Revival is a word that is used a lot but most people don’t have a point of reference for what it is, because they’ve never experienced one. Some people may think that revival is supposed to look like a mass evangelism, crowds of thousands. Many moves of God are marked with healing miracles. We love to witness them, of course, but they are signs pointing people to Jesus. Signs are meant to testify to the reality that the kingdom of God is not only in words, but the reality of a supernatural kingdom full of power. Miracles and healings are also not there to glorify man. We all want to see God move in a big way, but the one that that is most important is the one that impacts each of us on a personal level. There are so many things that can be taught on this subject, but the area I want to focus on is the area of personal revival.
One thing I’ve noticed is that God picks the moment when he shows up, whether it’s in our life, or on a corporate level. When God shows up, the Spirit of Truth starts to communicate things to us. He wants our attention. When God shows up, it also means that He brings us to a point of decision. The Spirit of Truth expects a response from us.
One of the things that greatly impacted my life was reading the book called the Intercessor, by Rees Howell. This is a book that is often suggested reading material at Bible Colleges and other places that offer ministry training because of this man’s anointing. He was influenced by the Welsh Revival of 1904, and later trained to be a missionary. His ability to impart principles of faith and intercession helped change world events during the time of Hitler’s uprising and also pave the way for revival is southern Africa. He established a Bible College in Wales to train workers for the mission fields. The secret to what made this man so extraordinary and his life’s work so successful is explained in chapter 5 of his book.
Rees tells of a radical encounter with God when the Holy Spirit showed up and told him that in three days he would be a new man. Rees said, “But I am a new man,” and the Holy Spirit said, “No, you are a child.” (Grubb, Norman. Rees Howell Intercessor, pg. 36. Christian Literature Crusade, Copyright ©1952, Lutterworth Press). Most of us want to think we are a new person, and though the scripture tells us we are new creations in Christ once we’re born again, in the eyes of God we are still as little children.
What determines a person’s maturity level? Our ability to make wise decisions, our responses… Holy Spirit knows when we have not fully decided to live for Christ and allow Him to crucify our selfish desires, but these are the things that hinder a person’s spiritual growth and maturity. This is another quote from the book: “The Holy Spirit is a Person, with all the faculties of a Person, exactly like the Savior. He has intelligence, love and a will of His own; and as a Person, before He comes to live in a man, He must be given full possession of his body.” (Grubb, pg. 37). Rees explained how he had only thought of Him as an Influence coming on meetings, and that was what most of the people in the Welsh Revival thought as well. He had never seen that He must live in bodies, as the Savior lived in His on earth.
“I saw Him as a Person apart from flesh and blood, and He said to me, ‘As the Savior had a body, so I dwell in the cleansed temple of the believer. I am a Person. I am God, and I am come to ask you to give your body to Me that I may work through it. I need a body for My temple (1Cor. 6:19), but it must belong to Me without reserve, for two persons with different wills can never live in the same body. Will you give me yours? (Rom. 12:1). But if I come in, I come as God, and you must go out (Col. 3:2,3). I shall not mix Myself with yourself.’ “He made it very plain that He would never share my life. I saw the honor He gave me in offering to indwell me, but there were many things very dear to me, and I knew He wouldn’t keep one of them. The change He would make was very clear. It meant every bit of my fallen nature was to go to the cross, and He would bring in His own life and His own nature. It was unconditional surrender.” (Grubb, pg. 38)
Rees said he cried for days as he counted the cost. “ I knew I had to be cleansed; I saw there was as much difference between the Holy Ghost and myself as between light and darkness. Sin was canceled, and it wasn’t sin He was dealing with; it was self—that thing which came from the Fall. He was not going to take any superficial surrender. He was coming in as God, and I had lived as a man, and ‘what is permissible to an ordinary man,’ He told me, ‘will not be permissible to you.” (Grubb, pg. 38). From the love of money, to giving up certain comforts, and personal ambition, the life Rees would live would be for the world, not himself. The life of Christ is lived out through the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. Rees said he struggled with saying yes because it was a fearful thing. If dying to self was such an easy thing, why was he struggling so? How could self give up self and say yes to a life that was so unpredictable and sacrificial?
Holy Spirit had given Rees a deadline. He would come back at a certain day and time for his answer. But at 5 minutes to the appointed time, Rees was still unable to make the decision. Then Holy Spirit saw the wrestling in Rees, and spoke again. ‘If you can’t be willing, would you like Me to help you? Are you willing to be made willing?’ Rees said yes and he found his will surrendering to the will of God. (Grubb, pg. 42).
When I read those words, I felt the same dilemma. I wanted to be able to say yes, but I felt so conflicted, so I prayed the same prayer, that I was willing to be made willing. I wanted to do the right thing, but I was a bit intimidated by what it meant. I know I was naïve when I gave my consent to the Lord because I hadn’t been saved all that long. And to be honest, I was so immature at the time that I was more interested in the attraction to the glory than counting the cost of things I would have to walk through. God never tells us those things up front, it’s blind trust. But once you say yes, it’s a vow to God that he expects you to fulfill. The anointing is not cheap. It will cost you everything.
My husband and I have walked through things where we’ve been despised, rejected, misunderstood, slandered, and lost our reputations. We’ve lost homes, suffered financial loss, and dealt with a lot of difficult stuff – as I’m sure many of you have, too. The anointing is produced by crushing and learning to overcome. But, mostly the humbling process of dying to what our flesh wants so that Holy Spirit takes his rightful place to live in us. There is a death process we must all go through because our flesh is supposed to be crucified. Self isn’t supposed to be on the throne anymore, but it insists on trying to live as if it is still alive.
People both in the church and out of it have got broken marriages due to power struggles, people striving for importance, or needing to get the last word so their ego feels intact. Families need healing from many things that are a result of selfish responses. Some are still dealing with the aftermath of trauma and abuse. Kids are raised in broken families that have no understanding of their identity in Christ. There are so many issues that keep people in a state of brokenness.
These things come from pride, rejection, fear of insignificance and lack of respect towards others. If we feared God…if people understood that one day they would have to stand before God and give an account how their careless words and actions affected others… It’s a sobering thought.
We cannot possibly judge ourselves righteously if we try to do it by our own reasoning. We see from our own selfish perspective, putting our emotions and sense of well-being before that of others. I think if we could, there are so many things that we would not say or do knowing that we must stand and give an account for how all our actions have affected others. If we understood the fear of the Lord better, I think we would straighten up and be more mindful of how our words and actions can affect others.
Do they lash out and hurt others because we hurt or offended them?
Or do they hurt themselves because they internalize that hurt?
Do others turn to a sinful response because of something we have done?
We live in a day when people in the church as well as the unsaved have become desensitized, and people have justified an indulgent attitude towards sin. As a nation of people, we have lost the fear of the Lord. We need God to restore that, and He will, but it won’t come from feel good messages that leave us unconvinced of our need for change.
May I tell you something? The thing that is causing you pain right now…the area of your conflict is where God is trying to bring healing, but it comes by crucifying your flesh and inviting him to show you something about yourself. God wants to uproot things in our lives that are anchored in our flesh. Let go of all that and let God change you. He’s trying to make us into the image of Christ. Every place where we resist the authority of God, we resist the image of Christ being formed in us.
If you want to experience revival, something in you has to die. When you’re going through difficulties sometimes it’s because you’ve said yes to God and He is in the process of crucifying that idol of self. We try so hard to build ourselves up to enhance our reputation, make ourselves feel good about ourselves, build a successful business or ministry because we’re still trying to validate ourselves in front of others, when in fact God is trying to deliver us from ourselves.
My battle with selfish ambition. For years, I tried so hard to prove to myself and others that I wasn’t rejected, that I wasn’t the person they remembered when I had sin and failures and regretted my poor decisions. But, I was operating out of selfish ambition and the way God delivers a person from ambition and pride is to let every effort fail. Nothing produced the fruit I wanted to see because God doesn’t promote what is birthed out of pride or self-sufficiency. He doesn’t promote what is motivated out of rejection or a desire for the praise of men. He doesn’t answer prayers that are motivated out of a lust for power, recognition, or worldly gain. Sometimes we cannot tell the difference between our good intentions and the wrong spirit operating through us. That would be considered a blind spot, but also a need for deliverance. He lets us run out of steam and sit there for a while until we can admit we’ve been trying to accomplish things in our own strength. He won’t share His glory with another. That’s what He was trying to impress on Rees Howell. That’s what we need to understand as well. There can only be one person in charge. Our will needs to get out of the way. Self needs to get out of the way. We must decrease so that the Holy Spirit’s power and influence can increase. John 3:30
I’m going to give you a couple of scripture references for you to look up later.
James 3:15-18.
James 4:1-4.
John 15:15
Resurrection power only comes when we’ve allowed our own fleshly desires, demands and preferences to die. It feels awful when something inside you is dying. It is uncomfortable. It hurts. It feels hopeless and it’s painful to let go. Pressure from circumstances beyond your control causes what’s inside of you to rise up to the surface, because God doesn’t let you off the fire until you can see what shouldn’t be there, where you need to change. He waits until you offer it and can’t stand that part of yourself anymore – and that can take as long as it needs to take depending on how willing you are to let that thing die. THIS is what causes revival to take place in you. Even many prophetic promises have a season of death before they are revived and can come to birth. That, too, is a season of walking through the valley of the shadow of death before you come out on the other side.
Every time I have felt oppressed, discouraged, depressed, bitter, frustrated, angry – you name it – it’s because I needed to let go of something so that I could receive healing and deliverance. I needed to confess something, forgive someone, repent from something, repent for unbelief or believing the wrong voices, or surrender my will over an issue. We must get to the place where we throw ourselves, our desires, our hopes, all of it – on the altar and truly humble ourselves before the Lord. It was only after I followed that process that my spirit could breathe again. Joy and peace would be restored. It felt like I came alive again. This is the process that leads to revival in an individual as well as a nation.
God is concerned with the condition of the human soul. The word of God in 3 John 2 says, “Beloved I wish that you would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.” Your soul can’t prosper when it’s sick and in need of healing. A hurting soul cannot see beyond their own needs. A person that struggles with fear, anxiety, or inner hurts has difficulty trusting in anyone other than themselves. Our flesh wants to be in control. Our flesh wants to make all the decisions, but if we continue in being our own god, leading ourselves, we will never enter a place of rest and trust. A soul that needs healing resists the leadership of the Holy Spirit because they have trust issues and they fear giving up control.
We’re talking about the health of your soul, and what motivates you to do the things you do. What area of trust needs to be healed between you and God? What has your identity and blueprint on it? The thing you’re afraid to let go of is the thing that stands between you and God. If He told you to lay something down right now and give it to Him, would you be able to do it? That’s the thing He wants. The frustration, the hardship, feeling stuck, or a lack of breakthrough in your life is because we have not yet humbled ourselves before God and asked the right questions? A soul that is healed is more responsive to the desires and leadership of the Holy Spirit. That is why your soul needs deliverance. There is no revival until there is first a death.
The word revival means to live again, or according to Webster’s Dictionary, returning our attention to spiritual matters and concerns. A spiritual rebirth occurs when we’re born again, but I am talking about applying the work of the cross until we are dead to ourselves, and that is a continuous work. It takes commitment to live for Christ and not us. There are so many people that feel like they have lost hope. They feel defeated. They feel like they are in a place of dying spiritually because life has just been so frustrating, stressful, and their souls are in grief. They are wearing grave clothes, and they feel like they’re suffocating under the weight of trying to survive. They feel frustrated that they can’t get to a place of thriving. These are people that desperately need to have hope restored so that their souls can breathe again, but it comes by putting their trust in God. Not in circumstances. Not in others. God. And God expects us to have the answers others are looking for. We each need to complete the process God is taking us through so we can tell others what God is trying to perfect in them. If we short circuit the process we will only have to repeat the process at another time. This is what gets people to the other side of their storm. God is going to reverse those injustices, but you must first surrender them into His hands.
Revival is a re-awakening by the power of the Holy Spirit. He opens our eyes so that we can live in a way that is pleasing to Him. We need more than uplifting messages that make us feel good about ourselves. God doesn’t just tickle our ears. We need messages that convict us to change, but we cannot do it in our own strength. The Holy Spirit is the only one that can change the human heart.
Obedience is the only honest, humble response to the person of the Holy Spirit. God is looking for honesty, intimacy and people that are in authentic covenant with him. The anointing flows through people who have given their vessel to the Holy Spirit, and they have allowed Him to get them out of the way.
One of my favorite stories is when we were in an auditorium of hundreds of people. After worship, a friend of mine went up to the altar and asked if she could say something, and the pastor offered her the microphone. My friend, Sandi, said she felt the Holy Spirit prompt her to go up during worship but she didn’t comply because she was embarrassed. She began to explain that she wanted to ask her friend for forgiveness because she knew that she had hurt her feelings and some time had passed without her acknowledging it. She explained what had been going on with her, then she asked her friend if she would please forgive her. The friend ran up and threw her arms around her and they were both crying of course, but then the most amazing thing happened. The Holy Spirit began to move on people’s hearts and suddenly people began to get up without being asked, go across aisles, and have those uncomfortable conversations they had been avoiding. They began asking others for forgiveness. There was such a sweet spirit present, and the result of one person’s humble obedience resulted in a ripple effect of healing and a greater sense of unity. Thank goodness my friend obeyed God. Who knows how many other people the Holy Spirit was trying to get a hold of before He got to her?
What has Holy Spirit told you to do, that you have not yet obeyed?
Jesus’ sacrificial death, his resurrection and His Holy Spirit are the greatest gifts God has given us. Should we not yield to Him? Revivals, if they are truly a move from God, always institute some form of reform. We can look back at history and see that there is a pattern that leads up to revival.
1) Disobedience
2) Divine discipline
3) Suffering and hardship. Economic collapse.
4) Enemies would invade the land. Think about what is happening at our borders. We can anticipate what comes next.
5) People cry out in their bondage until God remembered them and sends a deliverer with the message of repentance. If you’re taking notes you can jot down Psalm 107:10-16 and Leviticus 26:13.
People need their souls delivered from captivity or they are not free. Bondage and a soul that is in irons is not your portion. Deliverance is a key to revival for the individual as well as the church at large because without it, there is no healing.
2 Chronicles 7:13 and 14 gives us a prerequisite for revival. You’ve probably heard that more times than you can count, so I won’t go over every point. “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” The first part of that verse, verse 13, is referring to discipline that came because of breaking covenant with God. It became progressively harsher depending on whether the people responded correctly with obedience.
The steps to restoration are:
1) Humility – God resists the proud. The person that suffers the most is the one that cannot be honest with themselves and God. If there’s no transparency and honesty, there can be no healing, and no deliverance. There is a part of every person that wants to avoid uncomfortable emotions such as fear of shame, embarrassment, guilt, or other negative emotions. So, what do we do? We construct fig leaves for ourselves to hide behind, but that is a form of pride. God can’t heal what we refuse to surrender. It’s choosing to live in denial and justify holding on to the wrong things that won’t benefit us, but if you truly want revival in your own life and for the sake of others, you’ve got to get self out of the way, because God won’t move through pride. Pride is an offense to Him. He moves through humility.
2) Prayer – Earnest, heartfelt prayer, for ourselves and our own spiritual health, the lost, the hurting, the disobedient, but also for those that are His children. Nothing shifts unless a lot of prayer occurs. Prayer can be more effective by praying the word of God over situations because it is the will of God. However, depending on what we are praying for…when prayer does not seem to move the mountain, there is a moment when we realize God isn’t answering for a reason. Often, it’s because the mountain is in us. Pray for revelation that moves the mountain out of you.
3) Turn from sin
4) THEN God hears and restores.
Indicators of a revival are:
1) A fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit. We experience His love and affirmation of who we are, and our acceptance into His family.
2) A restored sense of the Fear of the Lord brings conviction of sin. We no longer evaluate ourselves by our own standards and justify certain behaviors or attitudes; we experience genuine godly sorrow for things that God wants us to surrender on the altar. Holy Spirit reveals things that are displeasing so that we can be cleansed, through heartfelt confession. Self is dethroned.
3) A fresh love of the word of God.
4) A renewed commitment to honoring the covenant with God, restoring Him to first place in our lives. It’s returning to our first love.
5) Reformation in the way of righteous living and service to others.
The Holy Spirit presented Rees Howell with a choice between a life retaining his weaknesses, brokenness, and a lack of power – or a life of fruitfulness that flowed from healing his carnal desires and impure motives. God offered to take over his life and bring Rees into a more mature growth of the Spirit, but Holy Spirit made it clear that He wasn’t going to compete with Rees’ will. There could be only one Master. It’s the same offer He presents to each of us. What do you choose? Let’s pray.
Father,
I do want to please You. I want the abundant life. But, at times I still wrestle with my own will. Please forgive me for any areas of stubbornness. I believe You know what’s best for me more than I do. I am willing to be made willing so that I can do Your will. I give You permission to change my desires, so that it’s what You want for me. Come, Holy Spirit. Take Your rightful place in my life. Heal what needs to be healed. I choose your will over my own. In Jesus’ name. Amen.