Do you long for PERSONAL revival and Awakening?

I think these keys I have learned can help today in our desperate cry for Personal Revival.

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you”. – Psalm 85:6 What does it mean to be revived?

Revival Definition - New Life, to Live again. True revival happens with a renewed surrender to God and a fresh commitment to obedience!

Revival refers to a spiritual reawakening from a state of dormancy or stagnation in the life of a believer. 2. Revival is an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results." 3. It is a true time of refreshingfrom the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3:19)

The better we understand how desperately we need to be revived and hunger for that encounter, the more grace we will receive to seek him. Revival begins with hunger (intense desire for him); the Holy Spirit always comes to the hungry.

We must recognize our deep need for the Grace of God to awaken us.

He must DRAW us! “

He must Quicken us! “

We know that spiritual hunger is key to more. We must always understand that we will never have corporate revival unless we learn to STAY on FIRE.  

It has most often been the case in history that a person with a spiritual desperation has sparked the great revivals of history. Someone, in the quiet place of his own personal despair and dissatisfaction, began a search for God.

Let me share just some of my own thoughts and processes on personal awakening after 23 years of Revival and outpouring ministry in 73 nations.

1. Just Jesus!

Revival is not personality or speaker driven, it is God-focused. We must build around the presence and not gifts. Deep worship is key to the center focus being on Jesus. There must be community, fellowship and real relationships to bring revival.

2. Be FILLED: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” – EPH 5 v. 18

Am I daily, hourly, consciously controlled by the Spirit?
Am I filled with Him, surrendered? Am I doing things that grieve and or quench the Spirit’s activity in and through my life?

Am I instantly willing to follow the promptings, nudges of His Spirit and the illumination of the revealed Word?

3. A constant flow of personal commitment to seek him daily, meditate daily in the word with all manner of prayer. My personal times of prayer are filled with stillness, soaking, waiting and responding to the Lord. We must live in the Secret place of personal time alone in his Presence.

We must all take note of the Bible as it begins to go to the next level the next chapter 6 and the harvesters intensify the disciples stressed that they must give themselves continuing to the word of God and prayer (Act 6:4).

Real revival is always sustained by spiritual hunger and burden. Revival produces a new focus on prayer, first love and sustained worship, sometimes lasting hours.

4.  Cleansed by Fire!

Everyday as I seek the Lord deeper and in those Holy moments, glimpses of his Glory, encounters in prayer I am forever welcoming the cleansing fire of God

(Psalms 139:23-24)  “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”

This is a sincere honest, raw  and open prayer by David. All of us are in the process of denying ourselves and allowing his grace to empower us for victory. God is still wanting to work out things in all our lives that should not be dominating us. The goal of Revival is transformation. True personal revival happens when there is a renewed surrender to God and a fresh commitment to obedience.

5. Seeking God!

We must learn to search for him to find him. Our hearts must want his Person more than his blessings. We want to know him, his nature and manifest Glory like Moses. “ If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here… (Exodus 33:15) Your job is to position yourself before Him, or be intentional in your heart posture, so that He can do His reviving work in and through you as you draw close to him for fellowship and companionship.

Let us pursue him for a personal awakening and pray for a fresh Anointing! This is my prayer and it’s a great picture of what a fresh touch of God will look like!

(Ps 92:12-15 ) “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, "The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

We must respond to his reviving work. Let me leave you with another favorite quote: “We have been focusing too much on feeling the power. God is waiting for us to act.” - Smith Wigglesworth

Spiritual hunger will lead to a new encounter with him. Remember that true revival is an overflow at times of your personal reviving. God will always put the fire on the altar and we are to keep it burning. Here is an excerpt from when the first great awakening impacted America:

" The power of God seemed to shake the whole assembly. Towards the close of the sermon, the cries of the distressed arose almost as loud as his voice. After the congregation was dismissed the solemnity increased, till the greater part of the multitude seemed engaged in the most solemn manner. No person seemed to wish to go home—hunger and sleep seemed to affect nobody—eternal things were the vast concern. Here awakening and converting work was to be found in every part of the multitude; and even some things strangely and wonderfully new to me."

"More often than not, revival is not deterred by rejection, but rather hesitation." - George Otis Jr.

Let us see in these times of uncertainty and shaking a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit and declare:

" Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." (Hab 3:2)

Todd Bentley

 

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