The Fire of God must burn in your hearts
Most people think of revival as God moving on a grand scale. They point to the reat revivals of the past when housands flocked to Christ. But all the while they miss what God is saying today to their hearts.
During the Welsh Revival one hundred thousand people became believers in a matter of months. Pubs were emptied and the churches were filled. Hundreds of foulmouthed miners were saved and gave up their cursing. The donkeys in the coal mines could not understand the new curse-free commands of their masters. Work stopped until the animals got used to the change of language.
Many are familiar with these and other stories of divine visitations. But what is the real essence of revival? What is the heart of it? If we don’t know we may miss what God is doing in these crucial times.
‘Re-viving’ the believer’s heart
Revival begins in the heart – your heart. It’s when you come back to your first love of Jesus. It means you turning from the things that displease Him and the sins that are grieving the Holy Spirit. Revival is the deepening of God’s work as the Holy Spirit intensifies His influences within you.
Ephesians 5:14 says, “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light.” The double picture of sleep and death shows the state of the hearts of many believers today. Instead of being alive to Christ they sleep the sleep of death. Revival awakens sleeping souls and rouses the spiritually dead.
God is calling you to come to Him in the power of a renewed life. He is drawing you into a fresh relationship with Him. Only then can He reach out through you to those around you who do not know Him at all.
Exposing the deeds of darkness
God is restoring His light to the church. He wants you to shine with all the beauty, clarity and brightness of God’s holiness and power. God is calling you to reprove the sins of unbelievers. How can you do this if you are participating in the same sins? The light of Christ exposes the evil deeds of darkness.
All this means we must walk in a spirit of repentance. We must see sin for what it is – unfruitful, shameful and offensive to God. It is time to develop zero tolerance to sin in your life. Trust the Holy Spirit to bring that change in you today.
“Lord Jesus Christ, revive me today. Make my heart new again. Cleanse me from my sin and purify me from my defilement. By Your grace I turn from my sin. Give me Your strength and Your power to live the life You died and rose again for me to have. Revive the fire You placed in my soul, restore the love You gave me at the first and refresh my spirit with the joy of Your presence. Amen.”