End Time Revival
The greatest revival in the Bible is the end time revival. Great awakening has always come in times of great trouble...starting with the first Christian trouble, which was the loss of the bridegroom and the persecution of the first Christians. Revival broke out in Acts 2 with the background of persecution of those first followers emerging at the same time. This has always been the pattern of big "R" revival...trouble on the horizon stirs a remnant to press in, this stirring up of the soul to lay hold of God ALWAYS works. In a time of ease, few do it...so it actually, according to the Bible, requires trouble to make it happen:
Isaiah 64:5-7 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
For this reason, the end time Revival comes WITH the end time trouble. You cannot divorce the two. God uses the least intense means necessary to wake up the greatest number of people at the deepest heart level in order to spur us to "stir ourselves up" and cry out to Him. Because God gave dominion of the earth to mankind, great dignity is given to our choices. This means our choices carry great consequences, as well. We have to "bring" revival to earth by our agreement with heaven. This is the only way it works.
This is why the threat of the end time trouble is what stirs the unity that produces revival. This is the Joel 2 harvest pattern. Joel, in my opinion, lays it out most clearly, even though the pattern is explained as early as Leviticus 26, and is seen all the way into Revelation. This is the only big "R" revival pattern there is. Here are the key verses from Joel 2...there is a lot more here to be fascinated with, but here are the cliff notes:
Jesus stirs up the antichrist army:
Joel 2:2-3, 11 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?
The people stir themselves up to respond to the trouble, unity is the key:
Joel 2:12-13, 15-18 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord , “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm... ...Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the Lord , Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord , And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ” Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people.
And after that, God releases the "greater things" revival so that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved:
Joel 2:28-32 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord . And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
This is the end time Revival, and it will come to the places that agree with the pattern of revival laid out in the Bible. To forgo the pattern is to actually forgo Revival. Little "r" revivals have broken out in the last few decades, but I am talking about Revival...there is one promised, and it will go where the people stir themselves up in obedient response to impending trouble, just like the disciples did in the upper room in Acts 2. Jesus said it would start in Jerusalem, and go out to the whole earth..
Luke 24:47-49 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Tarrying in night and day prayer is essential for the wind of Spirit to rush and the fire to fall. This is the only way it is described in the Bible. But first, the region needs to see the value in tarrying. Some live for revival...the forerunners...but most don't see the value enough to actually pick the "stirring of the soul" over the pressures and trappings of daily life...Therefore, God has designed an amazing program of slowly unfolding trouble...shaking... to nudge as many as desire truth into the upper rooms across the earth. We are on the cusp of seeing a global upper room experience, hundreds of night and day prayer centers...upper rooms...have been established across the earth. According to Joel, the trouble gathering on the horizon is what God has selected to get the people to actually go into them like they mean it.
This unity is what will release Revival, not just for the sake of increasing in the prophetic, or manifesting joy, but for power from on high to go out and invite everyone to call on the name of the Lord and be saved. Seeing, believing, and understanding the specific nature of the trouble is essential for this to happen, according to the Bible.
Revival will not come to places that try to ignore or quiet down the trouble. Little "r" revival might come, but not big R. This is what Amos said about trying to quiet down the troubling news:
Amos 9:9-10 “For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. But all the sinners will die by the sword— all those who say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’
Not only will big R revival not come to those who ignore or talk down the trouble, God's people will perish in those geographic areas! The enemy armies will overtake the lands that the Bride is not uniting in as their only plan to survive trouble. The Joel 2 pattern is what keeps the antichrist army out of your backyard. After the upper room starts with zeal and unity, this is what God does:
Joel 2:20 I will drive away these armies from the north. I will send them into the parched wastelands. Those in the front will be driven into the Dead Sea, and those at the rear into the Mediterranean. The stench of their rotting bodies will rise over the land.” Surely the lord has done great things!
Jesus talked about the difference between little "r" revival that was actually self-focused...what the leaders themselves wanted outside of Jesus' clear plan to return... vs. The big "R" revival Jesus wants to pour out. Look at Matthew 25. All 10 bridesmaids are waiting for revival and the return of Jesus...5 see the trouble...the long dark night...and get ready. They will not fall away, and they will be counted as sharing in Jesus' life...knowing Him. The other 5 approach the trouble casually, and then think they can have someone impart the zeal...the oil of revival...they need. When they find out it can't be shared, they go to buy it from the purveyors of revival. They are wrong. You can impart, or even buy, little "r" revival...just go to where it is happening, or hire someone who has been there to come impart it to you. Little "r" is there for the buying and imparting. Little "r" revival is awesome...I love any revival...BUT, there is only one pattern for big "R" revival:
Matthew 25:6-13 “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’ “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.
Little "r" is cool, but it won't cut it. It doesn't result in regional agreement with, "knowing", Jesus:
Matthew 7:22-23 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Isaiah 64:5-7 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
For this reason, the end time Revival comes WITH the end time trouble. You cannot divorce the two. God uses the least intense means necessary to wake up the greatest number of people at the deepest heart level in order to spur us to "stir ourselves up" and cry out to Him. Because God gave dominion of the earth to mankind, great dignity is given to our choices. This means our choices carry great consequences, as well. We have to "bring" revival to earth by our agreement with heaven. This is the only way it works.
This is why the threat of the end time trouble is what stirs the unity that produces revival. This is the Joel 2 harvest pattern. Joel, in my opinion, lays it out most clearly, even though the pattern is explained as early as Leviticus 26, and is seen all the way into Revelation. This is the only big "R" revival pattern there is. Here are the key verses from Joel 2...there is a lot more here to be fascinated with, but here are the cliff notes:
Jesus stirs up the antichrist army:
Joel 2:2-3, 11 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?
The people stir themselves up to respond to the trouble, unity is the key:
Joel 2:12-13, 15-18 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord , “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm... ...Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the Lord , Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord , And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ” Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people.
And after that, God releases the "greater things" revival so that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved:
Joel 2:28-32 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord . And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
This is the end time Revival, and it will come to the places that agree with the pattern of revival laid out in the Bible. To forgo the pattern is to actually forgo Revival. Little "r" revivals have broken out in the last few decades, but I am talking about Revival...there is one promised, and it will go where the people stir themselves up in obedient response to impending trouble, just like the disciples did in the upper room in Acts 2. Jesus said it would start in Jerusalem, and go out to the whole earth..
Luke 24:47-49 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Tarrying in night and day prayer is essential for the wind of Spirit to rush and the fire to fall. This is the only way it is described in the Bible. But first, the region needs to see the value in tarrying. Some live for revival...the forerunners...but most don't see the value enough to actually pick the "stirring of the soul" over the pressures and trappings of daily life...Therefore, God has designed an amazing program of slowly unfolding trouble...shaking... to nudge as many as desire truth into the upper rooms across the earth. We are on the cusp of seeing a global upper room experience, hundreds of night and day prayer centers...upper rooms...have been established across the earth. According to Joel, the trouble gathering on the horizon is what God has selected to get the people to actually go into them like they mean it.
This unity is what will release Revival, not just for the sake of increasing in the prophetic, or manifesting joy, but for power from on high to go out and invite everyone to call on the name of the Lord and be saved. Seeing, believing, and understanding the specific nature of the trouble is essential for this to happen, according to the Bible.
Revival will not come to places that try to ignore or quiet down the trouble. Little "r" revival might come, but not big R. This is what Amos said about trying to quiet down the troubling news:
Amos 9:9-10 “For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. But all the sinners will die by the sword— all those who say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’
Not only will big R revival not come to those who ignore or talk down the trouble, God's people will perish in those geographic areas! The enemy armies will overtake the lands that the Bride is not uniting in as their only plan to survive trouble. The Joel 2 pattern is what keeps the antichrist army out of your backyard. After the upper room starts with zeal and unity, this is what God does:
Joel 2:20 I will drive away these armies from the north. I will send them into the parched wastelands. Those in the front will be driven into the Dead Sea, and those at the rear into the Mediterranean. The stench of their rotting bodies will rise over the land.” Surely the lord has done great things!
Jesus talked about the difference between little "r" revival that was actually self-focused...what the leaders themselves wanted outside of Jesus' clear plan to return... vs. The big "R" revival Jesus wants to pour out. Look at Matthew 25. All 10 bridesmaids are waiting for revival and the return of Jesus...5 see the trouble...the long dark night...and get ready. They will not fall away, and they will be counted as sharing in Jesus' life...knowing Him. The other 5 approach the trouble casually, and then think they can have someone impart the zeal...the oil of revival...they need. When they find out it can't be shared, they go to buy it from the purveyors of revival. They are wrong. You can impart, or even buy, little "r" revival...just go to where it is happening, or hire someone who has been there to come impart it to you. Little "r" is there for the buying and imparting. Little "r" revival is awesome...I love any revival...BUT, there is only one pattern for big "R" revival:
Matthew 25:6-13 “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’ “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.
Little "r" is cool, but it won't cut it. It doesn't result in regional agreement with, "knowing", Jesus:
Matthew 7:22-23 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
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