3 Biblical Ways We Can Usher in Revival

If we pause to observe closely what is going on in the church across the world, we can begin to see the call for revival. We see college campuses lingering in worship. Youth conferences overflowing with passion and life. Prison cells being invaded by the Holy Spirit, showing them hope for the future. Visions of a “red faced man” from new Christians in hard-to-reach areas such as Iraq and Iran. Families deciding to take the road less traveled and embracing the Bible’s charge to live in a countercultural manner. We begin to see God’s description of true religion, which is to care for the widows and orphans (James 1:27) and model our lives after this calling. God is on the move, if we have eyes to see his hand at work.

Christ-followers long for a fresh wave of God’s tangible presence. Our faith is boosted when we hear and see lives being turned completely around by God. As miracles unfold before us, it becomes more and more natural to believe that God’s word is trustworthy and good. Revival infuses passion into the rituals that are fundamental to our faith.

Is there Biblical guidance that can help us usher in more of God’s presence in our world and churches today? Does the Word give us instructions on how to see Heaven come down in the form of a revival? How can we pray for the lives changed and the churches God mobilizes as God does a new work in our world? Let’s explore these questions about revival together!

1. Follow the Model of King Josiah

God is sovereign and we cannot order him to do work in our midst. We have to be patient with his mysterious ways. We can look at the actions of Biblical figures who made great changes in order to bring their lives and kingdoms in line with God’s word.

In 2 Kings 22-23 we read about King Josiah. He was a young king who desired to do right in the eyes of the Lord. He read about the God of the Israelites and realized that his people had gone against God’s commandments. When Josiah asks the prophet about God’s word, she lets him know that God’s anger had burned against the people, for they had worshiped other gods. It was due to Josiah’s humble heart, his torn clothes and tears in God’s presence that changed God’s mind about his people. He promised not to bring disaster on the people at that time.

The lesson we can take from King Josiah is that he first took time to study God’s word. If we want to be a part of a wave of revival, we need to study up! Learn about who God is and his will for his people. Josiah wept and repented for the ways he discovered the people had strayed away from truth. We must come to God with a humble heart. We must ask for clean hands and a pure heart. Active repentance is vital to seeing God move in our midst.

The next thing the King did was go to the priest and prophets. This at the time would have been like praying to God, as the priest had a direct line to God at the time. Now, we are all called priests as Jesus gave us all access to God’s Spirit. We must seek out God’s will for our lives and communities. God spoke to Josiah and even delayed his wrath because of Josiah’s contrite heart before the Lord. We have the power to usher in God’s grace when we approach him with prayer and fasting.

2. Invest in Pure Religion

James 1:27 tells us, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” We have to reject our preconceptions about what church should be. It is entirely possible to be attending a dead church. In Matthew 23:27, Jesus warns that the Pharisees are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside but are dead on the inside!

Those are some pretty scathing words, but Jesus knew that what matters is not how polished our services are or how beautiful our buildings look, but what we are evaluated on in our hearts. God’s heart is for the lost; he tells us to leave the 99 to find the one lost sheep (Matthew 18:12). God’s heart is for the brokenhearted, the lonely, addicted, depressed, abandoned, poor, fatherless, widowed, and for the least of these among us. If we want to know God more and see him work in powerful ways in our communities, start investing in those God’s heart is for.

We attend a church that began investing heavily in our local jail; now those inmates are attending services when they are released, and by some miracle the Governor in our State decided we needed to stream our services every Sunday directly into the jail cells of every prison across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

There are stories rolling into the church of the Holy Spirit meeting men and women in their cells every week! In our own family, our soon-to-be-daughter through adoption’s biological father gave his life to Jesus, not because of us, but because he was one of the inmates church was being streamed to. He picked up his Bible, began reading, and soon decided to give his life to Jesus. I can’t wait to see what Jesus does with his story and ours!

We don’t have the most perfect church, but I believe that the decision to look outside our walls and choose to see those that have all but been forgotten by our communities is resulting in a revival in our church building. The beautiful thing is that we all benefit from it. The rich, poor, needy, brokenhearted, and all the rest that attend our church are seeing our lives impacted because God is present in our church community. I love more than anything that we have a God that would choose to start a revival through the prison system!

3. Pray the Lord’s Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13 is known as the Lord’s prayer. It says, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Jesus showed us how to pray.

He instructs us to praise God, ask him to bring Heaven down, provide for us, forgive us, protect us, and change us. Use this model when you pray and begin to worship him with new passion. Specifically ask him to bring Heaven down in your home, community, church, and more! Tell him what you need. Trust that he will provide for you. Ask him to keep you away from things that will distract and ensnare you. Heed God’s protective boundaries for your life. Rely on him to deliver you, making you more like him each day. This is a prayer that changes us and changes our world.

God is always at work. We are never without his spirit near us, but there are special times and places that he shows up in more obvious ways. Our world is hungry and thirsty for truth. They are searching for hope and meaning all the while the culture is feeding them chaos and counterfeits. We need our generation to meet Jesus. They don’t need politics, religion, or a program. We need Jesus, his word, and the truth to stand. May God do what only he can do.

Amanda Idleman is a writer whose passion is to encourage others to live joyfully. She writes devotions for My Daily Bible Verse Devotional and Podcast, Crosswalk Couples Devotional, the Daily Devotional App, she has work published with Her View from Home, on the MOPS Blog, and is a regular contributor for Crosswalk.com. She has most recently published a devotional, Comfort: A 30 Day Devotional Exploring God's Heart of Love for Mommas. You can find out more about Amanda on her Facebook Page or follow her on Instagram.