The message of revival that I have been bringing is predicated on the prophesies that are in the Book of Joel, both those about the last great revival that is coming and those about the times leading up to it. But the foundation for the whole message rests upon a base of 6 vital principles of revival. These principles never change. Throughout time, they have been the bedrock foundation that all revivals have been based upon.
The first principle to understand is that revival is not about feeling good, having exciting church services, or receiving wonderful blessings. It’s not even about the miracles or the outpouring of the Spirit. Those are all results of revival, not the core focus. Revival is about winning souls – first, foremost, and always. The primary reason God sends revival is so that the Church will rise up and shine the Light of Salvation to the millions of lost souls who are on their way to Hell. God is not willing that any should burn in Hell, but He uses His Body to bring that message of hope to them. Jesus said that if He be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Him, and that is what revival is all about.
The second principle of revival is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about you. The Gospel is about others, others, others. The Church has been flooded with messages that are all about what God can do for you, how Jesus wants to bless His people, and all the blessings and good things that God will give you. It’s almost as if all we want to talk about is not how we can serve God, but how He can serve us. Gone are the admonitions about taking upon us the sufferings of the Cross, walking that crucified walk in subjection to His Will, and the call to sacrificing it all for the Cross.
We have to take our focus off of ourselves and place it on others. This is the very essence of Charity in 1 Corinthians 13. Agape is not just a “love” that is little more than some warm fuzzy emotion; it is love in action, the giving of yourself out of love so that souls can be saved. If you don’t grasp this concept, you will never be able to understand the Cross. Jesus died to save sinners, and He calls us to that follow Him into that same calling. “Deny thyself, pick up your cross, and follow me.” Until you get your focus off yourself, God cannot begin to bring revival.
The third principle to understand is that there is a price to pay for revival. Nothing in God is free. And the price for revival is high – so high, in fact, that that is the reason why true Holy Ghost revivals are so rare. You cannot expect to sit in church and wait for God to drop a revival into your waiting lap – it will not happen. At some point, you will have to get up and do something … but if you do nothing, nothing will happen. God will not send His precious souls to a people who do not care enough to answer the call to battle and fight for them. If you draw nigh unto Him, He will draw nigh unto you. There is a price to pay.
The fourth principle is very like the third in that revivals have to be prayed in. This is not a light statement. Throughout history, before every revival you will see the saints laboring in intense prayer, sometimes for years, before God begins to move. And not the light, easy-going “little talks with Jesus”, but the ferocious contending before the Throne of God that moves the Almighty. We must be as desperate as Rachael in Genesis 30:1 when, as a barren wife, she cried out to her lord, “Give me children lest I die!” Prayer moves God; but if you want a great move of God, it takes great prayer. If you want it to rain, you have to pray like Elijah.
The fifth principle is that no revival comes without repentance. If the cry for revival is not accompanied by true heart-rending repentance, then nothing will change and we will remain stuck in the same apostasy that killed the last move of God. Two good examples are in Nehemiah and Daniel. Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer and heard of the desolation of Jerusalem. Before going to the king in supplication to restore the city of God, however, he first fasted and prayed day and night in repentance for the children of Israel. Daniel likewise, when he read Jeremiah’s prophesy that after 70 years, Jerusalem would be restored, did not call his friends to sing and rejoice, but rather, he fell to his knees in repentance for his people. Daniel knew that even though it was written in the Word of God, revival would not come without repentance.
The last principle is a little different than the others. It is not about something we need to do, but rather what God provides for us. I have noticed that every revival is started by someone who has a vision for revival. There is always someone who is lit on fire by a vision that is greater than what he sees around him. He is the lightning that starts the fire. Gideon sought the face of God in secret and would not compromise with the Church that had been taken over by the world, and because of that, the angel told him to go in that strength and he would deliver Israel. Jonathan was willing to climb up the rocks on his hands and knees to take on the enemy, no matter what the odds, because he believed God could deliver them. In every place where you see a picture of God’s deliverance and ensuing revival, you will see a man of God who looked beyond his circumstances and believed God for revival. All the other conditions for the fires of revival may be there, but it takes a man or woman with a vision to strike the first match.
Revival is coming, folks. Where it will strike first and how fast the fire will spread is a matter of conjecture, but wherever it strikes, you will find all of the above underlying it.