Awakening & Revival

There are two words that should reverberate through the life of any believer that desires to see the glory of God cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. 

AWAKENING & REVIVAL 

Although these two words are prevalent in the church conversation, we rarely understand what we are declaring in these two.  Here is a little context that will help us understand what we are asking for. 

The book of Isaiah, among other significant truths, is a text that gives us a prophetic picture of the person of JESUS. 

Isaiah 58:12 states, "Those from among you shall build the old waste places, You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell in" 

As followers of Jesus Christ, our identity has to be firmly set IN HIM. Outside of His heart we are empty clouds that hold no rain.  We miss the mark of who we were made to be. Isaiah gives us a picture of Jesus and in the person of Jesus we find who we were made to be. 

Matthew 4: and 5 illustrates this perfectly.  

In Matthew 4: Jesus is entering His earthly ministry by the way of the wilderness, led by The Holy Spirit. There not only does He encounter the temptation of Satan, but defeats Him there!  Coming out of wilderness Jesus is clothed in authority and reveals Himself in a powerful deliverance ministry. As He reveals Himself to the hurt, broken, oppressed and diseased, He restores them to a life that without the curse that bound them. 

In Matthew 5 something equally powerful occurs.  He begins to release the message of the Beatitudes that every young person raised in church has learned.  I call it the "BLESSED ARE" message of Jesus.  The reason being, that Jesus addresses the condition of the heart that can be used and then declares IT BLESSED.  More than just a feeling, BLESSED is a power word in scripture.  After declaring blessing upon the condition and position of the heart He says in verse 14, "You are the light of the world, a city on a hill that can not be hidden". 

This is profound and powerful to the identity of the believer because HE endures the wilderness and comes out setting people free and giving identity to ALL who would position their heart before Him. His promise was that if people would get "positional" with their heart, then He would give identity and "direction" to their lives. 

What is illustrated through Jesus in Matthew 4 and 5 is declared in Isaiah 58:12.  It states that when Jesus comes, He will RESTORE to the believer a new life that is not only significant to themselves, but to all who will take notice.  In many ways, the church has walked away from their mandate to be a "city on a hill that can not be hidden". 

Jesus didn't give identity to the believer to be lost or to be lived out in silence.  He restored identity to the follower so we would be a beacon of hope, power and healing to all who have been diseased by the curse of this world.  The church is meant for more than hiding in a building, but a shining lamp in the darkness of a broken world. When Jesus said, "these things I do, you shall do and greater works than these will you do" (John 14:12), He was empowering us to breakthrough the darkness with the light of the gospel.  

Awakening & Revival is necessary today more than ever because each one of these words speaks to different roles within the church today. 

#1. Awakening is a word associated as the contrast to slumber, complacency or apathy that hides itself behind the mask of religion.  Many times we become so comfortable in our religious routine that over time, we actually begin to lull ourselves to a spiritual haze.  We contend that we love Jesus, yet our identity doesn't match the one He declared in Matthew 5. Awakening, is removing any form of religious pattern that keeps the demonstration of the power of The Holy Spirit at a distance. Awakening is when you as a believer choose to position your heart before The Father in constant relationship with The Holy Spirit.  Awakening isn't hype, it's constant relationship that creates demonstration power!  We need AWAKENING. 

#2. Revival is the resurrection power causing what has no life, to regain life. Ezekiel was given the mandate of revival.  In Ezekiel 37: the valley of dry bones, stood with breath and new life as an army. Revival isn't a set of services or a season in the church. Revival is the prophetic declaration of the surrendered believer. Ezekiel was asked, "Can these dry bones live?". Then with the proper response, Ezekiel says, "Only You know".  Finally God says, "Prophesy". As Ezekiel begins to release what was in the heart of God, LIFE BEGAN to be restored to the army that has lost all significance. From the Upper Room you see revival being released in every encounter.  Anytime the possibilities of heaven touch earth, REVIVAL has begun.  

The conclusion we should have is this...

The church needs to AWAKEN to righteousness by humbly positioning our heart in full consecration to the life of Jesus.  When the church has an AWAKENING, the world will see REVIVAL, because those who see Jesus, will declare Jesus to that which has lost hope.  Just because the world appears to be in darkness, doesn't give the church the right to fall asleep in sorrow.  It's the alarm to the believing church to arise and declare LIFE!