In recent years, we have been privileged to witness God at work, especially among various Christian colleges and universities. At a chapel service in February of 2023, the students at Asbury University in Kentucky felt a move of God, and lingered long enough to experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that lasted for over two weeks, and was felt around the world. Many of those students were transformed in ways they still talk about well over a year later. They speak of a Light that turned on for them, a new vision of who God is and what He is doing in the world, and above all, that God is accessible and real to them as never before.
This was not the first time God showed up in all His glory, and it will not be the last. But what are we to make of this? What can we count on for renewing the Western Church? Is this how God plans to regenerate His people? If so, why are these interventions not more common? What is going on?
First, I want to affirm that what happened at Asbury (and has happened in other places and times) was truly an authentic outpouring of the Spirit of God! And second, that these experiences often impact people for a lifetime. I know there are those who wonder about the lasting effect of revivals, and some even reject that they are of God. I’ve expressed some reservations about “revivalism” myself. But I also know from personal experience that God can and does pour out His Spirit at times and in places, because He can and because He loves to call His people into a deeper life with Himself.
But we must also acknowledge that at these kinds of interventions by God are relatively infrequent. And as much as people pray for revival, one must ask whether or not this will be God’s primary means for renewing His Church. Here are my thoughts on this issue, for what it’s worth.
What God wants more than anything is a large family of children who love Him dearly and are as devoted to Him as He is to them. This is not just an interesting perspective; it is the heart and soul of the gospel that was preached by the early apostles. Even more, from the time of Jesus, God has been active on this earth as never before, with the intention of restoring creation to its original purpose (Eph.1).
This is the only context within which we an have any hope of discerning either Scripture or world events.
We also see from Ephesians and elsewhere that God’s mission to restore creation is multi-faced, and involves many different ways of drawing people back to Himself. What that tells us then, is that an outpouring of the Spirit in revival is just one of God’s ways of moving toward His ends. God is also using many ministries today to foster spiritual formation and inner healing, and to help people move away from religion and into relationship with Him.
The beauty of a revival is at least two-fold. First, individual lives are transformed, often in ways that last forever. But secondly, and just as important, God is broadcasting in the most vocal manner possible that the kind of relationship He wants with His people is experiential, not merely formal or cerebral.
We were never meant to live inside a religion of Christianity. We have been called to “abide in Christ” and to allow Christ to abide in us. God wants to have an interactive relationship with each one of His children. And He will use any means available to bring us into that kind of relationship: revivals, spiritual practices, healing of old wounds, revelations of a Kingdom worldview, and so on.
So there’s nothing wrong with praying for revival. But here’s the thing: We are NOT on hold until the Spirit of God falls on us in some miraculous manner. What we need to learn from revivals is that God is already present with us and wants to engage with us. Which means that we were never meant wait passively to see what God will do, but rather we are meant to pursue what God is already doing and wanting to do in us. The resources of heaven are right in front of us all the time. It is a grave mistake to wait for God to do something when He has already moved heaven and earth to be accessible. The truth is, God is waiting for us (!) to actively respond and pursue the treasures He has already placed on our path. Our part in this process is to discover the means of pursuing God, and begin the journey into the life He truly wants for us.
When the revivals do come, praise God, and immerse ourselves in the stream He has opened up. But we do not need to wait for revival in order to be transformed. Let us instead step into the renewal He has already initiated, and begin to rediscover what it means to live in Christ by allowing Him to live in us and fill us with Himself.