What is revival?

As we anticipate starting a revival this week here at the Catch, I urge all of you who care about this to listen to last night’s BlogTalkRadio interview with my brother, Pastor, Author and Bible School founder, Dr. David Fischer. And if you don’t care, I encourage you to hear the half-hour interview anyway, because after hearing it, you  just might. 

For instance, when I questioned whether revivals were biblical, he reminded me that Christ’s ministry began with one. The first great revival was led by John the Baptist in anticipation of the beginning of Christ’s ministry. People flocked to him in the desert for the purpose of getting right with God. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” They didn’t come to see John, this charismatic and crazy prophet living in the desert eating locust and honey. They came because God was moving in a mighty way calling people back to Himself. They came in droves. That’s what a revival is — more of God for all of us. It’s a spiritual spring cleaning — a chance to be revived. 

When I asked David what were the main elements of revival, he started with willingness. I wasn’t expecting that. A willingness to receive. A willingness to learn. A willingness to come clean — to be transparent. A willingness to show up. A willingness for whatever might happen, because, honestly, we don’t know. I think that’s a big part of it. I don’t think you can plan every part of a revival. You have to leave room for the Lord to do something. Not that He always will (He’s not available on demand) but you want to leave room. You want to be willing for God to show up.

These are critical times. So much falsehood going on everywhere you look. It’s hard to know who to trust. We need a fresh touch and a fresh word from the Lord. We need to be locked in to His will for us. Hebrews says we are running a race God has mapped out for us. We need to make sure we are on course, and we need to wake up and wake each other up. What is going on and what do we need to do? It’s a revival, and we need to be revived.

Check out our interview with Dr. David Fischer here.