News and Updates
Signs Of A Real Revival Experience
David Copeland · July 1, 2008
Newsletter · Volume: 8 Issue: 7
Revival.
It’s a very caustic word to some.
It’s a source or irritation to others.
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 notes Jonathan Edwards wrote many years ago that need to be a guide for us as we continue to seek after and then experience a true revival experience.
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 many mega churches are planting satellite campuses in different cities, beaming in the face a one man. Soon if this trend continues, there will only be 50 “true” pastors left in the US in the fifty major cities of the country! Every other pastor will be “useless to the “kingdom”! 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 grabbing other churches parishioners!
When the Holy Ghost really begins to move they way we want Him to move and 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 impel 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, watch naked people doing the wild thing on TV, hear people use God’s name in vain 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 on 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 lead to truth instead of error. I realize, I am only seeing one part, therefore I can only prophecy one part! Yet real revival will not only lead me back to truth, it will 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!!!!
As I write this we are in Indonesia ending our outreaches West Timor. The services in Bali have been flooded with hungry people seeking God and crying out for a fresh move of His Spirit! Many have been saved and several have testified of healings taking place. This has definitely been a God thing in us coming at this specific time!
Thank you for you faithful support for Revival Now Ministries! Your giving is enabling us to cover the world with the message of repentance, restoration and revival! I am 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 thin He has done!
Visit our website http://revivalnow.org and our blog http://revivaljournal.com for the latest pictures from our Indonesia ministry trip.
Blessings,
David & Pam