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REVIVAL - WHAT is IT??
by Leonard Ravenhill
Revival......another definition would be to recover, repair or restore.
Hosea 10:12 says: "Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap in
mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord
till He come and reign righteousness upon you." What is fallow
ground? Fallow ground is ground that has been fruitful, and then
it has been plowed over, and no seed has been sown in it, and
therefore it has become unproductive.
Notice, there is a human emphasis here -- it says that we are to
break up -- you break up your fallow ground.
Now take another aspect of it here in Psalm 85:6 "Would Thou
not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee." So,
there is an absence of joy, of vitality -- there is an absence of
ecstasy. The very word "revive" presupposes life. You can only
revive what has already had vitality -- life that has become sick,
weak, or apathetic.
I think the nearest analogy I can give you is a recent case of a
man who apparently drowned. He had been under the water for
an incredible amount of time. Then somebody pulled him out and
worked and worked on him, and eventually life came again. This
is actually what it means to revive,
It means to revitalize.
It means to restore lost power.
It means to recover lost energy.
In the Acts of the Apostles 3:19 we read, "Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
Whatever else we say about revival we have to recognize this,
that revival is an act of mercy in the sovereignty of God.
It may cost millions of dollars, as it often does, to have one of our
huge, modern, so called revivals. You have to pay vast sums of
money for time on TV, for example -- perhaps a million dollars a
night. That's incredible, that's unthinkable to me in the context of
Biblical revival, or even historical revival.
Why doesn't revival need to be advertised? For the simple reason,
that fire is the most self advertising thing that there is, whether it
is a physical fire or a revival fire. It draws people like a magnet.
.
Sometimes revival is totally taken over by sorrow.
Sometimes revival is totally taken over by joy, ecstasy 'till you
don't know whether you are in the flesh or whether you've gone out of
the earth. Sometimes revival is taken over by stillness.
There are times when you go to a prayer meeting and the power
of God is there. There is stillness and you feel it is creative. You
feel, "Now something is building up around here, somebody is
going to come out shortly with a heart bursting... with some
agonizing prayer..." Revival cannot be rationalized. Again, one of
the offensive things about revival is you can't put your finger on the
spot, usually, as to how or why or where it began. It is supremely
an act of God.
by Leonard Ravenhill
Revival......another definition would be to recover, repair or restore.
Hosea 10:12 says: "Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap in
mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord
till He come and reign righteousness upon you." What is fallow
ground? Fallow ground is ground that has been fruitful, and then
it has been plowed over, and no seed has been sown in it, and
therefore it has become unproductive.
Notice, there is a human emphasis here -- it says that we are to
break up -- you break up your fallow ground.
Now take another aspect of it here in Psalm 85:6 "Would Thou
not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee." So,
there is an absence of joy, of vitality -- there is an absence of
ecstasy. The very word "revive" presupposes life. You can only
revive what has already had vitality -- life that has become sick,
weak, or apathetic.
I think the nearest analogy I can give you is a recent case of a
man who apparently drowned. He had been under the water for
an incredible amount of time. Then somebody pulled him out and
worked and worked on him, and eventually life came again. This
is actually what it means to revive,
It means to revitalize.
It means to restore lost power.
It means to recover lost energy.
In the Acts of the Apostles 3:19 we read, "Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
Whatever else we say about revival we have to recognize this,
that revival is an act of mercy in the sovereignty of God.
It may cost millions of dollars, as it often does, to have one of our
huge, modern, so called revivals. You have to pay vast sums of
money for time on TV, for example -- perhaps a million dollars a
night. That's incredible, that's unthinkable to me in the context of
Biblical revival, or even historical revival.
Why doesn't revival need to be advertised? For the simple reason,
that fire is the most self advertising thing that there is, whether it
is a physical fire or a revival fire. It draws people like a magnet.
.
Sometimes revival is totally taken over by sorrow.
Sometimes revival is totally taken over by joy, ecstasy 'till you
don't know whether you are in the flesh or whether you've gone out of
the earth. Sometimes revival is taken over by stillness.
There are times when you go to a prayer meeting and the power
of God is there. There is stillness and you feel it is creative. You
feel, "Now something is building up around here, somebody is
going to come out shortly with a heart bursting... with some
agonizing prayer..." Revival cannot be rationalized. Again, one of
the offensive things about revival is you can't put your finger on the
spot, usually, as to how or why or where it began. It is supremely
an act of God.