I don’t want mere spiritual revival.
I want spiritual revolution.
Notice I said “mere” revival. Revival should be more than just an annual set of church services with our favorite preachers. Certainly God has called many men to a ministry of evangelism, but in our churches in the west, these have largely become social events or have passed from the scene entirely.
Revival is not really the point, if we are talking about the biblical mandate. Nowhere in scripture are we told to go and hold revival meetings in the sense of the modern Protestant American meaning of such gatherings. In fact, if the measure is Acts 1 and 2, the “upper room” of the early church, revival is not the best descriptive. Quite frankly, the word “revolution” suits the events better as a proper descriptive. “Revolution” means basically “sudden, radical, or complete change.”[i]
Sudden, radical and complete change.
This is exactly what happened in the upper room of the church. The Lord had commanded his followers in Luke 24:46–49 (NET Bible):
“Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
As his followers followed his command to wait for the promise of the Father, the promised Holy Spirit, Christ did send the Holy Spirit to empower them for his work.
Every church must be an upper room church. For a church plant, this means we must begin our church on the foundational pattern of the first church. We must submit in prayer, worship together and allow the Holy Spirit to baptize us, fill us, and empower (clothe with his power) us for his work.
Even as seasoned believers coming together, he still does this. He fills us for his work, for his will. He empowers us to do that which we cannot do on our own.
The result in our lives will be “sudden, radical and complete” change. It is the transformation of Romans 12:2 (NET):
"Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect."
This is my prayer for our nation. That the Lord causes “sudden, complete and radical” change―transformation―in our lives and as we grow in him and touch others we will begin in fires of spiritual revolution. These fires of revival must be fanned in to flames. Although they may appear as powerful wildfires, they are much more than that. They are controlled by his hand, sweeping across our hearts, our lives, our city and our land.
We should desire and seek no less.
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©2019 by Ben Bounds. All rights reserved.
[i] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolution
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