The Lord is more concerned about our being revived than we are. This scripture is what revival is all about. It’s an injunction from the Master. It’s his view of revival. The Lord will be ready.
Ephesians 5: 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
God’s view of revival is more than the scheduling of services or a momentary piousness on our part. It’s more than coming and sitting in church a few nights. True revival is a movement from heaven in response to a movement from us. It changes lives. If you’ve never accepted Christ as your Savior, you need to be born again. You are dead in trespasses and sins. You know that deep down. Admit it to yourself and tell God you need help—help that no one else can give you.
Revival is for Christians, those who have been saved and brought to life in the Lord. Because of sin and laxity in areas of our lives, we are in danger. Many of us allow things to creep in that shouldn’t be there. None of us is out of danger of dying physically. Not a one of us can say we’ll be alive in an hour; we don’t know. The sad thing is we die spiritually and think we’re still alive. We let sin in, a little here, a little there. Sin is being re-defined, but what God has deemed sinful since the fall of Adam is still sinful. Many Christians tolerate things they should not. Sin separates us from God and kills our spiritual life. Because of sin, we can find ourselves in a deadened spiritual condition.
Take your spiritual pulse. Is there still “Jesus activity” going on? You can go through the form and motions and still be dead. The news is that you cannot revive yourself. The preacher can’t do it. Only Jesus can. That’s why he says awake, arise! You are being moved upon from heaven. He is coming to you with all it takes to be revived spiritually. This is the time to check your spiritual vital signs. God gives us insight into this. Do an inventory of your spiritual life. Where do you stand with God? Don’t assume anything. Just because you come to church and read your Bible doesn’t mean you’re alive. Make sure you are!
There is a revival in progress and sad to say it’s a revival of sin. Our old sinful nature fights for life through our words, our character, our morals, and our deeds. If you are not living obediently to the Lord, if you’re going your own way, you are in trouble. Dead people don’t realize they are dead. That’s why spiritually speaking we must be sure that things are all right with our soul. When we actively sin and don’t repent, it kills us spiritually. Do you feel differently than you used to? Are you not in the place that you used to be spiritually? Is there a barrier between you and God? If the answer to any of these is yes, you need to be brought back. That’s why we need Jesus. We can’t do it on our own.
We need a wake-up call and heavenly CPR. Sin will reign or Jesus will. To be revived means to be re-awakened. Are you asleep? Yield yourself back to the Lord, the one who can awaken you. The same Jesus who rose from the dead that first Easter morning is the one who revives us when we fall asleep and grow cold spiritually. All we have to do is repent and turn from sin. Put faith in Jesus. He is knocking. If you open the door of your heart, he will come in. You have the strength to do that.
Revival is about hearing the call of the Master. Awake! Arise! Let him bring you back to where you need to be.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 