Having researched and written on over 282 revivals, I’ve come to understand that revival can happen whenever we want it to happen. That may sound idealistic, but I believe it to be the truth.

Some may disagree with me, because at any given time there can be thousands in a given community who are praying for a genuine revival, and if there are so many that are sincerely hungering and thirsting for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, why doesn’t it materialize?

The answer to that question is that most people praying for revival are anticipating a historic-like revival, a corporate stirring, wherein the Shekinah glory of God falls on a congregation and they in unison experience a “rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:2), or a shaking of the building in which they are praying or worshiping (Acts 4:31; 16:26).

And if those earth-shattering, massive and overwhelming outpourings do not take place, most people settle into accepting the status quo, or they go into a state of hopelessness, believing that revival is only an idealistic wish.

I don’t know everything there is to know about revivals, but from the revivals I have experienced (3 of them), they didn’t happen the way most people assume they come about.

As people read about the powerful outpourings of the Holy Spirit during previous eras, they can easily be led to believe myths about revivals. Some of those myths are:

Revivals are temporary.
Revivals are special seasons.
Revivals come and go like the tide.
Revivals require us to wait for them.

I have seen that these myths lead people to believe that:

God sovereignly wills for His people to go into seasons of slumber and ineffectiveness.

God’s plan for His people is for them to wait for Him to waken them out of their slumber.

God is holding back His promises and will not fulfill them until His people “measure up”.

We have witnessed many hundreds of people experience personal revival. They did not wait for there to be a corporate outpouring. To experience personal revival, these individuals:

1. Openly confessed their sins to a trusted confident, as it is only sin that holds back revival—personal or corporate (James 5:16; Matthew 5:23-24).

2. Received prayer for deliverance from all areas of their life that were producing a barrier between them and God (Isaiah 59:2).

3. Began to live their life in obedience to God’s will.

That is a quick and simplistic overview of what happens, but for those desperate for genuine revival, those are the steps that must be taken. And this applies to the individual as it does to the congregation.

Corporate Revival
A corporate revival can happen anytime a congregation wants it to happen. The evangelist Leonard Ravenhill mentioned that,

As long as we are content to live without revival, we will.

Some may ask, “I want revival at my church, what do I have to do to see it materialize?”

Before answering that, I want to explain that I am a simple person. I do not have a complex philosophical mind. So, when I see an individual congregational member experience personal revival, then another, then a dozen, then several dozen, I know that it won’t be long until a “corporate revival” has developed. And I know for a fact that an individual can experience a personal revival whenever they want it.

Corporate revival is not the mystical or complex thing many make it out to be. It is simple obedience to Jesus and His commandments, as the 19th century revivalist Charles Finney said:

A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.

If you want a personal revival, or even a corporate revival, it all begins with obedience. Don’t try to make it something more mystical than that.

CLICK THIS LINK TO START THE PROCESS FOR YOUR PERSONAL REVIVAL

Contact us to discuss how corporate revival can be experienced by your congregation.