Yes you can be a Revivalist!

 

I used to hold to what I called my "purest definitions" on revival. I am fifty years old and have studied revival since I was fifteen years old. It has been a large part of my life, and identity. Over the years I developed my "purest definitions". I had experienced two powerful moves of God, the first through Rodney Howard Browne in 1994. God picked me up and shook me like never before. It took me a few days to recover from that encounter. The second was through the Florida Outpouring in 2008, where God used my friend Todd Bentley to impact the world. What's crazy is that both revivals started at the same church in Florida, and then impacted the world. But my encounter with Browne first happened in London 1994, and then the real shaking happened in Cardiff 1994. With Bentley, I attended the revival there in Lakeland in May 2008. I still process and live off of what God did in me during that visit to Florida. 

Fast forward a few years. I was confident in my definitions. They weren't just from hours of study over past moves of God, no, I had experienced the power of God in such a way that marked me, and I have never experienced the power of God like that since those two encounters, especially from when Browne laid hands on me. So, my definitions were both academic and empirical. However, I still had this huge hurdle, I fantasised too much about someday being a "revivalist". I longed to be one, I cried out to be one, to be another Evan Roberts, George Whitefield, or a Charles Finney, but this hurdle of never thinking I measured up, and in turn would be disqualified from such service to God left me in day-dream land. Until God used a man called Paul. 

Charles Finney in the woods

I had known Paul for a couple of years, but in 2015 he and his wife moved from the UK to Redding, California, to attend Bethel church's BSSM (Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry). At the school they call the students "Revivalists". I did not like that, and I would joke with Paul about this, because according to my "purest definitions" it was God who decided if you were a Revivalist, and HE validated that by using you like an Evan Roberts, Rodney Howard Browne etc. There had to be some striking evidence that meant you had earned such a sacred title. I was wrong!

In between Thanksgiving of 2015 and January 2016 I was bed-ridden due to a back issue. I spent a lot of time in bed, and with my thoughts. God began to work me over BIG time. He confronted my opinions and thoughts on several issues. In fact, becuase of those six weeks in bed, God led me to radically change the name and focus of the church I pastored. But there was one thing that I mused over until I simply changed my thinking about being a Revivalist. I said to myself,

"See, God, Paul's out there and they have demonstrations, and all I have are rigid definitions, I want demonstraions of Your Spirit in my life, not definitions. Stuff it! I'm a Revivalist. That's it, I am a Revivalist!"

I messaged Paul and he was very happy to hear what the Lord had done in changing the way I thought. His reply, still shakes me to this day, he wrote back,

"Joe, at the moment they have us declaring 'I am a revival!'"

I was just grasping my new title, and Paul's declaration took it up another level. Man, this was HUGE at the time for me. After sooooooooooo many years of spouting my definitions, I was now replacing them for demonstraions. Which, by the way, are much better than definitions. Also, I changed how I viewed the "size" of a revival. God could use me to bring revival to a church, or a community, without always thinking it had to be as impactful or as grand as the 1904 Welsh Revival, which nobody alive has ever seen, or been part of, yet!

The next big issue I had was that I was due to go on a mission to Kenya, but I couldn't walk. I asked several friends what to do, and they all suggested I wait, except for one lady, Pat, who messaged me,

"Joe, get over yourself and get on that plane to Kenya!"

She even suggested that if I had to do it in a wheelchair, that I should do it. Her faith ignitied my faith. I fell out of bed, tried to stand, declaring the promises of God, and within an hour of her email I was healed. Two weeks later I left for Kenya, AND revival broke out as a result of the miracle services we held in the market square. It lasted for eighteen months, and it changed the region. That was such a kiss from heaven. I often wonder whether that revival would've happened in Kenya if I hadn't had changed my declaration, or whether it would've happened anyway because of God's grace. I often lean to the former because by His grace He changed my thinking, but eitherway, the kiss for me was that now I had evidence to go with my newfound title, it wasn't just an empty phrase. I am a revivalist!

Revival begins

OK, I am no way saying that you have to go through all of those crazy things that happened to me to earn your wings. NOPE! My challenged to you is this,

Where in your life do you have more definitions than you do demonstrations?

That was the starting point for me. I looked at my years of Bible study and saw the lack of what Jesus did on a daily basis in my own life. I could teach and define everything Jesus did, but not do most of it! I repented and exchanged a mindset that was open more to demonstrations over defintions. Will you do the same?

To close, let me share this beautifully descriptive, and instructive verse about the life of Ezra. I try my best to follow his example in my life,

"For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel"
Ezra 7:10

STUDY - PRACTICE - TEACH

Ezra

Most Bible colleges focus on the STUDY and TEACH parts, but rarely emphasise the PRACTICE. There are Bible colleges in the world where you have to see someone raised from the dead before you can gradutate. Our mindsets need to change, and when they do we will move from definitions to demonstrations. This applies not just to preachers but to everyone, even though I am writing to encourage preachers to put into practice what we have studied BEFORE we teach people, to move from definitions to demonstrations in order that the world SEES Jesus. His own words are challenging enough, 

"Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father"
John 10:37

We only need to read the Gospels to SEE what those works were, and what we are expected to demonstrate today. So, yes, you can be a Revivalist, it's as easy (sometimes not that easy) as changing the way you think!

Mwy Arglwydd...