The Need for Revival

“Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt Thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt Thou draw out Thine anger to all generations? Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee? Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.”

Psalm 85:4-7

Despite the salvation God has already given to us, the forgiveness He has already extended, the pardon He has already granted, this side of heaven, we are still sinners—sinners saved by grace—but sinners. 1 John addresses this when He writes to fellow believers,

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1:8)

For us to think or act as if Christ’s forgiveness of our sins has made us suddenly incapable of sinning is not just foolish: it is a deception. And yet, in a subtle way, we often fall into that deception by simple neglect of our relationship with God.

Notice that the psalmist pleads with God for the turning away of His anger. In Ezra and Nehemiah and in the books of the prophets who wrote at the time of the return, we see that the people who returned to the land quickly turned away from following the Lord. Some married foreign wives and allowed their pagan culture to define their homes and childrearing, some grew discouraged and gave up the work of rebuilding the temple, some simply became too absorbed in their own daily lives to obey God’s call to rebuild.

You and I can easily fall into the same traps. We are constantly bombarded by worldly influences. It is easy to allow the culture around us to push God out of our homes, our minds, our daily lives—and all without purposely intending to.

The need for revival sometimes results from a believer falling into blatant, obvious sin, but more often, it results from the slow backward slipping of neglect.

This is not what God wants for His children. The Christian life is not one of apathy, but of urgency. Consider Paul, who said,

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

That word, press, means to pursue, to follow after. It is also used in reference to Paul’s persecution of believers. (Acts 22:7, 22:4) Just as he chased the believers, wanting to take them captive and make them submit to what he thought was the true worship of God, so he now pressed himself on, forcing his old nature to submit to the will of God, unrelenting in his pursuit of holiness and a deeper knowledge of God.

The Christian life is a life of motion. In Christ we have peace with God, but that peace doesn’t mean we are to be passive.

The same Jesus who said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you” (John 14:27) also commanded,

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 8:28)

The peace of God is actually found in pressing forward, in obedience to God and empowered by His Spirit. Galatians gives us a glimpse as to what Spirit-led living looks like:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

All this results from that same pressing forward of which Paul spoke. The Spirit does not indwell us to enable lethargy, but action. If we would enjoy the fruit of longsuffering, we must through the Spirit’s power suffer long. If we would be gentle or good, we must face the temptation to harshness or wickedness, and conquer through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit is remarkable because it is contrary to our natural inclinations. It only comes when we choose to say yes to God, and no to sin.

Are you in need of revival today? Has the world crept into your life, your thinking, your heart? Are you lacking the fruit of the Spirit? You never can bring forth that fruit on your own. Revival is not the rebuilding of one’s spiritual life, but rather a surrender to the Spirit’s rebuilding work.

Give all to God, hold back nothing from Him, yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and you will find that revival is not so far away as it seemed.

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” 

Galatians 5:25