Why We Need Revival

Churches often pray asking God to bring revival into their midst. Many take this to mean we are praying for the salvation of the lost and then following up our prayers with “revival meetings” featuring “revival preaching” so as to win the lost to Christ. The only problem with this understanding of revival is it is not biblical thus, it is not true.

Revival saves no one because unbelievers need more than reviving to be transformed from being spiritually dead to becoming spiritually alive. Unbelievers need to be “born again” if they are to be saved. This act of being born again is also referred to in Scripture as being “regenerated”. It is the secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to the unbeliever so that he or she who was spiritually dead to God now desires Christ, salvation, and subsequently responds to the Gospel in repentance and faith. Regeneration is the granting of spiritual life where there was none before so that the unbeliever is now able to believe, wants to believe, and in fact, does believe.

Revival, on the other hand, is the life-changing process of believers recovering or rediscovering the Gospel truths so that the grace of God is truly experienced in their lives so as to free them to enjoy God and relax in their Faith as people who know they are unconditionally accepted by God in Christ. It is important to note that revival is plural in nature. That is, revival is a season in which a group or a body of believers experience personal Gospel renewal together so as to experience a new freshness, power, and vitality as believers who are enjoying God together and living life together as people with nothing to prove and so are able to be real and relaxed with one another. Revival then is not so much about salvation as it is about believers experiencing the joy of their salvation and doing so together.

Revival is necessary in every church for the simple reason that religion, which is nothing less than man’s attempts to please God with his own works and perceived righteousness, is the default mode of the human heart even if it has been converted by the Gospel. Christians are constantly being wooed from grace to religion and oftentimes succumb to the unbiblical view that whereas they were saved (accepted) by grace, they stay saved (accepted) by their performance as believers.

So, how does an individual believer know if he needs Gospel revival?  Furthermore, how does a church know if it is need of the same? One simple and easy way to begin this inquiry is to ask the question—Why do I obey the Bible? If you answer the question, I obey the Bible to be pleasing and acceptable to God, you are a candidate for revival. The reason why this is true is because the Gospel teaches believers are to obey God not to become pleasing or accepted by Him but because they are already pleasing and accepted by Him.

Other indicators that may reveal we are more religion-centered than Gospel-centered are: Is our spiritual motivation based on fear and insecurity or grateful joy? Do we obey God to be deserving of God’s blessings or do we obey Him because we simply delight in Him? When troubles come do we look for what we did wrong to deserve the trouble or do we accept the trial(s) as being for our spiritual growth and maturity? Do we primarily pray when in need and to control our circumstances or to enjoy fellowship with God? Are we doing more and enjoying less when it comes to church because we feel the need to perform for God and/or for others whom we feel are judging our level of spirituality?  Do we read and study the Scriptures to know and worship God or to know about and work for God? Are we confident that God loves us and delights in us apart from our spiritual achievements? When we sin do we feel we have lost God’s love and acceptance? And finally, do we find ourselves working harder to impress God or be impressed by God?

If we are honest, we will all find ourselves in constant and consistent need of Gospel revival because we are all more religion-centered than we realize. That is why we need to be preaching the Gospel to ourselves daily—the good news that Christ Jesus has fulfilled all of God’s righteous requirements and demands on our behalf as our substitute so that we can be, now and forever, as perfectly acceptable in God’s sight as Jesus Himself is. We need to constantly remind ourselves that in Christ we are as pleasing, as acceptable, as delightful, as righteous, as loved, and as secure before God the Father as God the Son is. We must be impressed with the Gospel so as to not live our lives to impress God but to be impressed by God.

Knowing, understanding, embracing, believing, and enjoying the Gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding, our identity, and our view of the world. It is what saves us and what sanctifies us. It is what brings revival to believers and their churches who have gotten off track and find themselves pursuing religion rather than Christ. Gospel-centeredness also helps churches who are on track stay on track.