You’ve done it. I’ve done it. We’ve all done it. We’ve seen that recipe pictured on Pinterest or our favorite recipe website. We’ve bought all the ingredients, measured them exactly and followed all the instructions to a “t”, but when we pulled it out of the oven or arranged it on the plate, it just did not look like the picture!
Why is that? Well, I can’t speak to the chemistry or artistry of making food. I’m sure there are many different reasons why two people can use the same recipe and end up with differing results. But this article is about revival, not chicken divan or cherry cheesecake.
Most of us have longed for revival at some point in our lives, either personally, in a relationship, or in a church. And that is a good desire, but, I think, that we expect that if we do certain things revival will happen. When it doesn’t, then we wonder why it didn’t work.
The key is understanding the true meaning of the word revival instead of basing our expectations on what we might see around us. I’ve met people in the church who think having revival means we have a Jesus party every Sunday with emotion-inducing worship and spiritual and emotional highs. Naturally, (or supernaturally) we would hope that revival shows itself in a way that is recognizable by something that is out-of-the-ordinary, but a mere outward expression of emotion is not enough to tell if revival has truly happened. Everyone who has been at a campfire testimony time knows that truth.
For true revival, there needs to be evidence that something dead is coming alive. The word itself means to be alive, to quicken, to be restored to life or health. I especially love that verb “quicken”. We hear of that term in reference to pregnancy to describe what happens when the woman with a child in her womb first feels the new life stirring inside of her.
What a physical picture of a heavenly truth! To be revived is to be quickened to life. This is referred to in Ephesians 2:4-6: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.
To revive something is to wake it from the dead! That’s what Christ does for us, so when we think about what revival looks like in an individual, in a marriage, in a family, in a church, in a community—it must look like something dead coming alive.
And that will look differently depending on the person or relationship or church.
So, we’ve defined revival, but what does it have to do with the Word or lovingkindness?
In a recent word study, I stumbled on a connection between revival, the Word of God, and kindness. Numerous verses in the Psalms group these three words and their synonyms or concepts together. Here are a couple examples:
“Revive me according to your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of your mouth” (Psalm 119:88, NASB).
“Hear my voice, according to your lovingkindness; revive me, Oh LORD, according to your ordinances” (Psalm 119:149, NASB).
The premise is this: The lovingkindness of God enables us to keep His word. When we love the Word we know His lovingkindness, and this revives our spirits—this moves us from death to life.
Therefore, if revival comes from the Word (and the Scripture is clear that Christ Jesus, the Living Word alone can revive us), then if we want to see revival around and in us, it will only come when we preach the Word, know the Word, live the Word.
That means that if we want to see revival, we need to remember that revival only happens if God starts it; He alone can quicken others. We don’t get to dictate if, when or how revival happens. We can’t expect to manipulate God into making our own Jesus party by putting on a prayer time or arranging the perfect worship service. God will show up in His time and His way, if it is His will. We don’t decide that.
Not only does revival start as God wills, revival can only happen if it starts with us seeking to be revived ourselves. Too many church-goers who are zealous for revival are not prepared to submit to God dealing with their own sin and hang-ups and would much prefer to see others get revived so that they can enjoy the emotional experience. We need to be willing to submit to God’s daily transforming work in our lives, if we want to watch God do that in the lives of others.
Further, revival requires knowledge and proclamation of the Word. But more than merely presenting or proclaiming the words of God we need to demonstrate to others the lovingkindness of God. You can preach the Word of God, but if it’s not accompanied by living it, then it is empty and without power (see I Corinthians 13:1-3). Jesus demonstrated this Himself when He proclaimed Scripture to the woman at the well while at the same time, showing her the respect and kindness that the people of her day had neglected to demonstrate.
History has shown that the greatest revivals happened because they were accompanied by both the proclamation of and the radical living out of the Word of God in love and truth.
So…why don’t we see more revival? I wish I knew. In most of the churches of which I have been a part I have not witnessed a great number of healings and conversions all at once like I used to think that evidenced the ingredients of a true revival. But I have seen God by the Spirit and the Word daily sanctify a marriage or mend a broken relationship with a sibling or radically change a person who defied God into one who served Him.
What’s the recipe? I guess it really doesn’t matter, as long as the one putting it together submits to the One who ultimately controls the end result. And the taste…it will be heavenly.
