Revival

[ Extracted and edited from D2Y2 Magazine – May 2000, Volume 2 Issue 9 ]

Revival is not emotionalism though it involves emotions.

Revival is not something obscure and undefined, though words fail to fully describe its character and potential.

Revival is neither a pie in the sky nor a figment of the imagination, though no one can explain with sufficient satisfaction of its appearance and disappearance.

Revival cannot be contained within any system nor its presence and power constructed.

Revival can be seen, it can be seen in the lives that it has touched.

I have seen many young lives walk up to the altar upon the invitation of a speaker. I have seen them cry and fall under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but it is not at the altar where revival is most clearly seen.

Revival is most visible at places like the restaurant where the whole bunch of us go after meeting for supper.

It is there that I watch for changed lives. It is there that I see the fruit of the Spirit in action or the lack of it in omission. My ears are wide open to the conversations that young people have after a revival meeting. I pay close attention to their behaviour and I look for signs of God’s genuine work in their lives.

No one can bluff revival and it is at places like these, just hours after the altar call, that revival is truly tested.

Revival has a form.

It may start with the spirit hovering over the face of the earth which was old and without form. But then God gave form to it by His spirit and the first thing He said was, “Let there be light” and He separated the light from the darkness.

That is the first thing I believe God will do with us who desire His revival fire. We must be separated unto holiness. There must be a clear distinction between our old habits and our new. There must be a separation, not by our own strength, but by God’s Spirit who will give us both the desire and the faith to change.

He then went on to finish His creation by forming man in His image and He gave man a command to be “fruitful and multiply”. That is what I believe revival does to a man – to make him fruitful, to enable him to do what only God can, to create life after His own image.

Revival has a face and it is the face of a person.

A person who is truly revived by the spirit of God will bring light and life wherever he goes and to everyone he meets, including and beginning with his own family, friends and familiar surroundings.

D2Y2, which stands for Don’t Despise Your Youth, was an official Asian Youth Ambassador (AYA) magazine birthed out in the late 90s. The printed materials communicated dynamic and effective encouragement to and from the Church, with special emphasis on the knowledge and experiences of our Christian youths, which we believe the content is still relevant and applicable in this current generation.