Revival Coming

Sometimes you can just sense when things are coming. 

Your joints will tell you when a storm is brewing. Your childrens' wild behavior may warn you that a front is moving in. Maybe you get that feeling that you are forgetting something. Sometimes you can even sense when something is missing...or when something is not quite right.

Just like you can sense when things are wrong, you can also sense when things are right. It's like when you wake up one morning and you just know it is going to be a good day. Or you get in the car and hit the road, knowing that it is going to be the best trip of your life even thought you don't know what lies down the road. Or you get a new job and move to a new place, and something within you tells you to expect great things. It's something deep-down that makes you say, "I just have a good feeling about this." Most of the time, you don't even have an explanation for why you feel that way, but you just sense that something good is coming. 

In a world where headlines and news stories constantly make me think that the world is coming to an end, I sometimes feel like the ache in my heart is warning me of a storm blowing in.

But at the same time, something deeper within my heart tells me that - against all odds - something really amazing is about to break forth. 

As springtime rolls in and I sit outside at Starbucks with some friends, we talk about the changes taking place within the young adult class at our church. I state, "I just have this feeling. I believe revival is coming, and I want to be a part of it." The others nod in agreement, and I see a look of revelation flash across one's face...as if he hadn't thought about it until just now, but it suddenly became very clear and made perfect sense. "Yeah, I think revival is coming. I can see it too now."

In a class I am taking called Perspectives (www.perspectives.org), we have been studying the history of missions. A few weeks ago, the speaker covered 1200 years of history in a remarkable two hours. He divided history into 400 year segments, and he did so easily and not forcefully because every 400 years, some significant, shifting event happened to start a new era. The last significant historical shift in Christian history was in the 1600s. Do the math. It is time for a new era. It is time for revival.

That same class is opening my eyes to see how Christianity is exploding all over he world. There are more Christians in the world today than ever before, and more people groups are being reached with the gospel. I have heard story after story of amazing revival, and it is all taking place in our generation. 

Then, at church on Sunday, our pastor taught us about extraordinary prayer and encouraged us to take our prayer lives to the next level by committing to more prayer, continual prayer, unified prayer, and desperate prayer. With emotion in his voice and a lump in his throat, he pleaded with us to pray boldly and desperately for the revival of our nation. He pointed out that every time God's people cry out to him in the Bible, he always answers. When we cry out to him, He will always bring redemption or revival. 

So instead of my heart aching for the world this week, I am beginning to notice a bubbling sense of revival. It is like I am waking up to a brand new day, and I believe it is going to be a good one...no, an extraordinary one. Even when things seem to be falling apart, we have this hope as an anchor for the soul - that God is faithful, that his gospel of grace is for all, and that he comes to our rescue when we cry out to him in faith. 

Revival is coming.

The more we believe it and pray for it and share it with others, the more they will catch onto the vision, too. Their eyes will widen and everything will begin to make sense. "Yeah, revival is coming. I can see it, too."

Revival is coming. Let's be a part of it.