Revival

These thoughts are just things that have been on my heart and I thought maybe I'm not the only one who's dealt with or dealing with this. 
I keep reading about everyone talking about "revival revival is coming revival is coming, Lord bring revival". To be quite honest I was irritated. You have to understand, I've been hearing about revival since I was a little girl. It was in worship songs, sermons, prayer meetings...everything.

This morning, all I could think about was revival. What does it really mean? And in all of the "famous" revivals what were the common factors? The first one I thought of was the Azusa Street Revival. I had read about the miracles and how different denominations had branched from there but never knew exactly how it started. It turns out, it was started by a black preacher named J. Seymour and started just meeting in homes. When they had gotten too full, they were able to move to 312 Azusa St. All nationalities were coming, whites, hispanics, asians...and all different religious backgrounds could be found in the congregation because of the what the Holy Spirit was doing.

This was NEW NEWS to me! Funny how when we only believe what people want to tell us how much gets left out. I was so excited. There was so much Holy Spirit moving that local journalists would attend the meetings/services and write articles about what was going on. One observer said, "No instruments of music are used. None are needed. No choir- the angels have been heard by some in the spirit. No collections are taken. No bills have been posted to advertise the meetings. No church organization is back of it. All who are in touch with God realize as soon as they enter the meetings that the Holy Ghost is the leader."

Now I understand that at this point people will be saying, "God is a God of order....etc." And I COMPLETELY AGREE with you. What I find fascinating is that the preacher (at least from the different sources I've read), didn't have any agenda other than to bring the power of the Holy Spirit and lead people to the love of Jesus. Seymour even told his congregation, "Do not talk about the gift the tongues but talk about Jesus." That's it.

Now I know there are always things that are hidden and whatnot but I'm looking at this purely through the fruit it produced.

I could talk about this much longer but I'll save you my rant. (Ok maybe just a little more) I truly believe we need to BE REVIVAL and stop waiting for some sort of lighting from Heaven. God uses the hands and feet of His people to get things done. If we keep asking for revival when we are at church but are living our daily lives contrary to that asking then what good are we really? The whole purpose of revival is to renew, refresh, to bring life. If we are expecting the miraculous power of God to move shouldn't it start with our daily lives? Shouldn't we be looking in the mirror and asking God to revive US? Because let me tell you something, when YOU are revived and on fire for God, you can't help but glow to those outside. They don't know what it is that's different about you but YOU do. I truly believe that when we as believers decide to make a radical change in OUR own lives, the overflow with leak from us to the people we come into contact with and THAT is when revival will happen. That is when God will say, "Ok, let's do this". We aren't waiting on God, He is waiting on us. Christians who have been christians for years but have lost the flame will again find their First Love. The churches will be filled with Spirit-filled people of God who don't want to change the world because they are "supposed to" but because the love of God and His spirit are so beautiful and amazing that they can't help but want to BE the good news. We need to stop expecting God to do everything for us and take our authority in Christ seriously and realize our identity in Him. God is about taking us from the scum of the earth, loving us unconditionally sooooo much that we can't help but love Him and obey in return, us be filled with sooooo much genuine love that it pours out on others and so the cycle continues.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Jesus really made it simple, people. We are the ones who make it complicated.