Having been a Christian for many years, I hear the heart cry of many for revival. “Lord, transform our city…” “Lord, bring revival to our land….” Sometimes, we think if we will only pray more, then revival will come. The Lord wants revival and transformation more than you do. There are some keys to ushering in a city-wide move of God.
In the city of Ephesus, a revival occurred. “… the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. ” (Acts 19:17–20, NIV)
The first step was that the name of the Lord was honored. That means to magnify, to show great respect, to regard as important. Who is it that should honor the name of Jesus? Since the world does not know Him, then it the responsibility of the church to show honor to Jesus. We show honor by demonstrating our love through our worship and our giving. We show honor through our respect and submission to the leaders God has placed over us. We show honor by obeying the commands of Jesus, including the command to Love our brothers. We are not to honor Jesus with our lips, but with our hearts. Is Jesus truly Lord and do our lives truly belong to HIM?
Once the issue of honor is settled, the next step to revival is public confession and repentance. When Jesus is truly honored on our hearts, there is room in our lives for humility, contrition and repentance. It was not the unbelievers who repented, but the believers. Those who called themselves Christians, came and openly confessed their evil deeds. The King James version says they confessed and shewed their deeds. To confess is to come into agreement with how God sees the deed. If there is hostility between you and a brother or a sister, confession agrees that that is sin. To “shew” the deed is to publically announce, inform and tell. What happens in public confession, is that the world can see the transforming power of God in someone’s life. People know that they have issues. What they need to know is the reality that God can and wants to bring change.
Once the world sees that there is change and agreement with the Lord in the hearts of those of say they believe, there is an open door. Christ is demonstrated a real. And the outcome is that the “Word of the Lord spread widely and with great power”. There was so much power that the city was transformed.
Keys to revival are humility, repentance and a life changing encounter with Jesus. Proclaiming the Word with power follows.
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