Is Revival Possible?

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

If you are reading this post, you are fully aware that this nation is in a crisis. Christians have been calling for revival in this nation for years. However, is revival even possible? If you are reading this today and you are a Christian, this post is for you. (However, if you are not a Christian, God put this blog in your path today for a reason; so don’t stop reading.) I feel like many Christians today believe that the main problem in America is the lost. However, that is not what God says. God said, “If My people…” Revival is possible, but it must start with the people of God.

Look at the above verse again. Notice, if you will, the first and last three words of that verse: “if my people” and “heal their land.” There is a healing for this nation, but it first must start with God’s people. God promised that He will heal the land of His people if they will “humble themselves, and pray, and seek [His] face, and turn from their wicked ways.”

First, let’s take a look at the last part of that verse: “and turn from their wicked ways.” Yes, God is still talking about believers here. Therefore this could only mean a call to repentance among the people of God. Is there any unconfessed, unrepented of sin in your life? If there is, you need to take care of that right now. Remember, David said, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (Psalm 51:12-13). David realized that, without the joy of the Lord, he could not be an effective witness to others. You cannot have the joy of the Lord while harboring sin in your heart at the same time.

The interim pastor at our church spoke briefly about this subject Sunday night. He said that revival is not when you bring in a guest speaker to preach every night for a week and the lost get saved; revival is when God’s people get right, and then the lost get saved as a result of that. I looked up the definition of the word revival and I found several different definitions, but the one I liked the best said, “The process of bringing somebody back to life.” That is all revival is. It is the process of putting life back into the people of God.

Someone who has never lived cannot be revived. The only person that can be revived is someone who has lived and then died. The prefix “re” means to do something over again. Someone who has been revived has been made to live again. Therefore revival does not apply to the lost because the lost have never truly lived in the first place.

Ephesians 2:1 says that the lost are dead in their “transgressions and sins.” In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” If Jesus came so that the lost might have life, then that could only mean that they cannot have life apart from Jesus. And someone who has never had life cannot be revived.

Revival is for God’s people. However, once God’s people are revived, they can then begin to reach out to the lost. Therefore many will be saved as a result of the revival of God’s people.

Revival in this nation is possible, but it can only start with God’s people. If God’s people will humble themselves, repent of their sin, and pray, we have assurance from God that we will see a great revival in this nation. And one by one, as revival begins to take place in the lives of God’s people, we can reach this world for Jesus Christ.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord of your life today, there is nothing in your life to revive; however, you can begin to truly live today. If you will repent of your sin and confess Jesus Christ as Lord, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.