I say revival, and you think…

A week-long church fest featuring an overly eager guest speaker? Popping the tent and slapping the tambourine? Maybe even smacking someone upside the head to heal them?

Most of us have come to associate the word revival with an intense, focused (and staged) event intended to jar life back into the church congregation and create a “great awakening”. It’s supposed to replenish us, like we are a bunch of spiritual squirrels filling our cheeks and running back to our trees to store up for the winter.

In my personal experience, I’ve not seen many genuine situations where a church body enjoyed true revival. I’ve seen a temporary frenzy that fostered fleeting episodes of group think and follow the crowd mentality akin to the popularity explosion of the Snuggie or Justin Bieber. Those “revivals” are often short-lived and then it is back to business as usual until next year. I’m not suggesting a church body can’t experience true revival. I just think that when it does happen, it is more organic and inspired than the revivals I’ve been a part of in the past.

For me, revival is about a renewal of your fervor and desire to pursue God. Or it can be a restoration and healing related to a dark tragedy or deep wound. It occurs on a personal, not just a population, level. 

My revival happened two years ago and has been rekindled probably about every two weeks since then. I was in a slumber, and then I received a spark. And quickly, I’ve seen the spark fade and then brighten again, over and over.  If I’m being honest, it’s all I can do to keep it alive and “stay awake”. So far, it’s been worth the effort.

I guess my point with all this is that 1. you don’t need to wait for “potluck week” to have a personal revival, or your own great awakening and 2. while revival is a sudden combustion of flames, it can burn out just as fast if you don’t nurture it. In the end, I encourage you to displace your initial reaction to the word revival (at least if you carry the same baggage as me) and consider how you can achieve something much more powerful underneath a tent made for one.