I want to take some time to talk about revival in the modern church today. There is much talk about this word, and this term has become used so nonchalantly that I believe we lost the true meaning behind what revival should look like. Over the last few years, many have talked about there being a “Great Harvest” or an “Another Awakening”. Let me make something clear, this post is not being written to say that there will not be another revival, or that every claimed revival going on today is not genuine. The goal of this post is to bring us back to what Scripture tells us, because too often we get caught up in what feels good, rather than what is in line with the Bible. I am not just writing this post to you, but I am writing this to myself because the Holy Spirit has convicted me on this subject. We are called to be people who stand for truth, and that is the goal of every post I make.
Often today in America you will see churches having revival services, one of the most common things that are marked in these revivals is healings, signs, and wonders. Often when someone advertises revival and includes healings on the flyer you will have many show up. Now let me make myself clear here, I believe that God is still in the healing business and God heals people today. However, I am afraid that often many make healings and other signs of the attraction of revival rather than what revival should truly be about.
Some may say that I am going out on a limb here, but this needs to be said. Healing and seeing signs and wonders is not unsaved or saved people’s primary needs. People’s primary need is to be shown that they are dead in their sin and they need a Savior to save them from the wrath of God, and that Savior is Jesus Christ.
Sure you can have a revival service that only focuses on healing, and then mentions little to nothing about true Salvation. If a revival service is ninety percent about healings and you end it with a quick sinners prayer with no conviction, what good is that for people’s eternal sake? This is so dangerous because this type of service will give people an incorrect and unbalanced view of who the God of the Bible truly is. People will leave with the mindset thinking that God is “like the genie from Aladdin”, this was once stated by Jenn Johnson of Bethel Church.
The world we live in is so stripped of having a proper view of God, and yet the church has embraced this was the prosperity Gospel. Many have bought into the Prosperity Gospel and don’t even know it. Some will tell you “sow this seed of one-hundred dollars for your healing”. Some give a message that goes like this “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life to be healthy, happy, and prosperous”. We take that message and then mix it in with the American dream and become even more self-centered, and our prayers become so self-centered, rather than Christ-centered.
When we live in a world where 50 percent of self-professed Christians say that casual sex is sometimes or always acceptable (Source: Pew Research 2020), we ought to approach revival in a Biblical way. When we live in a world where more than four out of ten women who are regular churchgoers end their pregnancies with abortions (Source: Care Net), we need to take a serious look at revival in the church. Another number that grieves me is that fifty-seven percent of Protestants view “same-sex marriage” as acceptable (Source: Pew Research).
What good is it to preach “accept Jesus and He will bless you with health and wealth”? We don’t need a revival of healing, we need a revival of the Word of God and a church that has reverence towards God. We need a revival in the church to distinguish the holy from the unholy. James 4:8 (KJV) says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”. Psalm 19:7 (KJV) also says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple”.
What we are seeing today is nothing other than the Great Falling Away. Now I cannot predict how close we are to the return of Christ, nor can I say how things will exactly occur for us over the next few years. We ought to make sure our hearts are in the right place, and our motives are pure and Christ-centered. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (KJV) warns us, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”.
There are people today in the modern movement who have a form of godliness, but deny the power of God. There are people today who have false signs and are greedy wolves, they have their own form of godliness but it has no true power because it is not rooted in Scripture at all. These are the people who promise to lead you to God but end up leading you down the broadway. Jesus warned us about this in Matthew 7 just after He warned us of false teachers.
A true revival means that people are awakened to how Holy our God is and how in our original state, we are dead in our sins deserving nothing but the wrath of God. However, God in His love sent His only Son to pay the price for all sin, we are called to repentance and faith in Christ. As a church, we are called to make disciples. We need revival, where people who come that are in love with the things of the world, leave with a new worldview, one that is Christ-centered, have a hatred towards the things God hates, and have a burning desire to no longer conform to the wicked ways of this world.
I will end with a quote of Andrew Murray, “A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness, making God’s love triumph in the heart.”. It is time we examine our own ways individually and as a church, it is a time for a return to the Word of God!