At the start of 2023, a dear friend of mine who pastors an incredible church across town stood as they made a bold declaration of faith: “Revival is Now.” Not, “Revival is Possible,” or “Revival is Necessary,” or even “Revival is Near.” No. Revival is Now.
Cue the events of the past week, many which have made global headlines. A group of students from Asbury University in Kentucky were moved to stay after a weekly chapel service and pray, resulting in what has been more than 120 hours of continual worship, repentance, prayer, and miracles at the time of this writing. And it is only growing with each passing day. Within days of the events at Asbury, students at Lee University found themselves overwhelmed, on their faces at the moving of the same God. Then, churches from all across the nation began to report what can only be called a wave of God’s transforming kindness and power pursuing His children.
In my own hometown of Tampa, Florida we are being drawn into a move of God that surpasses anything we’ve seen before.
My friend Brent and his church, Arise, spontaneously baptized 50 people in their clothes this past Sunday. They ran out of towels and were taking the table dressings for people to dry off. In a 5-hour move of God, they saw miracles, deep repentance, and salvation. At one point, a man came from the back stating, “I’m an atheist, and the God I don’t believe in called me to come up here.” Brent led him to Jesus on the spot as his wife and kids embraced him through tears and the church erupted like heaven. My friends at Arise have continued to make space on their campus with nightly services filled with the fruit of the Kingdom of God…and it’s growing.
My friend Gio and his church, Abide, saw a similar stirring from God: repentance, an insatiable hunger for the presence of God, and miracles. The other day, their morning prayer time ran past 10 pm. My friends have made space, and it’s growing.
At my home church, Overflow, we had a high school class that met on our campus gloriously interrupted as students began to worship, pray for, and minister to one another, waiting upon the Lord for the next hours, well into lunch. A woman we’ve been ministering to in the clubs of Tampa reached out, saying she is ready to leave that life behind because of what Jesus has begun doing in her heart! Another precious daughter who had lost custody of her son surrendered to Jesus and has begun the road of family discipleship. We’ve seen miraculous physical healings, prophetic visions, and boldness beginning to break out. We are making space and it’s growing.
It’s happening at The Resting Place Church. It’s happening at Salvation City Church. It’s happening EVERYWHERE. Jesus is pursuing His Bride. To all of that, I want to simply add this to the conversation:
Last night, God awoke me several times with the same phrase: “Make Space.”
“Make space.” “Make space.”
This morning as I walked in prayer, I heard this:
“If you will live from rest and delight,
revival will continue and grow in your midst.”
The time has come for us to make space. Church leaders: we’ve got to make space in our church services and our ministries. Followers of Jesus: we’ve got to make space in our schedules and with our souls. The reason is simple: He cannot fill hands that are already full of other things.
And making space will be impossible unless we return to REST and DELIGHT.
The first thing God did when He made us was BREATHE into us, and then we rested in Him. It was a declaration that He designed us to work FROM rest, not for it. At Pentecost, He breathed on us again. It is time for us to rest in the Finished Work of our Redeemer. This isn’t a word of passivity. To the contrary, I believe the time has come for the Church to be more active on earth than ever before, but we must work from the “rest” of a settled faith that the completely finished work of the Cross has been lavishly given to many who do not yet know it. The harvest is plentiful. But we don’t have to beg God. We don’t have to try to work hard enough to be worthy. We don’t have to try to manufacture and MAKE revival come…but we can MAKE SPACE and join the God of Revival who is moving in our midst.
Where is God calling you into rest in your schedule? What do you need to let go of to make space?
Beyond that, where is God calling you to rest in your soul? At the beginning of this year, I heard the word, “Uncluttered;” that God is removing from our houses what is no longer worthy of who we’ve become in Him. What fears, mindsets, lifestyles, and burdens is it time to let go?
Where is it time to stop and breathe and see JESUS again as your delight? That’s the essence of all revival: being “breathed in again” by Him, for Him, and TO Him. Intimacy with Jesus is the goal of our revival, and its evidence is people who come to choose to delight in the treasure of Him above everything.
I pray today for the anointing of John the Beloved upon you, to stop in this moment and lean back upon Jesus’ chest, hearing His heartbeat like it is the first time. I pray you will breathe. I pray you will surrender trying to be the Savior of anything. And I pray DELIGHT will overtake you, in the fullness of joy! And then…I pray you’ll find your brothers and sisters and see revival erupt in your city as you make space together!
I am convinced: Every place we will make space to live from rest and delight will be a field of expanding revival.
Revival is Now.
I love this!! This line resonates perfectly with the study I am doing right now. "The first thing God did when He made us was BREATHE into us, and then we rested in Him. It was a declaration that He designed us to work FROM rest, not for it." As well as "He cannot fill hands that are already full of other things." What an incredible reminder of the importance and excitement of spontaneity in the Gospel!