For the past few weeks, the Holy Spirit has been pouring out at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. As news and testimonies arise, many people started to wonder, is it revival? Pastor Jeff Simmons of Rolling Hill Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee shared his thoughts about revival to try to answer this question.
The president of Justice & Mercy International listed three things that describe what a revival is.
(2023). Asbury Revival [Photograph], Retrieved February 23, 2023, from: https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/asbury-is-a-new-move-of-god-and-gen-z-is-facilitating-it/14920.article
Revivals are for people of God
It occurs when God’s Spirit falls afresh to His people who truly seek Him in an intimate way. Revival is when the people of God are called back to His heart and it is often marked by worship, prayer, repentance, and confession.
Revivals spark a renewal of the heart
During revivals, there’s a renewal in hearts, churches, and communities. Because we live in a world surrounded by sins, we often get swayed by the cares of the world and drift away from the heart of God. However, God still pursues us with the power of His Holy Spirit. People are convicted of their sins and are brought back to God.
Revival is different from Spiritual Awakening
Though both in revival and spiritual awakening, people experience the incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit, these events are different. Revivals happen in churches and in small gatherings for a short amount of time. Spiritual awakening impacts people who are far from God and it lasts for long periods of time. It is a movement of God that sweeps across an entire nation or the entire world.
Pastor Jeff believes that what is happening right now in Kentucky and other parts of the United States can be a great awakening. As people of the Lord, let us pray for a Spiritual Awakening to happen and for the fire of the Holy Spirit come into our hearts.
Read also: 10 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE ASBURY REVIVAL FROM MAN WHO WITNESSED 1970 REVIVAL
Reference: Jeff Simmons
Header Image: Garcia, Maggie [@pinkinsanity]. Asbury Revival in Auditorium. Facebook, photographed by Maggie Roblero Garcia, 15 Feb. 2023, http://bitly.ws/Ak3i