Revival, Fakes & Arks

I was talking with my prayer group this past Wednesday about revival. We were discussing such things as: “What is true revival? Why does it seem that we are not having revival in the church today? What can we do to encourage revival? Etc…” There is no doubt all of us have a desire to se the excitement and hunger for a moving of God to come once again upon the Church. And that’s exactly what revival is all about. It concerns those who have been “vived” or made alive in Christ, being revived. The main reason revival isn’t sweeping the Church today is because believers are not totally submitted to the Lord. Their lives are not characterized by a passionate desire to see God move in great and mighty ways. They’re not willing to totally surrender their agendas, their time, their treasure, their talent to be used by the Lord as He uses them to display His glory and draw sinners to the throne of grace. In a sense, we generally think that all we need is a “get out of hell free” card and our lives are complete. And in that state of hard-heartedness, the revival fires will not fall. Christ left us here after salvation for a reason – so that we would be revived again, and again, spurred on towards evangelism and proclaiming the great works of God so that those who don’t know Christ may have an opportunity to discover true hope as they respond to His eternal plan for their lives.

Recently, I have been more and more aware of a rather disturbing trend among certain groups of Christians that I believe is just as detrimental to the Holy Spirit’s moving as hard-heartedness – feigned or false revival. It appears to be a true moving of God’s Spirit in miracles, signs and wonders being manifest, but a closer look reveals that some of these events are not exactly as they seem. People are paraded across stages, proclaimed as healed, only to return to their wheelchairs and sickbeds immediately following the service. Some of these folks are desperately wanting to believe they’re healed, and will actually take a chance at walking. But ultimately, many of them were only “charged up” by adrenaline or motivated in the excitement of the moment. The leaders of these revivals will proclaim all of these as God’s miraculous movement when it fact, they are not. They even justify their claims by saying, “All we’re doing is reporting what we see. Besides, what we’re reporting will build the faith of the others.” So in a sense, they think they’re helping the presence of God and helping build up the faith of God’s people. They’re helping God stir the fires of revival.

I am reminded of the time when David was attempting to move the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple. David had a hunger in his heart to return the people back to God… He longed for revival. So David set about to restore something that had not succeeded in previous attempts. In the process, David tries to seek out the Lord thru the ark. And as such, I believe he seeks covenant renewal with God in an inappropriate way. The attitude reflected in his statement: “Let us bring the ark of our God back to us” shows that his intentions were manipulative at best. David was essentially saying, “I’m going to put God in His rightful place so I can achieve my own religious objectives.” And the people of Israel agreed because it seemed the right thing to do. And David did what was “right in his own eyes instead of fully seeking the Lord.”

Perhaps out of pride or maybe out of arrogance, David didn’t properly prepare for moving the ark. And when difficulty arose and it seemed as if the ark was going to fall, a man named Uzzah reached out to “help move the ark” and God struck him down. He took the sacred things of God very lightly and paid a heavy, heavy price.

I see a great similarity in some of the contemporary revival outbreaks. In an attempt to reestablish the presence of God and stoke alive the fires of revival, many times we’re attempted to “help move the process along”. And sometimes the things that have happened have been nothing short of religious deception. Not only are there feigned healings, but over the past 10 to 20 years, things have happened in these “revival meetings” that are not Biblical. Manifestations of “holy laughter”, “holy barking”, “holy howling” and various other supposed movings of the Holy Spirit that find no place in the scriptures. Revival cannot be forced. It is not necessary for us to attempt to help God move revival along. Revival is a sovereign move of the Lord in response to the complete surrender of His people to His purposes. When we are desperately, passionately, and diligently seeking a true move of God, He will respond. Every true revival movement in history has been marked by believers humbling themselves, turning from their sin, and diligently seeking God’s righteousness in prayer & daily practice. And in that process, the believers are seeking God alone, not seeking to find Him thru miracles like David sought Him thru the Ark. When this is our heart, true revival will break out and we won’t have to fake, feign, or help the process along. And we will see the miracles, signs and wonders follow as God moves among us.

So are you hungry? If so, seek God with your whole heart… Totally surrender to His work… Diligently pray and “cry out” to God for His people. Humble yourself, turn from your sinful ways, and pursue a lifestyle that is sold out to the holiness righteous purposes of God alone. ness Be wary of false teachers and false prophets that create division and claim to be connected in some way to new revelations of the Holy Spirit or a “New Anointing” that is marked with strange doctrines and emotions. Leaders of these “feigned revivals” are always quick to condemn anyone who question their teachings and the “new manifestations” of the Holy Spirit. You’ll take some heat when you stand for biblical truth, but not nearly as bad as the “heat” Uzzah experienced.

 

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