Revive

 Lately,  I hear more and more people praying for revival in their churches, cities and countries.  Some of these that pray have never experienced revival before.

As they have prayed I have asked the LORD what is it that brings about revival? 

“It is brought about by love.  When one stops judging, stops chasing their own dreams and lays them aside for Mine, I am free to move.  I am in the place of humility and humility is without motive.  It is sacrifice.”

The visions of this had come sooner to me than these words.  I first thought of the word revival and its definition.

 Revival ~ process of reviving somebody: the process of bringing somebody back to life, consciousness, or full strength     Bing Dictionary

In the physical reviving, a person is brought out of unconsciousness.  Reviving/resuscitating is performed for one who has lost consciousness and have ceased to move on their own in breathing.  Another comes and breathes their breath into them.

As a recipient in need, it is the lowest place of one’s life; a near end to it.  As they lay there they are without anything of themselves and lay in great humility. The recipient must receive another’s breath to breathe again.  The one giving the breath has sacrificed themselves for the good of the other.  They are leaving all that they were doing to bring life back into the other; kneeling down beside them and coming into where they are face to face, giving of themselves and…saving them.

Jesus came in great humility as a human child born in a stable. He came to where we are; meeting us face to face. By His love, He gave the ultimate sacrifice of death on the cross and in that humility, He lay dead for two days. 

Matthew 27:50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

He took our sin without judgment on us and took it onto Himself.  On the third day He came back to life.

Revived with His own power and Spirit.

Isaiah 57:15  For this is what the high and exalted One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

After He rose again He went to His disciples where they were.  In Hebrew, the word Ruach means Spirit and Breath.  He brought new and everlasting life and it starts here. 

To be revived you have to cease to function on your own.

They sat together grieving, terrified to go out for fear of the Jews.  Listen to how He revived them.

John 20:21-23 NIV  So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit". 23 "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

Spiritually, we need to reach that place of no longer being self-conscious. No longer judging, but forgiving just as we need forgiveness.  Forgiving is love. It is life.  It is the place of the resurrection.  The greatest amount of forgiveness, love, and sacrifice was followed by His great resurrection.

From there our eternal life begins here… and in that power He said to receive the breath of life of His Spirit.

Revival is reviving and always includes His Spirit/Breath/Ruach. 

It is coming to life in consciousness of Him and in His Spirit.  And in Him is love.

Here is what His Spirit brings to life when we have been revived with His breath:

love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12:7-14

This is the breath of life of revival.  In these gifts comes the very works Jesus said we would do in order to revive others.

John 14:12 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 

Let your breath become His in you.  This is revival.