I Have Never Been To A Revival

During our revival meetings last night, I heard the same thing from four people under 30 years old. They had never been to a revival meeting before. Some of them had not even heard of a revival meeting. They did not know what to expect. Another person told me they had never been to one and was reluctant to come not knowing what to expect. 

There was a day in the not so distant past where churches held at least one, and sometimes, two revival meetings a year. Slowly that began to change. Revival meetings went from a couple of weeks down to a week, then down to four days and now to one time Sunday meetings. I have friends in evangelism ministry. They told me their calendar this year had the most empty dates.  That was long before before the pandemic. The sad conclusion is that churches no longer hold revival meetings. It is not important. Even when churches do schedule such meetings, the attendance is usually very light. 

The last revival meeting I attended before last week, they squeezed so much into the service they left the guest evangelist 15 minutes to preach. I knew right then there would be no revival in that church. 

I have already stated it publicly. We had very good meetings last week. Some might even say great. I can say realistically God didn't unleash real revival on us. As I process the events of last week, I'm  left with many questions. Questions God is not obligated to answer. 

I do know that many of our people did not take their spiritual preparations seriously. I know the attendance by our own people was pretty sparse during the week. I think a lot of that had to do with the pandemic and the convenience of watching the services online. I think those things contributed to good meetings but not the revival I believe God called us to believe Him for. 

It seems to me Satan has masterfully steered flocks and pastors away from revival. What a foolish thing for God's people to blindly do. In true revival, God can do more in one week than we see happen in multiple decades of ministry as usual. It is tragic a generation is growing up in communities of faith who do not even know what revival meetings are. It is shocking and appalling. It also evident. 

God chooses when and where He sends genuine revival. God has used revival meetings to call the church to repentance and to save the lost in the past. We are in need of both of those things to still happen today. 

May God awaken pastors and followers of Jesus to see the need for revival again in our day. May we all live long enough to see and taste such days of refreshing before Jesus raptures the church.