What Revival Is Not (part 4)

I just returned from a “working vacation” (an oxymoron) in northern Michigan. We had a great time enjoying the remarkable beauty of seemingly endless beaches.Michigan has 3,288 miles of shoreline, more than the entire Eastern Seaboard. So there was plenty of room to enjoy God’s creation and to reflect on God’s greatnesOne of the more remarkable sites to behold is the famed Mackinac Bridge. This magnificent structure was the architectural phenomenon of its day, and it still ranks as one of longest suspension bridges in the world. Five miles in length, it connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.For years experts felt the severe winter weather, predictably high winds, and water depths extending to 350 feet would make it impossible to bridge the gap between these two critical land masses. It was deemed too difficult. Though expert engineers felt it could happen, they concluded it wouldn’t happen.When it comes to revival, the same sentiment depicts the general outlook among many evangelicals. They acknowledge that, in theory, revival could happen; but in reality, it won’t happen. It’s just too difficult. The depth of sin . . . the coldness of hearts . . . just too many factors against its likelihood. Plus the winds of evil are just too strong.Over the past several weeks, we have been considering what revival IS NOT . . . for example, we concluded it is NOT primarily evangelism, emotionalism, or an event. Emphatically, I want to add one more to the list of what revival is not . . . it is not EXTINCT!

Common Misconception #4 – Revival Is Extinct

The founder of Life Action Ministries would often remind me, “As long as God is on His throne, revival is as possible as the sun rising tomorrow morning.” A great reminder that God’s power has not changed. Nor has His desire to call His people back to Himself in true repentance and revival. In fact, the blacker the night, the brighter the light!Prior to every spiritual awakening, moral and spiritual declension causes doubt among those who are not serious students of revival. Prior to the First Great Awakening, there were those who declared that Christianity would disappear in America.Jonathan Edwards summarized the severity of the darkness with the words, “declension had fallen into decay.” Times were filled with decadence.But God burst on the scene, and as much as 1/7^th of the population of our nation was converted in a brief period of time. That would be equivalent to 40,000,000 people today! Silence for 400 years between the Old and New Testaments fueled the skepticism about the coming of Jesus. Yet in God’s design, “the fullness of time” included silence from heaven.Just as the world had come to a place of hopelessness then, and the One who would fulfill all their hopes came into their midst, so America is facing a time when despair is spreading widely across our landscape . . . and Jesus wants to come in our midst by way of a fresh outpouring of His Spirit in revival. His desire is to be redemptive . . . to deliver His people from their sins.I believe every redemptive work of God, that transforms a single heart from “evil intent continually” to a passion for righteousness, is a visual reminder of what God can do in a much broader sense. God can and, I believe, longs to pour Himself forth in transformative power, BUT only upon and in response to a repentant and broken people.One of our staff, Del Fehsenfeld III, defines revival as “bridging the gap between what we know about God and what we are experiencing of God.” That resonates. A. W. Tozer said it this way: “The curse of the 20^th century is that we think because we know something . . . we have something.”It required faith and courage to bridge the gap between the Lower and Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I couldn’t help but think, as I watched the thousands of people crossing that bridge the other day, how much it will also require faith and courage for millions of Americans to cross from the lower state of knowing about God to the higher state of experiencing God.I pray you will join me and a few hundred others here at Life Action who are determined to close that gap through boldly proclaiming His power to change hearts. Revival is coming!

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