RE-VIVE-AL

Revival…

I know, I know – it’s something that I probably speak about way too often, and you’re probably tired of it. Forgive me. I desperately desire to see God’s manifestation upon His people, and I will do just about anything it takes to see that happen. I guess my personal, daily encounter with revival is what brings me to speak about it all the time. But it is because of that redundancy that I want to take another look at it. Do we really understand what it is?

I mean, after all, if someone talks and talks and talks about something over and over and over again and nothing ever comes of it, then I believe it may be time to ask the question “Why hasn’t anything happened yet?”

This is akin to the man who wanted to be able to play piano. While standing in his church fellowshipping with a few folks, Bob pointed to the church piano and said “I’d really love to be able to play that piano. I just wish I could sit down at it and make wonderful music.”

That doesn’t sound so bad……until he had said the same thing to the same people every single Sunday for an entire year. Once Bob’s friend had finally had his fill of listening to his empty wishes and hopes, he asked “Brother, if you want to play that piano so bad, why don’t you go take some lessons and actually learn how to play it rather than just wishing and hoping for it?”

The same thing happens when it comes to revival. Ask any good southern, Bible-believing Christian if they want to see revival and you’ll get a favorable response every time. Yet, we still don’t have it, so that would lead me to assume that we either really don’t want it or we don’t understand the nature and definition of what revival really is. I believe it is the former. We love to talk about it, sing about it, and wish for it……much like Bob talked, crowed, and wished to be able to play the piano. But Bob was unwilling to personally get involved enough to know how to play the piano. So also are many who beat their jaws about revival.

So I decided to take another look at revival to see if I had missed something. The word “revival” has three separate parts to it that need to be separated in order to fully understand the word.

#1: “Vive” is the root of the word and needs to be addressed first. “Vive” (pronounced ‘veev’) defined means “long live”, or “to give life to”. In other words, it means that there is some life present. “Vive” is the root of several words, such as “Vivacious”, and “Vivid” – all of which have to do with the living. If you will recall, some years ago Taco Bell had a very successful advertisement campaign that centered on a little talking Chihuahua enjoying an entrée called a ‘Gordita’. The dog would stand before a large crowd that would hush when he stepped to the podium, as he shouted “Viva Gorditas!” In English, that simply means “Long live Gorditas!” It was cheesy (no pun intended), but the point is that from English to Spanish the word does not change. Whether “Vive” or “Viva”, the word means that there is life present.

A church is generally assumed to be full of people who are dead to sin and have been made alive unto Christ. We’ve been born again, and we are as alive as we can be. The new walk with Christ has given us life in abundance, and His death at Calvary paved the way for us to experience life to the fullest – to the extent that we are eternally secure in the Father’s hand.

It was the famous 19^th century evangelist D.L. Moody that once stated: “One day they will come to you and tell you that ‘D.L. Moody is dead.’ Don’t believe it for even a second! I will, at that point, be more alive than I have ever been in my life here on this earth!”

#2: “-al”: The suffix “-al” simply means “pertaining to”, or “of”. Generally, any word that ends in “-al” has this meaning. “Supplemental” simply means “of, or pertaining to supplements”. “Rental” means “of, or pertaining to rent”. “Survival” means “of, or pertaining to surviving”.

So when you put just these two words together, “vive” and “-al”, it simply means “of or pertaining to life”, or “of or pertaining to the giving of long life”. We go to church to learn more about the spirit life and the ways of God from the Word of God. These are things that pertain to being alive in the Spirit and being sensitive to the leading and guidance of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church continues to march on as a life giving institute purchased by the Lord’s own sacrifice at Calvary.

But from time to time life drifts into stagnation. The same ways of obedience become ho-hum, and the spirit life that once shone so vibrantly in your life begins to fade and become dimly lit. We begin to go through the motions of religion rather than functioning in a vibrant relationship with Christ. Does that mean that you’ve lost your salvation? If you’ve truly been born again of the Spirit, there’s no way you can lose your salvation. However, you can lose your way from time to time. And that goes for the leadership as well as the layman. This leads to the last point part of the word, which is actually the first part of the word……

#3: “Re-”: This one is simple. It means “again”, or “once more”. Put these word fragments together and you have “Re-vive-al”, or “Revival”. It does not mean that you are dead spiritually, but that you have to be renewed and refreshed in your spirit walk with Christ.

But here is where the problem exists.

The reason why we don’t see any significant movement of God’s Spirit on a body of people today boils down to a simple truth. If we don’t experience revival, this can only mean that we are content with where we are in our Spirit walk with Christ. Complacency is prohibiting God’s anointing and His Power from manifesting itself in real, Holy Ghost revival.

The only way for real, lasting revival to take place is for us to get uncomfortable in our complacency. Many are uncomfortable now, but are content to remain complacent because of the inconvenience that revival would cause. Simply put, revival would disrupt our lives, and we don’t want that. There is nothing ‘convenient’ about taking time out of your day to pray, to read the Bible, to seek God’s face, or to help out a neighbor. However, we find it convenient to be caught up in the trappings of the world. We do our jobs and come home to shut the door and not let anything interrupt our schedule of American Idol and Jeopardy.

Yet, we still call ourselves followers of Christ. Is this acceptable?

Our communities will not see revival until people begin to be hungry enough to start allowing some inconvenience. Our lives will not be changed until we are desperate enough to not be content with second best. If you are a follower of Christ who is nominal in your walk with the Lord, I challenge you to begin to look at the big picture of your life and ask what could be cut out to give some time for the Lord. The laundry can wait to be folded; no one is going to die if you turn the television off for an hour; the world will not stop turning if you are late for your Zumba workout; you don’t have to go shopping on your lunch hour.

Meet with God. Seek His heart. Listen for His Voice.

And when you get stale and stagnant in your faith walk with the Lord, rinse and repeat. Start over again. Go to a quiet place. Meditate on His Word. Do something that you’ve never done before – cut the cell phone off! Give the Lord a sacrifice of your time in order that you may draw ever closer to Him……and experience His life in the Spirit again and again.

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. ~Psalm 70:4~