Defining Revival

"Revive us, and we will call upon Your name." -- Psalm 80:18 NKJV

Revival is a word we throw around frequently but define rarely.

Here are some definitions of revival that people have come up with through the years, followed by my definition:
 

• "God's quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives." -- J.I. Packer
• "Extraordinary season of religious interest." -- Robert Baird
• "The sovereign act of God, in which He restores His own backsliding people to repentance, faith and obedience." -- Stephen Olford
• "The return of the church from her backslidings, and the conversion of sinners." -- Charles Finney
• "An extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results." -- Richard Owen Roberts
• "Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19)" -- J. Edwin Orr
• "The awakening or quickening of God's people to their true nature and purpose" -- Robert Coleman
• "A community saturated with God" -- Duncan Campbell 

My definition of revival is simple -- "When God comes down"... or more specifically,  "When God comes down to stay." It is a visitation that turns into a habitation. It is the constant, overshadowing dwelling of the manifest presence of God. Revival comes when God is allowed to do whatever He wants when He shows up.

I am concerned that in our generation -- and in our passing down a legacy to the next generation -- we are losing a clear vision of revival. And why are we losing the vision? Because we have settled for less than true, authentic, biblical revival. We are content to call things "revival" that are not. If we have a powerful service, it's revival. If there's a hyped up guest speaker, we're going to have revival. If the service went 30 minutes longer than usual, it's revival. If worship was wild, it's revival. If people start crying out or experiencing any minor degree of historic manifestations like shaking, falling, crying, joy, screaming, etc., it must be revival.

I recently heard about a "revival" that was being popularized and sensationalized, only to find out that said "revival" only had meetings one night a month.

What???

I'm sorry, that's not biblical revival. In revival, you're on God's schedule; He's not on yours. Revival is not convenient; it is costly. It costs your life. It will disrupt your family. It will change your plans. It will brutalize your calendar. It brings fire and persecution and a whirlwind of instant change and that is not always pleasant.

I know some will say that we are to contend for revival and any measure we experience we should lay hold of.  Well yeah, of course! That is a part of revival. That's what my whole ministry is about. I understand fully that we experience revival in degrees or increments and that we should contend for more, and still consider it revival. I get it. But we can't settle for less than a genuine move of God and then look back on our lives and realized it wasn't the fullness of what God intended in bringing revival.

Revival is not a few good meetings. Revival is not a room full of people falling on the floor and then getting up to go about their normal routine. Revival is when God takes over because He is permitted to be all. 

In the next blog post, we will look at a few books about revival that will challenge and change you.  

We are on the verge of a move of God in our generation. Let's not settle for good meetings. We will not be content until we have a divine visitation that leads to a habitation of the tangible touch of God.