New Life

The term revival has often generated a strange reaction from me. Initially, I did not
understand why that was. You see, whenever it was mentioned in a gathering of believers,
it would be met with this intense excitement that I just did not share. I would ask God-“am
I missing something?’ You see, whenever I’m not moved in a certain way when the Word
goes forth I always assess self-I’m a self-assessor. But, this is my stance on much of my
interactions because I always want to make sure my heart, my motives are in the clear, and
if they aren’t, then that’s an area that needs work. You see, the issue is never if God’s Word
is true, but in some cases a person may, at the point the Word goes forth, lack a level of
understanding, in some cases they may already get it-it may not be for them in that moment,
or, there may be more layers to uncover.

And this is where I found myself with the notion of revival, more layers to uncover. Revival
is typically preached in a fashion that God would pour out His Spirit so that all, especially
unbelievers, would learn of redemption and be saved-that they would be revived spiritually,
because that is what we’re talking about when we say revival. That dead men and women
would be brought back to life. That is what revival is-it is bringing back life to something
that has died. But, the thing is, unbelievers have never been alive to the things of God.
When you revive something, you are bringing it back to its original state. Why would
anyone want to revive a spiritually dead person to death again? This is why in the natural,
many people have a do not resuscitate order. If they have to come back to the same condition
they were in prior to death, they would just rather die!

Paul says in Ephesians 2:1 that prior to Christ all were dead in their trespasses and sins-verse
five goes on to say but even in this death Christ made us alive. I know you may be saying to
yourself; well, basically both revive and alive mean the same. Technical definition-alive
means living, not dead, whereas revive means restore to life-surely they both result in
something living, play on words, perhaps,but a distinction to be made nonetheless. Long
story short-you must first have been alive spiritually, to have experienced death with the
hopes of being revived. So then, who is revival really for? The answer, the church, and if
so-why are we dead?

“To the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Sardis write:

“These are the words of Him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: ‘I know
your deeds; you have a name (reputation) that you are alive, but [in reality] you are dead.
Wake up, and strengthen and reaffirm what remains [of your faithful commitment to Me],
which is about to die; for I have not found [any of] your deeds completed in the sight of My
God or meeting His requirements. So remember and take to heart the lessons you have
received and heard. Keep and obey them, and repent [change your sinful way of thinking,
and demonstrate your repentance with new behavior that proves a conscious decision to turn
away from sin]. So then, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not
know at what hour I will come to you." (Revelation 3:1-3)

The church of today can be likened to the parable of the ten virgins, five being described as
foolish and five as wise. We know that the five foolish virgins were not prepared as they did
not have enough oil, whereas the five wise had taken the necessary measures to meet the
bridegroom; however, in spite of the five wise virgins' adequate preparations “all” ten fell
asleep while awaiting the bridegroom. And this is where we can find the church-asleep.
(Matthew 25)

Yes, revival is needed, but it must first sweep through the body of Christ so that His full glory
may be on display.

“Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)