During this year of turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, political and racial unrest, and one of the most volatile presidential elections in history, new movements of united prayer by hundreds of thousands of Christians have sprung up in various parts of the nation. Common themes emerged like “repentance”, “revival”, and “spiritual awakening”. The all-too-familiar 2nd Chronicles 7:14, often used on the National Day of Prayer, went out as a nationwide call to pray: “If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”
As a prayer leader and mobilizer I have often made the mistake of assuming that most people know what the terms revival and spiritual awakening mean and how to pray for those things to take place.
Not so.
They are often used interchangeably, but they are two very different things. Let us take a closer look and then think about how to pray given our current times.
According to most definitions and articles I looked at, “revival” applies to Christians and means a sudden increase in spiritual fervor, while “awakening” applies to culture in general and denotes a turning of hearts toward Him.
At the risk of sounding pedantic, I beg to differ, especially in light of the things we are praying for in our day. Let me explain.
“Revival” is the restoring to life of that which is dead. It draws its meaning from the medical world. When someone lost their pulse and stopped breathing, you have to bring them back to life by performing CPR. You don’t awaken them , you revive them. Of course, when we talk about revival, we mean a bringing back to life from spiritual death. In the Bible, death means permanent separation from God due to sin (see Ephesians 2:1-3). Revival, therefore, means being made alive by God (Ephesians 2:5) through repentance and salvation. When we pray for revival in our land, we really pray for a widespread work of the Holy Spirit according to His role laid out in John 16:8, convicting people of their sin so that it will lead to godly sorrow and repentance. Such was the nature of the great revivals of the 1800s and 1900s when thousands upon thousands repented of their sin and surrendered their lives to Christ.
“Awakening” on the other hand means to arouse someone from slumber or sleep. No death here, just sleep. Still a pulse, still breathing, but blissfully tuned out to all that matters, good or bad. Ephesians 5:14 uses that term. Paul says : “Therefore it says, Awake o sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” He may have had Isaiah in mind, who frequently used the term “awake” for Israel to rise up from its inattentiveness to the things of God (see Isaiah 51:17 and 60:11). Even though the verse says “wake up from the dead” (same Greek word as in Ephesians 2:1) the context suggests that he is not speaking to unbelievers, but believers, who are letting themselves be deceived by foolish talk, empty words, and immoral behavior – and thus slipping back toward spiritual death.
Thus I have found myself praying frequently for revival in our land and in particularly a spiritual awakening in the church. Those distinctions make more sense to me. And I’m pretty sure God is okay with me going against convention by switching the terms around.
Now when we pray for spiritual awakening, the question is: awakening to what?
Many who have led movements of prayer for revival and spiritual awakening have agreed that the people of God in the US have become lukewarm and passive about their faith. The term “Church of Laodicea” from Revelation 3 has been used to describe us: neither hot nor cold and enthralled by our prosperity. We are in need of waking up from our false sense of security, our reliance on worldly comforts, our coldness towards the brokenness of the world around us, our prayerlessness, our lack of interest in the Word and above all, our lack of appreciation for our salvation and daily all-consuming adoration of God. The warning is stern: “I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). Jesus’ counsel in vs. 18 is urgent: Let me fill you with my faith and love (“gold”), my righteousness and holiness (“white garments”), my truth (“salve to anoint your eyes that you may see”) so you may become spiritually rich. The first step is zealous repentance (vs. 19), followed by ongoing communion with Christ (vs. 20).
That, my friends, is the spiritual awakening among God’s people in the US that I have fervently been praying for under the daily prompting and guidance by the Holy Spirit. To be specific:
- An awakening to the need to repent of our superficial spiritual life and to let go of worldly attachments and comfort zones.
- An awakening to the need to restore God to His place of preeminence in our hearts, our homes, and our churches.
- An awakening to reorder our personal lives and our church lives around the centrality of worship, prayer, community and mission.
- An awakening to the importance of reading, meditating on, obeying and applying the Word, and staking our lives and faith on it, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten our eyes to see its transforming truth and power.
- An awakening of desire for God’s daily manifest presence in our lives and a passion for His glory so He would be uppermost in our thoughts and affections.
- An awakening to the infilling, empowering, and gifting of the Holy Spirit for all aspects of our life and ministry.
- An awakening to the need for loving, interdependent, resource-sharing, faith-building community among believers, locally, nationally and globally.
- An awakening to the need to step over our denominational, doctrinal, cultural, racial and political divisions by the uniting work of the Holy Spirit poured out in our hearts.
- An awakening to the need to reengage with the Great Commission and bring the gospel to every tribe and nation.
- An awakening to the need to equip the saints at every level of spiritual maturity to study the Word, to pray, to serve and to clarify the essential spiritual disciplines.
- An awakening to our true identity – who we are in Christ and Who Christ is in us.
- An awakening to the spiritual battle all around us and to the knowledge of how to engage in that battle through intercession and warfare prayer.
- An awakening to purify our doctrines, teaching and the gospel we preach, from all unholiness, falsehood, distortion, and superficiality that has diluted its transforming power and rendered it untrustworthy to an unbelieving world and unlivable to Christians.
That has been my kingdom assignment during these turbulent times. I believe with all my heart that the times will get even more turbulent. As the saying goes: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” The need for God’s people to wake up from their slumber, repent, and swing the door wide open to strong, intimate, daily communion with Him is urgent. The need for the nation to be revived from its spiritual death as it continues to remove the God who by His hand aided its birth from public life is even more urgent. But that is another article.
Will you pause and pray with me today, and everyday, till awakening comes?