REVIVAL!
We have heard many reports coming out lately about the revival among college students that began on the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. Social media especially has been blown up with videos of the services and reports by those who traveled there to witness the awakening first hand. Some of those who attended the Asbury meetings were students from other colleges and universities who took the fire back to their own campuses where they helped ignite revival at their schools. At other campuses reports of what was happening at Asbury have sparked mass spiritual renewal among students.
At
Cedarville University in Ohio, students are aflame for Christ and are visiting
other colleges (including secular campuses) to spread the Gospel to them. One team has traveled to Michigan State
University to minister Christ to those who are hurting in the wake of the mass
shooting that recently shook that campus and the people of East Lansing,
Michigan.
At
Baylor University in Texas students are praying for mass
spiritual renewal after receiving inspiration from the student-led revival at
Asbury University.
According
to the 1819 News (a state-wide,
state-focused, full-service multimedia company for the state of Alabama), students at Samford University have been
gathering to pray and worship in the university chapel since Wednesday, February
22nd. They reported that “revival broke out with one student who
began playing music and singing.”
Revival
also spread to Lee University, a private Christian college in Cleveland,
Tennessee. A Christian filmmaker by the name of Alex Kendrick visited the university and reported that the chapel was filled for nearly two weeks
with student worship.
At
Belmont
University in Tennessee,
revival has broken out on campus. The
Washington Post reported that Asbury’s revival inspired Belmont’s.
At
the University
of the Cumberlands at Williamsburg, Kentucky, students “have
been involved in a continuous prayer and worship gathering,” according to The Christian
Post. Campus Minister Jacob Ratliff told the Christian news site that
he was “seeing significant evidence of
the Lord’s work at the University.”
He also said that it was students who had previously attended Asbury’s
revival who led the movement at UC.
The
Antioch United Methodist Church in College Station, Texas, reported that the
revival at Texas A&M University (TAMU) is the “closest
thing I've ever seen to [the book of] Acts,” The Church continued to say that there have been “testimonies,
worship, praying for healing, prayers for boldness to witness to the lost at
TAMU.”
Other colleges and
universities reported to be experiencing revival right now include Lee Anderson
University in Indiana, Ohio Christian University near Columbus, and Northern Kentucky
University in Highland Heights, Kentucky.
Asbury has a long
history of revivals in the years 1905, 1908, 1921, 1950, 1958, 1970, 1992, 2006 and,
of course, the current one. The Revival of 1970 was one of the most
impactful in terms of outreach. Over 130
schools, both Christian and secular, were affected as young student evangelists
spread the good news to campuses across the country. The Jesus
Movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s ran concurrently with the
college awakening for a time. While the
Asbury revival reached the young people in colleges and universities, the Jesus Movement was focused on the “hippie
generation” - those kids who had “turned
on, tuned in, and dropped out.” Young people during this time were
disillusioned by the government’s handling of the Vietnam War and the death of
so many young American soldiers. This
was also a time of civil rights demonstrations and the assassination of Martin
Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.
Drugs, free love, and general rebellion against parental and civil
authority were rampant among the youth during those days. It truly was a time that was ripe for
revival.
My wife and I experienced the Jesus
Movement first hand, having been saved during this period of time. We were both converted in September of 1971
and soon became a part of a youth movement of about 120 young people that had been
saved around the same period of time as we were. It was a wonderful time as many were baptized
in water and filled with the Spirit. Some
of the leaders organized a march for Jesus from our city to the capitol in
Columbus, Ohio, a distance of about 48 miles.
Many carried signs proclaiming “Jesus saves” and “God is love” as a
witness to those traveling along U.S. 23 who saw us on our route. It may have rankled some of the “religious”
set to see these long-haired kids in their blue jeans and t-shirts promoting
the Gospel, but our hearts were pure, our motives were righteous, and our lives
had been touched and changed by the Holy Spirit.
Every
revival must begin with soul-searching prayer and repentance. The very fact that revival is necessary
speaks to the need in the Church to be revived.
Revival should be the normal state of believers and not just a quick
fix. If we would do justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with our God all the time, then we would see power restored to
the Church like the first century Church possessed. The Prophet Isaiah expresses why there is a
need for God’s people to be awakened by revival in the fifty-ninth chapter of his
book. He wrote, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither
His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but
your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid
His face from you, that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1, 2). God’s saving grace is just as mighty as it
ever was, and His ears are just as keen to hear the prayers of His saints; but
He refuses to move in the lives of those who stubbornly cling to their sins. He will not hear their prayer until they are
willing to acknowledge their wrongs to Him in genuine repentance.
In a
widespread revival, real repentance must start from the top down, with the
leadership. “For the leaders of this people cause them to err…” (Isaiah
9:16). The Book of Joel maps out the
elements of a true revival. First there
must be a recognition that something is wrong, that there has been something
lost. “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that
which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the
cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all
ye drinkers of wine, because of the
new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.” (Joel 1:4, 5). One after one, these insects have come and
stripped away the crops that once fed God’s people so richly. Seducing spirits, doctrines of devils, a
social gospel, Christian entertainment, worldliness, and the like, have
subverted the Word of God (the true bread of heaven) and left believers destitute
of the truth. They have also been cut
off from the new wine which represents the outpouring of God’s Spirit. “Is not
the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our
God? The seed is rotten under their
clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn
is withered.” (Joel 1:16, 17). The remedy?
Joel tells us, “Therefore also
now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to
Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
and rend your heart, and not your garments [not just an outward
show of repentance], and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great
kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.
Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind
Him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?”
(Joel 2:12-14). If we want God to move
in our lives and in our assemblies, we need to come clean with Him. He knows our hearts, and He sees our choices. There is nothing that we can hide from His
gaze. God simply desires truth in our
innermost being. When we become honest
with Him, then He can create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within
us.
Joel
continues, “Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O LORD,
and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over
them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” (Joel 2:17). We have all
been called to be priests to the Lord (see 1 Peter 2:9). Therefore, God is calling each of us to
intercede for one another that He might spare us from being a reproach to the
unbelieving world around us. Our lives
should instead be the examples to the world of a living, glorious God who loves
and cares for His people.
When we allow God to touch
our lives in such a way, then we can be sure that He will move on our behalf
and begin the work of restoration, renewal, and revival. “Then will the LORD be jealous for His
land, and pity His people. Yea,
the LORD will answer and say unto His people, Behold, I will send you corn, and
wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you
a reproach among the heathen…And I
will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and
the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among
you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of
the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall
never be ashamed.” (Joel 2:18, 19, 25, 26). Yes, when
the children of God remove all of the barriers and hindrances from their lives,
then God is free to move and have His way.
He can then restore all the things that our disobedience and
stubbornness has withheld from us. After
King Solomon had dedicated the new Temple of God in Jerusalem, the LORD spoke
to him and said, “If My people, which are
called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14). This is a very simple formula, but one that
has held true and will forever hold true in the lives of those who will believe
it and apply it to themselves.
“Be glad
then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for He hath given
you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the
rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and
the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.” (Joel 2:23, 24). According to Dr. David Jeremiah:
“In Palestinian agriculture, the
farmer sowed seed on ground that received no rain at all during much of the
year. The fields were brown and the soil was dry. Modern irrigation techniques
were unknown, and dependence upon the rains was crucial. Therefore, the farmer
had to accept that fact and plan accordingly. He planned on two rainy seasons
for the success of his crop. The "early and latter" rains refer to
the fall rains in October and November, which softened the ground after the
blistering heat of summer, and to the spring showers of April and May, which
caused the grain to ripen.”
Spiritually speaking, these rains
symbolize the outpouring of God’s Spirit on the Church. These living waters are necessary for the
Church’s growth and health. Many people
thought the great revival that struck California in 1906 after the devastating
San Francisco earthquake that leveled 514 city blocks and left 700 dead was the
“latter rain” that Joel foretold. I
believe this revival, along with many that have occurred since then, have been
but former rains, and that we can expect an even more abundant outpouring
before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.
Joel
finishes his prophecies in chapter two with some very encouraging words of hope
and promise. The Apostle Peter quoted
these verses on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was initially poured out
upon all flesh (see Acts 2:16). Referring
to Joel’s O.T. prophecy, Peter said, “This
[that you are witnessing today] is that [what
Joel was talking about].” This prophecy was not meant to be
understood as merely a one-time event. It
was the beginning of a new dispensation in which God would fill every believer
with His own Spirit and empower them to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. From time to time, when the Church would
become complacent and lukewarm, God would move in a sovereign way to turn their
hearts to Himself once again. Joel’s words echo to us today, “And
ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your
God, and none else: and My
people shall never be ashamed. And it
shall come to pass afterward, that I
will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and
also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in
the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And
it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall
be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.” (Joel
2:27-32).
The signs of true revival are unmistakable. They include much prayer: for personal sins,
intercessory prayer for the Church, for individual believers, for God’s will to
be done even as it is in heaven, for cities, states, and countries, and also
for those who rule over us. Prayer,
prayer, prayer! Jesus said, “My Father’s
house is a house of prayer.” We must
take heed lest it turn into something less.
Another sign is a spirit of deep repentance and of bringing every sin
and every fault before the Lord. One
should expect to see a manifestation of the love of God shed abroad in people’s
hearts so that they melt together into one body regardless of race, culture,
language, creed, or prior church affiliation. A healthy fear of God should also be
seen. True revival brings an outpouring
of grace and of spiritual gifts, the presence of miracles, and of a general
infilling of the Holy Spirit. One should
also see the breaking down of denominational barriers and of bitter divisions
among believers. We are, after all, one
body in Christ; but the enemy likes to keep us stirred up and at odds with one
another. The Spirit has the power to
melt hearts and unite God’s children. Lastly,
one should witness the relinquishing of man-rule to the leadership of the Holy
Spirit. The government, after all, is on
Jesus’ shoulders, not man’s. We sing,
“Let go and let God have His wonderful way,” and then plan every second of our
meetings, leaving no time or opportunity for God to move as He wishes.
Scripture says that judgment must first begin at the
house of God. His own people must be in
a right relationship with Him before He can use them to reach the world. Young people need to know the power of God in
this generation. We who are older should
be the ones to light the way for them.
They need to know that God works miracles, answers prayers, speaks
plainly to people’s hearts, and leads and fills them by His Holy Spirit. When the angel appeared to Gideon, one of his
first questions to this heavenly being was, “…where
be all His [God’s] miracles which our
fathers told us of?” (Judges 6:13).
Young folks have a keen eye for hypocrisy. They want to know if our walk matches our
confession. So does God! We should not only be telling our young about
God’s miracles, but demonstrating the miraculous power of His Spirit to
transform our lives.
Where there is a great move of God, there is also a
great falling away. A revival generates
a lot of excitement and curiosity. Many
people are attracted to it and some make professions of faith that are not
enduring. In this way, revival can be
likened to Jesus’ parable about the dragnet.
The fisher’s net captures all species of fish: some are good, and some
are not so good; but they are all brought in by the same net. Only after they have been dragged to shore or
into the boat can they be separated. Jesus’
parable of the wheat and the tares also has an application here. He told of a farmer who planted wheat in his
field, but an enemy came and sowed poisonous weeds among the wheat. The weeds resembled wheat when it was grown
but was toxic to eat. Only after the
entire crop was harvested could the tares be separated out from the wheat. Had they attempted it before the plants were
ripe, some of the wheat might have been damaged in the process.
Discipleship is what the Lord is after in His people. That’s why revival isn’t just about the
excitement that happens during the revival, but, more importantly, about what
happens after the revival. God is looking to make disciples of Jesus
Christ, not just people who say, “Lord, Lord” but don’t do what the Lord asks
of them. Jesus said, “If ye continue
in My word, then are ye My
disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free.” (John 8:31, 32). Revival is a
time for people to count the cost of discipleship and decide if they are going
to be all-in or all-out. We pretend that
there is a middle ground where we can live peacefully with the world and with God, but this is a
fantasy: there is no such place. Jesus
said, “I know your works: you are neither
cold nor hot. Would that you were either
cold or hot! So, because you are
lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
(Revelation 3:15, 16). We need to
examine ourselves in the light of God’s Word to see if we are truly in the
faith and walking in Jesus’ footsteps.
It’s easy to grow complacent and hide away in some comfortable place
where we are seldom challenged to rise higher, but such a place is
perilous. We may find ourselves spit out
of our Lord’s mouth because we’ve allowed ourselves to cool off for too
long. But God tells us, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil
of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek
judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat
the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the
sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 1:16-20).
I had to think about what a wonderful analogy God has
given us in nature. Just as the cicada
must discard its old skin in order to mature, we too must leave behind our old
life in order to grow in Christ. Our
carnal nature is something that hinders our spirituality and keeps us bound to
the earth. As we break away from its
hold on us by crucifying our affections and lusts, we then find a new freedom
in Christ and in His Holy Spirit. We are
set free from the world and given the power to soar above the fleshly passions
that would keep us in bondage. “If the Son therefore shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).
We should continue to pray for the revival that is spreading across our college campuses, and for the souls of our young people who potentially can be greatly influenced in a positive way by the Gospel of Christ. We also should pray for the Church that the fires of renewal will reawaken a great hunger for God and for His righteousness.
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