They came, usually, in the fall and spring. Often, they were a week-long event with services of around two hours in length each night. The phenomenon was revival. The purpose of revival meetings was to rekindle a passionate love for Jesus Christ and bring people to either rededicate their lives to Christ or to receive forgiveness of sins and salvation through spiritual rebirth. As a child and the son of a pastor, I attended a lot of revival meetings. I always remember my heart being stirred with a desire to get closer to God. Sometimes revival meetings were held in great big tents, and other times in churches, but if revival was real, no structure could contain it. And that’s as it should be.
As I write this, a revival has been going on for over a week on a college campus in Wilmore, Kentucky. It began after one of the regularly scheduled chapel services that are common to Christian colleges. Some students went forward to the altar and began praying, repenting, and sharing. Since that moment, a continuous service of prayer, repentance, and worship has been ongoing around the clock. Classes have been dismissed. Students at other colleges have been busing in to experience the revival. Who knows what wondrous things God’s Holy Spirit will birth because of this incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
What I do know is that I want revival to come to our nation, our state, and especially our local churches. I want to see people encounter the holy power of God and be changed dramatically and beneficially. So, let me ask you, how is your spiritual life? Do you feel weary, weak and worried? Would you like to experience God’s power, grace and love in reviving and life-giving ways?
I hope your answer is yes. If so, here is what you can do. Start praying and inviting God to move in our community. Don’t just show up at church, prepare before you go. Confess your sins and seek God’s power to live a life based on righteousness instead of selfishness. Read Scripture and have a prayerful dialogue with God about what you read. Sing songs of worship and praise heartily, thoughtfully and intentionally. Shut out as many distractions as you can. The thing to remember is this, God wants to give us incredibly powerful spiritual lives. We have but to ask, seek and knock. We must prevail until the power falls from heaven’s throne. But if revival can happen in a little college town in Kentucky, it can happen here; it can happen for you!
Contact Pastor Lamb at icumc@yahoo.com.
