Word and Fire Ministries

Here in Victoria we have just had the massive Awakening Australia rallies. It is exciting for Christians to gather with thousands of others of like mind to worship Jesus, and it is wonderful that many of those who attended the rallies went out into the streets to share the Gospel. Yet I find myself wondering, is this what revival is about? What would a true revival look like?

I believe the first manifestation of a true revival is a renewed awareness of the holiness of God. Yes, He is our loving Daddy, and calls us into an intimate relationship with Himself; but He is also the mighty King and Ruler of the universe who is perfect in every aspect. Not only is He holy, but He calls us to be holy. True revival brings a revelation of His holiness, and with it a desperate hunger for His holiness to be manifested through our own lives.

That revelation of holiness stirs profound and sincere repentance. Repentance for our personal sin; repentance for the sin of the Church, of which we are a part; repentance for the sin of our nation, which we represent. Repentance that is not only an expression of sorrow, but a longing and a willingness for transformation.

Revival brings a renewed alignment with and passion for the Word of God. The standards of God’s Word can no longer be dismissed as irrelevant, or subjected to our own opinions of right and wrong. There is a divine turn about in our thinking as that which was upside down and inside out is turned right way. The Bible is no longer left on the shelf, or read only as a duty to be performed as quickly as possible. Rather it is devoured by hearts hungry to squeeze out every last drop, to find every hidden nugget of truth, and to apply it to our lives.

With revival comes a hunger for the presence of God. Prayer meetings overflow. Worship bursts out of the time limits normally imposed upon it. Other activities become irrelevant as God’s people just want to be in His presence.

Then something else begins to happen. As God’s people allow Him to draw them more and more to Himself, and transform them more and more into His likeness, they find that they are also sharing His heart for the world. We begin to be filled with His compassion. Christianity is no longer about having our own needs met. Rather it is about laying down our lives so that we might take the love of God to a dying world. Intercession becomes intense as we take hold of the power of God in one hand and the need of mankind in the other, and bring them together. Then our prayers grow legs and carry us out to meet that need.

That’s the kind of revival I am praying for in this nation of Australia.

Then, by the power of the Spirit of the living God, we will turn the world upside down – or, rather, right way up.