When Revival Comes . . .

What will it be like when revival comes? We find a picture of revival in the book of Jeremiah.

1• When revival comes it will not be because we are begging for revival, but it will come because we are hearing God’s pleading to come back to Him. We don’t have to bribe God with all-night prayer meetings and fasting to receive His spiritual refreshing. God is more anxious to bless than we are to receive His blessing (Jeremiah 3:12,13, 19).

2• When revival comes there will be great confession of sin. Current teaching on inner healing puts a needed emphasis on forgiving people, but Jeremiah puts the emphasis on confessing our own ugly and embarrassing sins (Jeremiah 3: 13).

3• When revival comes there will be a radical obedience to the word of God. We will see a difference in daily ordinary living. Revival will be much more than an emotional meeting on Sunday which has little impact on the daily grind of the week. Weeping with signs and wonders isn’t enough if it doesn’t result in holy living (Jeremiah 4:1-2).

4• When revival comes we will have powerful missionary effectiveness. God promises that when His people come back to Him “then, you will be a blessing to the nations of the world, and all people will come and praise my name.” (Jeremiah 4: 2).

Why is it that as we move into the third millennium, our world is still so lost? Seventy percent of the world’s people do not even pretend to follow Jesus, and two billion have never clearly heard the Gospel. What is preventing the earth from being filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea?

The greatest problem is not lack of funds, a dearth of willing missionaries, poor cultural understanding, inadequate church planting theory, a deficiency of sophisticated technology or a scarcity of satellite equipment. I’m convinced that the only serious obstacle to the worldwide spread of the gospel is that we are spiritually lukewarm and desperately need revival.

Christians who have lost their first love may still be active in church, may pray for missionaries, may give large amounts of money to support missions and may even volunteer themselves. But the world will not be changed by half-hearted Christians needing revival, no matter how active they are in the missionary enterprise.

How can we change the world?
• Listen to the pleading of the Lord in our own heart.
• Confess our sins, no matter how embarrassing they may be.
• Radically obey the word of God, no matter what the consequences.

Then get ready for an explosion of the Good News to all nations. By faith I see hundreds of millions of people from the most resistant cultures flocking to Jesus, when revival comes.

Do you have a passion for world missions? Pray for revival to begin in your own life. Then watch out, because God wants nothing more than to pour out his blessing on all nations through you.