearts and an awakening happen in our communities we must be a people who live to give God glory and seek to receive God’s glory.

Will we seek the glory of God above all else?

When our greatest desires become: pointing people to Jesus, living to seek and save the lost, sharing what God’s given us to show people His love. When our greatest fears become: people going to hell, not being good stewards of what God’s given us, dying before we make a difference.

When that happens a revival will have taken place in your life and an awakening will come in our community.

D.L Moody was an evangelist in the mid to late 1800’s. He preached to over 100,000,000 people in the days before tv and live stream. He also founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers.

Henry Varley, who was a British revivalist and good friend of Moody, once said to him: “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.” When Mr. Varley said that, Moody took it as a challenge and said to himself: “Well, I will be that man.”

What stood out to Moody was the qualifier in Varley’s statement. It wasn’t, “The world is yet to see what God will do through an amazing speaker, top notch leader, organizational guru or theological genius.” The qualifier is this, that a person would be fully and wholly consecrated to God. Maybe you’re like Moody and right now you’re thinking, “I’m not the speaker, leader, genius, but I can be he one who fully gives them self to God.”

When I look at what God accomplished through Moody, I am invigorated to think about what He could do if each person reading this became bound and determined on being that fully consecrated person. Will you be that man? Will you be that woman? Will you make a decision today to quit holding out on God and to seek His glory above all else? Your community, your church, your neighbors and family, our world needs you to be all in living for the glory of God alone. Young or old. Man or woman. Pastor or farmer. Banker or homemaker.

You can decide today that you will be that person so the world may see what God will do with and for and through the person who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.

About the Author: Jeff Roth is the Senior Pastor at Skyline Church in O’Fallon, IL and GB Regional Coordinator for the Midwest and California.  At 17 years old Jeff felt God leading him into vocational ministry. Since then his goal has been to point people to Jesus by helping them understand the Word of God and apply it to their life. Jeff has been married for 16 years to his wife Alicia. They have four kids: Addie (14), Boyd (9), Judah (4), and Ellie (2). They also have a sweet goldendoodle named Honey. In his free time, Jeff enjoys sports, running, coffee, and movies.