| Poster | Thread | iamhis
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Joined: 2006/5/30
Posts: 26
North Carolina
| | Can someone define revival for me? | | Many people believe revival is just holding services a few nights and having someone different come by and preach. What do you believe true revival is? God Bless! |
|  2006/7/18 4:50 | Profile | enid
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Joined: 2006/5/22
Posts: 2680
Nottingham, England
| | Re: Can someone define revival for me? | | As I have read in several books and heard in different messages revival is God coming down. It is as plain and simple as that. J.Edwin Orr has a message entitled 'Revival is like Judgment Day' If God came down, what do you think it would be like? |
| | 2006/7/18 6:43 | Profile | DerekSpalla
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Joined: 2006/7/6
Posts: 22
Powder Springs, Georgia
| | Re: Can someone define revival for me? | | I would say that revival is when God manifests His physical presence; giving us the ability to take hold of Him through our senses.
Part of revival would be that we are changed through it. When we encounter God, we have no choice but to change.
The root of revival is revive. Through revival we are revived from spiritual complacency into spiritual activation.
An interesting word study would be to look-up instances of reviving that takes place in scriptures. I found a handful when a did a quick cursory search. Several translations might have to be searched out to get a more complete picture.
"Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we shall not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. LORD God of hosts, restore us; Cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved." Psalm 80:17-19 (New American Standard Bible)
Kind Regards,
Derek
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Derek Spalla
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| | 2006/7/18 7:48 | Profile | CJaKfOrEsT
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Melbourne, Australia
| | Re: Can someone define revival for me? | | Personally I think that this is the best working definition that cuts through the rubbish:
"It is the renewal of the first love of Christians, resulting in the awakening and conversion of sinners to God. In the popular sense, a revival of religion in a community is the arousing, quickening, and reclaiming of the more or less backslidden church and the more or less general awakening of all classes, and insuring attention to the claims of God.
It presupposes that the church is sunk down in a backslidden state, and a revival consists in the return of a church from her backslidings, and in the conversion of sinners."
- Charles G Finney (Lectures on a Revival of Religion)
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Aaron Ireland
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| | 2006/7/18 8:06 | Profile | DerekSpalla
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Powder Springs, Georgia
| | Re: Revival = Backslidden Church? | | Quote:
It presupposes that the church is sunk down in a backslidden state, and a revival consists in the return of a church from her backslidings, and in the conversion of sinners."
I would disagree with Finney here. I think revival presupposes that the Church is hungry for more of God, and that the Church does not have to be in a backslidden state for revival to take place. I think some of the revivals in history would make this point for us.
Kind Regards,
Derek
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Derek Spalla
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| | 2006/7/18 9:08 | Profile | Compton
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Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732
| | Re: | | The question of what is revival' has been an important to myself lately. For what it's worth I enter this subject not as a long time student of it...but admittedly as a hostile witness to it early on.
This past year I have changed completely on my appreciation of the desperate need for revival. I'm not sure if my 'definition' of revival, as far as American churches are concerned, fits any classic definition but nonetheless I wanted to add these thoughts to the soup.
Quote:
The root of revival is revive. Through revival we are revived from spiritual complacency into spiritual activation.
I hesitate to be contray here brother, but this topic is too important for any of us to be thin skinned on. I feel what you have stated here is perhaps a better definiton of false revival, such as become popular in our day. Perhaps the word revival misleads us, causing us to think of individuals being "activated."
I do think the definition you shared may be more faithfully applied to the church body as a whole across decades and centuries but not to individuals within those times. Let me explain...The church was alive two hundred years ago during the great Awakening, but today her body is largely gangrenous, that is to day entire members of the church are not even converted. Seeing the body corporately we may be able to define revival as ...well 'reviving.' but for many members of the body, revival will mean nothing less then encountering saving grace for the first times in their Charismatic Pentecostal Baptist Evangelical whatever careers.
In short, a truly impactful revival cannot be mere rejuvenation of once healthy Christians, but in fact the blessed regeneration of countless false Christians. This can come only after the Gospel is preached in this generation with the urgency of fresh discovery and the light contained therein penetrates wicked hearts whose churches presently cator to appetites or self-indulgence.
Quote:
I think revival presupposes that the Church is hungry for more of God, and that the Church does not have to be in a backslidden state for revival to take place.
I think the history of revivals would not align with this concept. In the early 1700's many ministers of the gospel feared that Christianity, as a true faith of the heart, was in danger of becoming extinct. The rise of evangelicals was predicated not on the enthusiasm for the Gospel, but on the shocking notion that many in the church were false converts...knowing not God while being deceived. Today we are on that brink again
at least in this hemisphere.
Consider the recorded emphasis of preaching on this very subject by Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, Edwards, and many others. Revival to these men wasn't the massaging of weary spiritual muscles back to health, or the microwaving of complacent molecules within cold Christians. Revival to these preachers was exposing corpses in the congregation and calling them from their hypocritical graves
This is a persistent problem in 'Christianized" cultures I believe. Each generation must discover for themselves the power of God, because all that the previous generations can really hand down is the teaching, memory and form of Godliness.
Here is an eyewitness account from Edward's preaching in the town of Enfield that shows to me what revival is. This was written by a certain Reverence Williams present during a preaching of "Sinner in the hands of an Angry God." In the walls of a church in 1741.
In light of the sermon, there was a great moaning and crying out through the entire building. "What must I do to be saved? Oh, I am going to Hell. Oh what shall I do for Christ?" So the minister was obliged to desist from preaching...the shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing.
After some time of waiting the congregation became still, so a prayer was made. After we descended from the pulpit and discoursed with people, some in one place and some in another. Amazing and astonishing the power of God was seen and several souls were hopefully wrought that night, and oh the pleasantness of their countenances they that received comfort.
One historian wrote about the account..."The people of Enfield on that day (July 8th) were treated to nothing short of a spiritual revolution."
Indeed! I believe if we talk about revival in terms of just more and more of what we already have...we'll never wake up. The fact that we panting revival hounds need to come to grips with is that many in our churches are not part of God's church. Feeling the force of this dreadful reality is the spiritual revolution we need for true revival...to stop singing happy dishonest songs of unreality and to cry out in shrieks and moanings..."What must I do to be saved?"
If the American church, which is given over to effectually secular gratifications, was given over to such effectual saving grace, all of the other benefits we hope for, including the salvation for the lost, charity for the poor, infirmed and imprisoned, as well as the improvement of our national character would naturally follow like fruit on a living tree.
Presently our churches are celebrations of unreality. Unlived truths are paraded routinely before us. It is making our us and our nation hard to true repentance.
"Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame...This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, "I am, and there is none besides me." How she has become desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.
The church is certainly a place for men who are nothing more then animals living for their bellies, to live carelessly while the church lies in ruins. They sing lies about wanting more of God, and applaud one anothers convincing appearances without shame. Yet there is still God's church
"Make search for the Lord, all you quiet ones of the earth, who have done what is right in his eyes; make search for righteousness and a quiet heart: it may be that you will be safely covered in the day of the Lord's wrath."
For those wanting revival Paul wrote,
what counts in a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this ruleto the Israel of God.
Blessing all,
MC
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Mike Compton
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| | 2006/7/18 11:20 | Profile | Truthspeaker
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Joined: 2006/1/18
Posts: 24
| | Re: | |
"Revival is God bending down to the dying embers of a fire just about to go out and breathing into it until it bursts into flame." - Christmas Evans
"What we call revival is simply New Testament Christianity - the saints getting back to normal" - Vance Havner
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| | 2006/7/18 13:38 | Profile | wyattearp
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Joined: 2006/1/28
Posts: 48
| | Re: | | A revival is nothing more than a renewal of obedience to God.
Wyatt
P.S. To DerekSpalla,
You only revive something when it is nearly dead not hungry for more as you said.
The definition of revive in the dictionary is "to return to consciousness or life". If the church needs revival, and it does desperately, it is because it has lost God conscousness and His life! |
| | 2006/7/18 23:34 | Profile | iamhis
Member
Joined: 2006/5/30
Posts: 26
North Carolina
| | Re: | | Revival has been important to me lately also. There are so many falling away and it seems no one cares anymore. You mention revival and everyone acts as though it is a word from the past we need not use anymore. I always looked at revival as a fire that has burned down to just the few coals still burning slightly down underneath everything that has already went out but they are still smoldering waiting for the wind to blow again. How we need the church to catch on fire that the world can see Jesus is alive and well. Lord send the Fire. |
| | 2006/7/19 5:25 | Profile | CJaKfOrEsT
Member
Joined: 2004/3/31
Posts: 901
Melbourne, Australia
| | Re: misconceptions of revival | | Quote:
DerekSpalla wrote:
I would disagree with Finney here. I think revival presupposes that the Church is hungry for more of God, and that the Church does not have to be in a backslidden state for revival to take place. I think some of the revivals in history would make this point for us.
This reminds me of a statement that Ron Bailey made in his "RORA2003 - Having Begun in the Spirit" series. He spoke of the importance of using words with their intended meaning in mind. He illustrated this importance by saying that there is nothing wrong with calling your "goldfish" a "dog", but if you don't tell the "dog-sitter" that the animal that you are alling a "dog" is really a "goldfish", then don't complain when they take it for a "walk" in the "fresh air".
Please read the chapter that the Finney quote came from, "[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=1586&forum=40&post_id=&refresh=Go]LECTURE I - WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS[/url]". Finney is expounding on the passage:
Quote:
O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. [b]HAB 3:2[/b]
Consider this, how can one be awakened (revived) from their slumber, execpt they be asleep? Revival is a word that is most often used to speak of "bringing one back from near death".
There is a need to be emancipated from our romantic notions of "revival" which consists of "exciting meetings" and "larger churches". Most, in their studies of revival start at the results. We remember Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", Finney's track record, the ecstacy and excitment of the Welsh and Chinese Revivals, but we ignore the woeful state of the Church and the World immediately prior to God's wonderful outpourings. That is the near absolute consistant factor in revival.
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Aaron Ireland
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| | 2006/7/19 8:27 | Profile |
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