While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Acts 10:44-46
Brothers & Sisters,
Revival will not follow our displays nor quick step itself on our terms. We must be willing to let go of our tightly woven unbiblical expectations, preconceived worldly methods and presumptuous clock management. The choreography of the Holy Spirit is an endless supply of creativity, spontaneity and specificity. How can anyone read the gospels, the Book of Acts, or the great revivals of the Old Testament and advertise a revival? Like the apostolic teams in Acts, we must be currently under the Lordship of Jesus and the corresponding powerful leadership of the Spirit while speaking a word from the Heavenly Father on earth to His people with the evidence of His manifest presence.
Revival is not the result of spastically, statistically or demographically moving heaven to do something , but rather the Spirit of God falling upon and filling His often lifeless, smoldering beleaguered people with a fiery resurrection love and God-optimism. Revival then takes hold in consistently surrendered obedience to His will, personal character transformation and a community engagement to turn the world upside down with the gospel.
Revival has come when the leaders of the church have nothing to say because the people have become the sermon and the symphony of the Holy Spirit! The accurate anointed preaching of the Word of God becomes the sturdy river bed of the Holy Spirit to refresh, restore and release the people of God into the dry deserts of humanity.
Revival, God breathing His life into the human spirit, soul and body, often penetrates before the message is completed. The altar is the human heart not only the front of the church. The revival we desperately need is among those perhaps we would not include in our missional strategy and war rooms. The target of the Holy Spirit is obedience on behalf of those who need to obey the gospel. We know we have tapped the wells of heaven when the preacher stops speaking and the band stops singing to listen to the congregation supernaturally speak to God, for God and about the Majesty of God!
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)