One year ago I was invited by my brother Don to come to his church in West Virginny and be the preacher for “Revival Week”. I never preached at a revival before, especially at an old Baptist church that was nestled on the brown river banks of Little Fudge Creek. I was a city slicker, so in fear and trepidation, I did my best to study up on a culture I really knew nothing about. I had nightmares for weeks about handling snakes!

So to get ready I researched every topic I could find on “How to have Revival.” Revival by definition means to be restored to full strength, to be awakened and brought back to life. In church lingo, revival can mean many different things to many different denominations and traditions:

* Pentecostal Churches see revival as a unique miraculous outpouring work of the Holy Spirit. Tongues, healings and new prophetic messages are signs of great works of God happening in the midst of the congregation. So enthusiasm, emotion and “Holy Rolling” are sought after and hunted for. And if you can get gold specks to fall from the sky, revival has arrived!

* Evangelical Churches see revival as the supernatural spread of the gospel to the lost. An evangelist, like Billy Graham or Luis Palau, comes to town and declares the gospel seeking for new converts to Christ. Revival is when large numbers of the lost are persuaded to come into the fold of God. Revival work is both a work of God and the orchestrated and advertised work of man.

* Holiness and more contemplative churches see revival as the deepening of inner spirituality, where prayer and mystical union with Christ takes a more prominent role in the life of a Christian. Ecstatic experiences, visions, complete denial of the flesh are sought after, “New Light” shines upon the soul of a believer, and the beauty of God fills the heart and mind. Revival happens when people think about nothing else but God. It is a very individualistic experience. This type of revival was prominent in the early history of American Christianity. After preachers, like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards would speak, people would swoon and be caught up in heavenly trances for days, weeks and sometimes months. This kind of personal mystical union was a normal way of seeing a revived faith. Here is how Jonathan Edwards describes his wife, “She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure. . . . She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.” Sadly, New England territories who were the first to swoon after these experiences where also the first leave Christianity altogether.

* Market-Driven, Mega-Church, Prosperity Christianity sees revival as having “Your Best Life Now”, as Joel Osteen would say. If you can “Name It and Claim It” and then have it come true for you, revival has occurred. Want a new house, a new car, a new job, a new spouse? Walk forward in confident faith believing and you will receive, and then be excited to rejoice in God’s material blessing being showered upon you. Now that is my kind of revival! Too bad I live in Kent City, must mean I don’t have enough faith?

So, after studying and thinking and praying on all these possibilities, I still was a little fuzzy about what revival actually was. I value authenticity and not contrived religion (That is why Joel Osteen and his plastic smile often find the bottom of my circular file in my office). I hate it when people try to conjure, like a magician, an experience just to feel something that is nothing more than shifting shadows and tingling skin. I have seen too many actors in my day who cry at church and then swear at home. Or fraternity brothers who took communion during mass on Sunday and got drunk and partied Monday through Saturday. What would real revival look like for them?

What does the Bible say about it?

Well, there is no direct mention of a large church revival or a list of definite pieces of evidence we must check for in the life of a community to definitely say “God is at work!” The truth is, God works in a myriad of ways. Psalm 85:6 uses the word “revive” to describe a new condition of the soul, but it has more to do with God no longer being angry than it does the person experiencing some fresh exciting outworking of God’s miraculous power.

But there is something I found in my study of 1 Peter that may offer one more insight on those who are seeking answers on how God revives a soul. I am not sure you will like it, in fact, I find that very that few ever talk about. Listen to 1 Peter 4:12-13:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

Did you listen closely to that language? You can receive God’s blessing, where his glory comes to rest upon you and will be revealed in you! Now that sounds like revival to me. But what needs to happen for that to occur? Herein lies the problem, you won’t like it:

– fiery trial
– sharing in Christ’s sufferings
– being insulted for Christ’s name

I hate that list! You mean if I am going to be blessed I need to suffer? Wait, hold on, stop the religious presses…this will not sell. No one will sign up for this. Fiery trial? You have got to be kidding me?

No, I don’t think God is.

I was talking with a friend that will remain nameless, and he put it like this “Why are some people so on fire in their walk with Jesus? Because they have walked through the fire and found Jesus walking with them.” If you look at all the other lists trying to describe what a revival is, much of it is based on contrived emotional experiences. And we all know how long emotions last? As long as the sun is shining – – but once the cloud comes – -the smile turns to a frown and we believe God has somehow left us.

But Peter says it is precisely in the cloud where we meet God.

When I look back on my life I have found over and over again it was suffering that revealed that which was genuine. Murry Potes, an elder at our church, died last year as he battled some of the worst cancer I ever saw a person battle. He said in the middle of his struggle, “I have never loved Jesus so much.” My dad really came to Christ when he lost his job for acting Christian. The strongest married couples in our church are often the couples who almost got divorced and asked God to save them.

When I turned 40 I bought a journal to track my relationship with God. Hey, I figured that when a person turns 40 it means life is now heading downhill so I better figure this thing called life out. So in my quest for God, I wrote this in the first few pages of my journal, “I want to know what it really, really means to have a relationship with you. It is a very nice thing to talk about, but to experience – – that is what I want.” In other words, I wanted revival.

Two pages later I have this written, “My dearest Father died.”

A year later on my 41st birthday, my entry reads, “You have carried me through the tough obstacles, the impossible obstacles – – and God, you have made me better for it. I know I am a desperately needy man. I know I don’t pray like I should, nor do I serve others the way I should. My bible time is lacking. I watch far too much television, my joy isn’t reflexively turned toward you. And yet, there you are!”

What is revival? I am not sure I want to tell you. You won’t like me for it. So have a good day.