Revival Thoughts From Jonathan Edwards

Revival.

It’s a very caustic word to some.

It’s a source or irritation to others.

Still others mock it as an outdated mode of outreach.

But to those of us who are hungry and desperate to find a closer walk with God, it’s the central focus of our eating, our drinking, our praying, our preaching, and teaching…it’s all we think about 24/7! At least, it’s all I think about 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

I found these points Jonathan Edwards wrote many years ago that would be a positive guide for us as we continue to seek after and then experience a true revival encounter.

How Can I Know If I Am Having A Real Revival Experience?

1. A real revival experience will raise the esteem of Jesus. People talk about “building the Kingdom” and say “it’s all about Jesus”; when in reality it’s all about their kingdom or their denomination. I am very disturbed by what I see happening in the American church as minister cave in to the pressure to copy what someone else is doing, hoping for success. What happened to building people up into the image of Jesus and then releasing them to obey and glorify Jesus with their lives?

Please understand, I am NOT against big churches, if those churches are getting big winning the lost and not simply growing by adding other churches disgruntled parishioners!

When the Holy Ghost really begins to move, the way we want Him to move and the way we need Him to move, He will not glorify a man or a building or a denomination: the Holy Ghost ALWAYS brings the focus and the attention and the recognition to rest on Jesus!

2. Real revival will move people away from sin and lust. Real revival brings real change! Real revival brings all glory and honor to Jesus and will cause people to be sickened over the sad state of our culture, our nation, and our world! When you can go to church, speak in tongues, fall out in the Spirit and then go home and cuss your wife out for burning the supper, listen to people use God’s name in vain on TV and not be grieved…you’ve not experienced real revival!

3. Real Revival will lead people back to the teachings of the Bible. That’s a real novel thought; the Bible! Not the next great book from Zondervan or Charisma!

I remember reading about Lester Sumerall going to see Smith Wigglesworth one time. As Sumerall knocked on the door, Smith opened it up and said, “…you can leave your newspaper outside and come in!”

4. People are led to truth instead of error. I realize, I am only seeing one part, therefore I can only prophecy the part I see. Real revival will not only lead me back to truth, but it will also give me a hunger for the truth, to know it and be set free!

John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

5. Real revival will promote love among people. Prejudice will cease. Fighting will stop. Politicians will work for the people and not their own agendas! Preachers will love people and not jockey for a greater position within their denomination. Preachers will stop being charlatans and will preach the Good News for the Love of God and not the love of money!

Father I pray for such a mighty move of your Spirit to come to America all will know that Jesus is in the house!!!!

Thank you for your faithful support for Revival Now International! Your giving is enabling us to cover the world with the message of repentance, restoration, and revival! I am still convinced we are headed toward the next Great Awakening! May God prepare our hearts and our churches to receive the next thing He does; because it will be greater than the last thing He has done!

Photo by Guido Jansen on Unsplash

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David Copeland

David has been actively involved in church leadership since 1978, the year he accepted his call to the ministry. David currently lives in the East Alabama community of Lanett with his wife of almost four decades Pam. David passionately believes in the local church and served in almost every facet of local church ministry before launching into full time itinerant ministry in 2001. Since then, David has trained pastors and leaders, conducted crusades, help plant churches, and conducted revival campaigns across the United States as well as South America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Kenya East Africa. He and Pam currently lead the Revival Now Schools of Ministry across Kenya as well as helping to establish and build the Hope Centre Children's Home in Kilgoris, Kenya. David ministers with a strong prophetic edge and is passionate about bringing people to a living relationship with Jesus, developing leaders, and empowering those around him to live as Spirit filled disciples of Jesus. He holds a  BA, MA and a Doctor of Theology from Omega Bible Institute and Seminary in Monroe, Louisiana.

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