Does a revival really happen in the way that most Christians perceive it or refer to it? In other words, do revivals hit? Do they? I would say that yes, revivals do hit -a church, a place, a city, a nation- but I must also say that it does not happen on its own, or just per chance, as if God one day decides “I will send a revival bolt to these people”.
We must grow into revival before revival hits.
This “grow into revival” process is very seldom seen -in any case it is usually realized in hindsight, and not by many- because we usually see the “outburst” of revival, when the local church has grown and outgrew the boundaries of established patterns of religious stagnation.
God said in His Book that He will be found of those who seek Him.
It starts within. It starts with seeking. Now, an interesting part of this seeking, is that the Holy Spirit in us provokes hunger, a stir in the soul that then we must follow, and here is where many -if not most of us- fail. Responding to this stir within requires that we establish a steady connection:
Friendship vs casual approach.
Relational vs. Transactional
The “steady” I am referring to is like an embankment, not some overflow one week, and a change of course the next month. That is actually what happened with the river Thames in times past. This river had an uncanny pattern of flooding entire sections of the city, even parts that were not originally close to the river, because the Thames changed course many times. In times of Queen Victoria the Thames was finally tamed (Shall I say Thamed?) when it was embanked and prevented from changing course and wreaking havoc with its floods.
Flowing toward God
Before revivals started -hit- there were people who follow the stir of the Holy Spirit and established a steady flow of their own life upwards toward God, which in turn brings down a flow of God’s manifest presence. Gravitating toward the Holy spirit is not just leaning, it is flowing, our life flowing toward Him.
And God responds to “flowing” people!
Evan Roberts, who God used to spark the mighty revival of 1904 in Wales, had that stir of the Holy Spirit in him, and responded by letting his own life flow toward Him. Every night he woke at 1 am and spend time with the Holy Spirit, simply communing with Him. We know the story of when revival “hit” Moriah Chappel and then the whole nation of Wales, but how much do we speak about Roberts growing into revival?
Argentina was “hit” by a massive revival -in waves, I must say. One of those waves was in 1992 with Claudio Freidzon. I don’t know much about how Evan Roberts was stirred in his soul by the Holy spirit, but I know a bit more about Claudio, because we are friends from our time in Bible College -we were roommates.
Claudio was desperate, but at the time he did not know exactly what this hunger mixed with frustration was, he had the “stir” within, he was seeking for that something, until he realized that friendship with the Holy Spirit was what the Holy Spirit Himself was after. The years of seeking and establishing a steady flow of life toward the Holy Spirit, resulted in revival “hitting” his church and from then and there spreading to countless churches around the world.
Many other examples -far too many for this blog post- include churches like Toronto Airport Fellowship, Sunderland Assembly of God, Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Holy Trinity Brompton in London; and other people who God used to spark “hits” of revival, like Carlos Anacondia (Who is considered the “father” of the Argentine revival, but this is for another blog post), Sergio Scataglini, Steve Hill, Bishop Miller, the list goes on.
When Sergio Scataglini -another of my dear friends, also roommates in Bible College- was asked by some American pastors “what did you do to have revival?” he let his father Alberto Scataglini -at whose church the first wave of revival “hit” back in 1982, when a crusade with Carlos Anacondia, that was to last 4 weeks and ended up lasting 8 months and brought in 50000 people saved by the power of the Blood of Jesus:
Pastor Alberto said: “We just made ourselves available to God”
Yes, revivals hit, and we see the results of revivals in salvations, healings, restoration of families, deliverance from addictions, reformation, and all that heaven has to offer in a steady flow of revival power toward us. But it begins with a steady flow of our life toward the Holy Spirit.
Conrad Lampan
Revival Highway connect@conradlampan.com Facebook: ConradLampan TikTok: @conradlampan Instagram: @conradlampan Twitter: @conradlampan