Revival

It seems that everyone in the Christian world talks about this word. They all want it to happen in their churches among their city. Some set aside weeks, half-weeks, or weekends for it. They bring in special preachers to preach each night and make an event out of it. The people get pumped up about going out and inviting neighbors and friends to come to "Revival" and hear this certain preacher. Others have nights set aside for all night prayer meetings. I've even been to one that had various preachers lined up to come in and preach for 24 hours straight. (I only stayed for a couple) Is this Revival? I'm not saying it can't become a revival or that we should not have them. But is this what brings true revival, a renewal of the power of the Holy Spirit alive and at work in the life of the believers and convicting the hearts of the lost around them?

I'm no expert on the Great Awakenings and Revivals of the past but I have read about and heard lectures on them. Most came out of regular meetings where the Word was proclaimed as Truth and Authority for life. And....here's the kicker...what I believe is true revival...the people received the Word and humbled themselves before God and came with repentant hearts of their sins and began living every moment with a constant desperateness of Jesus in their life.

Most of the great revivals and awakenings began with the young generation. My theory of why this might be so is that the young people haven't developed an insurmountable ego complex. They know the older generation expects them to mess up or fall, to not have it all together. They know that their peers might look down at them or question them about why they have confessed all the sins they've done. They know that they might not be looked at in the same way as before from their peers or the older generation AND IT DOESN'T MATTER TO THEM.

Sure, it might bother them, when people snicker or talk falsely about them because they've repented and desire to live differently. But their ego and image in front of others doesn't debilitate them from obeying God. God moves in their life and they respond.

True revival is the spontaneous outflowing of the Holy Spirit among believers that humble themselves before the Lord and are repentant of their sins. A life of total obedience to Christ will affect those around you. The yieldedness to the Holy Spirit is the avenue of revival beginning in our individual lives and our churches. A people with desperateness for Christ to rule and reign in their lives.

"Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
You will not be pleased with a burnt offering,
the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm 51:14-17

"Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word." Isaiah 66:1-2


Revival begins with the individual. This is where I believe true revival begins.

What are your thoughts? Do we overlook salvations and repentant hearts because they are not tons of people at one time? At what number does a movement of God become a Revival?